Somebody stop me (or don't!). Mike would probably say yes, please stop her. I am on a decor high right now. I have an orange, vanilla, clove and fresh greens simmer (blogging it soon!) that has been going all day and has been filling our home with the most glorious holiday smells. We got our tree and decked the halls all.day.long. We listened to a special holiday album that reminds me of my Dad ( Beach Boys Christmas forever) and we had white russians for dinner. I am writing this from my couch while I sit in fuzzy socks and an old sweatshirt next to the intoxicating glow of Christmas lights. CLEARLY I have moved on to Christmas, but I wanted to share my Thanksgiving table first!
Obviously I love design, but I also really love entertaining and all that goes into making your guests feel special and pleasing their eye. Entertaining, especially during the holidays, is like an Olympic sport in the deep south. You have certain china that you only use that week, a table you set well before the actual day and heirloom linens to complete it all. I am so thankful I grew up with so many traditions and a mother who never held back when it came to decorating our house for the holidays. I had a little cocktail party in my tiny NYC apartment most years, but you don't have much room for storage so the decor stayed pretty minimal. This being only my second year in a "real house" as an adult in the burbs, I am loving being able to bring the holidays out! Thanks to many loving friends, we have been given some really special gifts from our engagement showers in Georgia + Indiana. One of those is our fine china. When I went in the Macy's in Indianapolis and asked about their fine china lines, the woman looked at me like I had three heads and just said "uhh we don't do that here". Fine china is a southern tradition and detail that is vivid from my childhood memories. Putting out our new china that we will have forever, that our kids will eat on and that their kids will eat on feels so special to me. It also reminds me of all the Sunday lunches at my Grandmother's house and all of the holiday meals in our home growing up. I really loved being able to put together elements that I have collected over the years to make our table a mix of old and new.
We picked the Federal Block Monogram pattern from Lenox. It has the classic wedding band ring around it (that matches my parent's!), but a modern twist with the block M + graphics. I fell in love with the clean lines and traditional elements, but I also love to mix in other patterns and textures to keep it from being to matchy matchy.
I got the sweetest cream + camel striped plates from Shine HOME in Fishers. Read my latest post about this new awesome home decor store here. I found the green + white painted plates at Tuesday Morning and they are made by Tag. I am telling y'all, you can find such good plate + glass scores at Tuesday Morning.
The gold flatware feels so timeless to me even though it is one of the hottest tabletop and accent trends right now. I love that it will always match our fine china and be a fun element to mix in with other china. This set is from Target and I love it, but we also registered for a beautiful set from West Elm. I bought the individual pieces because I prefer matte and Target's full set was a bit too shiny for me. The fun fringe napkins are some that I bought for a shoot last year and paid a whopping $7 for at Homegoods. The cotton was a way for me to bring a piece of home to my day. My stepdad is a cotton farmer and we picked a bunch off the farm last time we were home to use in our wedding. See that action shot here. It was a fun detail to add along with the magnolia leaves Those were picked from the neighborhood I grew up in and used at one of our showers in Georgia. It made me so happy to look at them on our table here in Indianapolis. The over sized place-mats were another wedding gift and I love the black braiding. The round shape emulates the look of a charger and the color compliments my buffalo plaid table runner that I scored on Amazon for $8. This specific one is sold out, but they have a lot of fun other ones! The mix of of texture, pattern and color just really makes my eyes so happy.
The coupes are navy and vintage and I heart them so so much. I found them at an antique store last year and bought the whole set of 6. They are so pretty in person and I get so much use out of them! Perfect for sweet tea vodka (I mean, it IS the holidays ...). Another favorite thing on my table were my linen cocktail napkins, hand-stitched with the state of Georgia and the cutest little peach. I got those one year when I was shopping in Thomasville, Ga with my Mom. Thomasville is a tiny little town close to my hometown that has some of the most quintessential southern shopping you could imagine. I fell hard for them and cherish them so much. I hope to make these a family heirloom of my own! I made a centerpiece with berries and flowers in deep hues of red to bring a pop of color to the table. I am so pleased with how it all turned out and I hope you all had a wonderful day with the ones you love.
Hammered copper salt + pepper shakers: Anthropologie
Grey taper candles: Magnolia's Hearth + Home for Target
Gold + black candlesticks: World Market