When I was asked to do a
tablescaping demonstration
for Evan's Gatehouse No1
I was told to go throughout
the store and pick anything I
wanted to use for the tablescaping.
This lush mantel was my inspiration.
(It definitely makes my mantel decor look wimpy
and in need of a redo!)
All of their mantels throughout the store
are fabulously decorated. I attended the
classes held throughout the week and learned
from Joey, who helps decorate the
Governor's mansion
that they use nails to secure their mantels but
she taught us we could use 3m hooks on the
mantel and wire the heavy decor to the hook.
Thought you might like to know that tip.
I am definitely beefing up my mantel and
using the 3m hooks as mine is stone.
Oh, to have a whole store to freely choose from
to create a mantel like this!!!
I loved the icy blues and silvers and decided
I had to make an adult table in these colors
along with the children's table
that I set in the traditional reds and greens.
This fabulous floral was the first thing
I chose to start my tablescape.
I love, love, love
the icy aqua vase it was set in.
Of course I chose this huge
Mark Roberts
Father Christmas to go alongside
the vase. As I was moving it a woman
was worried that it was sold as she had
her eye on it.
I also had to pull this fabulous
sleigh and fill it with a darker shade
of aqua ornaments.
(This was one of my favorite pieces.)
I anchored everything on the
table with a sheer organza
table overlay (linentablecloth.com).
You are going to love this website!
These overlays are under $5
for a 72 inch square!!
AND there is no minimum
number to order. Warning - this
site can be very addictive!
The opposite side of the table
featured this cluster of bottle brush
trees in sparkling white and this
simpler Father Christmas.
As Gatehouse No1 doesn't sell plates, goblets and
flatware I brought my own over to create the
tablescape. Hubby did all the hauling.
(I do have to tell on him - at the
end of the presentation, when I
was answering questions,
he raised his hand and asked,
"How much do you budget for
this every month?" Oh, that
one got the laughs!!
The perfect place setting for this table
was a stack of aqua and white and topped
it with this encrusted stag ornament.
We began with talking about linens and
placemats and how I always try to use a
charger to begin the stack of dishes.
I also taught them about layering the dishes
and how I remove layers to serve a meal.
I demonstrated layering napkins
and told them that both of these
napkins were made simply by
cutting 17 1/2 inch squares of
coordinating fabrics and serging
the edges. I love the effect of
an organza napkin layered over another
napkin.
I mentioned that I had searched for
aqua napkins and had found none so
I had decided to make my own.
Imagine how many fun holiday napkins
you could make this year with all of
the great Christmas fabrics!!
The white bubble goblet is my $1 bargain
from Tai Pan a few years ago and the
gorgeous aqua goblet with the twisted
stem (the one they all wanted) was
hand carried home from Mexico.
People were also crazy for these beautiful
square beaded placemats which I found at
Home Goods. I told them I had purchased
a few one year and searched the next year
and found more. I told them my favorite
stores for bargain dishes and my
favorite web sites.
Here's a perfect example that I showed them
of mixing and matching as I didn't have
enough snowflake napkin rings to finish
the table so I used these reindeer napkin
rings for every other place setting.
The reindeer were originally red and I
told them how I had spray painted them
and finished them with a glitter spray paint.
This table topping was so popular
that I personally know a woman that
purchased the floral arrangement and
the sleigh and I heard rumors that someone
else purchased the entire table top.
(They had multiples of the floral arrangement.)
As I told you in the first tablescape from
the Christmas Open House
Miss Utah County was there and
her Little Miss Utah County
(my granddaughter)
didn't get there until after the event
started as she had a music class so
I didn't have a picture of her by the
children's table.
Chef's Table was there catering
the event as was Sweet Tooth Fairy
with their goodies. It was a
fabulous event and was followed
by a fun week of demonstrations.
A big thank you to Rachel who helped me
change from one table to the next and was
the best assistant ever! Rachel works as
a designer and salesperson at
Gatehouse No1 and was the
one who invited me to participate in
this fabulous open house. I became
so addicted that I attended other classes
all week!
My oldest daughter (mother of
Little Miss Utah County)
texted me later that night and
said that I had made tablescaping
look easy and that she now felt
she could do it. I thought that
was the perfect feedback!
I will be posting this with
