Thanksgiving Table

i'm linking up to the tablescape party sponsored by Homegoods, so here are the up close & personal details of our turkey day tables:

history: thanksgiving has long been a holiday staple in our family, often having 40-65 cousins gathering in south arkansas. i think when i started dating j, i told him he'd have to agree that my family would always get thanksgiving! i'm pretty sure my cousin and i made a pact when we were 12. over the past few years, we moved the holiday to Texas but it's remained one of the most important holidays to me. as the families grow, new traditions start. so this year was our first year to start a new tradition of our own.

guest list: my newlywed sister was finally within driving distance (she's been on the west coast and unable to join us for the past 5 years). better yet, her husband is from nearby Athens, GA, so his family was able to join us too! my mom was coming from Arkansas, my dad & his new fiance too, my in-laws, and even some hometown friends who are now neighbors got to join the fun (being the BFF of my baby sis, she was a great stand-in for the sister who had too many papers to grade!). all in all, we had 13 folks at the table.

theme: i wanted something a little different than the traditional fall colors, so i drew from the rich palette of cranberries & pomegranates: purples, fuchsia, and metallics. i wanted the table to have a festive and elegant feel (we didn't have any kids attending, so it was safe to keep it "adults only"). this was the first time we were using the china we received when we got married (yes, 2 years ago), so we wanted it to feel special all around! it was also the first time several of our family members had seen our new house, so it was a big occasion.

flowers: i scored some amazing fuchsia peonies at the grocery store, and arranged them in vintage silver serving pieces i thrifted. i complemented the peonies with hot pink & burgundy pom mums, solidago, and other burgundy safari sunset blooms.

linens: the tables were each dressed with flax-colored hemstitched linen tablecloths. the main dining table's square linen was off-set to feature the rich grain of the hardwood table, while the additional folding table's linen hung to the floor.

accents: a pair of thrifted brass candlesticks with cranberry candles were lit in the table's center, while mercury glass votives added extra sparkle. a cranberry metallic ribbon with gold trim weaved its way along the table.

in lieu of wine charms, we tied combinations of plum, cranberry, and gold ribbon to the wine glass stems for easy identification. 

placesettings: alternating gold & silver chargers served as the placesetting foundation, which were topped with china dinner plates from the Vera Lace pattern. a deep plum napkin was placed atop each dinner plate, topped by the salad plate. placecards were displayed in pecan pods i found in the backyard!

serveware: the food was served in a collection of silver serving dishes. my latest Homegoods score, the silver casserole dish, was perfect for the wild mushroom dressing. and my le creuset crock steal from Homegoods matched the sweet potatoes to a tee.

i linked up to centsational girl's the tablescape party/contest.

super simple summer strawberry shorts

to go with the bbq shower menu, i needed a crowd-pleasing + easy-to-eat treat for the sweet-toothed guests. the guests of honor aren't fans of banana pudding, so strawberry shortcake "shots" were the winner.

assembly is EASY and could be partially pre-prepped ahead of time. makes about 40 individual servings.

ingredients:
3 pints fresh strawberries, rinsed + diced
1 fresh lemon
2-3 tablespoons sugar, depending on your tastes
1 store-bought pound cake
whipped topping
3-ounce cups

add berries + sugar to large bowl. squeeze 1/2 lemon into berry mixture. use a potato masher to mash the strawberries and mix the flavors together.

spoon the strawberry mixture into 3-oz cups. return to refrigerator to chill.

once ready to serve, cut the pound cake into small cubes. remove the strawberry cups from fridge. place a few pound cake cubes into each cup. top with a dollop of whipped topping.

serve + enjoy!

if i'd had enough strawberries left over, i would have used a few to garnish the tops. oh well!

i'm linking up to Rhoda's summer recipe party so hop on over + check it other tasty goodness...

board + batten

we really wanted to define our dining area and set it apart from the living + kitchen areas, even though it's the space that joins the two together. thus...board and batten! this seemed to fit with the existing craftsman detailing + was an easy, inexpensive project to really help formalize the dining area.

we pretty much used the great tutorial from Karla and tweaked as needed. all of the blogs i found used mdf, but we used hardwood since that's consistent with the rest of our trim.

we used 1x8s for the top horizontal piece and struggled to find the right trim for the ledge. we settled on 1/2" x 4" boards so they wouldn't stick out too far or be in the way of dining guests.

[the sketch: pardon my drawing skills]

first, we drew out the top ledge onto the wall, attached the 1x8 and ledge trim. we used caulk to fill in any gaps. we had some serious gaps since our walls are quite bowed in some places. with the magic of caulk, you'll never know!! one of the horizontal boards was cut too short. back to the store for a replacement.

[cricket drawing a level line for the top board]

[the boards + battens in almost place]

[cricket caulking in the gaps: our wall wasn't terribly square]

cricket wanted to figure out a way to integrate the battens into the baseboards. this was probably the most tedious part. he chipped out sections of the baseboard trim so the battens could rest directly on top of the baseboard. it worked out really well + appears seamless!

[battens integrated into baseboards]

[battens and baseboards]

we primed the wall and boards after they were all in place. i know some people did the painting before the boards went up, but for us, this worked. we had a nightmare with the paint. not for the painting process itself, but with the actual paint. attempt #1: instead of using the trim paint, we realized we'd actually used the exterior trim paint. no wonder it looked yellow. attempt #2: found the actual interior trim paint and tried it. but it was too white. maybe it was too old or had been sitting in the crawl space too long. attempt #3: i took a piece of our existing trim to be color-matched at lowe's. when i called, they said they needed a piece larger than a quarter. so, i took a small door to make sure they had plenty of a flat surface. turns out they can't use anything BIGGER than a quarter. i was befuddled and the worker couldn't figure out why i was annoyed. i almost cried at the paint stand--it was just one of those days by that point. attempt #4: tracked down the original trim paint manufacturer. they were closed for the day. the next day, they were able to color match according to the original can's label AND the piece of existing trim. let the painting begin (errr....resume):

[paint drying]

[ta-da!!]

we are so happy with the way it turned out! several nights in a row, i just sat on the couch (with wine glass in hand) giggling at how good it looks. it really looks like it's been there all along. so much so that cricket's folks didn't even notice it when they came over a few days later, despite them oohing + ahhing over photos. yes, sir. it. looks. that. good.

we have a drum pendant we'll soon be installing (now that the mount finally arrived) and it'll be good as new. if you're interested in this chandelier, let me know. it'll soon be listed on craigslist.

this project cost us around $80 i think. between the wood runs, the random supplies we were out of, and the paint mix-up it took us sat-mon to finish it.

***update*** houston, we have installed the pendant. and it looks fabulous. f-a-b-u-l-o-u-s. fabulous. check it out.

::before::

::AFTER::

[short drum pendant with natural linen shade from west elm]

the drum pendant put us over the $100 mark, and i'm now learning we could've probably diy'd our own for a bit cheaper [not to mention fewer trips/calls to west elm to get the conversion kit]. oh well, we'll put those skills towards new pendants in the kitchen!

i've linked up to thrifty decor chick's february before + after party. Check it out!