Happy Wednesday everyone!  Only a few more days until we celebrate the 4th!!!  What is everyone doing?  We are going over to my sister’s house and I’m making bruschetta and a cheese tray to bring over.  Even though we are not going to be home, I still decorated our table.  I ordered these plates and napkins from Pottery Barn and am very pleased with them.  They were having a 40% off sale on dishes and 70% on other household items.  I was a little disappointed in the stars and stripes plates but after putting the table together, I think they look great.  I didn’t realize they were metal and not ceramic but that is ok.  I think that adding another plate between them and the blue plate would look great.  I’ll save that for next year.  I am not one to decorate for every holiday which means I do not have a lot of July 4th decor but I’m working on it.

The napkins are cloth napkins in the stars and stripes pattern and tied with a Americana truck pattern wire ribbon from JoAnn Fabrics.  I found the ribbon on sale and thought how cute it would be to tie the napkins instead of using a napkin holder.  This table is a mix of bold color and muted shades of blues and reds.  I love mixing shades of the same color and similar patterns and watching the table come to life.  

Here is a tip I learned a long time ago…You can use several different patterns as long as they are in the same color family!  I worked with an interior designer when I was living in Missouri and she backed that design logic.  It was her school of thought that using the same shades (for example:  blue/green or black/grey/white colors) could compliment each other if done right.

This table is an example of how you can use other items in your house to help complete a Tablescape.  I first started with buying the dishes from Pottery Barn in the pattern of “Americana Watercolor salad plates” and blue dinner dishes in the pattern of “Cambria”.  The napkins matched the salad plates in the pattern of “Watercolor Americana Napkin”.  

I made this flower arrangement with silk flower bunches from JoAnn Fabrics.  I bought a small round vase and started building the arrangement by using the tallest flower first.  If you like to use the green styrophone to hold your flowers, make sure you buy a size appropriate foam to fit your vase.  I did not use one because I added so many flowers that they held themselves in place.  Take the tallest flower and place that in the middle working your way down to the base.  This will require you to start cutting as you go.  I always hold the stem up to the vase to “eye up” the height before cutting.  I always work with the largest flower first and then add in the smaller as fillers.  

I added color and volume by using red wine glasses I purchased last year from Home Goods, trays from Home Goods bought over the years, and small star shaped blue tinted juice glasses from Walmart.  The star shaped plates were given to me as a gift over 20 years ago.  The round floral plates were purchased from Walmart this year and made by Pioneer Woman.  I placed a red candle holder on an antique scalloped plate and added a start plate on top.  I figured I could add a tall candle to add height to the table and give it a nice glow at night.  The only thing missing on this table (if you haven’t noticed) is silverware and that is because everything I did have just did not fit the look.  So, I’ll put the on the list for next year :-).  I added this beautiful white pitcher from Home Goods because the table felt like it should have a big pitcher of sweet tea sitting on it!!!