Plates | placemat | faux bamboo silverware | middle “runner” (4 placemats) | candlelight tea holders | citronella candlelights | decanter | napkins were hand-stitched (estate sale) | red cups thrifted | water cup
Hi, sweet friends ๐ย Happy almostย June and my goodness, what a busy Spring it has been! Now that I am one step closer to being completely settled in (down from 20 remaining moving boxes to 6), I am in the flow of hosting and having friends over for porch cocktails. In an ideal world, I would host friends at least once a week similar to life in Austin and life in Raleigh, but until then, I’ll celebrate all the small hosting wins and time spent with new and old friends.
Last year while living in Austin, I picked up the most adorable strawberry plates from Sur La Table. They were final sale, on super clearance and I had just finished a cooking class in their kitchen (sidenote: if you’re looking for a fun team or group event, a cooking class at Sur La Table is perfect! It’s around $80-95/pp and you make at least a 4 course meal + can drink your own wine – win/win). As most of you know, I’m an awful cook. So if I was leaving this class excited and in the mood to shop around, it was a good day ๐ I knew these plates would make for the perfect spring or summer lunch party and they did just that. Just for fun, I threw together a late lunch/early dinner tablescape to celebrate the much welcomed start of Spring here in Charlotte.
One of the best things I did here was pull out my citronella candlelights. Even during the day, I love to have taper or tea light candles lit but especially as we enter summer and the great North Carolina bugs start to show themselves, it is vital to have several sources of citronella around. I light larger citronella candles all around the yard and near the lights. Near the food and on the tables, I light as many tea size to medium candles within 20 minutes of folks arriving. This way, the candles are already burning and, hopefully, deterring bugs before we get ready to sit down.
Plates | placemat | faux bamboo silverware | middle “runner” (4 placemats) | candlelight tea holders | citronella candlelights | decanter | napkins were hand-stitched (estate sale) | red cups thrifted | water cup
With this late lunch, I wanted to try some new ways to dress the table including using a “runner” made up of four rattan placemats.ย It’s so different from a usually patterned runner I would use and does a great job breaking up the white tablecloth and all the reds from our strawberry plates. I absolutely love this little trick that allows me to do something “new” on the table by repurposing what I already have. I also pulled out these green placemats and matching green candlelight tea holders along with estate sale find hand-embroidered napkins. Altogether, the colors made me soย happy to see together and had me excited for the holiday season (I know, I know – it’s so early). I finished off with my favorite rattan wrapped vase for simple flowers and made an infused water, playing off the theme, in the prettiest rustic wine decanter from my lovely friends at Half Past Seven.
And just like that friends, the table is set for a farm fresh, late lunch/early dinner with friends made up of a harvest salad, lots of yummy bread and crisp white and sparkling wine. Truly, nothing makes me happier than gathering around a table from the spark of a theme idea to the execution. I am so excited to finally be in the fun hosting season and to start building just a piece of community in my new city.
Thanks so much for reading friends! See you again next week -xoxo, azanique ๐
Plates | placemat | faux bamboo silverware | middle “runner” (4 placemats) | candlelight tea holders | citronella candlelights | decanter | napkins were hand-stitched (estate sale) | red cups thrifted | water cup
