It was a radiant April day at the Cape Fear Botanical Gardens in Fayetteville. The lovely grounds were covered in colorful spring blooms, the sun was shining, a gentle breeze was blowing and two people were ready to share the rest of their lives together. What a joyful day for a wedding!
Photo by Faith Teasley
I first met Ashley via email last October when she told me she found Southern Vintage Table‘s website and wanted to know more about our vintage china. We corresponded through the months about her wedding and shared different ideas about the table setting. I knew she and I were planning something very special.
During this time I had discovered the charm of vintage postcards from my friend, Priscilla. We used them at her Christmas party and I fell in love with the look. I found a way to make a stand from vintage forks and started a collection of vintage cards. When I asked Ashley if she’d like to feature some on her table she was delighted because she also collected vintage postcards. It was a serendipitous moment!
With mixed and matched vintage patterns, we set the table with a dinner plate, salad plate, silverware, goblets and a trio of sweet vintage postcards. Ashley’s choice of flowers, wedding favors and linens completed a stunning table display for her guests.
Flowers by Owens Florist
The myriad of place settings featured soft hues of green, blue and pink. Vintage goblets of green, blue, pink and clear accented the vintage china. The vintage silver flatware also included different vintage patterns. As I gazed at the beautiful, cheerful tables I envisioned the many dinner tables these pieces had once graced. I believe their individual history brings eloquence to such a joyful day.
We also provided vintage dessert plates and forks to serve this gorgeous wedding cake. Love the flowers and the Precious Moments couple on top!
Cake by Sweet Tooth Bakery
Thank you, Ashley and Jamie, for inviting Southern Vintage Table to be a part of your special day. Wishing you two endless happiness and sweet love!
Photo by Faith Teasley
PS – Here are the vintage salad plates I mentioned in last week’s blog – the pattern name is Cherry Blossoms by Diamond China. This week I happened upon a dinner plate in this same pattern!
No doubt, I love vintage china, glassware and linens – the patterns, colors, and beauty all inspire me. But there’s another category of tableware from the vintage table to rediscover and admire – silver-plated dishes, flatware and accessories. Whether elegant, casual or shabby chic, the gleam of silver adds sophistication and richness to the table.
One cool feature of silver is the gradient from really tarnished to really shiny. I love shiny silver but I also appreciate the rich patina of the darker, tarnished pieces. This metallic range of colors translates into versatility and style!
The first silver I started collecting for Southern Vintage Table was flatware. I remember finding several in a bin at the thrift store and making that decision to bring silver flatware into the inventory. I knew it would take some time to build up a collection for a large gathering. Fork by fork and spoon by spoon, we now have beautiful, gleaming collection of vintage silver flatware patterns. How delightful that each guest may personally enjoy the beauty of silver with every bite!
Along the way, we also have collected beautiful serving trays, pitchers, bowls and platters. I did not have time this week to research the history and makers of these lovely pieces but plan to feature them in an upcoming article.
Want just a few accent pieces? We have a little bit of a lot – bud vases, small trays, goblets, candle holders – even a vintage hairbrush.
Our silver-plate collection at Southern Vintage Table also includes a large wine cooler, ice bucket and serving utensils. As you plan your next gathering consider adding touches of this precious metal to your table. Whether a little darkened with tarnish or gleaming with sheen, vintage silver will dazzle your guests! Be sure to check out more pieces on our Pinterest Board!
I’ve known Priscilla for well over 20 years. Our friendship began at Culbreth Middle School – she taught 6th grade science and I taught 8th grade science. We both loved to find and decorate our classrooms with all kinds of natural things – pine cones, turtle shells, skeletons, rocks, bird nests – whatever we could find or get. As kindred nature and vintage enthusiasts, our tablescape visions for her annual Christmas party were totally in sync.
When we were planning for her party, Priscilla brought out these two incredibly huge pine cones that were at least a foot long! Of course, I wanted to know what kind they were and where they came from. Well, it turns out they are sugar tree pinecones that come from a tree that grows in California. She saw them at a science convention and thought they were amazing and wanted some for her classroom. So she wrote a letter – a time before email – to a colleague who lived in California and asked him to please send her a few sugar tree pine cones so she could share them with her students. You see, Priscilla has this way about her that when she shows you something she loves, you instantly fall in love with it, too – that’s what made her such a terrific teacher. She loved science and so did her students. Shortly after the letter was mailed, a boxful of these exquisite beauties arrived at her door and were part of her classroom for many years. Who would have known that these same pinecones would be adorning her Christmas table years later and I would be helping her set the table? As you might imagine, we shared a good laugh about it all!
In addition to the many varieties of pinecones around her lovely home, she also has a wonderful collection of vintage Christmas postcards dating to the early 1900s. The artwork and the handwritten notes on the back portray a time we all love to imagine. Here are just a few. I included one photo of the handwritten message and address on the back – no zip code!
With her collection of pinecones and vintage postcards, and the vintage milk glass glassware, white linens, china and silverware from Southern Vintage Table, our table design was ready. We both knew it was going to be exceptionally special!
On the day before the party, the first table we set was in the dining room. We decided to use a vintage green tablecloth with vintage white doilies to accent the rich brown of the pinecones. The vintage postcards were scattered about for guests to enjoy. What a terrific touch to this vintage tablescape!
Our next set of tables were in the living room. Here we used crisp white vintage tablecloths and with the Christmas tree as a backdrop, the end result was just beautiful!
2013
Desserts, punch and teacups were ready for guests after their delicious meal! Don’t you love the bold poinsettia pattern on the vintage tablecloths?
Punch Bowls-3
Thank you, Priscilla, for inviting Southern Vintage Table to be a part of this special day for you and your friends. Merry Christmas to all and best wishes in the new year!
Got another cleaning tip for you this week! If you have a silver-plated dish, platter or goblet that has lost its sheen, I have a product you may want to try.
This is the before shot of a silver-plated goblet I picked up at a local thrift store. I thought it could be cleaned with silver cleaner but, unfortunately, the silver-plate had simply worn off – this was as good as it was going to get. The red you see in the photo is the base metal.
The silver plate was worn off of this goblet.
I found a product that will return the silver sheen – it’s called Alexander Hamilton House Silver Secret.
Months ago I found this product online and haven’t been able find anything else about it except what’s on their website. I decided to give it a try on some silver plated cutlery that had some of the silver worn off. Well, my expectations were a bit unrealistic because, as it clearly states on the website, it is not a filler. Although the silver adhered to the cutlery, the surface was not smooth. For this project, however, it looked like the silver-plate had just worn off so the results were much better.
With gloves on, I am re-plating the goblets with a cloth that was dipped into the plater. Since the liquid has silver in it, you’ll want to wear gloves and protect the surface you are working on. I used parchment paper on the counter.
Here are three shiny goblets ready to be used as vases!
Consider trying Alexander Hamilton House Silver Secret if you have silver-plated items that need a bit spiffing up. From my experience, it works much better when there are no surface pits or scratches. Please note that I am not endorsing this product for any gain – I just happened to use it and thought others might want to know about it as well. If you have any experience with this product, please share in the comment section!
“I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and the new.” Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Since I opened Southern Vintage Table, I have been heartened by the excitement of my friends and family for the concept of this business. Folks love the idea of finding, collecting and bringing together the collage of vintage china and tableware patterns! Many have also generously gifted me with their personal family treasures and I have loved hearing about their mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. In this post, I want to honor the family dinner table pasts of four women – Mildred, Grandmother Björk, Edna and Lillian.
Mildred, who recently passed away, lived in the NC mountains all her life. She and her husband of nearly 70 years dearly loved each other and their family. Her son and my brother-in-law, gave me her set of amber Whitehall glasses by Colony Glass. I do love this vintage amber pattern but I mostly love that they were once part of the Webb family’s happy dinner table for so many years.
Mildred’s vintage amber Whitehall tumblers
I got a call one day from Nancy that she was cleaning out cabinets and had some things she wanted to share with me. Along with the vintage glass, silver items and decorative aluminum trays, she had a set of 12 gorgeous vintage placemats made by her husband’s Grandmother Björk. Nancy remembered that Grandmother Björk loved to crochet and even when she was almost blind, she was still sewing and edging linens. With their delicate, perfect design and their classic ivory color, I can easily envision Grandmother Björk carefully stitching these to use at her family dinners.
Beautiful hand stitched vintage placemats
My friend, Priscilla, sent me a message that she wanted me to come over for a visit. She showed me all around her happy home and I reveled at the beautiful nature displays. (She and her husband both taught science.) Our tour ended in a room where she had stacked items she thought I could use with my business. Among the many treasures were two boxes of vintage silverware and one was from Edna, her husband’s mother. Edna, the wife of an agriculture professor and the mother of two PhD boys, loved to cook fresh vegetables from her garden. Everything about this visit filled my heart with gratitude, especially this lovely vintage silverware that Edna lovingly set around her family dinner table.
Edna’s lovely silverware came in the most charming box!
This week Carrie of Fernrock Farm and I made a business call to the Chapel Hill Carriage House. It turned out that the owner’s daughter was once a student of mine and I knew her sons as well. At the end of the tour of her beautiful grounds, Brenda asked me if I would like to have her grandmother’s china. She explained that it had been boxed up for years and she really wanted to share it with someone who would love using it as much her grandmother did. Her grandmother, Lillian, lived in Arlington near Boston and enjoyed serving big dinners to her family. Of course, I was both honored and thrilled!
Lillian’s beautiful china from Gilchrist Department Store
The delicate blue and red roses against the cream background give this pattern that perfect vintage look. Although I couldn’t find the name of Lillian’s china, it does say on the back that it was “made expressly for Gilchrist – Boston”. Gilchrist, I discovered, was a major department store in Boston that opened its doors in the mid 1800s and closed them in the mid 1970s. Now, Southern Vintage China is the caretaker of Lillian’s lovely set of china, which probably dates from the 1920s-30s.
Classic vintage china with delicate roses on a cream background – love the two-handled cups!
One final story about this week’s gifts. When I was visiting Priscilla, I met Becky, a friend of theirs who regularly goes on mission trips to tear down houses that need rebuilding. After Priscilla introduced us and told her about my business, Becky shared that she recently had been to her 90-year-old father’s home and had picked up a set of glasses that were now in the trunk of her car. The glasses, she explained, had once come packaged with tea and then she offered them to me. Wow – aren’t they incredible? They will be featured in an upcoming blog!
Buy some tea, get some tea glasses!
Sets of glasses, linens, silverware, china and more – all shared by the families of Mildred, Grandmother Björk, Edna, Lillian and Becky’s mother. How does one show her appreciation for such beautiful gifts? SimpIy and sincerely, I thank you.
Each time we set the table at Southern Vintage Table, we honor these women and many others who loved their families and the special time they spent around their family dinner table. Namaste.
PS – My to-do-list continues from weeks’ past. Something more interesting than ironing napkins and cleaning silverware always comes up! Thank goodness…
Stacks of vintage china place settings are ready to set the table!
It was her turn to host the monthly wine club dinner and Rowena wanted to do something special for her friends. The wine club’s mission is to ferret out the best wines in every possible category. For each meeting the members contribute a dish for the meal and then they try different vintages of the featured wine. A difficult task but these dedicated women are up for it!
This month’s featured wine was Reislings and what would make this festive event even more fun? An assortment of vintage china! Rowena arranged for Southern Vintage Table to set her table and each guest enjoyed a lovely unique place setting from our elegant collection with themes of pink and green. The final “plat de résistance” to help uncover the best Reisling vintage – an assortment of vintage hats!
The bold salad plate sets off the delicate flowers of the berry bowl and dinner plate.The soft greens and pinks of these vintage china patterns are exquisite.The greens in these vintage china patterns are highlighted by the striking pattern of the salad plate.A vintage china place setting with the vintage silverware – gorgeous!
Bottles of Reislings and a delicious meal on beautiful vintage china – the perfect recipe for a spirited time! Having a dinner party, book club meeting or wine tasting event? Contact Southern Vintage Table for unique vintage china place settings that will get the conversation started!
RSVP Events invited Mary from CE Rental to meet with them at their country office in rural Orange County. Southern Vintage Table set the table and Saladelia Cafe provided the delicious assortment of salads and desserts. Many ideas were explored and discussed as the two businesses strengthened their connections.
A beautiful table can open up the table conversation!
Whether you are meeting a new client, celebrating a colleague’s accomplishment or brainstorming ideas for your next project, let Southern Vintage Table set your table for a productive working luncheon. Good food, a beautiful table and the shared experience will spawn positive synergy and build strong business relationships!
Especially if it’s vintage! These vintage stainless steel beauties are mid century patterns, mostly made in Japan. I love the engraved patterns and when they are mixed and matched, the place setting is delightful! Did you know that the knife was the first piece of flatware to be invented? You probably would have guessed that one…
These early and mid century silver plated flatware patterns are also very lovely! The process of adding a layer of silver, called silver plating, was invented in the mid 1800s in England. This process has allowed many of us to enjoy the beautiful sheen of silver on our dinner table.
Southern Vintage Table has both stainless and silver-plated flatware available along with our vintage china, glassware and linens.
