Giving Goodwill China a Good Home!

Welcome to Tablescape Thursday, graciously hosted by Susan from Between Naps on the Porch.  I am keeping my promise to myself  not to jump on the "Autumn" bandwagon until the calendar says October.  I love seeing the Fall tablescapes but I just can't do it while we are  in the 90's here.  In the mean time, I am getting all sorts of good ideas from everyone else!  But I want to go on record that I bought the fall leaves dishes at Dollar Tree before I ever saw them in Blogland.  In fact, I got back in line a second time to buy them because I didn't see them the first time! 

A few weeks ago I stopped by my Goodwill Clearance center and came across a partial set of china that I thought was so pretty.  Perfect condition, check.  Eight dinner plates, check.  Eight salad plates, not exactly, more like 4.  I thought they would be fun for a New Year's Eve table with the black and gold border.  The whole set was just $4.00!  Great, but they really don't "go" in my house at all.  I figured I would think about that tomorrow (my new attitude I adopted after a recent screening of Gone With The Wind!).

Then, on a follow up trip to the same Goodwill, I found 2 table runners with  pink and black mixed with all kinds of colors.  Now, I think I can get away with it in my Dining Room. 

I ran the runners across the table since I had two of them.  I had 6 gold chargers so I decided to set the table for 6 even though I only had 4 salad plates.  Let's just pretend two of the guests had salad for lunch! 

These dishes are made by Celebrity and I'm sure they weren't that expensive new.  I mentioned before that I'm not really a china and crystal person but I still like a "fancy" table sometimes. 

I layered black and gold napkins with a "crystal" napkin ring (Ross, 8 for $2.99). 

This is the silverware I got for my birthday last year.  Amazon had the best price and I was able to get a set for 12 with extra serving pieces for a great price because the box had been previously opened.  It's made by Gingko and has a nice heavy weight to it.  If you didn't know before that I love pineapples, you will if you follow this blog!

I received these wineglasses as a wedding gift almost 30 years ago.  The water glasses are new(from Ross $10 for 6!).

 I used the candlesticks from last week upside down for votive holders.   The other two were a recent GW purchase (I dropped one in the store and it bounced but didn't break!).

A more formal setting calls for fresh flowers so I picked these up at Fresh Market this afternoon.  My mom used to grow snapdragons.  I added greens cut from my yard to make a bigger arrangement (great money saver!).  The vase is new (Ross $5).  Aren't they beautiful?  In my perfect world, I would have fresh flowers in my house every day!

I changed up my china cabinet a little to match the table.  If you start with white dishes, it's easy to just add some color for accent.  I added the 2 extra dinner plates and some black accents including 2 black silk roses that I got for a future tablescape.

Did you notice the black tea lights?  You will see them again around the end of October! 

A few more pictures...

And because this is a "fancy" table, we have to have candlelight!

My favorite part of this tablescape has to be the flowers.  Sometimes just using your more formal pieces in a traditional way is the secret to a successful table.  Bring out all those wedding gifts, use that china that was your grandmothers and bring in some fresh flowers from the grocery store!  Life is short, use the good stuff!!!

Thanks for visiting today.  Please stop by and see what my sister Elaine has done this week at Creating Wonderful Spaces. 

Just a little information for you.  My husband didn't care for being " Mr. Flies South" so from now on he will just be "my husband".  It may have had something to do with my sister's husband being " Mr. Wonderful!"  Have a great week!