The title of this post makes me bitter laugh. Many of you have probably bid adieu to Summer, and are welcoming the early stages of Fall. We, however, just broke the all-time heat record yesterday by hitting 100-degrees for 70 days in a year. That’s right, I said it’s been 100+ degrees for SEVENTY DAYS this Summer! I feel like we should be awarded a prize for enduring it. But as hot as it’s been, I still love Summer.
I hosted a small dinner party (inside!) at home a few weeks ago, and since it had a beachy vibe, I figured I’d better share it with you before you have pumpkins on the brain! (Oh, you know I love me some pumpkins, too!)
As usual, I shopped our house, looking for accessories and decor that fit the casual Summer vibe.
It was dinner, so I wanted the table to be appropriately elegant, but still have a touch of rustic beach. For the center, I layered a short creamy runner (see how I made it here), over a long West Elm metallic runner. I added Ikea straw mats for texture and more layering. I was short one placemat, but since I like my tables to looked mixed, it didn’t bother me. Which is good since I had to mix the water glasses, too.
For the centerpiece, I tied jute string around mason jars and filled them with cheery grocery store flowers.
One of our dinner guests spent the night, so I placed the flowers in her bedroom and bathroom after dinner. Then I got to enjoy them for another week…Bonus!
Gold-trimmed glass votives from Pier 1 were sprinkled throughout, and gave a nice warm glow during dinner.
You may recognize the World Market linens from our Easter table. This time around I tied them with more jute string, and inserted a starfish.TWSS Using a paint pen, I wrote our names on shells (collected on this trip and shellacked in this post) for placecards.
I prefer the glasses to vary in height, so I mixed the wine glasses with shorter highball glasses for water. The highballs, which have seashells etched in the glass, were inherited from my grandparents. The flatware is our everyday, and the dinner plates are a mix of white. Most of my tableware is in sets of four or six, so I usually end up mixing.
Oh, and for dessert I served my homemade strawberry ice cream in small wine glasses (like this). Have you had any last hoorahs for Summer? Do you prefer tables to be mixed or uniform?