The girls were coming for dinner and these green plates caught my eye as I was looking through my cabinet. Of course, I bought these Temp-tations Presentable Ovenware by Tara Old World Green dinner plates second hand. These plates speak to me, one because I’m just in love with green, but also because their pattern seems throwback to the avocado green of my childhood. It combines “70’s” with “sophisticated” with “whimsical”, if there is such a thing. A perfect beginning for my green table design.
The table
Since the plates have enough green to hold their own, I wanted to play off the lesser colors for my placemats and napkins. I have a set of Sam Hedaya yellow geometric napkins that complimented the simplicity of the shapes in my plate pattern while picking up the golden yellow and playing it in a more masculine way.
I recently purchased these placemats second hand as well, so I was happy to put them to use here and accent the red centers of my flowers.
But then I love layers! I decided that throwing in my round woven green placemats would also be good. Yes, I said I didn’t need more green, but don’t these look nice? They wanted to join the party so I let them.
I find that centerpieces can be a problem area for me. There are three issues that can arise – too big, too small, or too sprawling. So I decided to err on the side of small since I planned to fill the table with salads and bread. I remembered this cute little teapot, and then happily discovered some perky, red artificial mums I had on hand. With a little cramming, I was able to stuff them into the teapot in a way that looked somewhat natural.
And I also have this yellow and green salt and pepper shaker. Which looked adorable with the little teapot as well as the plates.
Finding similar tableware and linens
If you felt like doing something like this, here are similar products online, but mine must all be discontinued items. Nothing here is an exact match except for the green circular woven placemats from Bed, Bath and Beyond.
The plates are Temp-tations Presentable Ovenware by Tara in Old World green. You may be able to find them used online. This Pfaltzgraff French Quarter is a good substitute.
A similar yellow cloth napkin. Cloth napkins can be pricey so it may be best to shop second hand like I did.
Not the exact red placemats, but a good alternative.
Here’s a little green teapot in apple green.
Although I was unable to find anything like my salt and pepper shakers, these yellow Fiestaware ones would be cute substitute!
The eats!
I served a delicious salad with artichokes and roasted red peppers from Gimme Some Oven. For an easy bread, I just opened a refrigerated tube of crescent rolls.
The main dish was Spicy Sausage Rigatoni from Pinch of Yum.
We had Coffee and Irish Cream Bundt Cake for dessert. Yummy, but I may play around and adapt this recipe starting with a cake mix.
Thanks for coming to dinner! Hope it looks and tastes as wonderful at your house as it did at mine. Be sure to comment if you liked this post and if you have any other good substitutes for the tableware and linens of my green table design.
