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Tablescape challenge: Modern folk

We decided to go to Fabric Row, which is 4th Street in South Philadelphia and keep an open mind.  I was thinking yellow and my assistant designer Adriene was thinking green and we ended up with something completely different. Adriene and I tend to have very opposing views on bold prints so we were surprised that we both loved this modern folk art print so much.  It had so many bold colors to pull from but the red seemed to jump out at us.  While you could easily use this as an allover table linen, we liked the idea of “placemat” runners as an overlay.

I had this idea for Trompe L’Oeil vases and was dying to make them.  We were able to use inexpensive liner vases and draw dreamy vintage containers on chalkboard boxes. The effect worked perfectly.  The flowers are a mix of roses, spray roses, dianthus, ranunculus, anemone and Gloriosa Lily. We specifically used the Gloriosa because it looked so perfect with our printed fabric.

For our place setting, we used alternating black and white plates and napkins with brushed flatware.

The Menus and Placecards were pieces of chalkboard.

DIY info:

The “placemat” runners were simple, we measured our table height x 2 + table width to get the runner length added a few inches to allow it to puddle. We opted to make the runners 20” wide.  Add 1” allowance on all sides for 1/2” hems.  Sew with sewing machine or to make it easier use fusible hem tape.

The “vases” are wooden boxes with 3 coats of chalkboard paint, we just sketched the vase shapes that we liked on.  This allows you to use any jar or cheap vase to hold the flowers.  We made these boxes ourselves but you could use any box. The menus and place cards are thin wood with 3 coats of chalkboard paint.

Photos, Linens, Flowers, “Vases” by Sullivan Owen (we’re multi taskers!)