Summer Table

If you know me well, you know that I like to switch up my table centerpiece with the seasons (and sometimes more often than that!). This changing in decor sometimes even overflows to surrounding spaces - currently, our buffet or kitchen cart.  As I was yearning for fall the other day (sweatshirts, crisp mornings... football), I resisted the urge to switch out our summer decor for autumn stuff because I realized I hadn't taken pictures of our summer dining room to share with you. Plus, it's August.... I think I need to wait til mid-Sept before bringing out the pumpkins.

Two things that pop into my mind when I think of summer are 1) Sand and 2) Shells or in a single word, "Beach." This was my inspiration for our Summer Table 2011.

Ta Da! 

 I filled my hurricanes with sand, centered a blue textured candle and surrounded it with shells - the day after I did this (no joke) one of my favorite blogs did the same thing in an apothecary jar! I felt so creative and "fashion forward" (As they say on Project Runway - yes, I'm addicted). :)

 A bird's eye view of the hurricane. I'm so over my previous mind-set of: "I never burn candles because I want to use them over and over again." As you can see we have enjoyed these candles this summer - love dinner and candlelight. :) I used an old table cloth that had been badly stained to make the table "runner" - I liked the simplicity of the shorter length of cloth and I've really enjoyed the plaid tone on tone fabric.

Moving onto our kitchen cart:

 I found this cheese cloche for $3 at a thrift store. It even has a marble bottom. I KNOW!

 We haven't used it for cheese yet, but the shells are enjoying their summer home (they told me so).

Buffet time:

  I found two buffet lamps 70% off at Kirklands in Amarillo earlier this summer! I love the ambiance they provide to our dining room - perfect for our buffet. (I think I need to raise the picture between them about 3 inches, to help with the "Triangle" effect) I'm also playing with the idea of painting a large canvas (like 2.5x4ish) to place here, something a bit industrial with text on it (I'm currently thinking 1 John 3:18). We will see. 

The summer beachy theme continues to the buffet, I put some sand in a shallow bowl and filled it with some of the larger shells I have in my collection. All of my shells were given to me by "Grandma" Reed - a sweet neighbor who truly functioned as a grandmother to us kids (we lived 20 hours from biological grandparents) when we were growing up. She had a shell collection that we were not allowed to touch (I think one of us broke a sand dollar at one point - if my memory is correct) but I would spend a lot of time gazing at them. She knew how much I loved them and when she moved into a nursing home, she gave them to me. I have loved having reminders of Grandma Reed around my house this summer - such happy memories. 

So that's our Summer 2011 dining room. :) Do you have any summer decor that comes out every year? I haven't done the same thing twice (yet) with summer decor (Click here to see our Summer 2010 table) but I have loved the sand/shells so much - you may see them again next year. :)