Tabletops--Take 3--Stuff Mark brings home

I read Kathryn Greeley's The Collected Tabletop last year and her tablescapes and designs inspired me to renew my efforts toward creating my own special tables.  I love dishes, glassware, china, crystal, flatware, sterling, you name it, if it goes on the table, I'm drawn to it. But I also like to use pieces in my table designs that aren't necessarily traditional tabletop elements. I like daisies in saucecups and minnowbuckets full of Queen Anne's Lace, I'm just cool that way. I think I will call this table "stuff Mark brings home." I used a couple of my favorite gifts from my husband's travels to create a happy table.  Make sure to scroll down to see the gifts that didn't make the cut.

I used platinum-rimmed Noritake china with my girls' sterling flatware and beautiful vintage blue sherbet and juice glasses that I found at an estate sale for $10!!!!!  I think mixing fine china, sterling and colorful vintage glassware makes the table pretty and interesting. 

juice glass

The girls and I look forward to gifts Mark brings home from his travels.  The blue and white village pieces from Amsterdam look so pretty with the glassware and linens.

The little houses were a passenger gift from KLM Airlines and have wax-covered chimneys that supposedly will smoke if you remove the wax. That would be fun at a dinner party.  Or scary.

Mark brought the candleholders home from Thailand after the tsunami.  They are beautiful and have been used all over our house.  They hold column candles which provide plenty of light for a late summer evening dinner.

The artisans in the markets in Phuket created spectacular pieces, even a few short days after the tsunami.  These Naga Serpent candleholders were a special gift and always make us think about the resilience of the human spirit and the fragility of life. 

These ceramic garden stools are so versatile, this blue and white serves as extra table seating and looks great with my blue and white table decor. 

Bullet Malcolm, exhausted from table design.

This charming couple from Chiclayo, Peru were not used on this table.  I LOVE THEM, they are so vital and uninhibited.  They would actually look fabulous on top of a wedding cake.