We're in the midst of October now and the leaves are well into their stunning crimson and fire transformations before they'll be blown from their branches. The days are getting shorter and chillier and before long, some of us may be feeling a little blue.
BLUE & WHITE, that is. One way I find to extend the fondness of days past is to take something from the previous season and keep it around, if but to lift our spirits for a bit longer. This week I set up a fall luncheon and rather than the expected autumnal color palette, I opted for classic Blue and White with pops of complementary orange as the color palette.
With a small budget, I limited myself to only paper products to enhance the table setting. I hit up a local dime store and found inspiration from printed paper plates and napkins from Caspari which I mixed in with real plates, bowls and tea cups. I decoupaged pumpkins with the blue and white napkins to carry the theme to the finish line!
Although this Blue and White is a classic color combo, it's still a blending of different styles that makes this tablescape interesting. Hand dyed indigo shibori fabric is used for a table runner. Japanese teacups and bowls in cobalt blue reactive glazes are placed. Global ikat and traditional toile patterns printed on paper are decoupaged onto pumpkins - a motley mashup that holds together through this Blue and White color palette.
It may seem unconventional but if your gathering is casual, there's no real reason not to mix in the decorative paper plates amongst your china and ceramic pieces. Your guests will praise your ingenuity.
To that end, I found an unexpected way to use the paper napkins as well. Paper is one of the most versatile and economical materials available so I decided to have some fun. With a pair of scissors and cut out the floral arrangements and applied them onto the surface of a white pumpkin with an ample amount of modge podge glue that dried clear. At the end of the day, you'll manage to created a visual experience that will manage to delight and surprise.
We all want to have an high end look and admittedly, I certainly love providing that for clients. Sometimes, however, if a budget is limited, we gotta get creative. I can help clients come up with solutions that can give the look for less. There's actually a little magic that happens when you pull off something like this because with money, of course, you can pay for anything. It's when parameters are tightened that real creativity and ingenuity come into play.
What projects have you created that required a little creative problem solving and ingenuity? Leave a comment below if you'd care to share and let me know what you thought of this DIY design project.