I'm Ready For Fall ~ Purple Tonquin Tablescape

Like most of you I am ready for Fall, so ready in fact that I just had to set a table to remind myself that those cool, crisp days are not far away.

Last Fall I used a lot of purple in my tablesettings and I think this year I'll be repeating that trend.  I chose a pattern by by Royal Staffordshire called Tonquin. 

Do you recognize the tablecloth?

You've seen it before but not on the table because it's usually on my bed.

  King sheets and blankets are the perfect size coverings for our wide and long table and as you know I seldom use a 'real' tablecloth anyway. 

I love the rich jewel tones in the blanket and plaid is always a good choice to evoke feelings of Autumn days,  paired of course with purple transferware.

I didn't feel that placemats were a necessity so I skipped them altogether.   Brown jacquard napkins are slightly dressy but casually folded to keep the feeling relaxed.

You can't go wrong, in my opinion, by combining amber and aubergine.   I adore this color combination.  It screams Fall!

Since I'm poor I shop my house for most centerpieces I create but even if I were rich I'd still shop my house for most centerpieces I create.  

 For this table I began with  the top of an antique wooden chest that my sister seriously regrets giving me one year for my birthday. Sorry Lauri.   I think it was meant to be mine because as I cleaned it out I came across a newspaper dated to October 3 of the early 1900's and that's my birthday...well not the early 1900's part...I'm not that old. 

 Any weathered, worn or old salvaged wood would do the trick to replicate a similar centerpiece.  I layered fall picks of maple leaves, seed pods and berries mixed with real pinecones that we gathered last Spring on a trip to with my sister-n-law, niece and nephews to  Beavers Bend.

I love candles any day, any time, so they generally find their way to play an integral part in my tablescaping.  These Linden Fig pillars add warmth and ambiance.

 Squirrels and chipmunks perched upon pinecones and giant acorns add a touch of whimsy.

 A glass hurricane layered with mums and pinecones would make a  pretty centerpiece all on its own.  I later wound up removing this from the overall centerpiece but love it on its own.

 I've layered atop the dinner plates, the salad plates along with cups and saucers.  If cups aren't going to be used for serving coffee or tea then why not use them for a starter course of soup or broth?

Here, you see the dinner plates paired with the salad plates.

Now, as Henry Beston says in Northern Farm, when "the leaves fall, the wind blows, and the farm country slowly changes from the summer cottons into its winter wools" we shall sit together and leisurely dine at this table ready for Autumn.

SOURCES:

Pillar Candles:  Zest Candles

Dinnerware:  I currently have about 8 places settings of purple Tonquin in stock.  Email for pricing or visit my Etsy shop, English Transferware.

Jacquard Napkins:  Wallie World Fall 2010 or 11 (that's Walmart btw)

Flatware:  Towle Stockholm

Blanket:  Ralph Lauren, Brittany pattern  (discontinued but I've seen some on Ebay before)

Amber goblets:  I've had them for at least 15 years.  They are Cristal d'Arques

Tonquin is available in brown, blue, red, polychrome brown, purple and I've discovered some serving pieces in green and black.  I almost always have some of this in stock in my shop or email me if you are looking for or wanting to start collecting this pattern and I'll work with you to locate what you need.

TONQUIN

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The winner of the $50 Novica gift certificate via random.org is janejett123

I will try contacting you and/or  please contact me within 3 days.

Congratulations!

Decorating with Transferware Slop Pails

A slop jar pail / bucket was a large pail used to receive waste water from a washbasin or chamber pot.  They were in use before bathrooms and were part of the bath set which comprised of a very large, 15-16", wash bowl and a large wash pitcher along with smaller pieces like pin trays, soap dishes, shaving mug, and of course the chamber pot.   Water from the wash bowl, after bathing, would be poured into the bucket so that it could be carried away and more easily disposed of than it would be in a large bowl.  Many pieces had an inner funnel shaped insert that rested on the inner rim of the bucket and helped water from spilling or splashing out.  Some of the inner pieces had small holes to so that when the waste water was poured into the bucket the bar of soap could be salvaged.

Items you might find in a Chamber set.
Top Row: Chamber Pot, Combinet, Shaving Mug, Covered Soap Dish, Brush Jar, Mouth Ewer.
Bottom Row: Slop Jar, Slop Pail, Ewer and Basin.
One item not seen here is a razor box.

Today, slop pails can be repurposed in many ways.  

Our powder bath has no cabinetry so the extra toilet tissue rolls are kept in this dual handled slop jar.   Unfortunately mine no longer has it's lid but if it did it would have looked something like the one the lid shown in the photo above, bottom row center.

Slop pails are also perfectly suited to use as bread bins, ice buckets/ coolers, containers for a collection of rolling pins or large kitchen utensils, planters, floral containers, trash bins and of course a place to hold a few rolls of toilet tissue.
I've got a few around the house.  This one holds some cooking utensils.

Some slop jars have knobs on the sides where a woven wicker or rattan carrying handle was attached (as shown in the first photo of this post).    I've got two such slop pails, both missing the wicker carrying handle.  You may have noticed this one before. It holds a small collection of vintage rolling pins,

and this one makes a great pot for a topiary.  

All of my slop buckets are from the Aesthetic Movement (1880's). 
There are countless ways you could decorate with a slop bucket...how about as a waste basket in the bathroom?  Slop pails are also large enough to hold a few rolled up bath towels. 

I just got this teal colored slop pail in and it's in my shop HERE
It is complete with the inner drainer.

I once had this one on my back patio with a narrow trellis and clematis growing in it...it was gorgeous!
Later it became a centerpiece for a tablescape filled with silk flowers.

Hmm, what else could you use a slop pail for?

There are still a couple of days left to enter to win a $50 Novica gift certificate.  Go HERE to enter.

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