Skip to main content

Get your Plaid On! National Tartan Day is April 6th!


    April 6th is National Tartan Day so today I'm sharing my tartan tablescape (with a bit of French toile and English transferware thrown in for good measure)!!!
 

Whether you're of Scottish ancestry, as were half of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, simply a lover all things tartan, or as I am; are both, then it's time to get your tartan on!  National Tartan Day commemorates the Scottish Declaration of Independence (The Declaration of Arbroath 1320), which is said to have been unequalled to in its eloquent plea for liberty of man and from which the American Declaration of Independence was modeled on.




I started my tablescape above...by hanging my favorite tartan umbrella from the chandelier over the dining table.  



 Rather than a traditional table-cloth I spread 3 of my reversible tartan blanket scarves across the table, green on the ends and a red one at the center.  They reverse to a houndstooth on the back side and are perfect for wearing or decorating with.  I used several in my office as valances which I hope to share at some point. 


I have to tell you, that before I photographed the table I had hoped to get some fresh flowers to mix with the faux ones I'd placed in the antique 'whiskey' decanter.  I made the comment to Shawn that some fresh white flowers would be so nice.  Suddenly he had his keys in hand and was headed towards the door. I asked him where he was going in such a rush and he said nunya (translation: none of my business) and was out the door in an instant. I didn't even have a chance to get a smart aleck comeback in so I did what we bloggers often do; I grabbed my camera and watched him from my office. I saw him drive down the street to our neighbors house where, lo and behold, their white Azaleas were in full, and abundant, bloom. I see him chat with neighbor and then proceed to pull something from his pocket and heads toward the Azaleas where he proceeds to start cutting!   Apparently, he asked if he might trim a few for his wife's tablescape.  Wasn't that so sweet of him?  In the pic below that's him between the black car and the first tree on the right.  The huge trees are blocking the view of our neighbor and all of their Azaleas. 


Thank you to my sweet and thoughtful husband and to my generous neighbors for the lovely white Azaleas that were the finishing accoutrement to my table!
 


These adorable toile trimmed tartan tea towels (talk about a tongue twister) take the place of dinner napkins.  The flatware is Barenthal Mabre'.  


Each place setting has one of these vintage Scottish glasses which are each uniquely decorated with a Scotsman from a different clan in his kilt.  I have one set of 7 in my store right now.




I layered lots of red transferware, some in a wavy tartan, with mixed tartan dinnerware.









 I LOVE transferware, toile and tartan together!  Do you?     




You can see previous years Tartan Day posts and read more about why we celebrate it HERE and HERE 

Do you celebrate National Tartan Day?  If so, I'd love to know how!  Even if you're not of Scottish heritage, it's a great excuse to get out your plaid on!




joining:


Comments

  1. Love Love Love the Tartan plaids!!! Your story about the flowers is a hoot!!! Thanks for the laugh!
    Great table!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love your table, especially the stacked plates and the whiskey decanter!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nancy, you know I'm a tartan fan. Your table is so fitting with the mix of tartan, toile, and transfer ware. I love the story about the flowers. Sweet guy!
    Thanks for reminding me that Tartan Day is coming up. I need to get some tartan out and share a post of my own. Happy National Tartan Day!

    ReplyDelete
  4. How pretty a table Nancy! Thanks for sharing at Home Sweet Home!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love all your dishes, I would love a day at your house to see them all

    ReplyDelete
  6. Your tablescape is just perfect! As you know, you and I have such similar style and I just love everything that you do!! Wishing you and your family a blessed Easter.

    Big Texas Hugs,
    Susan and Bentley

    ReplyDelete
  7. I don't think my comment was posted, so I will repeat it. I love your style!! Wishing you and your family a blessed Easter.

    Big Texas Hugs,
    Susan and Bentley

    ReplyDelete
  8. Happy Tartan Day Nancy. Thank you for sharing your gorgeous tablescape at Create, Bake, Grow and Gather this week.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

I love hearing from my readers. I appreciate the time you take to post a comment and I read them all.

Popular posts from this blog

English Cottage Living Room - Before, Partly After & Still a Work in Progress

I am sorry for not posting more pictures of the progress we've made settling into this new (to us) home.   It seems life rushes by so fast and that at times, doing little things, even those that I love and enjoy, often get pushed aside and onto the back shelf of my mind where I tell myself, "I'll get to this later".  Well, it is later and though I don't have as much to share with you as I'd like, I'm going to at least share my favorite spot in our living room.  I promise to show the rest of the room soon but for now the opposite half of the living room has been occupied by my daughters boyfriend who has been staying with us for the past 7 or so weeks until his apartment is ready for him to move into, and so the couch is usually made up for him to sleep on!   Here is a photo of the current living room just as we found it, a small room just off the entry of the house with a nice marble and wood fireplace surround, hard wood floors, beautiful crown mouldi

The History of Johnson Brothers and The Friendly Village Tablescape

Last week, Shawn and I popped into a couple of estate sales and I picked up over 100 pieces of Johnson Brother's The Friendly Village .  I think I may have to hang on to 12 of the dinner plates and use them this year at Thanksgiving but the rest of them, including this 48 piece service for 8, will be you know where. I don't know about you all, but I have had enough of Summer and I am down right ready for the cooler temperatures of Autumn.  I've been doing a lot of rearranging around the house….I'm in one of those zones where I've got a zillion projects going on, even if half of them are just in my mind that I'm contemplating!   We've also been moving kids out and around.  Three of them are out and the three still at home are moving or rearranging their rooms around.    Since I am yearning for Fall, haven't posted any tablescapes in a while and just got these Friendly Village pieces I decided to set the table with them.      Oh great, I

More Traditional Red White & Blue Rooms with Transferware

A couple of weeks ago I shared some pictures of beautiful rooms in red and blue color schemes decorated with transferware .    Here is another roundup of rooms that I adore, all with red and blue color schemes and all with transferware!  Enjoy!  (via Traditional Home) (via enchanted home) (my old living room) Joining some of the following parties: Between Naps on The Porch Transformation Thursday at  The Shabby Chic Cottage Feathered Nest Friday at  French Country Cottage Friday Inspiration  At The Picket Fence Cindy at  My Romantic Home Funky Junk Interiors Charm of Home No Minimalist Here WOW  Amaze Me Mondays  Making Monday Link Party  Motivational Mondays  What'd You Do This Weekend?   Inspire Me Monday   Make It Pretty Monday   Monday Link Party  Inspire Me Monday 

My English Country Mom Cave

Susan, at Between Naps on the Porch is hosting a Home Goods Mom Cave contest with four lucky winners.  Come on in to my little niche I've carved out of my house.  This is where I work, create, relax, read and chat with friends and family. This is one of my favorite spots in the house to read about one of my favorite subjects...English transferware or poetry, and drink tea.  I often start and end my day right here. Next to the chair is an antique dumbwaiter which holds some decorative items as well as lots of poetry books.  This is the view of the room from the wing back chair.  This cozy room serves as a small living room, although it's not uncommon to have 8 or 9 of the girls in here during family gatherings.  It's usually where we all wind up to have coffee and visit. . On either side of the sofa I display some of my vintage Canine figurines on Spode meat drainers. Above the sofa are some of my favorite paintings.  The one directly over the sofa my Mom pain

Decorating with Brown Transferware & $100 GIVEAWAY

Brown was introduced as a transferware color around 1829-30 and is the least expensive of colors to make. Therefore it is fairly common, so far as transferware goes, to find.  It is also one of the most collected colors and it is probably the most versatile of colors in my opinion.  Brown is neutral and looks good with any color scheme from pastels to rich jewel tones, but it is with the ushering in of Autumn that I see it popping up in home decor and vignettes the most.  Though, most of these rooms and vignettes are decorated with brown pieces year round, it just seems the perfect time to share them.  I may have to do another post because there are so, so many more equally beautiful spaces that have incorporated the use of displaying brown transferware  and I can't fit them all here. So, check these lovelies out and then stick around for the giveaway at the bottom of the post. This vignette just stole my heart the first time I saw it.  So many of us have vintage luggage

The Aesthetic Movement and Transferware

What is the Aesthetic Movement? The Aesthetic Movement refers to a period of time in the late 19 th century (1870-1900) which was a backlash to the formal Victorian years.  Artists and writers of the Aesthetic movement period maintained the belief that art should provide refined sensuous pleasure, rather than convey moral or sentimental messages.  They believed that art did not have any didactic purpose; it need only be beautiful.  Japanese art had a great influence on Aestheticism. Aesthetic interiors were often decorated with Japanese prints, screens, fans and other objects. An appreciation of the art of Japan is seen in the work of many Aesthetic artists and designers such as James McNeill Whistler and E.W. Godwin. photo credit Country Living The Aesthetes developed the cult of beauty, which they considered the basic factor in art. They ascertained that life should copy art and considered nature as crude and lacking in design

Decorating with Blue Transferware and a GIVEAWAY!

   If you haven't already been over to Enchanted Home , you'll want to go over after you finish this post because the wonderful Tina, who authors the incredibly gorgeous blog,  has a great post up about decorating with dishes plus she's hosting a giveaway to my online shop, English Transferware !  Details at the end of the post! I know Tina loves blue and white (just look at her header and you'll know!) and has a collection of her own. In honor of Tina, I've decided to share some of my favorite images of rooms decorated with and often around blue transferware collections.  You can see more rooms decorated with blue transferware on my Pinterest board . To me, Charles Faudree is just about as synonymous with English transferware as he his with French Country Decorating...he seemed to always find a use for it in his incredibly detailed decorating schemes.  Isn't this bedroom charming? I love this next image from Decor Magazine.  Look how the blu