Place Settings

The table - whether set for a casual lunch, a ceremonious supper, or afternoon tea, provides one of the key areas in the home in which to be able to add personality and meaning ...all of which can enhance the enjoyment of the meal partaken of itself. And as the weather here in the UK finally improves after a somewhat cold, wet and windy May which 'shook the darling buds', bar the last gloriously sunny bank holiday weekend, the same precepts can be carried out of doors.
       It doesn't take much : a few pretty or smart, well-chosen plates and linen napkins which can be endlessly washed and re-used and alternated with different ones to ring the changes according to the occasion. Perhaps a candle or two, or a posy of fresh flowers, and if out of doors a citronella candle version won't go amiss to ward off biting insects.
       To add some mid-century modern style to this setting - and it's one we use often when not in 'full tablecloth' mode - I have used cotton napkins with a mid-century modern style leaf design (which were in fact bought a few years ago in a Cath Kidston sale), bright yellow mid-century plastic napkin rings (bought for £6 on eBay for a set of 6, complete with original box and 'made in Denmark' label), and placemats with a Peter Hall 'Verdure' design which were bought from Winter's Moon (Chichester).
      The very un-mid-century-modern plates demonstrate that you don't have to match in every single detail even when aiming for a mid-century modern look: a home should have an eclectic, comfortable feel about it and be easy on the eye; so, as long as the overall look sings 'mid-century modern' it's quite feasible to add in other details if they don't overwhelm. If it works, it works!!  Always consider that many of the architect-designed houses of the mid-century era would have incorporated books and artworks from earlier eras too alongside their mid-century prized pieces: a home can look false and overly contrived in fact if such inclusions are not made; If nothing individual or passed down from previous generations is included, or things which are collected and have meaning, the home will also lack soul.
       In my first collection of poems, The Memory of Walls, (currently available on Amazon), the dining room table has a starring role - do take a look whilst waiting on my interiors book : the concept of nostalgia and the home is almost as prevalent in my poetry as it is in my interiors writings.   See my Book Room for an excerpt of 'Dining Room Table', one of the many poems within.

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