The places I've been... Cielo, Santa Fe, NM

I'm going to share a favorite shop with you this week. You might have seen some of these photos before, but it's about time for another sojourn to Santa Fe, so I am getting my shopping list ready! Come along for the ride, won't you?

Cielo Tabletop; 316 S. Guadalupe St; Santa Fe, NM 8750; 505.992.1960. There is also a bedding store down the way a bit. Click HERE for a map.

This is by far my most favorite addiction feeding shop on the planet. I spend a lot of time drooling in here. They are so gracious to let me take pictures all the time.

The last time in the store, I was able to meet the owner. Charming! 

They do carry some wonderful Yeoward crystal.

Their attention to detail is always amazing. Inspiring you to use what you have and to make purchases as necessary to augment what you have.

This is my favorite wall. Lots of cubbies filled with beautiful linens and a wonderful selection of
Kim Seybert napkin rings. And the tablecloths... well let me just say one word: heaven.

This has always been a favorite combination: Brown, blue, green, gold combined with the stellar Kim Seybert napkin ring with Swarovski crystals on the ends of the turned wood spires/beads.

Since I'm in the midst of a full-blown blue phase, I can just imagine some of these pieces finding their way home to Lubbock.

How about this blue combination? 

And this is what I love the best.. their merchandising expertise shows the same element used in so many different ways and with different pieces. 

I spot some turquoise!! Oh those could come home, too. I find that stores who carry a wide range of beautiful items in all price ranges tend to stay in business longer! And this place covers the gamut!!

Kim Seybert runner and fabulous pieces to accesories the table. I think the pomegranates add the perfect punch of color!

The store looks different every time I'm in there. Always refreshing and new. 

One Christmas, they had mixed very rustic elements in with their gorgeous lines of dinnerware. It was truly wonderful.

Still kicking myself for not bringing this treasure home. Driftwood. Very rustic.

Doesn't this just invite you to come in for a peek?

I had an ID 10 t error the day I spotted these darlings. The bruises that I inflict on myself because of things I do not purchase get rather large!! Nope left them in the store. Now I guess I will figure out how to make my own version. They are Kim Seybert. Gorgeous. Beaded wires, wool felt stitched leaves and red fabric covered berries which ended in gold jewelry findings.

I rarely leave without one or two of their delightful bags ready to make the journey back to Lubbock. But the memories of the things I don't bring home...., aaah so painful. I do hope that you will find yourself in Santa Fe, NM one day soon and remember to go by and visit Cielo. I promise you are in for a treat.
Linking to The Tablescaper's new Friday (Thursday evening) party - the places I've been - posts about places we've seen.. I hope you will join us!

Birds, Bees, Flowers and Trees Tablescape

Birds, Bees, Flowers and Trees is the monthly challenge from Cuisine Kathleen. I don't have dishes with birds on them (note to self: fix that), I sent the hibiscus flowered plates on their merry way to a new home up north, and anything with trees I had was either Christmas or winter. So I figured it was time to cheer us up and help us forget about our last freeze this past Thursday and Friday mornings! Fast forward 24 hours... and here we are a balmy 70. (Another promised freeze coming up Wednesday! I am so tired of hauling pots in and out.) But back to the table....

To attract bees, something sweet needs to be about. Lemons sous verre. Under glass. A beautiful wooden bowl, more of those split peas, some reindeer moss and lemons. All sous verre. 

And the bees appeared! Lemon colored bowls with a beehive design and a huge bee! Bees are good, they give us honey and feed mostly on pollen and nectar from plants. Bees range in size from 5/64" to 1.5". 

Sweet bees are most common in the Northern Hemisphere. One landed right here on the napkin rings that flew in from One Kings Lane last year. It fell for the yellow checked napkins from Pier One.

A lone geranium with it's single bloom, confiscated from the kitchen window sill, adds a wonderful pop of color to the table. The sweet bird couldn't resist joining this party. Direct from Ashtree Cottage, Susan and Bentley's charming home. So charming!!

 

No ladders or chairs for me. Hold the camera up high, point down, check the vari-angle view finder and shoot away. Yep, those are still pecans on the ground. I did pick them all up and they were all in the dumpster by 5pm! I know that is sad, but with 3 large pecan trees, we have more than I can possibly eat, give away or beg people to take. 

Once again, those nest chargers came out to play. I almost succumbed to the PB ones that are now on sale for less than 50% off, but resisted (oooh that sounds so noble!). I also pulled out the larger cabbage chargers to use as plates.

A yellow handled spoon completes the setting, that I found at Ross's, from Cambridge. But there is something new on the table.....

 

When I was picking up a couple of dozen margarita glasses from Dollar Tree, these glasses with lemons just plopped their chunky bodies into my basket. It was a horrible clatter wheeling those glasses down the aisles in a less than perfect shopping buggy. But I persevered!!

Cast:

Tablecloth - yellow and white - very old.

Chargers - World Market

Cabbage chargers/plates - Bordallo Pinheiro

Yellow Bowls - Arte Florum

Flatware - Cambridge

Lemon Glasses - Dollar Tree

Napkins - Pier One

Napkin rings - One Kings Lane

Sweet Yellow Bird - Ashtree Cottage

Cloche - ???

Wooden Bowl - Germany

Do you think I covered the challenge?

Birds - From Ashtree Cottage 

Bees - Bowls and Napkin rings

Flowers - the single bloom on the geranium

Trees - set under the plum tree in the garden@

I'm joining Cuisine Kathleen for her Let's Dish party on Wednesday evenings. 

Then, I'll be popping over to Susan's Tablescape Thursday on Thursday mornings!

I hope to see you there!

Ferns and Roses Tablescape

 

Welcome! I'm delighted you came by. It just makes my day! 

Confession time: See those dinner plates..... Do you remember that I was cleaning and making room? They were in the Ebay/sale pile. WERE. That could change to ARE at the flip of a switch. Yessiree Bob. I was looking for something for our table Sunday evening. Those plates were sitting there, hollering at me, pick me pick me, I can make you change your mind!

So I pulled them onto the table. Added a bit of finery, oh I mean fern-ery. I think they like the north facing window in the hallway. I hope they keep liking it. A candle in a large glass urn filled with dried split peas.

See, it really looks quite cool in there. Gives me a pop of green color and a bit of texture. Personally, I just really love their color, or colors since they aren't all the same. 

 

Here's the beginning. Silver, an heirloom placemat and napkin, green glassware and a rustic nest charger from World Market. They could be one of the favorites of this summer.

 More favorites: the French hand-blown water glasses from Santa Fe and those darned Dollar Tree goblets are making another return appearance. 

 

I did go ahead and add the Bordallo cabbage salad plates. I love how the green of the plates brings out the green leaves on the dinner plates. They also allow the napkins to stand out. 

 The dinner plates came from TJMaxx, I used there HERE last October and HERE the April before. But they haven't been used much since. And I am cleaning out and making room. 

I'll let you know how that goes!!

The ferns and the glass urn with the candle inside is all the centerpiece needed to complete the table.

Old Company Plate silver, still one of my favs, really is a perfect accompaniment to the heirloom linens I found a long time ago at an estate sale. Drawn thread work, padded satin stitched flowers and a scalloped edge will loosen up the billfold every single time!

Pulled some green mercury glass votive holders to stand in for a flower pot for the ferns. The more green the merrier!

One thing about greens, as Alycia said last week when she showed us Mikasa Daylight's fabulous green leaves, it's best to meld the greens together instead of trying to match. After all, if you look in your yard, not all greens are the same and yet they go together so gloriously.

Hope the weather is good in your neck of the woods, we are due another freeze Thursday morning. So far, it's been adios tulips, then the next week adios wisteria, I'm covering everything this week!!!

The cast:

Linens - Heirlooms; Estate Sale

Silver - Old Company Plate; Estate sale and Ebay

Chargers - World Market

Dinner Plates - TJMaxx; Royal Stafford

Glasses - Santa Fe and Dollar Tree

Centerpiece urn - Home Goods

I'll be at the party over at Cuisine Kathleen's Let's Dish and at Susan's Tablescape Thursday at Between Naps on the Porch. There are so many pretties on display, I hope to see you there!

So... should they stay or should they go?

Steak au Poivre sous les arbres tablescape

Welcome to dinner! Glad you could drop by this evening. So sorry this is a re-run. However, it's what I want to be doing Sunday evening. Smelling the charcoal, hearing the steaks sear, enjoying the spring weather. But first ------------ we could have snow Wednesday morning. With below freezing temperatures. All the plants are brought in, the newly planted lilac covered. Bring 'er on!
And with the dust preceeding the cold front today.. there was NO WAY I could set the planned table outside.


2010:

I started with this wonderful striped table cloth purchased at Pier One about 2 weeks ago. I love the texture of the raised stitches. The colors are wonderful for a somewhat more rustic meal.


I used a real English ivy to add a bit of life to the table. Isn't the dappled sunlight great?


I was even able to add my new William Bounds Pep Art pepper mill to the table.

I've wanted this pepper mill for a long time. And thanks to Tuesday Morning, it now lives at our home.


I tend to leave smaller plants in their generic planters so that I can use them as I want by changing the outer decorative planter so it fits into the desired location.


Add a bit of moss or other filler to the top of the pot to fill the area between generic pot and decorative planter.


The brassware belonged to my mother in law. I believe her sister sent it to her from overseas when her husband was stationed in the orient.


It has these beautiful figural motifs on each piece. Labeled Siam, they are from the country now known as Thailand. From what we could tell, these pieces were probably made between 1945-1949.


Oh how I love napkins. Two Saturday's ago, I actually 'cataloged' our napkins. Husband was a bit dumbfounded to walk out of the shower and see the king sized bed full of neat little piles of nothing but napkins! I collect them here and there. The side benefit to all this organization is that they are now put up quite neatly in cabinets, only fingertips away from a table!

These napkins started out as hemstitched pieces of cotton. I decided that they needed a bit more texture. I chose to whip stitch the hemstitched area with some twisted floss.


The hurricane candle holder has a story to tell. We lost the original insert that belongs between the base and the lid at some point in our last move. The move gremlins must have snatched it up and made it their own! So in need of something that would work, I grabbed a vase and it fits perfectly.



Back out came the favorite hand-blown French glasses.


Do you love kosher or sea salt? Finding it hard to put it in a salt shaker with an opening large enough? Rescue a little jar destined for the trash.


My mother in law was going to throw this out. But that was not meant to be. I took this beauty and knew it would be perfect to house salt. The wooden spoon came with it!


At some point, I believe it held mustard. French of course!



The wooden plates are also part of the wonderful things I have from my mother in law. Triangular in shape, they hold a metal plate in the lower portion and have an indention at the top for a salad.

The metal plate is placed in the oven before dinner to warm up. Perfect for steaks or anytime you want to make a special special presentation and have the food do an extra sizzle when placed on the hot plates!


Not quite sure what the story is on why there are two different metal plates and they are not interchangeable. Each teak underplate is made for a specific metal plate. I do use a wood preservative meant for cutting boards (so food safe) to maintain the beauty of the wooden plates.


Love the look of the Mexican star in the background. Too bad it gets dark so late that unless we want to eat at 10pm in the summer, it's hard to get the total affect of the candles and lights.



Mmmm, dinner is served.. baked potato with butter, chives and sour cream. Steak au poivre medium rare. Baby portabella mushrooms deglazed with red wine.


And a green salad with French vinaigrette. There has to be something healthy on the plate?


Thanks for dropping by, I hope you had a nice visit. Do come again, I love company.


Luckily dinner was served soon as Regan was very interested in the table cloth! 
Note how tiny - and pure white - Regan was in 2010!

Thanks for dropping by, I love your comments. I am linking this to Cuisine Kathleen's Wednesday evening's Let's Dish and to Susan's Tablescape Thursday. See all y'all there!