For Your Tabletop

People ask me why I started this site, and how I’ve chosen the things I’ve collected here to sell. I have to say that these are easy questions to answer. The simple truth is that I’ve been lucky to find some really cool things that I personally love and use myself, and thought there must be other people like me who may love them too!

When I found these beautiful dishes at the Paris home show, Maison et Objet, several years ago, they struck a chord with me. I love the freeform edges, the intricate designs made from placing different pieces of lace into the wet, red Provence clay, and the beautiful, semi-opaque white glaze used that lets a bit of that red color come through. They are not inexpensive, but when I met the artist who creates these dishes by hand, each one different than the one before, I wanted to not only support her, but find others who still are creating things by hand.

The quality is in every piece, and you can feel the handwork that went into the creation of each dish. Of course setting a table with multiple settings of these dishes would be amazing, but I also thought that just one place setting or a few dishes could really add to host’s entertaining repertoire of great serving pieces. That’s how I use my set. When I steam a couple of artichokes and use the mid-sized plate and bowl, it makes something that could have been ordinary into “more”. Even if it’s just us, we are worth the “more”.

I’ve been so aware of articles in shelter magazines lately that talk about people who use their “good things” daily instead of saving them for grand occasions. It’s great advice and one way to ritualize meals as time to spent together as family and friends, not just something to do on the run or while multi-tasking. But even when it’s just a Tuesday night, and you having some artichokes, treating yourself as company can do wonders for your self-esteem.

I’ve always said that you can learn a lot by watching a great bartender. One tip that I’ve picked up along the way is how to deal with hard water spots on glasses. I had tried it all: changing dishwasher detergents, adding rinse agents, increasing the hot water temperature… I still had spots! Now I live in an area with ridiculously hard water, and I can’t install a softener system due to the fact that we have some older non-copper pipes, so I thought I’d just have to live with spotty glassware.

But while hanging out at the Jade Bar at Sanctuary on Camelback Mountain, I asked one of the bartenders what he was wiping the glasses with. “Vodka,” he said. It’s a miracle! When I empty the dishwasher, I have a clean towel and a bottle handy, and if I see any build up of hard water, I dab some vodka on the towel and wipe down the glass- instantly it becomes crystal clear! It’s completely food safe (unlike strange cleaners), has no vinegar smell, and the alcohol evaporates leaving you beautifully sparking glasses!

Something Heloise didn’t teach!

This week saw beautiful shots of the magnolias blooming in Central Park photographed  by Jeff Hirsch that graced newyorksocialdiary.com this past Tuesday.

It also saw gorgeous hand-embroidered magnolias on drab colored European linen on foryourtabletop.com. Spring has indeed sprung!

Recently, stylist.com had it’s list of seven home furnishing trends that it predicts will soon meet their demise…

1. The coffee table: They say it will be replaced by the ottoman/trunk/grouping of small tables, but is this really the end of the “coffee table” or are people just now seeing that this really can be anything that sits in front of a sofa?

2. The love seat: As someone on the site commented, “I don’t have a love seat, I have a ‘hate sofa’”! More and more people are using a collection of chairs and the chair-and-a-half(?!) to serve the same function, so again, is it the demise of something, or are people just getting more clever?

3. The landline phone: What’s a landline?

4. The full (double) bed: The only reason we have one is that my partner’s grandparents’ bedroom furniture, which we have in our guest room, fits a full bed. I guess people today want their “space”, hence the proliferation of California kings.

5. The nightstand: Really?!

6. The sideboard: Now this gem of a storage piece can be a bit bulky, and if people find themselves in smaller spaces where the coffee table IS their dining table, I can see this not being high on people’s lists of furniture to buy. But if you have a dining room (and I hope you do!) it is a great place to store “stuff” and be a serving station or bar when entertaining. Now again, this doesn’t have to be a traditional “sideboard” but can be anything that serves that function, so is really endangered? See 1 and 2.

7. The tablecloth: Sigh, and alas… With everyone working and time so limited (let alone the knowledge of how to iron a full-sized tablecloth!), finding more of it to care for a good linen is tough, but maybe that’s what dry cleaners are for? Way back when, there was a day of the week devoted to nothing but laundry, and even most middle-class households usually had someone to help as it was a very labor intensive proposition. But those days are long gone, so take advantage of those around you who do this professionally. The two to three times a year you need it (and maybe it’s only once!), it’s done and hanging in your closet (or laying in your sideboard!) ready when you are. Napkins, on the other hand, are a snap to handle on your own, as are placemats and runners, but I get it- the tablecloth is a whole other animal!

By the way, if you’re searching for fine linen, look no further (shameless plug!)…

It catches you off guard. You know what the date is, but you’re busy doing the million things that you do when all of a sudden- you stop and smell. There is nothing like the scent of white citrus blossoms. Perfumers have been trying to capture in a bottle what we now have for free, at least for a week or so (it’s just that quick!), and that means that spring is officially here. So, allergies aside, we enjoy, for we know that heady scent will be gone soon (but, come fall/winter, we’ll get the fabulous fruit!).

The artists responsible for the linen I carry have interpreted the season in their own way. They have created a beautiful design they call Frühling, which is German for spring. In that part of the world, the harbinger of this season is the magnolia, and they have magnificently embroidered magnolia branches coming into flower on fine European linen. The linen background is the color of Wedgewood drabware, and is a perfect foil for the design.

I found these at Maison et Objet last winter and ordered them on the spot. I actually thought the design was cherry blossoms due to the coloration and design of the branches on the larger mats and runners, which has a decidedly  Asian sensibility, but they are magnolia. Needless to say the hand work is amazing, and the thread work and coloration give an almost painterly effect.

Of course these are perfect year round, not just in this fleeting season, and will last with a bit of care for years to come. Please, take a further look!

I have always found that there is something comforting about having a plan. Maybe it’s a menu that you master that works for different groupings of dinner guests during a season, or a table scape that looks wonderful that you can count on, and just maybe it’s both! I’m a firm believer in: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!”

Fresh fruit on the table is always a great centerpiece idea and mixed with flowers, it can have even more impact.  To keep it fresh, I have a few different bowls I use for fruit (this is a relatively inexpensive green Chinese crackle glaze bowl that sits on a rosewood stand that I picked up years ago), and I find that these glasses made from wine bottles indispensable for flowers! I think of them as a modern take on the silver julep cup as a vase for flowers. Mixed with my beautiful linen napkins hand embroidered with lemons, trusty woven mats and a mix of dishes, I have a table scape that I can rely on. Change out the napkins, fruit/container, and flowers, as well as modifying the menu to reflect the season, and I have a plan for entertaining that works well for me. And having a plan that works takes the sting out of “Company is coming, what do I do?!”

Here is a variation on a theme: The table here is set for six, not four, the bowl for the lemons is alabaster, the flowers are pink and green roses instead of tulips, the short votives have been replaced with my beeswax tapers and I combined my chestnut and olive linen napkins from Muriel Grateau in Paris, but the dishes, glassware, and menu are the same!

Every so often, I find an editorial in a magazine totally captivating, and in the March issue of Architectural Digest, I had the “I could live there” moment. The cover story is about Brooke Shields and her 1910 Greenwich Village brick townhouse she shares with her husband and two children. When she bought it, however, the place was a derelict (though landmark) four-family house with a ’60′s addition. Now, with the help of MADE, a Brooklyn design/build firm, and designer David Flint Wood, the house has been transformed it into a one-family home filled with a rich collection of furniture and art collected over the years by Brooke and her mom, Teri.

After her childhood Upper East Side townhouse that Brooke shared with her mom was sold some years ago, it’s contents, which held a trove of memories and the sum total of Teri’s obsessive collecting and flea market finds, was removed to a hanger-sized warehouse in Jersey, which proved a treasure trove for the both builder and designer.

Brooke’s charge was to create a home that would “sum up her life”. Various bits of collected architectural salvage were incorporated into the structural changes to the home, and after a “ruthless triage” of mementoes, furniture and art, which held great sentimental value for Brooke, a warm, inviting family home emerged that gives the family “an experience of of home with a layered and resonant personal history.”

There are two dining areas in the home, one formal, the other less so and part of the kitchen. The formal dining room is papered in a hand-blocked Zuber paper and has a vintage Ralph Lauren Home table and Jansen chairs. It is beautiful without being over-the-top- clearly a place for a family to built new memories among the old. The kitchen space is a bit more whimsical. Wood talked Brooke into covering her George III-style chairs in orange patent leather that surrounds a table created by MADE from architectural salvage. This dining area sits in front of a working wood-burning fireplace and is centered in the kitchen making it part of the hub of meal prep activity.

What beautiful spaces. The rest of the home has great ideas of how to live with your memories and create a truly personal home. It is definitely worth a look- this is a “keeper” issue!

So, I was going through files and files of pictures, and came across this. This is the kitchen of one of our favorite restaurants in Paris, Robert et Louise, in the Marais. Off to the right is super small prep area where they cleave the steaks as they are ordered and toss them on the iron over the open fire.

Our long communal table was right in front of the fire (hence the ability to quickly snap the pic), and we ate elbow to elbow with our friends and made new acquaintances while we were there. The night rose to new heights when the owner approached us and asked if we were interested in staying after closing and playing “Name That Tune” with a group at another table using his iPod. Well, this doesn’t happen at ALL back home, so of course we did and stayed and drank and played for several hours. It was the spirit of our group that attracted the owner to extend the invitation, and our limited French combined with this carried us for the remainder of the remarkable evening.

That evening exemplified what “Tabletop” is all about: a hospitable host; a group of people; sharing a meal. We laughed, and ate, and drank, and played. And at the end of the night we walked away enriched in so many ways.

There are many “haute cuisine” restaurants in Paris. This is not one of them. But the food is authentic, and the joy that the host derives from his patrons is something to behold. That’s all you need: good food, simply prepared, and people to join in with you at the table.

If there could be ONE thing that makes an event special, it could very well be candlelight. Everyone looks better in it, it hides a multitude of sins in terms of rooms that are a bit  “less than”- whatever that may mean to you, and it just plain raises the bar.

Light. It’s so important, especially at this time of year. The natural light is diminishing as days are becoming shorter. Family traditions and winter rituals call for a different quality of light. For me, there is no substitute for quality candlelight produced by 100% pure beeswax candles.

I have used beeswax candles for forever, literally. My earliest recollection of candles is of my mom’s brass candlesticks given to her by my grandmother (She had quite a number of these. Even after giving substantial collections to my aunt and mom, there were still a large number of them in her home!) fitted with beeswax candles. The gentle fragrance is an instant transport to my childhood home.

I am thrilled to offer a signature line of 100% beeswax candles made by a venerable family company that has been in the candle business going on 85 years. These candles are solid beeswax tapers that are 12 inches in length, and the meticulous craftsmanship that goes into these follows the industrious efforts of thousands of bees. 160,000 bees must travel 150,000 miles collecting nectar to yield enough wax to create just 2 pairs of these solid 12″ tapers. These pure 100% beeswax tapers burn at a rate of ¾ of an inch per hour and should be arranged about 4 inches apart out of the way of drafts.

There is nothing better than to bask in the glow of these beeswax candles. The gentle fragrance and the quality of light recall the great churches of Europe, but the good news is that they are made right here!

Inspired? Get them now!