Primary Colors

The inspiration for my table this week was this tablecloth I found on clearance at the Pottery Barn and Williams-Sonoma Outlet in San Marcos last weekend.  I could spend hours in that store!  I love the border print, and the yellow goes nicely in my yellow breakfast area.

I wanted to bring out the little bit of red in the border print, so I asked my husband to bring home some red flowers from the grocery store.  (He does all the grocery shopping and cooking.  And, yes, I am spoiled!)  He came home with these red Gerberas, which were perfect for the little bottles in a holder that I got for Mother's Day.  It's from the NapaStyle catalog, if you're interested.

Here's another view.  The chicken-wire holder is set on top of a lazy susan, also from Napa Style.

Since the table was for a Sunday night supper, I set it with our everyday dishes, stainless, and stemware.

Here's a closer look at a matching napkin.

Here's another view of the table.  I thought it needed a little something.

So I added some of my Le Creuset covered ramekins.  They really pull out the blue print of the tablecloth.

I love these cheery flowers!

In this photo you can see the baker's rack, which is also decorated in blue and yellow for the summer.

And -- the rim shot!

The details:
Dansk Kristina and Florencia dishes
Towle Beaded Antique stainless
Villeroy and Boch My Garden stemware

Thank you for visiting my red, yellow, and blue table this week!  I will be linking to Let's Dish at Cuisine Kathleen and to Tablescape Thursday at Between Naps on the Porch this week.

In Praise of Everyday Dishes

For this week's Let's Dish party at Cuisine Kathleen, I thought I'd show you my everyday dishes -- all three sets.  When I was a bride-to-be almost forty (yikes!) years ago, I chose two patterns -- one for everyday and one for my formal china.  Some brides also chose "in between" dishes.  I guess I have always gone for color -- no plain-but-elegant white plates for me!  Here's my first everyday pattern, Royal Doulton's Fireglow. Isn't it cheery?  I thought it had a warm, "kitchen-y" feel.  It was well-priced at the time, so I received many placesettings as wedding gifts. I kept 12 and traded the others for some of my good china and crystal.  I've posted several tablescapes with this pattern, and you can see two of them here and here.

Fireglow was an early freezer-to-oven-to-table pattern, and it included some fun pieces like these cute ramekins.  I used these everyday dishes for 25 years, then decided I needed some new ones as a reward for sticking with Mr. D&D all those years!

I looked for new everyday dishes I loved for nearly two years before finding Mikasa's Windsor Park in an outlet store while visiting Oregon.  I loved its bright colors, so I had it shipped home.  In the tablescape below, I highlighted the orange fruit in the pattern.

I've enjoyed using these dishes with yellow and blue accent pieces, too. Here's one of those tablescapes.

That pattern kept me happy for another dozen years or so, but about a year ago, I was browsing in Chicago's Bloomingdale's Home store and was drawn to some dishes that were on sale.  I decided it was time for a third set of everyday dishes!  This Dansk pattern -- Kristina & Florencia -- isn't quite as colorful as my first two patterns, but I love its simpler style.  It made its blog debut in this post.

All three of these patterns have been used day in and day out to serve family meals -- the true workhorses in my ever-growing dish collection.  What's your favorite everyday pattern?  Have you had more than three sets (so far)?  Thanks for visiting today, and please stop by Cuisine Kathleen to see other fun dish posts!