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Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Summertime Suppertime


Sometimes I cheat.
Not on taxes or anything trivial like that, 
but on important stuff like blog posts.

In wanting to share a summertime table setting with you,
I dove back into the Time Machine and pulled pictures
from a hundred years ago.  Or July 2009, if that's more believable.


Last night, my daughter Anne and I watched the 2003 movie
Something's Gotta Give on television.  I'd never seen it before.
Cute film, but honestly?
I watched it because the kitchen in the film's Hamptons house is a decorating icon; 
people are still asking for kitchens that look like the one in that ten-year old film.


Do you ever watch a movie or television show because you want
to see the architecture or the interiors?  I do.  All the time.

The shingled exterior of Diane Keaton's house is a real Hamptons house,
but the interiors are all soundstage sets.
And pretty gorgeous ones, at that.

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All the colors in the movie house are taken from sea, sky, shells, and sand.
Beiges, whites, and blues.

Those are the colors I used for this tablescape, four years ago,
in our sunroom here in New Jersey.  Nowhere near the shore!

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What I used:
Old hotel silverplate flatware
Dollar Tree wineglasses
Dollar Tree dinner plates and bowls in blue and aqua
Dollar Tree votive candleholders
Clearance table sand-colored heavy cotton tablecloth
Old Syracuse restaurant china salad plates, from my Mom's collections
Vintage linen luncheon napkins in pale aqua, eBay
A wee little sugar and creamer and little plates, with shells, a gift from my friend Betsy

And this fellow:
[IMG_3234.JPG]

Probably nearly 40 years ago, my girlfriend-since-Kindergarten Mardi and I found 
this ceramic fish at an arts show on the dock in Greenport Village, on eastern Long Island.
We bought it for my parents to keep at their beach house, which now belongs to me and my siblings.
Be careful what you buy your parents, young'uns.  You never know when it will end up in your house!


Wow!  These pictures are so old, the walls in the sunroom were still
painted in that gold color; now they are a lovely creamy biscuit color.
Kind of like . . . sand!

Happy Summer!  Don't throw in the (beach) towel on the season just yet.
There's lots of beautiful days ahead, lots of corn and tomatoes
still to eat, lots of swimming or boating still to do . . . .
even though the trees at That Old House began losing a few leaves today.
What a revoltin' development.  -- Cass

Link Parties
At Cuisine Kathleen, it's Let's Dish!  Click here.
It's Tablescape Thursday at Between Naps On The Porch CLICK!
Join the Thursday Favorite Things blog party at
Katherine's Corner.  Click here!

10 comments:

  1. Love your tablescape, love the colors and the simplicity and those beautiful blue mercury glass
    candleholders. It is so beachy and beautiful.
    Blessings, nellie

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  2. So glad that you commented on my post, because I had never seen your blog previously. Love it! I definitely watch movies for the interior shots and I love the house in that movie. I watched it, again, when you did! My favorite interior was the main house in "Meet Joe Black" - antique furniture with modern art, which is my favorite combination! Great table - the colors do remind me of the sea and those votive holders are fantastic!

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  3. Love your lovely simple summer tablescape...so refreshing not to sww a stack of white plates...lol so the rage now...your table is inviing and perfect for a summer evening...phyllis

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  4. Such a beautiful table. I'd love to eat anything with a table and view like that.

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  5. How pretty! The soft aqua makes me think of the soft breezes off the coast.

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  6. I don't care if these pictures are 10 years old....I adore your setting and the color. So pretty!

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  7. Hi Cass, When I lived in NJ (Short Hills) I actually felt closer to the beach than I do now here in CT, and I am only a few miles away. I think it is because NJ has so much more accessible public areas at the shore! Anyway, I do like your table--all my favorite beachy elements. And I do watch tv and movies for the sets. I saw Something's Gotta Give years ago when it was being shown on a long flight, and I laughed so hard that in my efforts to keep quiet (you know, they don't like noisy people on planes...) I started crying great enormous non-stop tears and the flight attendant came to see what was wrong with me. I always have a much greater emotional response to movies on the plane and I have heard others say the same so I know I'm ok. And yes, I agree about the gifts to the parents. My mom is already handing things back to us all! How will I ever give them away?? Have a nice day and thanks for this very enjoyable post. Linda

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  8. Very pretty table setting.

    Here in Kansas, August woke up
    and we are having HOT weather now!
    Really HOT weather for next week.

    Enjoy.

    :)

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  9. I see how you have alternated the aqua and blue bowls and plates. It looks lovely and peaceful. I like the colors so I would go sit at this table!

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  10. Your table looks like a day at the beach!
    You had the most perfect weekend of the summer to be on the North Fork. I am sure you had a wonderful time.
    Thanks for linking to Let's Dish!

    ReplyDelete

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