The Adult Table for Gatehouse No1's Christmas Open House

When I was asked to do a 

tablescaping demonstration 

for Evan's Gatehouse No1

I was told to go throughout

the store and pick anything I 

wanted to use for the tablescaping.

This lush mantel was my inspiration.

(It definitely makes my mantel decor look wimpy

and in need of a redo!)

All of their mantels throughout the store

are fabulously decorated.  I attended the

classes held throughout the week and learned

from Joey, who helps decorate the

Governor's mansion

that they use nails to secure their mantels but

she taught us we could use 3m hooks on the

mantel and wire the heavy decor to the hook.

Thought you might like to know that tip.

I am definitely beefing up my mantel and

using the 3m hooks as mine is stone.

Oh, to have a whole store to freely choose from

to create a mantel like this!!!

I loved the icy blues and silvers and decided 

I had to make an adult table in these colors

along with the children's table

that I set in the traditional reds and greens.

This fabulous floral was the first thing

I chose to start my tablescape. 

 I love, love, love

the icy aqua vase it was set in.

Of course I chose this huge 

Mark Roberts

Father Christmas to go alongside

the vase.  As I was moving it a woman

was worried that it was sold as she had

her eye on it.

I also had to pull this fabulous

sleigh and fill it with a darker shade

of aqua ornaments.

(This was one of my favorite pieces.)

I anchored everything on the 

table with a sheer organza 

table overlay (linentablecloth.com).

You are going to love this website!

These overlays are under $5 

for a 72 inch square!!

AND there is no minimum

number to order.  Warning - this

site can be very addictive!

The opposite side of the table

featured this cluster of bottle brush

trees in sparkling white and this

simpler Father Christmas.

As Gatehouse No1 doesn't sell plates, goblets and

flatware I brought my own over to create the

tablescape.  Hubby did all the hauling.

(I do have to tell on him - at the 

end of the presentation, when I

was answering questions, 

he raised his hand and asked,

"How much do you budget for 

this every month?"  Oh, that

one got the laughs!!

The perfect place setting for this table

was a stack of aqua and white and topped

it with this encrusted stag ornament.

We began with talking about linens and 

placemats and how I always try to use a

charger to begin the stack of dishes.

I also taught them about layering the dishes

and how I remove layers to serve a meal.

I demonstrated layering napkins 

and told them that both of these 

napkins were made simply by

cutting 17 1/2 inch squares of

coordinating fabrics and serging

the edges.  I love the effect of

an organza napkin layered over another

napkin.  

I mentioned that I had searched for

aqua napkins and had found none so

I had decided to make my own.

Imagine how many fun holiday napkins

you could make this year with all of

the great Christmas fabrics!!

The white bubble goblet is my $1 bargain 

from Tai Pan a few years ago and the 

gorgeous aqua goblet with the twisted

stem (the one they all wanted) was

hand carried home from Mexico.

People were also crazy for these beautiful 

square beaded placemats which I found at

Home Goods.  I told them I had purchased

a few one year and searched the next year

and found more.  I told them my favorite

stores for bargain dishes and my

favorite web sites.

Here's a perfect example that I showed them

of mixing and matching as I didn't have

enough snowflake napkin rings to finish

the table so I used these reindeer napkin

rings for every other place setting.

The reindeer were originally red and I

told them how I had spray painted them

and finished them with a glitter spray paint.

This table topping was so popular

that I personally know a woman that 

purchased the floral arrangement and

the sleigh and I heard rumors that someone

else purchased the entire table top.

(They had multiples of the floral arrangement.)

As I told you in the first tablescape from 

the Christmas Open House

Miss Utah County was there and 

her Little Miss Utah County

(my granddaughter)

didn't get there until after the event

started as she had a music class so

I didn't have a picture of her by the

children's table.

Chef's Table was there catering

the event as was Sweet Tooth Fairy

with their goodies.  It was a

fabulous event and was followed

by a fun week of demonstrations.

A big thank you to Rachel who helped me

change from one table to the next and was

the best assistant ever!  Rachel works as

a designer and salesperson at

Gatehouse No1 and was the

one who invited me to participate in 

this fabulous open house.  I became

so addicted that I attended other classes

all week!

My oldest daughter (mother of

Little Miss Utah County)

texted me later that night and

said that I had made tablescaping

look easy and that she now felt

she could do it.  I thought that

was the perfect feedback!

I will be posting this with

Let's Dish

Open House

Wow Us Wednesday

Tablescapes Thursday