Monday, April 14, 2014

Vintage Dinnerware & Faux Table Top


I love scouring ebay for vintage miniature dishes.  I was so lucky to win an auction recently of a set of dinnerware by an artisan from the 1980s, Jo Parker.  Her dinnerware is very delicate, thin and the painting is very fine.  The china is very formal - 5 piece place setting.  I don't even own such a thing in full scale.  Sometimes it's hard to tell if it will match your room when looking at it online but see how nicely it matches my dining room chairs:
My dining room has only a table and chairs, no drapes (yet).  The table and chairs are cherry and were made by Jo Berbiglia.  She did the petit point seats also.

Since I now have nice china I just had to set a table.  But I didn't want to glue anything down to my nice table so I made a faux table top.  I made a box to go over the top of the table from illustration board- just a little bigger than the table.  Then I took an old pillowcase with nice, soft close woven cotton and cut it to cover the box and fringed all the edges.


Since I had all those pretty dishes I also had to make a turkey dinner to go on the table.


There!  Now the dining room doesn't look so bare!  When I am tired of the clutter I will just pack away the faux table top, dishes and food and put a nice centerpiece on the table.  But for now I'm just glad that someone was so talented in miniature ceramics and that I can have a piece of her work.

I have to put a plug in for another of my favorite artists: Sue Ayers (Sue's Little Things).  She made the tiered cookie server (shown on the dresser above and in the photo below).  She sells on Ebay and the detail in her cookies and food is awesome. Her prices are very reasonable.

6 comments:

  1. What a great idea! I have seen a lot of cloth covered tables but often thought they would become tiresome after awhile. I will have to look at making something like this. The dishes are beautiful! Such a great find. The whole scene has really come together, I like the bright green with the colour of the chairs. Looking forward to seeing more :)

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  2. Thank you so much Kristine for your very nice comment. Hope to have some curtains done some time soon!

    Kendra

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  3. Hi Kendra! I LOVE your Jo Parker china and it looks perfect on the dining table and with the chair embroideries! The idea for the table cloth is Brilliant! The cloth hangs as it should and doesn't fly away or need loads of glue or have to be stuck to the table surface. This is a really great solution, and your dinner looks scrumptious on it! :D

    elizabeth

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    1. Thank you so much for your nice comments and for reading my blog!

      Kendra

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  4. really cute cake stand! 'm just after buying my first house and really into dinner sets, table decorations and serving platters and serving bowls at the moment for my mini housewarming party!

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