Category: Tablescaping design

The Vintage Stylist’s spring table

On By Nancy LaPonzinaIn Bibliotherapy, Boomer generation, Clothing Telepath, Loving Vintage Series, Tablescaping design, The Vintage Stylist, The Vintage Telepath, Vintage consignment, Vintage shops, work in progressLeave a comment

Mimi Shepherd, the Vintage Stylist, asked if I might share her featured tablescape table here on the blog and it was so pretty, I agreed.

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She has a way with design style: the bright sunshine yellow table runner, the all-white, new beginnings plates, paired with those crocus-blue patterned napkins. The Cotswold sheep at the centerpiece were collected just outside Windsor Castle and a great inspiration for her shop’s followers. She reports the new tablesetting display feature is receiving much interest, along with the usual vintage selections of clothing and accessories. I think her shoppers are anxious to get on with pre-Covid normal life and that includes small dinners to entertain friends and host family gatherings.

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From the sweet, fresh blue and yellow-faced pansies, the mini daffodils, and the goblets ready for toasting and bringing in a brighter season, the table is joyful and celebratory. She’s invited me to join Rhose Guerin from Yellow Pansies in a Blue Cobalt Jar, and Annie Savone and Julie Bishop from Loving Vintage. I can’t wait to see them all again!

Wishing all a happy and healthy Spring!

The vintage stylist asks for help!

On By Nancy LaPonzinaIn Behind the stories, Tablescaping design, The Vintage StylistLeave a comment
The Vintage Stylist’s featured shop display

So, spring hasn’t arrived quite yet and I was happy to receive the vintage stylist, Mimi Shepherd’s, email that featured a raucous pink/red/orange colored tablecloth she’d selected for the staring placement in her shop’s boutique tablescape section. It was great to see some color brighten another rainy, overcast morning and I told her that. Mimi always seems to be leading ever forward with her style sense, but this time she wanted reassurance that she wasn’t stepping off the edge using this scape as her design focus.

Now, Mimi’s the expert stylist and I was quietly pleased she’d asked my opinion, so I shared my humble take on the scape. I told her the classic element bust was certainly a vintage element, as well as the wine and water goblets. Victorians loved flowers didn’t they? And you certainly couldn’t get any more vintage than that … unless you counted the Greco/Roman influenced statuary. And I reminded her of what she always says about vintage that it needs a new angle or beat to jazz it up some. The color certainly provides that amp. That seemed to jolt her confidence and she signed off quickly to put in the finishing touches to the display. I can’t wait to visit her shop once the spring reveal is presented!

Closet tablescape designing

On By Nancy LaPonzinaIn Behind the stories, Tablescaping designLeave a comment

My heroines secretly do fuss with pretty tablescapes … time for them to step out of the china closet and share! What is tablescaping? Setting or laying a table with a thought to how basic requirements for eating a meal come together in a pleasing, joyful way. I think of it as a collage … layering different dishes with a mind toward shape, texture, and color, and considering flatware utensils, beverage containers, napkins, as well as whimsical objects that emphasize a seasonal theme, or color story.

Professional chefs will tell you your eyes start a meal. The table sparks our appetites and says you care enough about those you share meals with to fuss a little (or a lot) to influence their meal experience in a good way. The goal is to always bring a smile and anticipation for the meal to follow. Tables can be minimalist, set with soft, compatible colors, simple foraged wildflowers, and set outside, or with greater structure and formality.

In The Vintage Telepath https://www.amazon.com/Vintage-Telepath-Loving-Book-ebook/dp/B07DK2DJ5S/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=The+Vintage+Telepath+Nancy+LaPonzina&qid=1614107346&sr=8-1 Julie Bishop’s mom Violet May, knows about setting a table and creating a theme and an environment. Unfortunately, these attempts are lost on Julie who struggles with all things connected to her mom’s spiritual and metaphysically inclined spirit. In Loving Vintage, https://www.amazon.com/Loving-Vintage-Nancy-LaPonzina/dp/1983038113/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1614107806&sr=8-1 vintage stylist Mimi Shepherd has a love for styling porcelain, but little time at the moment as her biggest challenge is setting her daughter onto the right path. But now, in the forthcoming The Vintage Stylist, we finally see Mimi embracing her china love and tablescaping addiction when she adds a boutique china section to her own specialty shop.

These heroines are coming out and embracing their joy for making everyday life just a little more gracious and beautiful. I’m glad to see it!