red, white & blue alfresco night

The start of the summer season means we’ll be alfresco-ing all day! Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and even snacks... 

And why not, when red, white and blue is ‘all that’ for summer? I love this color palette!

 

Summer entertaining has become a true joy with these fun additions to my collection of tableware and decor. 

As the days grow longer and gatherings move effortlessly from sun-dappled patios to cozy indoor spaces, I love having pieces that blend charm with practicality.

 

I’m also loving my new rattan and glass cloches. They’re great whether we’re dining inside or out. 

These 2 different sizes are so perfect to hold a variety of our favorite muffins, cheeses and fruits and best of all keeps our snacks protected from the elements and the bugs.

 

In addition to the fun cloches, a few other new treasures I found are sprinkled around like the votive candleholders, blue and white plates, windowpane plaid throw, pedestal and the vintage inspired jug holding the flowers.

 

Every year I look forward to my blue agapanthus blooming so I can combine them with whitehydrangeas and ruby red geraniums from the garden for a fun patriotic look.

 

It’s these little touches that make every meal feel special and thoughtfully styled, whether it’s a festive brunch with friends or a quiet evening supper with family.

 

Layering different textures and patterns—think crisp linens, woven accents, and delicate glass—creates a sense of relaxed elegance that feels just right for the season.

To tie it all together, I love adding fresh flowers in unexpected vessels and scattering a few candles for that magical, golden-hour glow. The result is a table that’s both inviting and a true reflection of summer’s easygoing spirit.

 

The pretty striped 100% linen napkins and tablecloth are from All Cotton and Linen. They’re so perfect for this kind of summer look!

 

ciao fabiana

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You can check out some of my favorites here at “Tablescaping Essentials” 

 

 

 

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happy labor day weekend

 

Is Labor Day the official end of summer? Don’t know about you, but we’re having cool gloomy weather this weekend. That’s why it’s important to brighten up the front and back yards with a few patriotic flower vignettes.

Whatever the weather, Labor Day kind of marks the end of the patriotic summer season of décor that starts with Memorial Day in May. After this weekend it’ll be all about the almighty PUMPKIN!!

So, celebrate the end of the season! Let's bring out the best of the red, white and blue and set something up for yourself and your family to enjoy all weekend long.

 

Stripes are always so festive and can fit in with any sort of style, so today I’m sharing my favorite tips for setting a fun table at home to honor Labor Day.

 

Try to stick with white and red flowers. True blue flowers are harder to find, so we tend to go with ones in the dark violet blue color range. The combination of all three colors works great for a patriotic theme.

 

 All of these flowers pictured are from Armstrong Garden. We have two really close locations that I shop at all the time, one in Costa Mesa and another on Coast Highway in Newport Beach.

This lovely linen Amalfi Stripe tablecloth is from Solino Home, and I love the subtle color picked up here with the flags and the rest of the vintage pottery and tableware.

I found this great red metal basket, lined with coco fiber at Armstrong’s too. Don’t you love the added pop of color?

The red Capri striped tablecloth is also from Solino Home and works great indoors or out, any time of the year.

 

Wishing you a lovely weekend!

 

ciao fabiana

 

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vintage finds from antiques cottage

 

Don’t you love discovering new little shops right in your own neighborhood? There’s a sweet little antiques shop called Antiques Cottage right here on 17th Street here in Costa Mesa that I never knew about before.

 

I found some really fun little finds last week when I stopped in, and it just so happened that they were having a sale, so the prices were really reasonable. What more could you ask for?!

Just a few little fun things to add to my collection, and some of them make really cute additions to my tablescapes too.

 

I’ll show you some of these fun finds individually… first up is this darling depression glass double-handled sugar bowl in just the most perfect shade of green.

 

This type of glass is also known as Uranium glass because it has minute traces of this element, and it actually glows brightly under a black light. So cool!

It's just the right size for a little impromptu bouquet of flowers from the garden.

 

I also found this amazing zester with vintage green wooden handle. These vintage kitchen utensils still work great, and I’ve gathered a useful little collection over the years.

 

After a thorough scrubbing, this little beauty is set to create beautiful ribbons of citrus peel for a my next yummy recipe or cocktail.

 

Now how about these cute little piggy napkin rings? I found a larger set, and I’m keeping half and selling the second set of 4 on my eBay store. You can check them out here.   

 

These little guys are so charming, they’d be a fabulous addition to any tablescape, from country to farmhouse to grandmother chic.

I paired them with this bright and festive blue and white check napkin for my 4th of July table. They just add such a fun whimsical touch, don't they? 

One of my favorite finds that day was this beautiful embossed antique creamware pitcher. I listed it on eBay last week, and it sold immediately.

 

Pitchers are one of my favorite ways to display flowers. I don’t know what it is, but flowers always looks so good in a pretty pitcher.

 

These soft purple Downton Abbey rose grows like mad in my garden, and I just love it in this creamware pitcher.

 

Here are some other ones, both large and small, that I have listed on the blog shop. 

This McCoy striped mixing bowl is my absolute favorite find of the day. It’s the perfect size for my big salad. This one has bacon, egg, tomato and is topped with a home-made ranch dressing… super yummy!

 

Here are some similar McCoy bowls for you to check out and if you're interested, here’s a link to my ranch dressing recipe. It whips up in minutes and it's dairy-free, paleo, and full of delicious herbs. 

 

The two matching polychrome transferware bowls I found at Antiques Cottage are just the perfect vessels for going out to the garden, picking fresh veggies like these peas and tomatoes, and bringing them right into the kitchen for a fun and tasty display.

 

These beauties went right into our salad for dinner, and now the bowls are ready for more fresh garden produce. 

What I love most about bowls like this is that they can go straight from the garden to the table, and always look beautiful.

Here’s a pretty eye-spy of vintage kitchen utensils. This is the green handled part of my collection. Can you spy my new little zester?

 

These fun and colorful kitchen gadgets are sometimes spotted at garage sales, thrift stores and on eBay, and best of all, they usually work better that their modern versions.

 

So far I've gathered mostly red and green handled ones utensils, with only a few blue ones to be found in the wild. And of course, blue would be my favorite color.

They add such country charm to the kitchen for a timeless nostalgic look. 

 

I’m telling you this zester works better than any I’ve tried, and the citrus peel becomes very fragrant after being sliced so neatly.

 

My husband also loves vintage kitchen gadgets, and since we both love to cook, it’s one of the things we’re always on the lookout for when we go thrifting together.

 

Here’s my little stash of treasures again. The pudding mold in the back will be used during the holidays to make an old-fashioned Christmas pudding full of spices and fruit that we all love.

The wicker coffee cups are just sooo cute, and I got two sets of 4 that are in the original boxes. 

They're from the1970's just as I suspected. (You can just see Mary Richards and Rhoda using these while gossiping at Mary's kitchen table on the Mary Tyler Moore Show.) 

They'll make adorable options for coffee at brunch or they'd even work great for a hot toddy during the winter months, topped off by a fragrant cinnamon stick, and maybe a twist of orange peel from my new little handy-dandy zester. 

All in all, I'm really pleased with these fun little treasures. What are you collecting these days?

ciao! fabiana

 

 

For lots of fun extras, follow me on instagram!

 

 

 

You can check out some of my favorites here at “Tablescaping Essentials”*. 

 

 

 

 

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cute farmhouse style for the 4th

How about some red, white and blue inspiration today? I was feeling a little bit country while setting the table for dinner last night. 

Sometimes feeling nostalgic feels so good.

 

I like surrounding myself with sentimental things that remind me of childhood summers, like big bold daisies, little flags that are meant to be waved and vivid blue glasses that  used to hold Kool-Aid and Hawaiian Punch on those hot summer days.

 

That’s one of the reasons why I love setting tables that have specially selected elements that bring back fond memories from the past.

 

How fun are these vintage napkin rings?

I found these funny little piggy napkin rings last week at Antiques Cottage in Costa Mesa and thought they deserved some farmhouse style to make them feel right at home, and nothing does that better than gingham.

Big, bold gingham is perfect for that nostalgic look that I love so much. And to even the playing field, red transferware plates are used at each place setting.

 

 

I also found a few pieces of this pretty silverplate flatware at another favorite vintage shop for only 40¢ apiece. They shined up pretty nicely, don't you think?

In fact, there’s an extra set of these adorable farmhouse style piggies available here at my Ebay Store.

The rest of the tableware is mostly vintage stuff I've collected and loved over the years. I use the white plates and raffia placemats all the time, and they look timeless with just about any style at the table.

I recently found this cute stars and stripe pitcher on Ebay, and the tall blue Fostoria Whitehall glasses are from my collection of vintage colored glassware that I couldn't set tables without.  

The blue gingham check napkins were bought in 2019 on Amazon, and they've washed beautifully and still look new, even though I use them all the time. You can check them out here.

 

Well, the 4^th is just around the corner. Do you have anything fun planned for the holiday weekend?

 

 

ciao! fabiana

 

 

For lots of fun extras, follow me on instagram!

 

 

 

You can check out some of my favorites here at “Tablescaping Essentials”*. 

 

Please note that this post may contain affiliate links.