As seen July 9, 2009 in the Washington Post
After two decades of watching and helping my mother set the table in the dining room,
I grew to love making a beautiful table setting.
If there is ever any confusion as to how to set the table Emily Post is always a good source to check.
This is the diagram for a three-course meal. Post calls this the “informal setting” but it works as formal at my house.
In case the Queen is coming use this one instead…
I chose the Herend Chinese Bouquet in Raspberry for my china and my sister chose it in green.
I don’t think that all of the plates need to match perfectly. I use a mix of first course and desert plates.
I was given antique desert plates from England for a wedding gift, which are a wonderful addition.
If your pattern is more bold and contemporary then adding a colorful band to an ordinary white tablecloth gives it some additional flair.
A more contemporary pattern that I think is pretty is from Thomas Goode in London.
If you haven’t been and love china put it on your list for next time you are there.
Mixing colored glasses is another way to add dimension to a table.
I absolutely love plates with dragons on them. The Meissen Ming Dragons are my favorite.
A few more of my favorites are those from Anna Weatherley
and Herend’s Queen Victoria
Do you love china too? What do you set with?
Also, check out Tablescape Thursday at Between Naps on the Backporch!
Photo Credits: Southern Accents (1,6,7) , Emily Post (2,3), Scully & Scully (4,10,11,12), Charlotte Moss (5), via coco cozy (9), Thomas Goode (8,13)
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Super settings! I love all white china with linen, or a bright modern color to make things look fresh. I love picking a color and just using it for everything, lemon citrus for the cloth, lemons with fresh flowers for the centerpiece, lemon-aide, lemon bars, — on and on. I love Royal Copenhagen and have the dishes, I also love some plates that were a gift by “Cybil Connoly” and I met her.
They are hand painted flowers on black, quite traditional but chic set on the black, I use them for dessert.
pve
Laura, when I married many years ago, my mom talked me into choosing a lovely Wedgewood pattern – can’t remember the name, but it was a Williamsburg pattern and maybe is called “Flower Basket”.
Anyway, she had the Herend Chinese Bouquet and I had always loved it. After a few years, she confessed that she really, really liked the china she had talked me into choosing, so we traded! Now I have 12 place settings and some gorgeous serving pieces of the Herend in the orange – I love it!! I am a china addict and love the old traditional patterns that have been around forever, as well as more casual but quite lovely Vietri pottery.
Laura, one of my favorite people in the world chose Herend Chinese Bouquet in green, like your sister, and I gravitate to the rust. Plus I love the Hermes red setting from SA. Great post!
Aww, they are all so pretty, how does one decide! I chose the easy route and picked Match white china with the pewter edges, just plain, something I can use everyday but also on Christmas, and that way anything goes for table decoration. I can’t wait to use gold chargers on Christmas with them. My mother has 3 sets of china, it all takes up a lot of space!
I have loved my Louisville Stoneware blue and white for so many years, and then of course my gold rimmed white china can take any color for accents on the table…It is so fun to see all of the different tablescape settings.
Loved seeing the china you chose. The Herend China is a favorite of ours, and we always get a sweet Herend present from our father every Christmas. The table setting directions will definitely come in handy since trying to figure out where to place every piece of china can be difficult. Thanks!
These table settings are gorgeous! My mom and grandmother are Queens of dishes. My Grandma I know has a few sets of china and so does my mother. My mom even has handpainted dishes that she buys and has sent from Paris. I’m not quite to their status yet, but I do love dishes. I have Wedgewood Colonnade and I don’t use it nearly enough. Oh and then I have Spode Christmas Tree dishes that I pull out for the holidays, we use that instead of the everyday dishes around the holidays.
What a beautiful post, Laura.
I love my china (Lombardy by Royal Crown Derby), but I must admit that I don’t use it nearly enough. Thank you for reminding me how gorgeous a table setting can be.
xo
Brooke
I love this post. China is one of my favorite things in the world. I also mixed and matched my wedding china and have it displayed in my home. Not only does it look beautiful but seeing it everyday reminds me how easy it is to acutally use it! Thanks for the great post.
OK, this post has my heart racing. I simply LOVE china. Esp. love the Hermes pattern–which I fell in love with when I first laid eyes on it a couple of years ago at the Hermes store in KOP …. and, oh, THOSE MING DRAGONS! That pattern is nothing short of fabulous!
When we registered, my husband (Mr. Practical) actually dared to suggest that we not register for china, and see if we had a need for it down the road and then we’d go and buy some….
Um, yeah, right. Can’t you just imagine how that conversation would go?…”Hey, honey, may I have several thousand dollars so I can go buy our china?”….
I chose Haviland Plume D’Or– “gold feathers”. I loved it and thought it was something that would also suit my husband, as it’s not “frilly”. I still love it, but confess I have used it very little, (just as my husband predicted). Your post has reminded me I need to get it out and use it more often.
Thanks, Laura!
What gorgeous pictures! And I love the Emily Post diagrams.
When I got engaged, one of the first things I got excited about was picking my china pattern. I chose Haviland Claire de Lune, and we are mixing in pieces of the Claire de Lune arches collection. Now I’m just crossing my fingers and hoping that I get enough pieces as wedding gifts to set a pretty table!
Beautiful table settings make the meal one to remember!
Color is sunshine to everyday! Excellent. Maryruth
I always enjoy seeing what others have chosen for china patterns and yours is absolutely lovely. I especially love the picture of mixed color glass as an accent to a beautifully set table- this post makes me want to throw a party and set the table to the nines! Hope you had a great 4th!
My very favourite flowers are blue hydrangeas, so that first table setting is an absolute feast for my eyes!! GORGEOUS!!!
I don’t actually have a set of china. Although I’ve put together a sort of mish-mash of my mom’s pieces. The name escapes me at the moment, but it’s blue and white with a simple flower in the center and silver trim. The memory of my mom is what makes the china special to me
Kelly @ DesignTies
When I was an entertaining editor, I would keep a small copy of those diagrams in my Filofax (remember those?) As many times as I have set a table, I was always worried I would blank out on a photo shoot. Beautiful post.
What a beautiful post! My wedding china is Bernadaud’s Chateubriand, and I have a set of Bernadaud’s Louvre. Being the first born grandchild, I also was given my grandmother’s wedding china, which is one of the Haviland patterns. It’s so much fun to use them when I do, but I must say, I definitely don’t use them enough! My wedding china sits in our corner cabinets most of the time; my grandmother’s packed up in the basement. And I have heard, the more you use it, the better it gets! That is until my 3 and 1 year olds decide to use it for their tea parties…. Thanks for the inspiration to pull them out! And I LOVE the hydrangeas.
I am relieved to know that I was putting the dessert fork in the correct place all these years! I would genuinely wonder where it should be.
You should enter this into tablescape Thursday on ‘Between Naps on the Porch’! It is a fun blog link thing, and will allow lots of readers to diiscover your wonderful blog.
Congratulations on the Washington Post blog watch for this great post!
I love Havilland and Herend. My daughter just got married and chose the Gwendolyn dinner plates and the green Chinese bouquet salad plates by Herend–They are gorgeous together and she can use my Rosalinde Havilland salad plates with her dinner plates! Very informative and you can always rely on Emily or Amy Vanderbuilt!
Hi Laura,
Susan
Hope you don’t get this comment twice…a little glitch happened so I don’t think my first one went through. Congrats on the Washington Post Blog Watch…very cool!
Love this post…I’m totally drooling over all these great pics, especially the first one in the garden. My favorite Herend pattern is Rothschild Bird. I discovered it last fall while on an historic home tour and have coveted it ever since! I especially love the green Rothschild bird. Happy TT and so glad you joined in!
You have found the key to my heart! I have been coveting the Herend Queen Victoria dishes. I’ve decided to buy them a couple at a time. I’m going to pair them with the Fishnet plate. Some green, some pink. Anna Weatherly is divine, but alas, too rich for my pocketbook.
What great inspiration. Thanks for sharing and happy TT to you!
Hello, Laura. I found you via Susan’s Between Naps on the Porch. I’m so pleased that you decided to join her party! I very much enjoyed reading your post. The diagram you provided is a great resource. We all need to be ever mindful of “the abc’s” when we begin to set up our tablescapes. Your photo examples were dazzling as well!
I clicked on the Laura Casey Interiors tab and enjoyed seeing examples of your work. Your designs are clean, sophisticated, and not at all overdone. I’m impressed! Again thank you for participating in “Tablescape Thursday!” We hope you’ll play with us again (remember to stop by late on Wednesday evening or early Thursday morning to make sure the maximum number of people click on your post).
I noticed you’re a Vanderbilt graduate. Did you enjoy your time in Nashville?
Regards,
Bill @ Affordable Accoutrements
Laura,
This is a wonderful article! Thoughtful and beautiful. Congrats on the WA Post mention!!!
My favorite china is Italian Blue Carnation – http://www.biordi.com/products/57/
I brought some back from Italy when I was sixteen for my mom (who asked me to look out for it) and now have my own collection! So fun.
xo,
cristin
http://www.simplifiedbee.blogspot.com
I enjoyed reading this post, and Herend’s Chinese Bouquet is one of my favorite patterns. A friend had it in green and had all of the tureens with those wonderful lemons for handles! It sets such an elegant table. I have some little Herend pieces I like to use for accents on my table… the bunnies on leaves, along with a butterfy and a ladybug on a leaf. They were gifts from friends, and I treasure them.
I like Anna Weatherly, too, and was admiring some pieces in a shop the other day. I actually found a knockoff of a butterdish that I couldn’t help but buy for the fun. My pattern from years and years ago is a Royal Doulton pattern… white with a gold band (Royal Gold), and I have added accent plates I love. Holday from Tiffany’s for Christmas, Winterthur by Haviland, Lombardy by Royal Crown Derby, Sandringham by Royal Worcester (there are two patterns by that name, but mine has more pink), Duke of Glouster in Mottahedeh and a variety of other things. My favorite pattern for everyday is Mottahedeh’s Canton. I have a small service in that and use it every day. I never tire of it. If I got into talking patterns I’d be here all day because I’m a bit of a magpie when it comes to china so I won’t continue. But I enjoyed your post very much!
Sheila
P.S. There is a small house in Martha’s Vineyard (Edgartown) that once belonged to Emily Post, and it has the world’s most glorious garden. They had a pathway cut between what I have to describe as two walls of flowers that were exqusite. I thought my husband had taken a picture of the garden when I queried him about a walk he took with the camera one morning, but he didn’t. So it resides only in my mind’s eye, but oh, how wonderful it was!
Ah–thank you for posting this. I have been looking for a book that shows the proper layout. Not that I ever have formal dinner parties, but I feel I need to be prepared just in case!