The Wearin' o' the Green

St. Patrick's Day is tomorrow and I've got my table all set for an Irish feast (that I won't be making or eating, I just like to keep my table set so I don't pile it with junk).

I started with the clover green linen tablecloth I purchased on a recent thrift shopping trip as my base. I didn't want to go full-on Leprechaun here so I decided to keep it more of a simple reflection of Ireland with its green, mossy, rock-strewn landscape. On top of the lush green backdrop I layered my favorite (and only) table runner, which reminded me of the thatched roof on a white-washed Irish cottage.

Next I added gold leaf chargers, my one nod to the little Leprechauns and their search for gold at the end of the rainbow. On top of those I placed white ironstone plates and bowls.

At this point I was still not where I wanted to be with my tablescape, and really considered a quick trip to the craft store for just a bit more bling, but I was really determined to use what I had (and it was raining and I didn't want to go out) so I dug around some more and came up with some fern printed green napkins from Martha Stewart's K-Mart collection that I'd stored away and never even removed the tags from, so I placed these under the bowls - don't they just look like they're ready and waiting for some yummy Irish stew? My Pottery Barn flatware also has curled handles like a fiddlehead fern so I particularly liked the napkins with it.

My centerpiece consists of milkglass flower pots (I collect these everywhere I find them for cheap - they come in two sizes and two patterns and are very useful for organizing, dressing up cheapy potted flowers, etc.) piled up with fakola moss covered rocks from Dollar Tree.

To jazz up the centerpiece a bit I pulled out a few books on Ireland and stacked them up underneath the moss filled flower pots and grabbed a few river rocks to scatter along the runner along with silver candlesticks and the only taper candles I have.

I looked for some little toy sheep at the craft store, but they were like $4/each so the fields of my Irish tablescape will remain livestockless until I find something on the cheap to graze there. I also would have loved a potted Shamrock

but they're on the list of plants that are poisonous to the Furries. I always consult this and this (and probably 6 other ones just to be sure) before purchasing plants - for indoor plants and flowers they need to be on the "safe" list, not just absent from the "unsafe" one; for outdoor plants, since they only go out with supervision, I'm OK with them just being absent from the "unsafe" list (but again, I consult a bunch of lists and if they're on any of them as toxic they don't come home). I wish growers and big box stores would put this information right on the plant tags - I'd make a lot more impulse buys that way. But that is another topic.

Slainte!