At a wedding last week I found myself inviting four other couples over to my house for a get together. My husband James interjected that perhaps it was better if we all swan off to the local pub instead but I was adamant. It’s funny the things you end up suggesting when you have a couple of Jägerbombs with the wedding breakfast…

A few of the guests will have been round before, in fact they’ll have eaten their fair share of dinners off my Jamie Oliver plates and shovelled many delicacies using my John Lewis cutlery so this brings me on to today’s post.

Taking simple white dinnerware and sleek cutlery I’m sharing five ideas for brightening up a table and adding a little je ne sais quois to an everyday tablescape. I raided Charlotte’s kitchen cupboards for her simple Sophie Conran style plates and shiny new John Lewis cutlery, and used my rather large stash of table linen.

Hydrangea

For this place setting I used a H&M linen napkin folded in two and then rolled in to shape. As you can see I’ve then secured with delicate ribbon and slotted in the last of the summer hydrangeas to brighten up the table.

Herbs

Following on with the garden theme, this herby version is really rather self explanatory. I just laid a sprig across a simple white napkin (another Home Sense purchase) and voila! Smells gorgeous too. I love the images I’ve seen on Pinterest of rosemary napkin rings but mine was a bit too ‘woody’ to oblige.

Kraft Menu

If you have an exciting menu to share how about scribing on a piece of kraft card? I used my own faithful chalk marker but any pen would work. Mini pegs from Tiger were used to secure in place to the napkin. This one is a Jme one from Home Sense. I have a set of them in dark blue version too – very French looking.

Labels

If you would prefer your guests stick to a seating plan then place names are the way forward. I’ve lost count of the amount of places I’ve bought luggage tags from but eBay, Etsy, Amazon and Tiger all have them. Using my old typewriter I emblazoned Adam’s name across a tag. Forgive me for being so formal but I completely misjudged where to type the name and so had to add in surname’s or the whole thing looked lost.
I pulled together a bit of twine round the centre of the folding napkin to give it a slight bow-tie feel. As I am obsessed with eucalyptus I couldn’t resist furnishing the plate with a little sprig.

Tucked

For our stripy little bistro number I opened up the napkin and then had a bit of trial and error folding it back and forth. With this White Company serviette I found taking the bottom corners to the middle created the right pocket size. I then tucked in the edges underneath. I realise this probably makes no sense at all so urge you to just give it a go with your own napkins. Last Christmas I followed this quick triple folding tutorial for the festive table.

Now I’m off to consult Charlotte’s recent post about hosting a dinner party. Who knows what I’ve let myself in for?