I spent $16 on 4 cases of bottled waters, $11 on fruit, $8 on crackers and $8 on cookies. Everything else was reused or free.
I re-purposed a beige king-size coverlet for the tablecloth. Then I layered a remnant of upholstery fabric on top, with a red and yellow tapestry runner twisted between the baskets.
My husband knew I wouldn't be able to stand the giant blue Pepsi coolers, so he found a piece of red butcher paper to camoflage the logo.
I lined two handmade baskets (50-cents each) with oversize squares of batik, trimmed with those trusty pinking shears.(Bonus points to anyone who recognizes this fabric from my old dining room chairs!)
My sand-in-a-summer-pot centerpiece came along. I gathered some roadside red-leaved branches and chartreuse leaves on the way there.The $2 bag of decorative gourds has been a good investment. I pierced a few with sharp sticks, elevating them above the sand. Hydrangeas dried from my brother's September party filled the gaps.
Nothing spectacular, but it came together so easily, with so many yard sale finds, I just had to share.
41 comments:
Wow, what can I say? There's always a job in the future for you as a party planner. It is spectacular!
Beautiful job! I love the centerpiece and all of the colors are very falish.
What a beautiful table setting! Nice job :)
How did you know that we'd be curious? :> This turned out beautifully - no one would ever guess how little you spent or how little time you had to "throw it together."
What a gift of creativity you have! I could be faced with that task and panic, but you put your creativity to work and pulled together a beautiful spread!
YOU ARE SO GOOD MY FRIEND!!!! I'm in awe! :)
Thanks for updating, because I really did think of you and wonder how it went....
Bravo! Bravo!
You have done very well!
It looks great. Even if you don't have time to be a caterer, you could compile your experiences and images pretty easily into a very nifty e-book on the subject.
Umm... I wouldn't have been able to do that with days of notice! Very good job!
Move over Martha; make room for Meredith! And may your husband be praised in the gates because of you.
Wow!!! No one..absolutely no one would look at that and think it was put at the last minute!!! You thought of soooo many extra touches!! What inspiration! You sure have me rethinking how I will serve our next family dinners!! Yes, party planner, e-book, whatever...YOU have the talent!! If I did something so good one time I would be pleased but you have come up with consistantly good ideas Over and Over!! Fixing up houses is not your only talent by a long shot Meredith!!
Oh.My.Gosh. You are SO good!!
Stunning Meredith! Absolutely stunning!
Nothing spectacular??? That is not what my table would have looked like if I had a week or more to plan and set up. You are very creative!!!! I can tell I'm going to enjoy learning from you. And your nack for photographing your work. You inspire me daily!
Wonderful and perfect.
beautiful, as always, Meredith!
You just amaze me!
Blessings,
K
Nothing Spectacular?!?
I am totally amazed Meredith! You inspired me more and more with every post!
Beautiful as always, Meredith. :)
If my husband had given me only a few hours notice to do that, I can guarantee it would be nothing more than food on a table. There would be no presentation.
Truly, you amaze me with how you can pull something off so beautifully at all, much less last minute!
You're my HERO!!! WOW! I'm so amazed and so bookmarking your blog!! :) LOVE it!
Melody
Meredith, you are wonderfully talented and truly humble! I don't watch Martha Stewart but I do read you every single day.
I continue to be in awe of your abilities to pull this off in a seemingly effortless manner - it looks gorgeous! And, for low cost and little time invested - well done!
Talent, love, experience, creativity, frugality all unite! I just love watching you meet and conquer these challenges! I see a reality TV series in the making. Seriously! Much more interesting that anything currently out there.
What a wonderful gift you are to your husband. I love the creativity and beauty and frugality of it all but my absolute favorite thing about this is how, by doing what you do, you made your husband look awesome to his boss and co-workers!
What a lovely buffet. Our pastor says God will ask us 2 questions upon our death - what did you do with My Son and what did you do with the talents/gifts that I gave you? Obviously you are making more than adequate use of your talents. Thank you for sharing them with the rest of us.
well done Meredith! Surely a guest at this event might have thought to hire you to do their family party Christmas decorating? Not that you're looking. Just that in the past you've wondered if you have entrepreneurial talent. Well...look no further!
deb meyers
Don't get me wrong, this looks nice, but Don't you think this might have been going a little bit overboard for a meeting?
It is wonderful how you bless your family and others in this way. I think that is much more important and valuable than doing it for pay.
You know, you could have just thrown some food on the table with a one of those disposable table clothes, and that probably would have been completely acceptable to those in attendance. Instead, you chose to make the most of what you had and go above and beyond the call of duty to create something beautiful. And that's awesome, just awesome.
AMAZING! Your posts always inspire me. You should be so proud of yourself! You have a calling- you should put it to use if you return back to the grind again :)
Looks fabulous! And as someone that hosts several meetings and events, not at all overboard as anonymous suggested.
I hope you enjoyed the challenge, I think it sounds like a ton of fun.
Thank you very much for sharing. I hope that those who said they could never have done this well, even with a week's notice, now think that maybe they could. I do. Well, maybe not this well, but much better than I would have guessed.
I'm afraid my favorite part of the story was the part where your husband found the red butcher paper. It was perfect!
I also like the part where you got so much water. People really do like having water at social occasions, and it's so much healthier than soda. If I were there, I would have eaten cookies, too, though.
Nice work, Meredith! I love that you went the distance to cover the Pepsi logo.
Just stunning! Very nice! I'm almost wishing *I* had that meeting to attend!LOL Thanks for sharing!!
Oh my gosh! You're amazing!
Proverbs 31 "give her the product of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates."
WOWSA! GREAT JOB! I would've never thought of making it look so pretty. I just throw it down,but, wow, I'm inspired.
I just wanted to say WOW! I am so impressed!
Wow! You must of made your hubby very proud! Beautiful job.
You are amazingly talented at decorating. I love the eye that you have for finding beauty in everyday objects and the ability that you have to bring it all together. Simply marvelous.
Your table was so pretty! As Mrs. Fussypants said, "I'm inspired."
Post a Comment