In my last post, I mentioned I was taking a little break from thrifting clothing. While I’ll be back to it very soon, I’ve made some substantial steps in terms of keeping the habit in check. For one, I went to the thrift store with my sisters with the sole intention of helping them find clothing, without finding anything for moi. And I succeeded! It was fun. I was like a personal shopper. Except now, every time Adele wears here cool new two-toned sweater with a zipper on the back, I stroke it and whisper “You could of been mine. She better be treating you right.” Minor creepy tendencies aside, that was fairly momentous. The other victory came when I went to Valu Village strictly for housewares. I blew right pass their many racks of clothing, and came out with exactly what I needed – a new look for my dining room.
The trip to Valu Village was a calculated decision. I find most of their clothing to be very overpriced, but they still have the largest selection of housewares, thus I knew I could get what I needed from them with minimal temptation to add to my closet. My mission came about after Matt and I invited some friends for dinner. Most of the time, when we entertain, I just assume they’ll be sated with wine and cheese like myself, and we avoid the dining room all together. This time, however, we were having an actual meal, so I needed to address the blank space that was to house our food, and that’s just what I did:
First off, it’s a bit of a misnomer to call this space our “dining room”. It’s really just a corner in between our kitchen and living room, large enough for a table, with only two walls to call its own. I’ve neglecting this space in terms of decorating, so it was a blank canvas. Sure, one wall is blue, and one is taupe, but other than that, there were no motifs or colours I had to match. So, I searched through the table settings with a very open mind.
At first, I sifted through the table cloths, in hopes something would jump out. It didn’t, so I moved right along. Not long after, I picked up a brand-new (with tags) table runner. The lighter blue was a nice (albeit not perfect) match to the wall, and I loved the clean, retro print. I then found a whack of circular place mats (also with tags) in the very same navy as the modules on the runner. I loved that they not only matched the runner in colour, but also in shape.
With those two items in place, I went back to the table cloths. I thought about searching for a solid white one, but then I remembered how much I spill on myself and nixed that idea. I was about to settle on a vintage seafoam one, as it was a perfect match to the runner, when this heavy striped cloth popped out. Not only did it have the seafoam from the runner, but all sorts of other purples, blues, and greens as well. I also liked how the stripes tied in with the runner. This table cloth would work with the pieces currently in my cart, and leave the door option for other coordinating pieces in the future. Perfect! From there, I did what I always do: Buy a bunch of flowers and a big loaf of bread.
This mini-transformation is perfectly reflective of the approach to home decor that I’ve already taken on this blog. I don’t have the time or the coin to do anything big or dramatic, so I focus in on the small spaces – the corners, nooks, and crannies. In this way, my approach to home decor is right on par with my approach to fashion. I don’t always have a grand idea or vision in mind, but I know what I like (and what Matt will let me get away with). So that’s the way I set my table – bit by bit, piece by piece, until something comes together.
Now I just have to figure out how to apply this formula to food, because a pretty table is only as good as the food that’s on it. Unless you’re in the movie Hook, in which case you could just imagine all your table settings, too. Bangarang!