Image from The Kendall HotelThe ladies over at The Secret is in the Sauce are hosting a SITSmas party today and I'm attending! Participants were asked to share a family photo or maybe some resolutions for 2010. Since I have one resolution that I really want to see happen, I've chosen that as today's post topic.
Each and every year I make a mental list of New Year's resolutions that I am positive I will fulfill in the coming 12 months. Usually I forget most of them within a few weeks. For about 5 years running, I've resolved to invite friends and family over for fabulous dinner parties complete with beautiful tablescapes and delicious culinary delights. Two things have stopped me:
1. I am not exactly Martha Stewart in the kitchen
2. My dining room looked like this until just recently:
In total, I've had just one dinner party in 2009, a homecoming dinner for my niece Celeste. Celeste attends school at The Culinary Institute of America in New York, the alma mater of my all-time favorite blog sensation, Eddie Ross. If you have been following Strictly Simple Style since the beginning, you may remember me discussing this dinner party in one of my earliest posts. You can read about it here. I based the party on ideas that I borrowed from Eddie Ross's fantastic blog. A simple green and white color scheme and an inexpensive flower arrangement made from grocery store bouquets and backyard clippings were ideas gleaned from reading Eddie's blog.
Images from Celeste's homecoming dinner.In the past few months, I have been working hard to get my dining room ready for guests. I've embellished some old curtain panels, painted horizontal stripes on my walls, recovered my dining room chairs and added wallpaper to the panels in my dining room.
I still have the finishing touches to add to the room, but that's always the fun part. Once the room is complete, I will have no reason not to host all kinds of swanky soirees.
There is no shortage of inspiration given the number of blogs that deal with entertaining. Here are a few of my favorite ideas:
I could start the year off right by hosting a New Year's Eve dinner. Garland, candles and votives all in shades of gold provide that elegant touch we all crave on New Year's Eve. Silver items would work just as well. A combination of silver and gold with a crisp white tablecloth would be my choice.
This caught my eye for a couple of reasons. My dining room chairs are covered in black and ivory stripes. I have a pair of lamps almost identical to the ones shown. While my lamps are currently housed in my master bedroom, I could bring them out for a dinner party. I also love the use of just one color for the flowers. The yellow is great, but any single color of flower would look terrific with a black and white color scheme. Red, orange, pink or chartreuse would work equally as well.
Everything's coming together in the dining room.
I still have the finishing touches to add to the room, but that's always the fun part. Once the room is complete, I will have no reason not to host all kinds of swanky soirees.
There is no shortage of inspiration given the number of blogs that deal with entertaining. Here are a few of my favorite ideas:
I could start the year off right by hosting a New Year's Eve dinner. Garland, candles and votives all in shades of gold provide that elegant touch we all crave on New Year's Eve. Silver items would work just as well. A combination of silver and gold with a crisp white tablecloth would be my choice.
This caught my eye for a couple of reasons. My dining room chairs are covered in black and ivory stripes. I have a pair of lamps almost identical to the ones shown. While my lamps are currently housed in my master bedroom, I could bring them out for a dinner party. I also love the use of just one color for the flowers. The yellow is great, but any single color of flower would look terrific with a black and white color scheme. Red, orange, pink or chartreuse would work equally as well.
Image from The WildflowersDuring the cold, never-ending winter months, it might be fun to host a Valentine's Day inspired dinner party or a special romantic dinner for two with my husband. A great place to get inspiration for romantic tables and centerpieces is at wedding blogs like The Perfect Palette.
This simple arrangement would be perfect on the table.
Image from The Perfect Palette.
When the weather warms up, a tropical themed dinner table is just right. I love the bright colors used on this table from Martha Stewart.
No one does tablescaping quite like Susan from Between Naps on the Porch. Be sure to check out her Tablescape Thursdays. Look how beautifully she executed the design of her Christmas table.
With all this inspiration, I shouldn't have trouble getting motivated to finish my dining room so that I can plan my first big dinner party.
Do you have any decorating resolutions for the new year?
This simple arrangement would be perfect on the table.
Image from The Perfect Palette.When the weather warms up, a tropical themed dinner table is just right. I love the bright colors used on this table from Martha Stewart.
No one does tablescaping quite like Susan from Between Naps on the Porch. Be sure to check out her Tablescape Thursdays. Look how beautifully she executed the design of her Christmas table.
With all this inspiration, I shouldn't have trouble getting motivated to finish my dining room so that I can plan my first big dinner party.
Do you have any decorating resolutions for the new year?
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