SIMPLE ITEMS BECOME CREATIVE ACCESSORIES.Byline: Elaine Markoutsas Special to the Daily News The holidays demand that your table be properly dressed. After you get out the good linens and tableware, the question is what to put in the center of the table. Don't be afraid to break conventions, placing decorations to one side or the other, or varying heights of objects - as long as your guests can see each other. Mix elements. Take an ordinary object, such as a iron floor grate. Its grid pattern works well as a backdrop for a composition of flowers, vegetables or both. The grate acts like a frog or florist's mold to hold wired flowers in place. Layer in fresh flowers such as pretty lavender roses with ivy, miniature squash, turnips and pears. A small container filled with water and tucked beneath will keep the flowers fresh for a few days. If that's too rustic, imagine placing the arrangement on a formal damask cloth set with fine china, crystal and your grandmother's sterling flatware and vintage napkins. A painted wood candlestick Candlestick A price chart that displays the high, low, open, and close for a security each day over a specified period of time. offers still another surprising contrast. Joe Boehm, whose job, in part, is to design memorable table settings for Better Homes & Gardens each year, paraded a group of nutcrackers of varying heights at the table's center. He pulled them together with evergreens, punctuating with fresh red roses in florist's water-filled vials and purple dried hydrangeas. The nutcrackers and evergreens were set on a pretty flower-patterned fabric reminiscent of an old Russian Old Russian n. The Russian language as used in documents from the middle of the 11th to the end of the 16th century. shawl. Taking a color cue from the nutcrackers, Boehm chose a gold-rimmed, blue-banded dinner plate and a lacy, richly bordered salad plate. In place of a napkin, he used a frilled frilled a mutation producing a specific form of feathering in different areas of the body of canaries. There may be curled feathers on the shoulders and wings (mantle), on the breast (jabot), or on the flanks (fins). hand towel. The final magic touch was a small nutcracker tied with a slender ribbon, an inventive napkin holder A Napkin Holder is a device used to hold napkins. A napkin holder can be made from virtually any solid material and is built so that the napkins pressed between two or more surfaces and do not slip from their hold. . Look for unusual baskets for flower arrangements and include lacy blooms such as yellow meadow flowers (or similar feathery feath·er·y adj. 1. Covered with or consisting of feathers. 2. Resembling or suggestive of a feather, as in form or lightness. feath seasonal stems), lilies and berries, even cattails, dried wheats and grasses. Placing the basket on a cloth patterned with vegetables in equally muted color hues maintains the light touch. Terra cotta cot·ta n. pl. cot·tae or cot·tas A short surplice. [Medieval Latin, of Germanic origin.] ceramic candlesticks in the form of Greek columns, clay pots filled with candles and carved wood pumpkins add romance. A simple solid-colored plate teamed with flatware with a twig TWIG - Tree-Walking Instruction Generator. A code generator language. ML-Twig is an SML/NJ variant. ["Twig Language Manual", S.W.K. Tijang, CS TR 120, Bell Labs, 1986]. or leafy pattern and unfaceted crystal stems might complete the setting. Of course, you might wish to be faithful to a particular holiday theme. That's no problem, either. Thanksgiving, Christmas and Hanukkah accessories are everywhere. For Thanksgiving, mix seasonal accessories with acorns, corn husks, miniature Indian corn, pomegranates and beeswax beeswax: see wax. beeswax Commercially useful wax secreted by worker honeybees to make the cell walls of the honeycomb. A bee consumes an estimated 6–10 lbs (3–4. pillar candles. You might move the pieces to a mantel, side table or bookcase bookcase Piece of furniture fitted with shelves, formerly often enclosed by doors. In early times the ambry, or wall cupboard, was used to hold books. Bookcases were included in the medieval fittings of college libraries in Britain. for the rest of the season. For a starry New Year's Eve table, Boehm used silver mercury balls for fresh rubrum lilies and small glass vases for white tulips. It's a good example of how several styles of centerpieces may be combined for a lush effect. Gold stars encircle en·cir·cle tr.v. en·cir·cled, en·cir·cling, en·cir·cles 1. To form a circle around; surround. See Synonyms at surround. 2. To move or go around completely; make a circuit of. gilt-edged cloth napkins and gold paper stars (the kind that you pull off of a card) are scattered about the table. Silver and gold balloons add to the ebullient atmosphere. Even if you prefer the more traditional centerpiece approach, there are plenty of classic examples available in department stores and mail-order catalogs. Epergnes (ay-PURNS) are practical as well as functional; they're frames with extended arms or branches that usually support candles and holders for flowers, fruits or other sweets. Whatever look you opt for, consider designer Boehm's suggestions. ``Look around the house,'' Boehm said. ``You'll find lots of things that can be taken and used in imaginative ways. ... ``Think glamorous - not only for company, but for yourself. Suggest an atmosphere that's different from everyday. The best part is you don't have to spend a fortune. You can find good designs at any price.'' An innovative centerpiece is something you'll find so special during the holidays that you'll probably be tempted to bring some of those touches of folksiness, romance and elegance to the table all year. CAPTION(S): Photo: A group of nutcrackers pulled together with evergreens, red r oses and dried hydrangea hydrangea (hīdrān`jə): see saxifrage. hydrangea Any of approximately 23 species of erect or climbing woody shrubs that make up the genus Hydrangea (family Hydrangeaceae). adds to an already festive table with plates trimmed in gold. |
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