Oh we love our tablescapes during the holidays don’t we?  I know I do.  Most of the year, you’ll find a simple bowl of fruit and some fresh flowers on our dining room table but during the holidays, like many of you, I set it with a pretty centerpiece.  Friends appreciate it, and an attractive centerpiece on a dining room table is a great way to creatively get into the spirit of the season. 

Better Homes & Gardens

Beckie from Washington sent me this email with a great question about what to do with decorative centerpieces when you’re serving guests a meal:

“Hey Kate. This is one of those questions that I think a lot of people (ok me) have always wondered how to do gracefully but seem too afraid to ask. Real life just doesn’t work the way you see it in a magazine, so here goes.

You go to all the trouble and creativity to set a beautiful table for a special occasion, you set up a nice well thought out centerpiece and you bring out your best dishes and set up the place settings and your nice stemware and everything looks perfect . . . You’ve cooked your meal and now everyone is sitting at the table ready and waiting with baited breath, but wait… there is nowhere to put the food as you have filled your table with beautiful things. How do you deal with that?

Do you set up a buffet?  Remove the centerpiece? Fill each plate and serve each person like a waiter? Am I the only one who doesn’t know how to do this right? Awaiting you answer for the holiday season.  ~ Beckie”

Hey Beckie, great question! I don’t believe there is any one way to “do it right”. There are several ways to work around your table decorations during a meal, it just depends on your preferred method of serving guests.

When it comes to how to serve your meal and where to put the food, you have a few options. You can clear your centerpiece and make room for the food on the table, family style. You can set up a location for the food elsewhere such as a sideboard, and serve buffet style. Or you can choose the formality of serving your guests on a plate one by one. 

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Hey friends, I’ve had this question come up several times in the recent weeks, so today I’m sharing my #1 tool for writing blog posts, it’s Windows Live Writer!  I know for many of you this is not news, but for others still writing your posts in Blogger or WordPress or TypePad, if you’re a PC user, there is a free and user friendly alternative. 

This is not a sponsored post, this is my personal opinion and what works for me. Every blogger needs to find his or her groove when it comes to posting, and WLW is my go to source for creating all of my articles – I’ve been using it for over two years and absolutely love it. 

Since it’s a Windows based application, WLW is designed for PC users, but I did read this article which allows a Mac user access (Mac lovers, if you try it, let me know if it works).  I won’t go through the basic step by step for installing WLW, but it’s really simple, just follow the prompts to have the application upload your blog theme to get started. 

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I think I’m most happy with a paintbrush in my hand.  Painting furniture relaxes me, it’s my strange form of therapy, and I do my best thinking when I’m fixing up something old and turning it into something new.  I get a range of comments when I post about a refurbished piece and they cover the spectrum.  Mostly it’s these kind: “Thank goodness you painted that ugly old thing!”  or “Wow, I love that makeover!  Way to bring that piece into this century and give it new life!”  I love those. 

Then I’ll get one of these from time to time. “Oh my goodness, you girls and your paint cans, you’re going to be stripping off all that paint in five years!”.  If you’ve ever read the comments on Apartment Therapy anytime someone paints a piece of furniture, the wood purists come out of the woodwork (pun intended) and proclaim ruination.  It raises a controversial question, when should you or shouldn’t you paint your {insert old piece here}. 

My answer is always, “It just depends on the piece".  How’s that for vague?  OK, well how about this generality.  For me, anything that is mass produced is fair game, especially if it has laminate or veneers.  Solid wood unique pieces, especially if they are true antiques are where I hesitate.  Unless the wood is damaged, then wood putty plus paint always works in my book.      

Recently, I received and email from Kathryn, she sent me a picture of her dining room set, and asked how could she freshen it up.  Should she paint the chairs, the table, or both? 

My advice?  Pull an Eddie and paint those shield back chairs.  Then restain the table.

Painting the chairs and reupholstering the seats in a modern fabric would go a long way to freshening this set. 

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Hello friends, hope all of you on the east coast are safe in the aftermath of Irene.  Watching the news, I was reminded how important it is to be prepared for emergencies and natural disasters, so we’re taking a few additional steps to beef up security around here.  I also made a trip down to my local True Value store where I shopped for stain and other supplies for my latest project.  I sanded and restained a circular pedestal dining table, and I’ll be sharing that with you soon!

Speaking of True Value, as a member of the DIY Blog Squad, this week is my turn to answer your DIY related questions.  The process is simple.  1.) Hop on over to True Value Facebook Page and 2. “Like” True Value if you haven’t already. 

3.) Next, click where you see “DIY Blog Squad” and then 4.) click on the tab that reads “Ask The Blog Squad”.

Other members of the Blog Squad like Katie from Bower Power and Layla from The Lettered Cottage have already answered a lot of questions, so head on over to browse through their responses for even more tips and inspiration.

In addition to blogging, I’ll be answering questions over at True Value for the rest of the week! 

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