Saturday, November 17, 2012


Today I thought I would show you a table set using just items bought at the op shops.

It was a fun and interesting project and my dear granddaughter enjoyed helping me with it.  

The idea was to use odd pieces of china, cutlery and glass and then to add a few decorative items to complete the look. 

The lovely damask table cloth is by Linen House and I paid $8.00 for it.  After a wash and iron it looks as good as new and fits our large round table perfectly.





This gorgeous quiche dish was a bit of an extravagance at $8.00 and fullfills my dream to own something by Villeroy & Boch and is perfect to hold little dinner rolls.

The dinner and side plates were from two different makers (made in china) and each set cost $5.00.
The very fine hand embroidered serviettes were part of a bundle of old linen that I bought at Vinnies: about 50 pieces of assorted serviettes and place mats for $10.00  = 20 cents each, which is cheaper than paper serviettes.

The assorted glasses cost up to $3 each.  I have collected these over the past few weeks




 The little pink glass petal candle holders were $2.00 for the pair and the candles are led lights which I picked up for $3.00 each.




The cutlery is an assortment of stainless steel pieces and these can be picked up for just 10 or 20 cents a piece in most op shops.
This is a very pretty fork. 

We used this plate for a garden salad:
the design is called French Dresser by Portmeirion made in Britain.  This is oven to table, Dishwasher, Freezer and Microwave safe but I must admit I will only hand wash this one.


The bud vase is beautiful with or without the rose and these vases can be picked up for 3 or 4 dollars.
I do have a weakness for glassware - especially good glassware.






So you can see it does not need to cost an arm and a leg to set a lovely table.  I have found it is much more economical than buying paper plates and so much more kind to the environment. 

3 comments:

margaret said...

oh Dian, is there anything left in the op shops where you live.
You certainly have an eye for bargains, the 2 that caught my eye most were the beautiful damask cloth and the portmeirion dish, I have one or two pieces which were wedding presents, made sure I took them with me when the marriage went pear shaped.

Radka said...

You have do so well Dian, and your granddaughter :-) And I have the same plate by Portmeirion!

Linda said...

What a lovely assortment Dian!! Love that quiche dish. Things are so hectic at this time of the year, sorry I've been AWOL, yet again!!