lynn...oh this is a very "beachy," summery t'scape! I love how you drew the colors out in the place settings from your fav napkins... RWB & adding Y. (great job on painting those sunflower wine glasses, too!)

My fav on the table is using your photos & fav book...& that jar for your semi-centerpc...that provides just the right amount of simplicity with the sand & shells & creamy candlelight...& the natural beauty of twine finishes it. Also like how you used the blue gravel rock with your other candles on the table. All of it, so pretty. DH&I will be camping at our fav lake soon...so relaxing. I am sorry you are homesick...so TFS your lake dreamscape with us. Jeanne S.

I love your table, all the memories & it truly is a summer theme. The jar with the beach vignette in it is precious!

Gosh! It just smacks of long summer days. I love the photos and the books. I remember now that you like using children's books in your centerpieces too. Sort of feel like we're kindred spirits when it comes to that.

I can well imagine that it makes you feel nostalgic, because it makes ME feel that way. I grew up 20 minutes from a man-made lake (They built a dam.) and I'd come home many a night (still 90 degress at 10 pm) exhausted from water skiing all day. In those days we didn't worry about too much sun and I was dark brown when school started up again.

I like the waffle tablecloth and the accents of yellow. I use a tiny bit yellow in almost everything except Christmas and New Years decor.

Aren't those the glasses that are part of a set of HUNDREDS you painted for a friend's wedding? They're great.

" we just like them better like that when we eat (unlike normal people)." WATCH YOUR MOUTH! That's where ours end up most of the time.

Heehee! Regarding centerpieces in the middle of tables, OA, I always feel so darn guilty putting mine off to the end in every tablescape I do. Everyone else doesn't . . . except you, that is. I'm in good company, though. BUT . . . yes, you and I must be kindred souls, both putting our centerpieces off-sides and both loving kids books. I hope you get a chance to read, "The Seashore Book" someday; it's a beautiful one. And, yes, those are a few of the gazillion sunflower wine glasses I painted for my bestfriend's DD's bridal shower one summer.

Yachter, thank you. My beach vignette is a take off on the cloche/apothecary jar ones.

Jeanne: oooooh, a trip to a lake . . . lucky you! Please let us know all about it when you get back. Thanks for your compliment on my table. I'm so glad you liked it.

Lynn, "normal is just a setting on the washing machine"!
And I LIKE things off-center. (like I am, LOL).

Did you go to our Holiday inspiration albums looking at the tablesettings there...or go to my home page where I have the Tablesetting albums. There is a Spring 'n Summer along with Christmas, Fall, and Halloween. (Valentines got stuck in the Spring one, LOL.) I hope OA's beach table is there,
I'm sure I saved it.

I am behind on adding more photos to the table albums so please forgive that part. I'll try to get that done soon.
I've saved a bunch from here, just haven't got them uploaded to Photobucket yet. ;o(

hugs, Karen

Here is a link that might be useful: our tablesetting albums

Lynn...very lovely tablescape...
Everything is so 'Breezy' looking..
I can almost hear the waves!
Love how you added personal touches, with your beach pictures..
They made this very special.
I especially LOVE the old Vintage Clothespin Jar centerpiece. Looking at it, does give a 'Sentemental' feeling.. and yes - (in a nice way) kind of 'homesick' too...

jane

Your table captured just the right mood, Lynn. I loved how you added the personal pictures and the book. Good use for the old coffee pot too. Sorry you can't be back at the lake with the rest of your family, but know you have happy memories of your trip there during the summer. It's hard sometimes when we end up living far away from the rest of the "bunch" isn't it? Most of our family are back in the midwest so I'm in the same boat. Thanks for sharing your table. Luvs

Looks good, Lynn! I can imagine how much you miss the family compound. Sounds like you have lots of good memories!

Lynn. I also put my 'centerpieces' at the end of the table AND love kids books... You have inspired me to put together a special table this evening so a BIG thank you:)
Lynne and Oldalgebra If you have not read it ' Shadows on the Sea' by Joan Hiatt Harlow is a wonderful children's book especially if you like to read aloud to kids. It has become one of my alltime fav books after reading it to my daughter 10 years ago.

Greenhousems,
Take pictures and share!
OA

Very pretty with all the red, white and blue. I'm a lover of books of all kinds, and am paricularly fond of the "favorites" our children have in their book collections. Like you, I don't like having any kind of centerpiece that interferes with conversation or the ability to see the people across from me. Our centerpieces almost always get moved once dinner begins.

Having special family memories and picture that capture the essence of those times is a wonderful way to celebrate any holiday. Sorry you couldn't be with your family at the beach house, but it looks like you made a special meal for your family at home.

I'm not ready to give up on summer yet....not quite yet!

Thanks for sharing....

Lynn,
Very well thought out and very summery!!
Great idea using the book and the spatterware "vase."

The wine glasses are wonderful. Are they painted on the inside or the outside? Do you have to hand wash them?

Isn't a centerpiece at the end of the table an "endpiece?" LOL!! GROAN, but I amuse myself.

TFS,
Candy

Lynn, so glad you took the time to share a table with us. I agree with everyone else. Hope this table helps with you being homesick for the lakes. Your clothespin jar is darling with all the sand, shells and lit candle.

Punk

CUTE...you just can't beat a red/white and blue summer table!!!
LOL CC...that was cute!