A Valentine’s Day table

Do you celebrate Valentine’s Day? It was never a favorite of mine and is also less than a week after my birthday. Over the years, it’s grown on me, and we’ve done a bit more to celebrate rather than ignoring it entirely. We always keep it small with no gifts, but it’s nice to enjoy a romantic dinner.

I had fun setting this Valentine table with a brand-new tablecloth. For table linens, I tend to shop at the same place every time. It’s a great shop, and I love the linens, but I wanted to try something new and use a pattern that everyone else isn’t featuring. I won a small set of April Cornell linens in a giveaway last year and really like them. I was excited to find a red April Cornell tablecloth on sale at Horchow. It sold out pretty quickly, but I have some similar ones linked.

The dishes are vintage Noritake in the Rosamor pattern. To be honest, I’m very conflicted about them. The pattern is completely neutral, but yet somehow these dishes go with absolutely nothing I own or buy. How is that possible? I don’t know. This china was given to me by a family member, but isn't sentimental - it resulted from a broken engagement in the 1960s! Why didn’t they return their gifts? How far did the engagement get that there was a complete service for 12 already purchased? I have so many questions. The point is, I’ve considered selling or donating this china, but a complete service for 12 is quite the investment when I paid zero dollars for the Rosamor. I decided to see if I could make it work.

Although the dishes are an odd thing, I do love the moody rose print for evening. To create a bit of separation between the plates and the tablecloth, I used rattan chargers. I use these chargers all the time to create texture and layering, which are critical to any tablescape. If you’re experimenting with pattern or color mixing, neutral chargers also work well to create a visual barrier to keep elements from clashing or looking busy.

The napkins are Irish linen from my grandmother (my dad’s mom) and are fortunately the same creamy color as the tablecloth ground. The crystal stemware is from my mom’s mom.

To help smooth over the dishes’ visual impact even more, I used silver flatware and candlesticks with red candles. The silver/red really helped in tying this all together, and so did the simple centerpiece of red roses in a clear glass vase. I gently tugged out a few petals to scatter at the base.

Maybe the moral of the Valentine’s table is to adapt to your differences to create harmony. That’s deep. That’s not where I was planning to go with this tablescape post. Here’s to seeing the beauty in your odd vintage china pattern.