realtors“Staging Your Table”
Grand Tour Magazine
January/February
Deborah Fabricant
“Staging” is a term used by realtors and decorators that means to titivate, or spruce up a space that is being readied to sell. We all know that when you show a home, there are several factors that might hasten the sale and maybe even add to the perceived value. By “staging” a home for sale, many designers work with realtors to enhance the look of the home by bringing in furniture, adding plants, re-arranging furniture, hanging artwork, and setting the dining room table with panache. To me, the dining room is the heart of the home, for this is where we gather for dinner, parties, celebrations, quiet talks and languid moments. This is where we enjoy our friends and family over delicious food and great wine…where we take the time to savor the moment, shelve the worries of the day and be with the people we love. So, when I was asked to “stage” this dining room, I thought about those moments and how important it is to project the feeling of a luxurious repast for those who will be considering the purchase of a new home.
My most recent foray into the “staging” scene was the Pelican Point home of Elizabeth and Tom Tierney. I was asked to come up with a tablescape that matched the Tuscan flavor of this magnificent residence, and one that would enhance the dining room and the view beyond. (Ocean, of course!) This dining room is rich in Venetian plaster, Lucullan woods, antique furniture and massive leather chairs that surround a beautiful Butera Collection wooden table and look out onto an Italian patio and the Pacific beyond. This called for something big, bold and rich-looking. Not any of those little nosegay flower arrangements and Mom’s china! No, not in this house. I could see that my work was cut out for me, and the one thing that kept creeping into my mind was the Tierney’s vast collection of artwork displayed throughout the home. Hmmm…what if I put “art” on the table? But what?
The year before I had come across a wonderful artist/sculptor, David Bryce*, while visiting friends in Sheffield, Massachusetts, and thought how perfect one of his sculptures would be in the center of the Tierney table! That began the process of pulling the “tablescape” together. Once the sculpture was in place, sort of “floating” on the table, the next step was to surround her with materials that not only went with the house but also enhanced her ethereal beauty. Sitting in the patio gave me the inspiration to bring the outdoors in and surround the sculpture with materials found in the garden!
The ensuing trip to Home Depot produced a bodacious amount of goodies from the garden section: small, medium and large sized river rock, rustic slate squares, a couple bags of moss and some tiny potted green plants and ferns. Next stop: Rolling Green* in Los Angeles…a place you all definitely must visit before you die!! Rolling Green is a wholesale nursery where one can find beautiful hot-house plants, orchids and the pots to put them in. Not just pots, but POTS, my friends! Here you will find a plethora of unique and unusual containers in any size for your home or patio décor, all at reasonable prices. And, well…I just shopped my little heart out! Digging around at Rolling Green produced some great candlesticks, old patina pots for orchids and some more beautiful little (4”) plants. Now, on to the actual table place settings themselves…
This is where I use the old mix and match theory, along with the idea that decorating a table does not have to take an army of helpers and a Swiss Bank Account to achieve! One thing to remember when you are “staging” your own table, is to first open your eyes and LOOK around your home for the different and unusual…whatever plates, chargers, napkins, napkin rings, glassware and flatwear that might go with the theme of your design. You will be surprised at what might work before you go out and shop. In this case I wanted everything to look Italian, have some heft to it and of course, go with the sculpture centerpiece I was mulling over in my mind. My first stop was Cost Plus World Market where I had seen some nifty square wooden trays (normally used for candle arrangements) that I thought would make perfect chargers. I also found some little iron frogs to go into the centerpiece design and small (5”x5”) square appetizer plates with a fern design in the center. Next stop: Pottery Barn where I found some luscious green stemware and yummy cream colored, oversized linen napkins. I then hit Bloomingdale’s and found the perfect flatwear with pounded iron handles…and they were on sale! After Bloomie’s, I went home to put it all together with my favorite moss green square dinner plates that came from Williams Sonoma.
Laying out the basic design of this table I discovered that the chargers needed something underneath other than a regular placemat. Originally the thought was to use 18”x18” limestone squares, but it got to looking too bulky. (Although keep in mind that limestone squares can be wonderful as “placemats” on a table!) The dilemma was what to use that would be a little more unusual than just linens. Many times in the past I’ve resorted to my vast collection of hand-made papers that I discovered at McManus and Morgan* in Los Angeles, and that seemed the perfect touch for this table! The particular “paper” I had in mind is not really a paper, but hand-pounded bark! It is made by the Otomi Indians in Central Mexico and existed before actual paper was even made. The Otomi’s cut thin strips of bark from trees, place the pieces side-by-side and hand pound it until it adheres to itself and fuses, producing a gorgeous pattern. The different shades in the “paper” indicate different barks from various trees. They say when you approach the Village of the Otomi Indians one can hear the pounding from far away! Bringing the bark “paper” out completely pulled this tablescape together. Now on to the assembly…
- Lay a piece of dark plastic down the center of the table.
- Place the sculpture on small risers made of heavy duty plastic in the center of the table.
- With a hammer, break up the slate…some large and some smaller pieces, but none smaller than 4”.
- Place orchids in patina pots and anchor at either end of the sculpture. Surround the base of the sculpture with additional tiny potted plants in clear saucers. Use a variety of plants i.e. variegated palms, maidenhead fern, bromeliads, anything flowering
- Arrange the broken slate carefully in and around the potted plants, interspersing it with river rock. Cover the edges of any plastic showing with additional river rock. Wet the moss, wring dry and wedge in between the slate and rock so that it looks as if it is “growing” out of the slate.
- Place frogs on slanted slate pieces. Place candlesticks next to orchid pots at either end of the sculpture.
Placesettings:
- Place hand pounded bark placemats at each place.
- Top with wooden chargers, moss green dinner plates and place a small square “fern” appetizer plate on top of that.
- Roll the linen napkins so they have a fresh, “puffy” look and place on top of the setting. Take a small river rock, rub it with a bit of oil to give it sheen and use as an anchor for the napkin instead of a conventional napkin ring.
- Forks on the left…knife and spoon on the right. Place the wine glass above the tip of the knife on the edge of the mat.
There you have it! A beautiful tablescape that didn’t cost an arm and a leg, looks magnificent and will win rave reviews! I know you are now asking, “What if I don’t have a sculpture for the center of the table?” Not to worry. Use anything decorative be it a large old urn filled with pears, a collection of frogs on risers of different levels, a glass bowl with lemons or a wrought iron stand filled with Italian vegetables, (eggplant, zucchini, rosemary, small potatoes, artichokes, mushrooms and peppers), and artfully displayed. You will be amazed at how easy it is to “stage” your own table for your next dinner party!
Resources:
David Bryce, Sculptor
Fly Creek Studio
PO Box 211
North Egremont, MA
413.528.3732
email: flycreek@bcn.netRolling Green Nursery
9528 Jefferson Blvd. (West of La Cienega)
Los Angeles, CA
310.559.8656
McManus and Morgan
2506 W. 7th Street
Los Angeles, CA 90057
213.387.4433
For information on The Tierney Residence contact Karen Betson at Coldwell Banker. Phone: 949.759.3741