Country Casual Blue and White Summer Tablescape

In just a couple of weeks, we will be celebrating the Fourth of July. Typically, we are not at our farm for the holiday. We usually spend it with friends at another farm in Tennessee. It’s a magical time! Sadly, due to Covid-19, we will not be making our annual trip there this year.(Side note: Tennessee is one of my favorite places! If you’ve never been there, you must visit the Smokey Mountains. Add it to your bucket list. Had Tennessee an ocean, we’d likely be living there today.)

This year we will be celebrating our nation’s independence at our own farm and I’m quite excited about it! The boys got fireworks and the barbecue menu is being planned. Meanwhile, I am dreaming up ways to decorate the farmhouse for the holiday.

I started pulling out all things patriotic from the attic this week: bunting, lanterns, flags, and more. I also did a red, white, and blue inventory of dishes, linens, and decor. Turns out I have more white and blue than red. (Sounds like some shopping may be in order!)

If  I’m being honest, during said inventory I got completely sidetracked, as I often do.  I was looking at all the blue and white pieces laid out on the kitchen counter and my wheels were spinning. The next thing I knew, I was creating a blue and white tablescape on our kitchen table. I know, it sounds strange. Decorating a table just for the heck of it!? To that, I say, “Yes!”   Fascinating (or not so fascinating) facts about Meeghan: I decompress in a few ways; cleaning the farmhouse, spending time with the animals, and styling home decor.  Please tell me I’m not alone.

Okay, back to the blue and white pieces taunting me on the kitchen counter… Sure, I probably should have grabbed the vacuum and cleaned up farm dirt from the floor or opened a book to expand my mind, but designing things in the farmhouse gives me so much pleasure. The cleaning and mind expansion could wait. I wanted to design a pretty table with all the blue and white I found in my kitchen cabinets. Let the decorating begin!I love to create comfortable country tablescapes. It’s important to me that anyone who sits at our table doesn’t feel like the table is too pretty to make a mess. I always want you to feel at home in our home. Therefore, I started with my favorite blue grain stripe runner and ran that down the center of the table.

Wanting to create a casual and somewhat rustic feel, I placed our white everyday dinner plates on top of wood chargers. I folded indigo blue linen napkins in thirds and laid them down the center of the dinner plate so that about five to six inches hung down from the bottom of the plate. On the napkin, I placed a blue and white floral salad plate. I used my favorite white embossed enamel flatware and iced tea goblets.With the place settings set, it was time to go outside and gather the blue hydrangeas that are abundant on the property this year. I was so excited to incorporate my own flowers grown here on the farm in my tablescape. I arranged them in a vintage crock, my vessel of choice for flower arrangements in the farmhouse. Finally, I dug out my weathered wicker votive candle holders and votive candles, because let’s be honest, no tablescape is complete without candlelight.Viola! My casual, rustic, blue and white tablescape was complete. Did it seem silly and somewhat excessive for a pizza delivery dinner night? Sure! That’s ok though, it made me happy and now I get to share it with you.Thank you for indulging me!