4 Men 1 Lady

a lifestyle blog about the persuit of bringing beauty to a house full of men.

A Valentine’s Day dinner table.

by |

This weekend we hosted my cousin and her fiance  for dinner.
Being as Valentine’s Day is just a few days away I went all out with the romantic theme.

IMG_4128

I spotted these vintage, red dishes at my mother-in-law’s house a few months ago.
Caring is sharing…she’z coo like dat.
When you have kids you quickly learn how impractical and high maintenance table cloths are.
So instead, I used something a little different and you won’t believe where it came from…

IMG_4160

Good old Hole Depot.
The last time I was there I noticed this big roll of paper sitting at the exit for use if you need to line the bed of your truck or use it to keep from keep your hammer from clanking around?…I’m reaching, I know.
I knew I could use it for something crafty one day so I rolled up some paper and took it home.
I love a good free deal.

PicMonkey Collage 1

Turns out, loading station paper makes a great table runner / table cloth.
Instead of decking my table out with fancy place mats, I drew them on instead.
And, instead of place cards I simply wrote my guests names right by their faux place mat with a white colored pencil.

PicMonkey Collage

You’d laugh at how many audio visual carts I’ve collected from school auctions.
Well, here’s another one turned bar cart.

IMG_4122

IMG_4118

IMG_4140

For the center piece I picked up a $ .51 piece of wood from the cast-off pile at Home Depot and filled my beloved milk-glass glasses with grocery store roses.

IMG_4164

For dessert I dipped my own strawberries in chocolate.
Then I picked up these individual, mini-cakes at Whole Foods that were too cute to pass up.

IMG_4175

The fun was watching everyone “hem” and “haw” over which one to pick.  Then we all taste-tested each other’s.
It was a lovely evening.

If you enjoyed this post please let me know so I can share more posts like this in the future!
Shoot me a comment, follow on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram. Merci!

Comments

  1. I looove this post. I love the glamour but casual simplicity of it. My favorite is a toss up between the table runner and mini cakes!!

  3. I am blown away by your drawings on the brown paper. WOW that looks terrific. And I love that bar cart. Awesome styling as well! What a great “Home Depot” table scape. I love the humor in that too.

  4. Love Sarah! We were friends in college 🙂 I should put brown paper under my children every night. Not for the cuteness of the whole thing, but it may be practical!

  5. Love it! This is so pretty!
    I’ve been trying for about 3 years to find an A/V cart with zero luck.

  9. love this! absolutely love this!
    you’ve inspired me to bring out the paper for the table – maybe like at Macaroni Grill? instead of wiping off the table after the kids are finished, we can just trash the “cloth” and bring out a new piece 🙂

  12. Love this post!! Great job and would love to see more. It was so practical and yet beautiful. I am into dishes and color and this did it for me. WOW!!!

  13. This was absolutely exquisite because it was PERSONAL and it came from your heart – it was so YOU!! I can only imagine how very special your family and guests felt because of this very heartfelt effort. And it looked yummy! But this post really speaks to me because I visit many blogs and see many posts regarding Valentine’s Day and unhappily the vast majority simply post images of items displaying glitter and glitz and provide instructions on where to go to spend your money…

    When I want true inspiration, I come here.

    Thank you so much for sharing!

  15. This is my second favorite post of yours; #1 was where you showed us how you painted the thick stripes in your entryway at your previous home. But I really, really enjoyed this one!! Hats off to you, Michelle, your table was gorgeous as were the mini desserts. I would love to see a little more of these types of posts (you asked, right?). Hope you and the Mr. have a wonderful V Day!

  16. Amazing! I LOVE your creativity. Hands down your blog is one of my top 3 for actually using ideas you show. And I probably read 25! I love seeing your little projects that are applicable to more situations than just the one you used it for! I will be using this paper runner with writing for my next seated event and who knows what else!
    Jealous of all of your audio visual carts! I am going to have my husband keep a look out at his high school!

  17. I do the same thing! I love using Brown butcher paper as a table runner. I saw it on BHG a long time ago and now you can buy it already printed with beautiful designs. It can be spendy so I just make my own. Much more fun!

  18. We had so much at dinner with you the other night. Thanks for inviting us. It’s so nice to catch up with your family and get some baby and marriage advice! 🙂
    xoxo!

  19. So pretty! I think I have the same owl as you. Picked up at Value Village last week and my son wants me to spray paint it to put in his room.

Trackbacks

It is nice to meet you!

Hey there! I’m Michelle; I’m an Passionate DIY’er and in constant pursuit of how to bring beauty to my house full of men (3 boys + 1 hubby). Stick around and see what I’ve got up my hard-working sleaves!

read more