We’re happy to announce that Freebie Fridays are back! For anyone who missed our last round of Freebies, each week we’ll post a question here on Design Happens on Friday. You have until 12 Noon ET on Monday to comment on this post with a valid email address and you’re entered for that week’s giveaway. It’s that simple!
We’ve partnered with Saffron Marigold to kick off this new round of Freebie Fridays. They describe themselves as “cozy boutique, home to an exquisite collection of exotic, unique, designer handcrafted, India inspired bedding and linens.” Their commitment to fair trade and use of eco-friendly products really impressed us here at Design Happens. Saffron Marigold is offering this week’s winner their choice of any table runner featured on their site.
This week we want to know – What’s normally on your dining table when you’re NOT expecting company? Is it always neat and tidy with a bowl of fruit and some candlesticks? Or are you like me and its normally covered in the last week’s worth of mail and maybe a cat or two?
Answer before 12 Noon ET on Monday. Click here for the Official Rules
As my dining room table is made a part of the main living area, being framed by a large arched opening, and is only enjoyed occasionally when graced by company, the table serves as a display surface for artful pieces Presently, a deeply tinted squared cobalt vase is filled with long silk grasses and over-sized leaves gracefully arching to one side which sits along side a giant glass bowl which is edged in cobalt fading into aqua blue at the center and 3 simple white porcelain bird votive holders that have recently joined the display.
My rust colored table runner, large dark gold bubble glass hurricane candle holders with rust colored column candles, and an assortment of sage green, dark gold column candles on antique dark brown candle holders
A centerpiece of a hurricane with candle in it and a couple days worth of mail typically.
Our kitchen table doubles as our dining table as the kids have taken over my dining room! The kitchen table always has a centerpiece – a black wire bowl filled with apples and cherries (fake ones of course!). Even when the chaos of a day hits that table, that centerpiece makes me feel that there will be a moment when organization will return!
My table is usually very tidy (I try to hide the paperwork that stacks up on a chair so you can't see it).
On my table I trade off between having a very decorative lasy susan or a big plant in a colorful pot.
At this very moment my sewing machine, various children books and toys and a bumbo.
My daughter is getting married in June, so we lots of wedding "stuff" on our kitchen table. My dining room table has beautiful place settings that my daughter and future son-in-law gave to us for Christmas last year.
Right a stack of baby clothes I'm trying to sell on Ebay plus my two preschoolers' art work from the week. and yes, lots of GLITTER from the artwork.
Being the mother of a 6 month old daughter, unfortunately our table is usually messy. There is usually books and homework from her Dad's classes, mail gets left there, sometimes the occasional toy will find its way there. Although we do TRY to keep it clean, our busy lives usually get the best of us.
mail for the week, 2 crystal candlesticks and my laptop…what a beautiful set until the cat decides she needs a nap where the dog can't get her…
We rarely eat at the table so right now I have yesterday's mail along with my ceramic pot centerpiece that I place seasonal flowers and a scented candle. I would love to have a pretty setting to place there. I'm working on it!
Our dining room table is where everything happens and gets left! There is usually a hurricane candle centerpiece surrounded by the contents of our lives; homework, mail, toys, etc…
It's just me and my cat, so my table is always clean with a centerpiece and 2 candles over a mirrored runner.
My table is such a mess. Newspaper along with mail. Try as I might, I cannot get it clean.
Mail that I have not gone through yet, the camera, the Garmin, my purse, my planner…anything I might need when I run out the door. Yes…sometimes even the cat, but right now she is curled in my lap while I am typing.
Well, right now I have chips and salsa, peanuts, mail, cheese,keys, and deer antlers of my husbands.
Mail, ,magazines, and a plant.
Not much since I finally got Christmas put away just this last weekand haven't replaced anything yet! Usually I have a runner or large charger with a plant in the middle or candles. I change it up often. Since we burn a lot of wood for warmth in the winter I currently have a thin layer of soot mixed with dust in which I see the tale-tale foot prints of my beloved (sometimes) cat, Shadow.
My house is pretty neat with a table runner and glass tray with candles.
If everything else is in a state of chaos in my house I can always sit at my dining table. We always keep it clean and decorated (always a textured runner and floral centerpiece) with some accents around it. It also motivates me to get everything else together when I am not motivated at the end of a hard day.
S&P shakers, and some sort of baby feeding equipment, wish it was neater, but oh well…in 4 years or so let's hope.
It sometimes acts as a desk for the laptop! and the paper until I get a chance to read it
On our table, we have, sitting on a leaf-shaped placemat, a large white ceramic bowl decorated with line drawings of Roman people. In the bowl, we keep something natural, like giant pinecones, or dried hydrangeas from our garden. Usually the table is clear, but sometimes we have books and mail that have to be cleared off.
I have a Partylite hurricane a little eskew of center right now with a set of dishes waiting to be taken to goodwill and few pieces of mail-definitely not ready for company.
My dining room table is covered with two tablecloths and fresh flowers.
who does not want to have a Martha Stewartish table?, as much as i aspire to be good at this, today i have a christmas runner still in place, a centerpiece from thanksgiving, christmas card writing paraphanelia and clean serving dishes not put away from now bygone parties!
Clean with bright yellow flowers to offset the slate colored walls and linen upholstered chairs!
I have a lovely bright yellow with a spring green border tablecloth on my dining table with a large Handpainted Mexican bowl sitting in the center, the bowl is painted a base green and has yellow pears and red apples painted inside the bowl. It always makes me happy when I walk into the room and see my table!
My computer and some reports that I am behind on. We eat in the kitchen more than the dining room. I'ts more cozy when it's just us. So, the dining room table becomes a desk for work and homework when company's not around.
Usually there are either fresh flowers or a vanilla scented candle display.
A fruit bowl filled with pink lady apples, usually a bite or two already taken from my sneaky, little girl, banana leaf placemats, and fnally, my two-year old!!
usually laundry waiting to be folded, but lately, you'll find the soap, sponges, and clean rag towels needed to clean my tack (horseback riding gear)… oh, yeah and a half dead cacti
My dining room chairs are turned upside down on top of my table. I havent taken them down since the last time I mopped.
I usually keep a bowl of assorted nuts in the center of my table for easy snacking!
I keep my dining room table clean when not expecting company. I try to accessorize for the season. It's really the only place there is in my home where I can highlight the season. I use various containers and candlesticks throughout the year.
A Beige table runner, a over sized ceramic bowel with decorative spheres made of glass, ceramic, and wicker. With two tall glass candle holders that flank the bowl. Simple. Clean. Elegant.
My dining room table has a beautiful artistic bowl as a centerpiece and that's it!
Mail, coats, a big bowl with potpourri and my work bag.
i think that they should have a couch or something big that would be awesome but i am a lonely person and noone will read this so whatever
I'm using the term "dining room table" lightly since officially mine is in the kitchen. I try to keep a nice bowl of fruit on it, but the fruit has a tendency to go bad since it is frequently covered up by my sloppy boyfriend's hats, jackets, and mail
Mine has a snowflake tablecloth and a hurricane with a white candle in it at the moment….
Right now my daughter's Simpson's Life game and Polly Pocket Roller Coaster Resort so that her infant sister wont get the small pieces.
When I'm not expecting anyone you can always find a cat or two, school project pieces and parts, the mail that I'm trying to avoid and usually the clean folded clothes that belong to my children, who instead of putting them up, they just get what they need from the pile on the table – crazy, huh? But in the midst of all the madness I do actually have placemats, napkins, and a candle centerpiece.
a candle and place settings.
Right now my son's legos some papers, and some hangers
I usually keep it simple.. a neutral colored tablecloth and candle to match the season; hopefully burning and filling the area with a sweet scent.
Usually a junk mail and school work.
A candle centerpiece and usually my cat (he just doesn't listent to me!)
Pretty clean right now…usually mail, jackets, keys, etc!
usually a quilted table runner, plant, candlesticks, etc. lately a fish tank of hermit crabs has been added to the assortment. Kind of tacky but they seem to be happy there!