After seeing my blogging friend Tina’s (@ The Enchanted Home) kitchen table piled with candy in preparation for making treats for her son’s school bake sale, I thought about what our kitchen tables look like on a daily basis.

Kitchen tables used to be the place that family would gather around to eat, discuss the day, have a cup of coffee and re connect.  Now it seems that it’s that place we throw our mail.

Do you eat at your kitchen table?  We try to.

Although sometimes Beans suggests that we eat at her table.  Hard to fit my heiny on a tiny chair made for a 3 year old, but I try.

Here is Tina’s table with the Candy Sushi.  By the way, she shows detailed pics of how to make this and if I ever need a wowee treat, I will be making some candy maki.

Tina is incredibly talented…if you haven’t read her blog, you are missing out!

So here is my table, and the surrounding items.  I didn’t “pretty” it up for you although I probably should have!

I generally try to keep fresh flowers (even if they are cheapies from the grocery store) there since it brightens my day.

I’m not sure what these flowers are.  Beans picked them out at our local Fresh Market last week and they are still going strong.

My sweet girlfriend Lori gave me eggs today that her chickens laid this morning!  She has a beautiful garden and in the very back there stands a hen house.  If you have never had a fresh egg, I can tell you there is nothing like it.  A totally different taste than a store bought egg.  I love the speckles and the varying shapes and sizes that her hens produce.

EVEN A GREEN ONE!  I teased Beans that we are going to have “Green Eggs and Ham.”

Yeah… This is the only way Ryan Gosling will even be in my kitchen or at my table.  Sigh…

Donna, I promise to return this soon!  That’s why it’s on my kitchen table..to remind me.

I keep a stack of magazines on my table so I can steal a moment and have a coffee and a read here and there.  Being an interior designer, I receive so many shelter magazines that it can feel like work if I don’t keep up.  This is the new issue of the Crier, which is the Junior League of Charlotte’s publication.  I enjoy reading about the progress that we are making in our community,

My kitchen chairs.  I had them made by my upholsterer to be comfy (and supportive).

He was kind enough to do a mock up for me to sit in once I gave him all the dimensions and my design.

Detail of the nailheads and linen on my chairs.  I am picky about my nails.  I chose them specifically for each client project.  There are many shapes, sizes, colors and designs to choose from.  Heico Fasteners has an amazing selection.

Here is my kitchen chandelier.  It is an antique that I stumbled upon right around my 40th birthday…great timing.  Happy Birthday to me.

I fell in love with the finish (greenish aged patina with aged gold), the unusual basket at the base and the “do hickeys” that swing freely.  I will try to take a better pic next time.

Detail of the finish.  I love old and crappy.

Pindler & Pindler Belgian Linen and Fabricut trim.

Woven wood shades by Hunter Douglas.

Wallpaper is Cowtan and Tout.

Trim Color (my favorite):  Benjamin Moore White Dove

Close up of Cowtan & Tout wallpaper.

Interestingly enough…I had this put up when I was nearing Beans arrival into the world and some people said I was crazy for using this paper in an area where my child would be throwing spaghetti from her high chair.

Maybe it was just good luck but I never once had to wash red sauce off the walls!

And even if I did, who cares?  I loved the paper and up it went.

A souvenir from one of the greatest, most enjoyable, fun dinners I’ve ever had.  With the wonderful Mr. V on the Amalfi Coast of Italy.

Priceless art made with love by my Sweet Beans.  Oh yes, that is good old fashioned Scotch tape on the side of my kitchen cabinet.  It’s nice to look at when I drink my morning coffee.  Reminds me of the many blessings in my life.

Sushi plates and Chinese plates.  The sushi plates and dipping dishes are from Crate and Barrel (many moons ago).  The Chinese plates and bowls were a gift from friends in Chicago.  They found them in Chinatown in Chicago.  I LOVE these plates.  When you hold them to the light the little rice motif is translucent.

A little antique ceramic squirrel from the 1950′s that my MIL bought me when we were antiquing together in Micanopy, Florida.  It’s so cheery (and cheesy) to me, it makes me happy to see it’s expectant little face on my window sill.  I think it was originally some kind of planter.

Weird little cactus that Beans and Mr. V brought home one Saturday morning after a bird seed buying expedition to Lowe’s.  Apparently it caught her eye and she said, “I think Mommy should have this prickle plant.”

My Mom found this sign at Marshalls or TJ Maxx.  It says, “Cafe Martineau, Paris.”

Since that is my family name, she bought up every one in the store.   Super weird.  Who would buy that except for us?

My brick/subway tile is from Crossville Tile in Charlotte.  It is one of the Artisan series and the edges are uneven.  If you need the name, email me and I will do some digging.

Recognize the cookies?  Old school from the Keebler Elves.  Beans calls them “rainbow cookies”- (works for me) and the container is from Williams Sonoma.

The counters are Antica Juperana from Walker Zanger.  They have lots of chunks of cream with carmel and gold ribbons.  Sounds like an ice cream.

I get a lot of compliments on this fruit bowl from Crate & Barrel.  It’s been in my kitchen for years and I still love it.  I think they are a wonderful source for inexpensive bowls and vases.  Love C & B!

Of course the best part of any kitchen table is who is laying beside it!

Sweet Old Digby hoping for a morsel or two to drop…

Well, that’s my tour of my kitchen table and some of the details of my kitchen.

Please feel free to email me your snaps of your kitchen table and I will post them.

Enjoy,

@