{moroccan dinner party: decor shopping}

A couple weekends back we hosted the Moroccan themed outdoor dinner party I have been dreaming up (check out the inspiration board here). Today I'm sharing the decor pieces I picked up from Pier One to complete the look and I absolutely cannot wait to share how it turned out as well as the recipes behind the delicious menu in a few weeks!

There are about 5 or 6 different styles of outdoor lanterns at Pier1 and they are what originally inspired the look for the table decor.  Instead of going for floral centerpieces like I normally do, I decided to buy a ton of different lanterns in various shapes and colors to create a tablescape entirely of lantern candlelight.  I started with picking up a few of the large moroccan lanterns and then filled in with the more colorful glass lanterns in orange, purple, green and blue.  Here's a few shots of the shopping process and some sneak peeks of the table!

charger plate  |  moroccan tea glasses  |  caged lantern  |  melamine dishware  |  large lanterns

Find what speaks to you.

Compensation was provided by Pier 1 via Mode Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Pier 1.

{winter dinner party inspiration}

The newest edition of the Glam Style Ipad app features a plaid themed dinner party inspiration I put together for the winter months.  While this particular dinner tablescape has some very decidedly holiday themes, the look could easily be re-purposed for a cozy January evening party.  Also let's face it - the months after the holidays can be depressingly void of social gatherings so why not put some extra effort into a get-together at your place!

For this particular dinner, I used plaid fabric leftover from this party as a tablecloth and accented the entire table with gold elements (big surprise!).  I feel that when using plaid in party or table decor, it's more fun if you get a little crazy with it by mixing any and all plaid color combinations you can find. For all the details on this table and some tips on hosting a winter dinner party download the Glam Style app right here.

{2013: top party posts}

Although the cocktail posts are my favorite the write for this blog (for obvious reasons), the very very close runner up is blogging about parties and dinner parties.  This year was a bit quieter on the party front in our place compared with last year due to us traveling a lot in the past 8 months and our space it smaller than the loft, but it didn't stop of from throwing some great get togethers and dinner parties.  While it wasn't at our home and technically took place on December 31st 2012, the NYE party we threw to ring in 2013 (pictured above) was by far my favorite party of this past year.

 {Oscars Viewing Party}

 {our glitzy 28th Birthday dinner}

 {a traditional Thanksgiving dinner for 13!}

 {an autumn tablescape for a fall dinner party}

{a girl's night in spread}

 {blind wine tasting party inspiration}

 {a gold & silver dinner party tablescape}

{ringing in NYE 2013 one year ago today!}

up next- my favorite paper goods & printables of 2013!

{gold & silver dinner party tablescape}

We recently hosted a little dinner party at our place to thank our friends for house-sitting and dog-sitting for us while are abroad this winter.  BBJ Linen helped us make it extra special by letting me use some of their brand new Aspen linens paired with their gold sea sponge chargers.  A home-made meal with great friends always makes for a fun evening, but it is always nice to make it extra special with a beautiful tablescape.  I am usually a die-hard gold fan so I was surprised by how much I liked the mix of the gold and silver together- especially in the table runners which I used running across the table to establish each place setting.

{a thanksgiving holiday tablescape}

Chris and I decided not to travel home for Thanksgiving this year (flights are insane and we have been traveling like crazy this past year), but instead of spending the holiday alone in Chicago both of our families decided to travel to us!  Both our parents and siblings rented an old victorian house together in Lincoln Park and the best part of the place was the super old school dining room (complete with cheesy teal tufted chairs!) where we got to serve Thanksgiving dinner.

I really wanted to make the dinner special for our families since they traveled so far to be with us and BBJ Linen helped me bring my vision to life by giving us access to their amazing catalogue of designer rental linens and chargers.  I would have loved to go super modern and use this striped linen or use some punchy colored chargers, but I decided to keep it classic with a luxe navy blue damask topped with their gold braided glass chargers and some simple texture of with these marquis napkins.  I finished the look of the table using my own white dinnerware and gold flatware (is anyone tired of seeing this flatware yet?!?! because I'm certainly not. ok good).   For the centerpieces I made one large arrangement surrounded by five smaller arrangements then mixed in gold taper candles and gold votives.

 {check. out. those. chairs.  pretty sure they have been there since 1886 when this rental home was built}

 {the federal damask linen looks even better in person than it does in photos if you can believe it!}

 {we pre-ordered some flowers including decorative cabbage, garden roses, mums, thistle, hypernicum berry and eucalyptus from Whole Foods then arranged them as a family the night before}

 {gold vase from Target}

 {in addition to the linens BBJ gave us, we rented some luxe Murano glassware from Hall's.  Renting linens or glassware for special occasions really takes the entire event up a notch and its surprisingly resonable- it only cost $55 for us to rent 13 place settings of this Murano glassware which included red wine, water and a champagne flute!}

{I know that Crackers like this are traditionally used for Christmas, but I just love the lighthearted-ness they add to the beginning of dinner and they come with a prize (like mini playing cards, a yo-yo or pocket mirror), a joke AND a paper crown- who's going to turn that down!?}}

 {garden roses are some of my all-time favorite flowers I just can't resist them when they are available}

{we were having so much fun at dinner that I forgot to take any photos of us all together at the table- but my sister in law did capture this one of a portion of the guests near the end of the night- wearing the paper crowns from our crackers of course!}

{autumn color palette & tablescape}

To go along with the floral arrangement I posted about yesterday, I created this table-scape inspired by a deeper autumn color palette.  I started with a kraft paper runner (the same roll from our wedding is still going strong!) layered with another smaller wrapping paper printed with a modern black trellis design.  The table decor was simply the three floral arrangements which brought in the autumn color palette of oranges, oxbloods, and greens.

It is pretty rare that I don't use our gold chargers in place settings (I really need to invest in one more set of chargers, but I just love the gold ones so much that it's hard to break away).  I then layered each setting with a mix of our white dinner plates and black salad plates.  While my general policy is to buy everything in white so that it all works together no matter what, I found a set of these dark glossy black salad plates at a thrift store a while back and figured they wouldn't hurt to have around especially for Halloween!  I rounded everything out with gold flatware and a simple black/ white striped napkin plus a pop of color from the vintage green glass water cups.

And get the look for yourself (bonus points since almost all of these things are from Target!!):

kraft paper roll  |  gold candlesticks  |  floral arrangement DIY  |  gold votive set  |  graphic print napkins  |  gold prism charger  |  brass tray  |  green glass water tumbler  |  gold serving set  

Disclosure: Compensation was provided by Target via Glam Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Target.

{succulent centerpiece: mixing real + faux}

One thing I miss the most about our previous place in LA is our succulent garden.  I opted not to bring along any of the succulents from those planters on our move to Chicago since we don't have outdoor space here and I didn't think they would survive the move/living indoors.  After being here for almost a year, I have noticed quite a few people who have had luck with succulents indoors so I thought I would try it out.  Rather than do a full succulent centerpiece, I decided to hedge my bets on the plants living more than a week by buying only a few real ones and mixing them in with some faux ones.  Succulents have such a waxy appearance anyway that faux succulents actually look really realistic. You can find a really good selection of faux succulents in the floral department of Michaels or right here.  The real ones were purchased at Home Depot and you can buy online right here.

{re-using one of the wood planters we used for our wedding centerpieces}

 {yes I wore gardening gloves even for this small project because I am deathly afraid of spiders.}

 {real vs. faux}

 {can you tell which ones are real?}