Welcome! I am so grateful to be joining some wonderful bloggers today for the Give Thanks Tablescape Blog Tour hosted by the lovely Katherine over at Katherine’s Corner! This year I have created a fun, yet elegant “Turkeys In The Straw” tablescape using vintage and natural treasures that I am really enjoying, especially since Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. My vintage turkey planters are also on display around the dining room so I will be sharing those as well. Come on in and gather around the table for a closer look!
Earlier this month I shared my kitchen tour as part of the Grateful Gatherings Blog Hop. The dining room is right off from the kitchen through an original, early 1920’s swinging butler door. Here is where our family and friends gather around our authentic 100+ year-old farm table to enjoy daily meals and special holiday get togethers. I have adorned the table with vintage turkeys, dishes, and other found objects that are lovely and dear to my heart.
Our farm table is a well loved and well used, especially during the holidays! It is usually kept clutter free, with only a seasonal centerpiece of some kind. When it comes to Thanksgiving and Christmas however, I always try to come up with something extra special. This year I created a “Turkeys In The Straw” centerpiece which I really love. I filled a wooden dough bowl full of craft straw, pine cones, antlers, feathers, dried roses, vintage turkeys, and a set of Johnson Brothers “His Majesty” turkey tea cups and saucers.
I always pull out my vintage Myott’s Bouquet dishes for Thanksgiving due to the lovely autumnal tones in the design.
Antique and vintage postcards are tucked here and there around the dining room too. This beautiful Thanksgiving postcard is postmarked 1917, now 100 years old!
I knew I wanted to use my Myotts Bouquet dishes, and I also knew I wanted to create a “turkeys in the straw” theme, but other than that I had no idea how this tablescape would end up. In my usual fashion, I just started grabbing things I already had on hand and everything just seemed to come together. I am always happiest with my decor when I create unique designs using things that are part of my own collections instead of buying new/retail decor. I did purchase a set of beautiful and elegant gold rimmed stemware specifically for this tablescape. I found them at…Dollar Tree! I was blown away when I saw the elegant white and gold rimmed china dishes and wine glasses at only $1.00 each. I am thinking about purchasing the plates too! If you are interested in any of the pieces in this collection you can purchase them here.
Whenever I design or decorate any space, I hope to make my family, friends, and blog readers feel welcome and cozy when visiting or touring my home. Creating a welcoming ambiance and mood is very important to me. I decorate with my heart, and with intent to evoke a happy memory or to help create new ones associated with special occasions. Although I use mostly vintage and antique decor, I strive to make our home feel comfortable, livable, and relaxed…never stuffy or fragile.
Candles are always a good idea, even when the sun is shining. Nothing seems to take an otherwise mundane day to “special ocassion” faster than lighting a few lovely candles. I use them often, because every day is a gift, worthy of celebrating!
Although I am quite confident in my ability to create fun and interesting vintage vignettes, I have never considered myself to be a “tablescaper,” and I don’t really make a fuss over setting the table “properly.” I stick with my motto of decorating with things I love! I do challenge myself to try to top my previous year’s decor and to push my creative limits.
I had originally intended to fill the dough bowl full of an army of vintage turkey planters, but as I was decorating I kept finding other really cute places to put the planters all around the dining room. This left me with only a couple of vintage Gurley candles for the centerpiece.
I was about to abandon the idea altogether of the “turkeys in the straw theme” but then I had a fun idea at the last minute to put my turkey dishes in the dough bowl along with the candles and I just love it!
I am dish collector and I love displaying my collections in unusual and creative ways so I am really enjoying this centerpiece!
These little vintage Gurley candles are very desirable and therefore hard to find. It could also be that they have all melted in hot attics over the years. I used to have three but one succumbed to that fate.
I filled my doughbowl with lots of straw and began arranging the dishes in various directions so that each person seated will have a turkey or two to enjoy within eyesight. I filled in gaps with bleached pinecones, faux wheat, pheasant feathers, gold feathers, small pomegranates, deer antlers and dried roses.
These dried roses were the ones I had used fresh in my Early Fall Home Tour tablescape.
I absolutely love all the juxtaposition of color and textures in this centerpiece.
On the first day I started working on this post I took a little break and went junkin’ to see if I could score maybe another turkey or two. I didn’t find any turkeys, but I did come across four brass candlesticks to use in my tablescape along with a couple others I already had. I put three in the middle and two on each side of the dough bowl.
Organic Cranberry-Pomegranate juice is always served for Thanksgiving at our house. The combination of cranberries and pomegranates is delightful to the taste buds and the eyes!
I always use cranberries in my Thanksgiving decor. Most of the time they are on display in some little dish or container. This year I used pomegranates too and I love all the pops of red which are suggestive of the Christmas season that is rapidly approaching.
Recently I got creative and used some cranberries to make a garland of my original design. In my previous post I shared how to make the beautiful, fresh cranberry, sage, and bay leaf garland seen below.
In the background you can get a glimpse of a few of my vintage turkeys that we will be taking a look at in just a bit.
This year we are having a belated extended family Thanksgiving, so for now our table is just set for the four in our immediate family. This left two spaces on either end of the table for some amazing vintage pheasants. My husband found them last week at an estate sale and they were just the “wow” pieces I needed to finish my table design.
My vintage feathered friends, the turkeys and pheasants, share the table for the holiday season. Even after Thanksgiving, the pheasants and a few favorite turkeys will remain on display through the New Year, as both birds are traditionally associated with holiday feasts. 
My vintage Native American chalkware statue is a like a stealth hunter, hiding just out of sight below the table, among some antique crocks filled with dried hyndrangeas and preserved fall foliage. He must spy the tasty pheasants and turkeys all around the room! You can read more about this interesting statue here: Fantastic Fall Find: Vintage Native American Chalkware Statue.
Two other vintage turkeys (planters)” in the straw” are hiding way up high on chippy candle sconces on each side of a faux fireplace that I created from a salvaged mantel and an antique buffet mirror.
A couple of other turkeys are on display above the faux fireplace. This orphaned salt shaker adds a bit of whimsy next to his mini-jar of wish bones. His Thanksgiving proclamation? Eat more ham!
This beautiful turkey sits proudly up high on the very top of the salvaged antique buffet mirror. He just matches a larger vintage turkey planter which is displayed across the dining room on the antique secretary.
Here you can see how the pheasants and turkeys all live in beautiful harmony in the dining room! Let’s take a closer look at some of the vintage treasures on the secretary in the background.
This beautiful vintage turkey planter is perched on a tall candle holder just beside the secretary. I love how his colors blend so beautifully with my favorite autumn drapes.
I keep my collection of silverplate on this beautiful antique secretary. I think this vintage turkey planter repurposed as a tarnished silverplate utensil holder is my favorite turkey this year!
I recently discovered these pretty gold feathers which make very nice little accents in vignettes with old metals. They look so pretty for fall but they will also be nice to use in Christmas crafts. (Note: If you smell something burning…it is! I was taking pictures and couldn’t figure out where the burning smell was coming from. I followed my nose to a toasted rose! No harm done though. The rose just has a nice “patina” now!) As for following my nose, it’s time to finish up this post so I can get started on the aromatic Thanksgiving meal prep! Only two more days until we “gobble til we wobble!”
I certainly hope this post finds you feeling inspired, and maybe just a wee bit hungry as you think of the upcoming tasty feast! In closing I will share this 100 year old Thanksgiving Greeting with you:
The sweetest Thanksgiving tune
Is the dinner bell at noon
When we all may use our spoon!
So very true!
I saved this lovely photo for last! It was taken by my friend, Rebekah Williams. Rebekah was kind enough to help me capture some difficult shots while I am waiting (hopefully) for Santa to bring me a big girl blogger camera! Rebekah will be photographing my home for Christmas as well so I hope you will plan to visit the blog often during the holidays!
Thank you all for touring the dining room today! It was a lot of creating this tablescape and decorating the dining room with my vintage dishes and turkeys. Now it’s time to see all of the other beautiful tablescapes on the Give Thanks Tablescape Tour! For even more Thanksgiving tablescape ideas, visit all the blogs through the links at the end of this post. I know you will enjoy them!
Have a blessed Thanksgiving!
Amber
Linking up:
