Once a month or so, we do a shared dinner with a couple friends on a Friday or Saturday night.  It’s rarely planned, and sometimes we supply the food, sometimes they do, sometimes we both bring something to the table.  But one thing remains the same ~ it is always at our house on our pleasant back porch.  And I love to set the atmosphere right along with the table ~ everything from the music to the candles.  I do something a little different each time, often utilizing things from around the house and never spending more than 30 minutes start-to-finish.

Here’s a table I set a few weeks ago using some river rocks I had collected in North Carolina about 10 years ago with the intention of doing something with them…guess that something was adorn my dinner table years later.  I sprayed them (years ago) with clear varnish to get that just-plucked-from-the-river look.

The sticks I also collected that year and a large bunch of them reside in a vase in the kitchen.  I buy fun napkins & place mats because I like to mix it up and have quite a collection. My mother picked up these cute fall napkins at a thrift store ~ perfect for a fall table.

 The other night,  bless their heart, our friends brought the entire dinner.  I was very grateful because I was whipped from work.  I tossed down some colorful rag-rug looking place mats, some green glass plates and filled a shallow wood tray with a variety of candle holders and called it done.  This has to be my favorite centerpiece yet.  It was so warm & inviting…and easy!

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