Monday, May 27, 2013

Downton Abbey Tablescaping Adventure


“I should hate to be predictable.”  Mary to Matthew at the alter.

The tablescaping teamwork adventure was such a fun experience!   We ended up in third place trailing the HGTV tables but you couldn't have asked for a more exciting and fun teamwork exercise.   Thank you to everyone who offered amazing advice, photos and blog links.  We incorporated so many of the details thanks to your suggestions.  Our team worked hard discreetly tying in many of our firm's values and culture and while I'm afraid those details were overlooked by the judges but we couldn't have asked for a better team assignment.  Everyone pitched in.
We personalized our chargers each of them reflected our work or a firm value.

Our shirts were amazing and each of us had a quote from our favorite character on our backs.
The centerpiece is one of my favorite things about the table.  I spent a week hunting down colored papers that would otherwise have been thrown away in an effort to recycle.   It took three of us 4 hours to hand make the paper flowers and arrangement.   Each of the candles, napkins and place cards were creatively written to combine our firm's core values and that of Downton Abbey.  No detail was overlooked.
Click on the photo to enlarge and view more details.
Though we didn't win, all of us enjoyed the process and the competition.  The weekend was full of lots of learning and training but it was nice at the end of the sessions to go out on the lake for a relaxing evening.  

Monday, May 6, 2013

I'm So Behind But I Need Help With a Tablescape!


It's been a crazy busy spring, or perhaps I should say winter.  With the heater still going it is hard to imagine that it's spring but the calendar says May and my seedlings are up.  Mother's Day is next weekend.  Yep, it must be spring!

So blog friends, you have been on my mind and I seriously need help.   The help I need has to do with tablescapes so Susan at Between Naps on the Porch and the Tablescaper are the perfect resources.  If only they would read my post! 
We tweeked adding our building and a more personal logo
We are having a tablescape competition with some colleagues at work.  A group of us are participating in an upcoming retreat and we had to pick some of our favorite topics (I picked Downton Abbey) and at one of the dinners, our team will have exactly 20 minutes to set a table using the theme and tying it back to our workplace.  We've come up with some great ideas but we want perfection and we want to win!!!  How would you tie the show to a law firm and more specifically, our law firm culture?

We are using black, silver and white (with a touch of red) for our theme.  We've gathered some lovely items and made a few things too but our team really wants to WIN!!! We are battling teams with themes like Exotic Travel, HGTV, Food & Wine, Sports, Toddlers & Tiaras....I mean some great themes and I've heard that one table is bringing in turf! Another is building a doll house....seriously?  We've got some serious competition!

If you are a tablescaper and if you have ideas, please send my way!