Monday, May 25, 2020

Chinoiserie Gone Wrong

Tory Burch - Vogue

These dining spaces are both stunning, BUT......... I have such a thing about tablecloths that do not reach to the floor. Please use either floor length or use beautiful placemats - I have a collection of really lovely placemats because of this tablecloth issue. I have everything from hand painted mirrored Chinoiserie, to leather hand painted with Greek key, to beaded crabs.

And it is even more egregious here because these are staged for photo shoots which by definition are styled for perfection and not always completely reality based. Let's face it, we don't all have floral arrangements all over the house and perfect bowls of fruit in the kitchen every day. Unless you are John Heilemann who has perfect bowls of fruit in his kitchen along with his gorgeous dogs for his pandemic from home interviews every day. Now that is staging. I am envious.

These tablecloths look wrinkled, don't hang well, and ruin the sartorial splendor of these rooms for me. Use what you like for every day - but give me a floor length tablecloth or a nice placemat every time. I know shorter tablecloths are more functional, but they are unattractive.

Meg Braff - Portfolio

In both these pictures, IMHO the tablecloths bring down the aesthetics of beautiful rooms. The Meg Braff photo is her own dining room BTW. Your thoughts? Do these look good to you? And please don't tell me about long tablecloths in people's laps - use elegant placemats if that is an issue for you.


18 comments:

  1. I think round and oval tables make short tablecloths look really bad, but somehow a great tablecloth in chair seat length looks fine on a rectangular or a square table to me. And I'm not a fan of placemats. I think I'm still getting over the kid friendly kind I used when my children were little, haha! Small steps...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Agree on tablecloths especially in Meg Braff photo. I generally do not like them and do not use them. They look like shrouds and often cover the beautiful lines of a table. They also get in the way of knees and feet. People step on them.

    Having said that there are some lovely, well done exceptions. Like plain garden tables covered in beautiful tablecloths that do go all the way to the ground. Or when you have multiple tables set (like a party) table cloths can pull it all together and establish a certain look.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I completely agree with everything you have said.

      Delete
  3. Where do people find nice placemats these days? Until about 10-15 years ago, I had to ration myself, or I would have been buying beautiful placemats and napkins all the time. These days, I just can't find any that I like and that are substantial enough to protect the table from heat or condensation.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Might want to consider chargers for that purpose.

      Delete
    2. Check out Williams Sonoma, Caspari, HomeGoods, and I love the hardboard placemats like the Williamsburg Collection ones.

      Delete
  4. Agree about short tablecloths. They ruin the look. Betsy Drake has a seemingly endless collection of placemats on Amazon.....many of them are so pretty, in great colors, like Betsy Drake PM940 Purple Hummingbird Place Mat, around $30 for 4. (this one is more like fuschia than purple). Lots of birds, flamingos, and beach scenes...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Okay, as a rule, I do use shorter tablecloths.. But! Only if the table legs are part of the table and are graceful and stylish. Actually my dining room table is a double vase pedestal, so it's difficult to see it..

    But anyway, let me explain. If you look veerrry carefully at the 1st photo it appears they put a circular board on top of a staging of 2x4's... That is a no-no and should have a floor length tablecloth..
    I could be wrong, but that's what it looks like to me..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree, that's what it looks like to me too. Very odd.

      Delete
  6. I'm so pleased to see anyone devote a single syllable to table settings. It encourages me to know people are still eating with knife and fork. That being said I think what bothers me most is the lack of ironing in both photos. Tory Burch usually doesn't disappoint. I don't know who does her decorating but her homes are usually tasteful and beautiful. It looks like Tory has placemats on top of her wrinkled tablecloth so she could have skipped the tablecloth altogether. If you have a household of any size you should have a steam press in your laundry room for your linens. The black chairs in Tory's picture are too much. I get the black lattice and the black chandelier (like a spider hanging over the table) but the black chairs set the wrong tone for an outdoor luncheon. As for Meg Braff, It's a lovely room and if you have those pelmets I think you need custom table linens to stand up to them. Thanks for bringing this up Beth, table setting is usually the forgotten stepchild of interior design.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. All very true. I even want my sheets ironed. And I use cloth napkins every day, Did you know that paper napkin sales are way down because many younger people use paper towels? And sterling flatware is completely a thing of the past.

      Delete
  7. Agreed. I avoid tablecloths. They're just a bit too Nanna-ish, unless they're hotel grade, immaculately pressed white linen. Love your thinking.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oh I can see what you are saying!
    I always iron a tablecloth before putting it on.

    ReplyDelete
  9. My problem with using placemats is that few are large enough to allow the placement of water and wine glasses. And 16 coasters in a table looks too busy to my eye. How do you keep your glasses from leaving water spots?

    ReplyDelete