Coastal Table in White and on an Ikea Budget

Howdy Darls.  How's it going? Wanna know how to style a fabulous coastal white table on a very tight budget, with a tiny little bit of help from Ikea?  It's easy, follow me!!!

This was actually my Christmas table, but it doesn't really have a whiff of Christmas about it, which was just how I wanted it!!!!

Take 2 white bed sheets.  OK, I only took one cause I've also have a pretty damask table cloth.

Roll some brown paper length wise down the centre of the table.  It adds texture and catches any sticky sap from waxy type foliage.  This paper was left over Christmas wrapping from Ikea  and was about $2.50 for eight metres.

Gather a whole lot of coastal type greenery.  I used Norfolk Pine, cause that's what I've got in my garden.  The tree must have been planted as they dug the foundations for the cottage, as it's huge now and drops lots of rats tails, but we are cool with it, as they create a fabulous mulch which improves the soil around the Beach House garden greatly.  Also creates lots of exercise re the raking....Thanks Mr Beach House!!!!  You can see by the tone of things here we made up.  Go here if you want to find out, what about!!!!

If you don't have Norfolk Pine, ( and from the view over my deck not many do, it's pretty rare on the ground.  I also know this cause if you cut one of these grand old ladies down, the local council hits you up for a $60,000 fine.  I've saved Mr Beach house a fortune by reminding him of this, every time he wants to chop into this baby).  Anyway, if you don't have a Norfolk, insert palm, elephants ears, or anything with a big leaf here.

So pile it up in the centre of the table with the tips pointing out diagonally.  Then dot it with shells and coral.  No rules here, just place them all over, at well spaced intervals.

Glue a few faux pearls, or real ones if you are not on my tight budget, into the centre of a scallop shell to add interest.

Make these too easy coastal vases and run them down the centre of your table.  I have also made these into beachy lanterns with sand and a tea light at the bottom.  Have a look here to find out how.  These ones were recycled Vegemite jars, we go through so much of the stuff at the Beach House.

Fill these with white flowers of your choice.  I wanted a  voluminous posy look so I used agapanthus, again cause that's what I had in the garden.  Gardenias, white hydrangea or  frangapani would work well too. 

Style your coffee table and buffet to match

My SIL contributed this cake to our Christmas table and it was amazing.  It's the Womens' Weekly Celebration Cake if you want to google the recipe.  She said it was too easy to make and Mr Beach House has been eating the leftovers since Christmas.  He finished it off last night and almost cried and it wasn't me being mean to him that made him well up!!!!!!

I kept the platters white too.  The one with the embossed leaves I snaffled at the local Red Cross shop for a few bucks.

These are Margaret Fulton's Smoked salmon pancake rolls and were a real hit on the day.

As for napkins and rings I used what I had.  They didn't match and again that's how it should be.  There were shells, crabs and starfish.  I borrowed several napkins from mum as I didn't have enough.  The bonus was she said that her entertaining days were over and that I may keep them.  How kind!!!!!

 The plates, bowls and wine glasses were all Ikea...... I love them.  Mr Beach House was funny!!!! Just before we sat down to lunch, he remarked that wanted to remove the table centre piece.......with a whipper snipper!!!!!  Do you think I let him? No siree,  I can report that Ikea plates sit beautifully on Norfolk Pine.  After he took his first bite, he didn't feel a thing except the odd needle from me!!!!

So I'm off to pick a winner out of a beach hat for my Seaside Style Interiors Book giveaway.  The winner will be up next.  I set myself a goal of increasing my followers to 350 with this competition and I got there.  So that's my first goal ticked for 2012.  Thank you so much if you are following me I so appreciate you.  If you are reading me and not following think about giving me some love and following officially.  If ya don't want to that's fine too!!!!

Happy Mid Week to you.  I must say I am in Summer Holiday heaven at the mo.  The Beach House Brats are cooperating better than usual and our daily trips to the pool and beach are making life very good too. I'm enjoying it while it lasts.

Click on the Twit picks in my side bar to see how good an Aussie Summer is, or have a look at face book if that's your social media of choice.

Thanks for all your lovely comments. Blogger is being naughty again and not allowing me to write comments on blogs that have Word Verification...... so why not turn it off. Here's how. Go to the Settings tab in your dash board. In settings go to the comments tab. Scroll down to "Show Word verification for comments" and click no. This makes it so much easier for people to comment....so watch them grow

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