Beautiful Table Settings (And A Lesson in Frugal Living)

 My Granny taught me everything I know about treasure hunting, she was the master at finding items secondhand for astounding prices. Here is a little bit of the background that drove her to be such a frugal woman, as well as how I have put my own spin on her teachings-

Growing up in rural West Virginia, Granny's first experience with poverty was the very home she was born into.  They did not have running water, electricity or even toilet paper.  In her own words; "We lived like we were camping."

Her second experience with poverty was the economic struggle surrounding the depression and World War II era.  When her family heard on the radio that the war had finally ended, they went outside and danced in the road. :)

Her third experience was as a young, recently divorced mother of three.  In her own words; "I was so poor that I couldn't even afford 10 cents to buy myself a cup of coffee.  I decided right then and there that I would never be poor again".  And she never was ;)  Granny used every means of frugality she could think of to get herself on track financially.

Once on track, one of the first goals Granny had was to purchase and own something nice, and she decided upon having a set of fine china.  One by one, she purchased each piece of china separately ("down at the A&P") until she had a full set.  She never used the china though, and ended up giving it to my Mother when I was a child.  My Mom ended up giving it to me about 10 years ago, and I chose a few pieces to keep for display.  The rest I sold in a garage sale (with Granny's permission), it just seemed fitting ;)

Granny's 'Black Rose' China

With hard work, long hours and creative purchasing, Granny became quite comfortable financially.  However, she never stopped 'garaging' (as she called it), and she never stopped teaching me as much as she could.

I was a good student and learned well, but to Granny's frequent frustration I had a different set of rules than she did when it came to making purchases. 

Granny's Criteria:

The item must be usable and it must be cheap.

 My Criteria:

The item must be in good condition, economically priced and it must be pretty (or have the potential to become pretty).......I also have a whole list of things I refuse to buy secondhand, like underwear (shudder) or food items, but we won't even get started on that.  I'm sure she's in Heaven right now getting annoyed with me, because she would buy anything!  :D

Now remember I said how her criteria only included price and the use of the item?  Well that brings me to the discussion of table settings.  As a child we would go to Granny's house for a large family meal every Thanksgiving.  There was plenty of good food to choose from, and she even made sure to have 'fancy' drinking glasses.....complete with the Arby's fast food restaurant insignia.....that's right people, she went and bought Arby's glassware from a garage sale.  Here she had a complete set of real china, but was using fast-food glassware!  From a design standpoint, it was traumatizing...:D :D :D

So while it's always wise to be frugal, it's also possible to be money savvy and create a beautiful home.  Over the last few months I have shared many examples of lovely glass ware that I have found treasure hunting, but today I wanted to share with you my best secret yet: Dollar Tree table settings!  For real ;)

Dollar Tree has a nice selection of pretty glassware you can mix and match to create beautiful table settings.  And of course, everything is always priced at just $1.  Take a look at my collection so far:

 An Elegant Looking Table Setting: $4.25

One of the best things I can say when creating a beautiful table setting is don't be afraid to mix and match!  I love gold, I love fresh, bright white and I love glassware!  I could easily have stuck to one color, but mixing and matching is so much more fun.  Here I have mixed gold, white and glass, but you could mix within these items as well.  Maybe a couple different styles of dinnerware or more than one color are better fitting to  your style. The possibilities are endless!

 Gold Charger

A whole lot of years ago I bought these on clearance at Wal-Mart.  It was right after the winter  holidays and these were sold in boxed sets of four.  I can't remember the original pricing, but I was able to get them at $1 a box.  That's .25 each!

 White Dinner Plate - Dollar Tree

These are actually melamine (a type of hard plastic)!  Dollar Tree has white dinner plates in ceramic as well, but I loved the brightness of these.  Plus, I like to have a non-breakable option for a busy table ;)

 Glass Dessert Plate - Dollar Tree

 Wine Glass - Dollar Tree

 Drinking Glass - Dollar Tree

 Glass Bowl - Dollar Tree

Glass Serving Bowl - Dollar Tree

I will be adding glass dinner plates and white bowls to my collection over time.  Even though they are only $1 each, I like to buy one or two at a time whenever I visit Dollar Tree.  It reminds me of Granny and her collection of the fine china ;)

A helpful hint:  Don't be discouraged if you visit Dollar Tree and think that the glassware looks dull or dingy.  The pieces are just a bit dusty from the cardboard containers used to ship them.  As soon as they are taken home and washed, they shine beautifully!

How have you put together a beautiful table setting?  I would love to see your holiday tables, send me your photos and you just might end up being featured on the blog ;)

Hope you enjoyed the post, thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2014