Dragonflies and Thistles: Spring Tablescape

I love decorating my dinning table. I think of it as a blank slate that I can decorate as I please, there are no rules for me when it comes to table décor. I want my guests to come in and take notice so I'm not adverse to over the top themes. One Christmas I hung cut pine branches from my light fixture!

This spring I decided I wanted to mix elements, white with glass and possibly wood. Now how do I do that?
Here is the end result.

So how did I get there? Follow me and I'll show you how!

I went to my local big box lumber yard and bought 1 long length of pine. I chose pine because it is cheap but versatile. If you don't like the knots in pine choose another type of wood or MDF.

Warning, if you do this, take someone with to the store, otherwise there you are in the parking lot struggling to fit the long board in your vehicle. Luckily I have a truck but it took me putting seats down and doing some maneuvering to get this crazy thing in.

Next and very important, measure your table so you know how long to make your centerpiece but first and foremost SET YOUR TABLE. Yep I mean placemats, dishes, glassware etc. Now measure between the table settings. Otherwise your piece will be too long and you won't have room for your dishes.
Now take that measurement and transfer it to your wood board.

To get a straight cut use a square and make a line across the board.

Make the line dark enough so you can see it.

Now cut the board. My husband gets a bit nervous when I use power tools so he cut the wood for me.

Next I sanded my piece with a hand held electric sander.

I made sure all my edges were nice and soft.

Now comes the fun part!
Beat your piece of cut wood up. I threw it on the ground, I cut it with a knife, I threw stones at it, smashed a chain against it and even had my husband take a gas powered saw to it; all just to make this new piece of wood look older. Then I sanded it again just a bit to make sure there weren't any rough edges.
Next I painted my piece. If you don't want the knots on the pine showing you will want to use a primer or paint it white first. If you don't care you can just paint it. You could also stain the piece instead of painting it. Since I wanted a fresh look I chose to paint mine white.

You can see the scuffing I did to the piece above.

See that other piece there that looks like a fence? I'll show you how to make that next week! I used the same pine piece as I had a lot leftover.

After the paint dried I chose to sand it again to remove some of the paint color. If you don't want to do this you just skip this step!
After I saw the effect of re-sanding I was a bit sad that I didn't stain or paint the piece a different color first, then paint white over it. It could have been more dramatic and it would have made the wood look older.

I then wiped the wood down with a damp rag.
Now I'm ready to start my tablescape!

I started with this sweet bunny tablecloth that I got at Target years ago, sorry it is no longer in stock.

Then I placed my piece of wood in the center.

Next I needed to decide what to put on the centerpiece. I decided I wanted something natural and since we chopped a half dead tree down last August I thought I'd utilize what I had to create levels on the table.
TIP - creating levels helps keep the eye moving and keeps visual interest in the piece. This is true for a table as well as a buffet or mantle or shelf etc.

I had my husband cut me two different kinds of wood. The first was about 2 inches thick and was a wider piece of wood. The other is about 6 -8 inches thick and is a smaller piece.

I did nothing to them, they are raw.
Next I decided what elements I would put on my table. Faux flowers in a vase, lots of bunnies, a couple ceramic mushrooms, a glass hurricane and an outdoor piece of garden art.

I need to get a candle for the hurricane. I bought this hurricane with the bunnies on it a Kohl's last year.

The dish with the bunny laying on its back is from Pottery Barn a few years ago but they still carry this cute little dish. I put jelly beans in mine.

The other bunnies I got from Hobby Lobby along with the white finial garden art and the mushrooms.
The small glass vase with the flowers in it is from The Dollar Store. The flowers I had on-hand.

Pretty darn cute huh and EASY!

Thanks so much for stopping by. I'll be back next week to show you how I made this picket fence shelf that is on my mantle.