Grace & Favor – A Life Worth Living

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Nell Hill's Tablescapes





My trip to Nell Hills X3 was fabulous.  I only wish that I had a money tree in the backyard so I could have scooped up more treasures to bring home.  I just unpacked the three large bags that I did bring back and will show some of my finds soon.

Today we'll take a little tablescape stroll through all three of Mary Carol's stores.  I apologize to Mary Carol and to all of you as these pictures were taken around massive crowds of people, add my poor photo skills and I'll admit these do not do any of the tablescapes justice.

Most of what I was able to capture was for fall  which I guess is the last fall table before we dive into the Christmas season. I guess its fitting to finish the fall season with Mary Carol's tables.  The pictures below were taken at Garrity's in Atchison which is upstairs in a building adjacent to the Nell Hills store.  It is a large building that basically holds tablescapes done by Mary Carol and her staff, odd... with all the tablescapes there was no silverware on the tables.  All the flatware was at the Nell Hill's store around the corner.

The first tablescape from Garrity’s
in Atchison.




Because this building had very high ceilings all the tablescapes were adorned with very tall centerpieces.  This table was probably ten feet long and I fell in love with the mixture of the silver and the textures of nature. 



The table carried the earthy/silver theme using large silver trays for chargers then on top of the silver tray was a frame with a shabby finish.  A gourd was placed in glass dessert stemmed bowls.



This beautiful hutch was across from the table loaded with white pottery and silver.


Now on to another table, again at Garrity's.



There were lots of cloches in all three stores.  I think we're all enjoying the resurgence of a beautiful glass cloche with a treasure under it.  The charger used for this tablescape was an old black frame.Your can see the large dough bowl in the background. 
 


This was the other end of the same table, you can see the dough bowl better from this side.  I believe this was probably an import from Mexico not an original hand carved bowl from early America.  The price was only $60 so if you were just looking for a bowl for aesthetics rather than an antique bowl this would be perfect.  It was probably 3.5' long.



 And on to Briarcliff in Kansas City


This centerpiece was probably 9' tall as it sat on the table.  Obviously a little tall for the average home tablescape but with the size of the rooms at this location it takes a large impact piece to get your attention.  On NH's blog there is a great tutorial for making this type of centerpiece click here.  The centerpiece was placed on a very large lazy susan that also had faux pumpkins and other fall foliage placed on it.


This was from another tablescape at Briarcliff.  In this one they stepped away from what we think of as fall colors and went back to the blue transfer ware and white pumpkins. The wicker piece was actually a cake stand, there was a piece of glass to hold the cake.  I now wish I had picked one up, the price was really reasonable and it could be used for serving so many things. This was the only picture I got of this table except for the great pheasant salt and pepper below.



I fell in love with these pheasant salt and pepper. Unfortunately I couldn't very well remove the pricing sticker to take the picture but as you can see they were very reasonably priced!

and now to  Christmas
Nell Hills in Atchinson, KS was decked out for Christmas. The store is two stories and jam packed with lots of small home dec items. People were scooping things up before you could even get a good look at them. It was a fight to the finish on each floor.



  

This is a shot of the greens and birds that were hanging over the table.  There were just so many people in the store that it was impossible to get close enough to get shots of the tables.  BTW, I did ask if it was OK to take photos and they were very obliging.

This last clip was really a beautiful table but trying to catch a minute when it wasn't surrounded by people picking over the tablescapes was nearly impossible.  They must redo them every night after the store closes.

Gobble on over to Tablescape Thursday

13 comments:

The Charm of Home said...

How wonderful! I would have loved to have gone with you. I just love MCG. She is a wiz above all others. I took out one of her books the other night and I noticed it captured my eyes on every picture, nothing was boring or not a treat to look at. I might hyperventilate in her stores! LOL Thanks for taking me there. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
Sherry

Terry @ La Bella Vie said...

Thank you so much for your sweet comment. I've been on hiatus for a while, I had a very dear friend pass away suddenly on November 5th and it just rocked my world to say the least but it has reminded me about how importand it is to tellour loved ones how much they mean to us while they are here.
Blessings to you,
Terry

Lori @ Dining Delight said...

Thanks for sharing these pics! I have a few of her books but have never been to a Nell Hill's shop. There must have been total eye candy in every nook and cranny! No wonder, you wished you had a money tree! I love the individual cloches at each place setting idea - need a money tree for that too but its fun to dream!

DD

Jacqueline~Cabin and Cottage said...

What fun stuff! It would be great to have a browse--but I know what you mean about the money tree! Ha! I sure hope you have a great Thanksgiving! Jacqueline

Rettabug said...

Oh Char...what a fabulous day you had with your friends...I'm jealous! I've never been to NH's but keep reading all about it. Such wonderful creativity...truly inspiring!
I'm so happy you were able to capture a few photos of all those fabulous tables. (I'm surprised they let you)

Turn around & bend over so I can kick you for passing up that wicker cake stand...what were you thinking??!!! You'll just have to go back. LOL

Paula@SweetPea said...

Your head has to be spinning with inspiration after visiting these stores. One of these days I'd like to go, too!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Tricia said...

Oh, what a fun trip that must have been! I hope one day to get to make the pilgrimage to Nell Hill's shops, too! Thank you for giving us a glimpse of her beautiful tables!

Marlis said...

Thank you so very much for your graciously nice comment. Happy Thanksgivings to you. I am so delighted that you shared these wonderful tables with us. All I could do was sit in wonder at the creativity abound. Having never been in her stores (Lubbock Texas is really out in the middle of nowhere)...this was an absolute treat. Hope your Thanksgivings is filled with all goodness.

Miss Merry said...

Thanks for taking us with you to see all the terrific tablescapes. I love the cloches. It just makes everything so special. Very neat shopping trip!

Bonnie said...

Thanks for the tour! I needed some inspiration. Wish I was near her store. She needs to give you a discount.

Bonnie said...

Thanks for the tour! I needed some inspiration. Wish I was near her store. She needs to give you a discount.

Entertaining Women said...

My friend and I did the Nell Hill trio last spring...so much fun! Thank you for sharing the tour. I'm looking forward to going again. Cherry Kay

Alycia Nichols said...

I STILL can't believe that with all the shopping I do I STILL haven't been to Nell Hill's!!! What is WRONG with me?!??!?!!! The Briarcliff store is only about 35minutes away, and the Atchison store perhaps an hour. I just have to get my hips out there and DO IT! You have inspired me!