&quot;EVERY NIGHT DINNER&quot; TABLESCAPE~ ASK STONEGABLE

Every week I get several e-mails asking if I really eat at the tablescapes I set.

I do use many of the tablescapes I set for company dinners, family dinners, get-togethers, brunches and lunches. I always say our home is more like a hotel! We love to have visitors! And I love to feed them! Many of the tables that make it to my blog are set for guests.

Some tablescapes are set just for the joy of preparing a pretty table. They are my "fantasy tablescapes". Setting a table is a creative outlet... I love the whole process ... well, maybe not putting everything away, but mostly everything else.

Recently, I got an e-mail from a dear reader who asked what an "every night dinner" table would look like at StoneGable.

So tonight, Aimee, I'm setting an "every night dinner" table. This is exactly how Bobby and I eat dinner every night. No bells and whistles. This is the real deal.

The table is set for dinner. Bobby and I are empty nesters. Our youngest moved to a job about 2 hours for home in March.

Even when our children were little, I set the table every night. It was not complicated, but it was always set. I think it promoted a positive family atmosphere and prepared our children for dinners beyond our doorstep.

A seasonal centerpiece always adorns my table. I just took away the summer centerpiece yesterday and chose a transitional grouping of tall pitchers (Pottery Barn) and some great faux twigs (Old Millhouse Shope). More about that next week.

No tablecloth for a usual dinner at StoneGable. A runner is an easy decorative touch and isn't as fussy.

The runner is a crisp embroidered linen beauty (Pottery Barn). I am very partial to white linens for the table. When dinner is over it will be rolled up and stored in a kitchen drawer until tomorrow.

When I was a young girl one of my friends had me over for dinner on a school night and we ate by candlelight. That made a HUGE impression on me and I never forgot how special I felt.

So, every dinner is candlelit at StoneGable.

When the kids were little this was not always easy. Christopher loved to blow them out.... or try to touch the flame... or pour the candle wax on the dog... All I had to do was threaten (and I never make an idle threat- parenting 101!) to take the candles off of the table and that usually straightened him out! That... or he was asked (more of a demand) to leave the table.

I have these little candles (HomeGoods) in many colors. They add just the right amount of twinkle and are very inexpensive.

Each place is set with a simple wicker charger (Pier I). I also use black woven placemats. Easy... placemats and chargers define the dining space of each person at the table and keep things tidy.

The absolute workhorse of my kitchen are my Mikasa Italian Countryside everyday dishes. I LOVE them!!!!!

I have collected them over the years and now have 18 place settings.

The large dinner plate is topped off with the wide shallow soup bowl. Food looks gorgeous in these dishes.

I am very partial to white dinnerware.

These oval glass dishes with an embossed leaf design are the official salad bowls at StoneGable. NOTHING FANCY! I have used these glass dishes for so many years. They are permanently etched from years of hard water dish washing. But I find them much easier to manage than a large salad plate. They are great for dessert too!

I prefer cloth dinner napkins. But don't always use them, sometimes I get lazy! These napkins are really large flour sack towels. I think they work brilliantly as napkins. They are so soft and LARGE! Just toss them in the wash and fold them as soon as they come out of the dryer.

The everyday fork I am using belonged to my grandmother. I only have 2, so they are saved for Bobby and I. They must be 70 years old... at least! I like them so well because the tines are thin and sharp. Don't you love the handle?

The knife and soup spoon ( I often use a soup spoon instead of a tea spoon at the dinner table) are my old worn flatware. I think they are Oneida. They are dull with use and the assault of the dishwasher.

The water goblets and wine glasses (Reading China And Glass) are waiting to be filled. I do switch out my glasses. I often use my beloved bubble glasses. These are used the most though. They have an every so slight amber/gold tint.

This big tipped wooden salad bowl (Wm-Sonoma) can hold enough salad to feed a crowd. But when it is just the two of us, Bobby and I still use it. The salad utensils were made in Belize by a man who has a woodworking cottage industry. They are beautifully made and I am blessed to have them. I pray for him when we use them.