oxford charm

My goal for the September themed table was to make something that resembled a back to school theme... and I thought I would make something that would be adorable for snacks when kids got home from their first day of school. The props I had on hand led me in a totally different direction... or maybe it was because I've been reading some of CS Lewis' quotes recently so I've been enamoured by the Oxford charm of him... Regardless, here is a grown-up dinner party with the theme "back to school" (back to PhD? :))

I love the look of a "bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils" as Meg Ryan's character says in You've Got Mail. I piled them on top of some old books I borrowed from my friend Jade that she used for her wedding.

I suppose if you were trying to have conversations with the people across the table it would be a smidge hard to see them so if this was a real life situation you would want to just reduce the number of books.

I broke out the red wine glasses for this post since, after all, it is a September table and things are cooling off. AJ is the red fan in this house... I pretty much won't drink any other wine than Pinot Grigio regardless of the season or what I'm eating (I'm really a connoisseur, what can I say?). This table setting was calling for candles... after all, I'm envisioning a dark library sort of feeling.

Kim and I went through some sketchy parts of Lynn one Saturday, before I even met AJ, and we scored a dresser that she never used but looked fantastic and I got this $5 typewriter. It works with the vintage feel of the table.

Here you go... the entire Oxford Charm (September) tablescape:

I'm linking this to Between Naps on the Porch.