The 24 hours leading up to the party were a whirlwind.
With literally nothing else done other than purchasing silver dollar eucalyptus branches and renting a tent and chandelier, I decided now was not only the perfect time to go to dinner at Katsuya with my dear friend Alyssa — but to also split a round of sake and endless sushi.
What are the kids saying these days… you only live once?! Yeah, that.
Anyway, I returned to my completely undecorated patio around 11:30 p.m. feeling tired and uninspired about how I was going to transform this space in time for my guests to arrive.
The countdown was on, so I rolled up my sleeves and worked until 4 a.m. hauling furniture around and figuring out the layout. I wasn’t kidding — nothing was set up!
While I don’t recommend going into your projects without a vision, I must say, I’m pretty proud of how this turned out!
Here’s how I was able to transform my patio over the course of about 20 hours:
As you all know, I don’t pride myself in my flower arranging abilities, but I found 6-7 foot tall silver dollar eucalyptus branches from the flower mart — and voilà! A centerpiece! I bought 4 bunches at $7 per bunch. Each bunch had about 4 branches. I used clear super tall vases, which I purchased from the mart for $15 each.
After trimming any extra leaves off the bottom of the branches, I placed stones in the bottom of the tall vases and put two branches in each vase. I later used the extra trimmed pieces of eucalyptus as garland alongside some twisted plaid ribbon down the center of the table.
Other than renting the raw linen table drapes, I used my own white plates, silverware, bamboo folding chairs ($23/piece), and crystal stemware from Williams Sonoma.
Other details included votives, hurricane candle holders, and linen napkins, which I made that day (er, morning) by cutting cococozy fabric into 18″x18″ squares. It’s always fun to incorporate my own textile designs into the table wherever I can!
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After seeing how this all came together last minute, I was reminded that when you take care of the details and provide a nice environment — it’s so worth it to see people having a spectacular time! After all, that’s the point of these parties, right?
xo
What did you have to eat at the party?