The luxury Lifestyle blog (the home of luxury Lifestyle) presents The Art of Tasteful Dining.
 
While all living creatures need to eat, it’s only human to think of food as far more than mere nourishment for the mind and body. It is an integral part of numerous celebratory events, and even the simple act of eating often involves social interaction.

Whether everyday fare or a festive feast, pleasurable dining is comprised of many different elements. Sometimes the occasion calls for china, crystal and silver elegance. More often than not, a more casual environment is in order. Either way, fine table linens provide an inviting background for whatever tableware and table decorations are suitable for the occasion.

How setting the table can set the mood.

Schweitzer table linens have inspired every manner of dining—from breakfasts in bed to patio lunches and formal dinner parties—for more than 35 years. But we believe the people who come together at your table are the most important components of any meal. Whether family or friends, those who share that conviviality with you are the raisons d´être for all the effort you put into planning and preparing what you serve and how you serve it.

Since pleasing them is your first priority, presentation of the food and the ambience you wish to create are just as important as the menu. If you think of your table as an artist’s canvas, and let your imagination run free, you will find countless ways to create the perfect setting— not only for the enjoyment of delicious food, but also to create a most enjoyable mood.

First things first: The elegant simplicity of a crisp white linen tablecloth is never the wrong choice for your dinner table, but it is far from being your only choice. Opulent damasks like our Persia medallion motif or Waverly floral weave instantly communicate “special occasion.” As do tablecloths etched with embroidery, edged with delicate lace or embellished with intricate cutwork— like our King’s Way, Leilani and Royale, to name just a few. For buffets or less than formal dinners, if your sideboard or table has a highly polished wood surface or rich patina that deserves to be admired, placemats and runners are a perfectly acceptable option. Our handcrafted Windsor, hand-embroidered Lausanne and hand-crocheted Précieux are some of the impressive examples you will find in our extensive collection of extraordinary table linens.

What you bring to the table: Even if you own just two sets of dinnerware, one formal and one casual, you can have an endless variety of interesting table settings for everyday and special occasions— simply by adding your own creative touches. An antique soup tureen or cut glass bowl or a large bowl in your china pattern can highlight a beautiful flower arrangement for your centerpiece. Candelabra surrounded by a ring of small votive candles will provide illumination as well as decoration. Tiny bunches of flowers in heirloom teacups or crystal goblets make delightful place setting markers. Innovative flower receptacles can easily be improvised out of something as treasured as your grandmother’s favorite porcelain pitcher or as witty as Chinese takeout cartons.

Feel free to mix and match just about anything and everything. If your guests number more than your place settings, use complementary dinnerware for every other guest around the table. Glasses can also be used in non-traditional ways, out of necessity or choice. Whether stemmed or not, whatever the style, almost any glass can serve a purpose other than its own. Table linens are equally adaptable. If you entertain the same friends using the same dinnerware time and again, keep your table looking fresh and new with different tablecloths and napkins to mix and match.

Entertaining ideas you can improvise at home..

Sunday breakfast or brunch can take on the air of a special occasion simply by using the food itself as decoration. Mounds of muffins, scones and croissants on pedestal plates and baskets filled with colorful fruit are as appetizing to the eye as they are to the palate. Especially when presented on our Finesse or Strawberry Fields tablecloth.

A candlelight dinner for two should be as memorable as your love. Light up your table with sparkling crystal and silver on a tablecloth designed for romantic moments (like our pure linen, hand-embroidered Patrician with delicate tracings of white-on-white flowers). For a captivating centerpiece, fill a crystal bowl with water, add floating white rose petals and candles and place it on a mirror for utmost effect.

For happy holiday dinners, set the tone with a table matched to the day. Create a cornucopia centerpiece with Autumn leaves and maize for Thanksgiving. Make a winter wonderland for Christmas or Hanukah with a crisp white linen tablecloth like our Marbella. Add silver candlesticks, a silver bowlful of white flowers and silver serving pieces, all sparkling like icicles. Then tie each snow white napkin with a silver ribbon dangling a silver jingle bell. For Easter fill a basket with faux green grass and colored eggs, and choose a pastel tablecloth like our Piazza. For Passover, arrange your festival candles and candlesticks and ceremonial foods on a festive white tablecloth from our extraordinary collection

Bon appetite!

This is just a taste of what you can do to make any dining experience more fulfilling for your family and friends, and more fun for you. To inspire you even more, we invite you to browse through the exquisite table linens on this web site, as well as in Schweitzer Linen catalogs.

Source: Schweitzer Linen

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