Entertaining at the cottage is going well this week. We had 21 for dinner tonight and my studio was set up as a dining room, all the kids craft projects and my work was hidden away.
I have discovered that when you are feeding a bunch of people, it doesn’t pay to plan too exactly, you need to go with the flow. Tonight I made the mistake of setting a big table up for all the adults,
and a couple smaller tables for the kids. But of course, people just sat wherever they wanted and adults had kid silverware and kids had white table clothes under their BBQ! Oh well, you do what you can, but the most important part of a dinner is making everyone comfy and not bossing them around, so they can sit where ever they want. It is casual here at my cottage. People fix thier plates at the stove and carry them to the table. I keep it as simple as possible so I can enjoy the day too.
Flowers from the gardens, along with some china flowers from a flea market are on the table in a variety of vases, with votive lights in teacups for atmosphere. Very few of the chairs match each other, and neither do the salt and pepper shakers. The room itself is a bit of a hodge podge of stuff.
Here are a couple of my guests, Emma (who is so dainty and tiny, I call her a Mini M & M) and her baby sister, Rosebud, who seems to have glitter all over her somehow. 
Speaking of glitter, if you look carefully, you can see just how much glitter Twinkle and her "trainer", Luke, have on them too. Click on the photo to enlarge it to see better.
Don’t forget to enter the drawing for a Cottage Collage Kit! Just leave a comment to enter.
If that’s your studio its a miracle and gives me hope for my garage about to become a showroom/studio. . . Love the sparklely children, babies and furry child! Do you actually sleep?? LOL. Rachaelx
Well Twinkle is all gussied up 🙂
The re-make of your studio into a dining room is beautiful. I just love reading about all your daily creative endeavors.
You can’t beat glitter, great picture of Luke and Twinkles
Karen
Bluemuf
I’m ga-ga over this room! Wowee come paint my kitchen walls puleeze.
I think I’d be a little bossier than you and tell those kids to get up and go to a plastic surface LOL.
I also serve at the stove many many times.
We have my mother-in-law coming over on Saturday afternoon and I’m going to use your idea of cutting some garden flowers and foliage and putting them in interesting containers. I like that better than purchased flowers any day!
Wow, how nice that you have such a large space like this to entertain in. I wish I did. I love it when everyone’s gathered around the table. What a beautiful setting you’ve created. I like it when things are casual, pretty and mixed matched like this. It seems to keep people feeling relaxed. Love your walls!
What wonderful fun! I think a little glitter makes for a wonderful complexion 🙂 Where in the world do you store all of your “stuff” when you use your studio for dining?
Karla
Oh my goodness, so much to catch up on! But look at all the fun and great things you’ve been blogging!!! Oh and *cough* – I must have missed my invitation to your beautiful dinner… (heh heh)
The garden pictures from a few posts ago are fabulous!
Hi Karla, you do my soul good! I laughed at your before “messy” pictures. Thank you for being brave and showing your real world! I was beginning to feel quite inferior after seeing everyones perfect house pictures in their blogs. At last, a real home!
everything is better with glitter, even smelly boys & puppies!
Wow! You hide the clutter well! What a fabulous setting to have dinner in…
what a wonderful way to entertain….great looking room AND family!!!
Karla:
You are a real person. Lovely (sincerely) with a real home and places to hid crafting items. I knew there was another human out here : ) that knows the tricks to using her space!!!
carole
wow! you have alot of stuff …if my husband grumps at me for having too much stuff i will just send him over here to look! ha! but its all pretty stuff!! keep busy and remember to sleep and eat sometimes!!
Amazing studio transformation. Beautiful table setting, too. Bet your family feels like royalty when you entertain. Love it.
Your table is beautiful and inviting. I love the casual way you served the dinner. It sounded like my kind of party! Hope you enjoy your family and the get away.