#1 plate for sure.

#1 napkin if you have other red in centerpieces etc.

What fun to experiment! I like the second one best, with the lovely gold rimmed white plate and the soft white napkin. They seem to marry well with the traditional design of the place cloth. I find that the red napkins are a little busy in comparison, but they are pretty.

Yeah, I use the second napkin allllll the time, usually with simple placemars or my kraft paper runners. There is some red in the placemat border. But the placemats are very formal French and the toile is more country...

#1 plate. After that, it is all good.

#2 combo

I like #2 the best

# 2 for me.

#1 or #2

I prefer #2,. Though I am tempted to say "shock your friends, use the red"!

I like the color mix on #3 the best, but the plate seems too casual for the placemat. So #2 overall.

I really don't like the busy-ness of the the toile napkin with the placemat. It's too much.

Edit: I meant #4, not #3 in my first sentence. Still really don't like the toile. But I like the other napkin with the yellow, except that I think the plate is too casual.

Another vote for #2, with #4 as a runner up.

#2

#2

#1

#2

#2

I like 1 and 2.. which I prefer depends on the centerpiece and maybe the tone of the meal. I really like the light hearted note of the toile.. but it needs a little more that the red in the placemat to bring it into the party, I think.

Thanks, everyone. I was leaning toward 2 but thought i'd shake things up a bit with 1. I still have some roses blooming and some are red (PO!) so I will have to check in the morning.

As an aside, I have quite a lot of placemats and napkins. I always put them away clean, but now some look dirty and some even have spots. If I endeavor to clean those again, will the phantoms just reappear in the future again?

TIA

Oh, I'm such an outlier. My screen is small so I saw each one at a time. Each was "oh, that's nice" until I got to #4, and that was ".ah, that's the one". Clearly I have no taste lol!

#1

#1 It just looks right.

For a sort of old world look I like #2.

Not so old world but... #3 is nice.!

Can I just mention that I think I would like the napkin ring with number one?

#1, but I adore gold rimmed pllates!!!

Robo,

Ahh, the napkin rings. I used to have a few sets, but I cannot find them!

A few years ago we hosted a lobsterbake. We rented table linens, including white bar towels with red stripes. Our cook, who is an artist, helped me make the "napkin rings". They are assorted shells that she drilled holes in and strung on raffia. I just love, love these, and I have about 75! Although they sometimes walk off...

The thing is, the shells are ok for my beachhouse (and in fact I used them there recently) but I find them odd when our pond here does not contain any crustaceans or mollusks. It was fine for the lobsterbake.

So I really use them way too much and how do they work with the busyness of toile and that placemat? I want to find old silver ones, perf tarnished

PS I do have really pretty bunny rabbit napkin rings, for spring obv. I have cheapo leaf ones for THxG at the beach. I don't really care for those.

Hmm,,,, anyone have some they love?

I would probably look for some simple brass rings that would complement the gold edge of your plates. What flatware are you using? Also, if you really want to use the red toile, you might consider using a red charger to pull the place mats and napkin together.

If the dinner is more casual, I like #4 better on further reflection.

#2 even w/o ring. napkin fabric is lovely with placemat.

Thanks everyone for commenting on such silliness. I have been off looking at napkin rings on Etsy! What fun.

Fun, I am using old sterling.

Interesting coincidence.. not even an hour ago I saw two places that had napkin rings I love. Not really French or Old World and (not cheap) but I love all of these by Michael Michaud. I'd think you'd get lots of use out of them.

Sorry, but I did not read the comments, but # 2 gets my vote. The napkin ring style is irrelevant. I like the red but find the pattern sizes discordant.

Funky, love the first one! I would not get them soon enough for this time, but I am looking for rings for ThxG.

#2

I know it's not your budget, but I have always liked the creativity in napkin rings at Pier One. They just won't last forever.

Bumblebee, when I was looking on etsy, I saw ones that looked like little green cabbages. But they weren't, they were ranunculus. I like the idea of ornamentals cabbage napkin rings for ThxG, so I googled that. Pier 1 used to have them and they were so cute! I'm going to look, there is one near me.

I like either using the gold-rimmed plate.

But I'm more intrigued by the fact that you have red anything.

Love number 1, it looks soooo old world

Ha Linelle, I thought the same thing.. though I also dislike red -- you won't find anything red in my wardrobe, my makeup bag, my garden or substantially represented in my house. but I DO use it in very small doses as accent. Usually an orange red or a pink red. I recently saw a photo of a centerpiece done with white pumpkins (which I have) and bittersweet wrapped around them. That's the perfect amount of red in my book. In Mtn's placemats and napkins, I think it works great to set off the yellow.