Not quite sure what is going on with me, but my recent redecoration of the dining room with pinging accents of orange, has created a need for hunting out more orange bits and pieces ready for the festive season. Tablecloths, candles, candles and so on. This is quite a hard colour to source, especially with good quality table linens. I never even liked orange much before I did this room, so finding things is quite hard as I don’t even have a mental stash of where I have seen things in the past that are appropriate. With Christmas approaching I also wanted to spend as little as possible as there is lots of other shopping ahead to do.
Some serious hunting for a table cloth online resulted in either horrible poly cotton banquet plain tablecloths which headed into neon territory, or 100% Irish linen dyed to order at eye watering prices. I also looked at buying fabric directly, but I kept choosing the most expensive fabrics and £120 a meter is not really budget-friendly. I also need an ENORMOUS tablecloth, as at Christmas I have my cunning extra large tabletop that comes out of storage and sits on top of the existing table. It seat 14 easily, and in the past I have had to either make cloths for it or adapt king size bedspreads. All were tastefully neutral, and not at all suitable for the colours in the room now.
I needed something to ping, and this is the sort of orange colour I needed. Really pumpkin-like.
And lo, along came ebay. I have not used it for a while, mainly as postage has got so expensive in the UK that people seem to have stopped selling on it so much. But I started to hunt for anything orange, and then this original 1970’s St Michael (M&S) bedspread appeared tucked away in the bedding section. It is woven damask in shades of orange, perfect for a pop of colour, and looks like something from dressing a 70’s TV sitcom. And Reader, I bid immediately. In fact no-one else bid on what looked frankly pretty awful in the picture, so I got it for a song. Here it is, looking a bit grim and dated on ebay.
It turned up yesterday, and actually it really works in the room!
It is really bright orange and yellow with lovely fat bullion fringing. It works with all the other soft furnishings in the room. And it is massive and will easily fit the Christmas table top.
Until then, I have used it in the corner of the room on a round table, replacing a ‘tastefully beige’ one. It would not work anywhere else in the house at all, but it does suit the dining room scheme. Job done, total cost £8.50.
Emma Kayne 