On the topic of keeping parties lively, Charles Dickens suggests that we “fan the sinking flame of hilarity with the wing of friendship; and pass the rosy wine.” This notion might be accurate if your friends aren’t vulnerable to spilling their rosy wine all over your lavish table runners.
Ages ago, when I threw my first dinner parties (the ones where I served Domino’s) my tablecloth was a leopard-print Ralph Lauren flat sheet tossed haphazardly over an IKEA dining table. Food and wine spills were camouflaged by the brown palette, and on occasion I tossed the “tablecloth” in the wash for trickier stains.
As my interior design aesthetic matured, I developed a penchant for Horchow table linens. Unfortunately, after my first multiple-course (and multiple-wine glass) dinner, I realized that my lush friends didn’t couple well with my costly tablecloth.
After myriad attempts to put an end to the wine spillage, I realized that it wasn’t my friends who had to change – it was the cloth. Using inexpensive drawing paper and a few tubes of acrylic paint, I created a unique table runner in less than ten minutes that could be tossed out post-party. (See similar projects: high-quality wrapping paper for runners and placemats!)
The DIY table runner worked perfectly at my latest ONE HOPE wine and Spencer’s Pantry collaberation. This discovery was timely, in fact, because the gathering was my rowdiest to date - having something to do with the wine pairing that went with each course. While a wine pairing isn’t unusual, in this case each pairing was a filled-to-the-brim glass and there were six courses… That poor table runner never stood a chance. xx tt
TABLESCAPE TOOLS:
(1) Candystripe straws for water glasses; (2) Gold tapers in recycled glass candlesticks; (3) Ornaments as table decor; (4) Gray dinner napkins - placecard tie instructions here; (5) Gladiolas - when in season they are $1.99 per bunch at Safeway; (6) White ceramic tall vase; (7) Gray candles and corks to fill hurricanes; (8) Jonathan Adler gilded salt + pepper shakers
PAPER RUNNER TOOLS:
(1) Ziplock container (2) Acrylic paints: gold, silver, black; (3) Inexpensive paint brushes; (4) Drawing paper roll (36-inches by 10-yards)
PAPER RUNNER INSTRUCTIONS:
- Roll paper out to the length of your table, and trim accordingly
- Place heavy books at each of the four corners to prevent them from curling up
- Squeeze a quarter size dollop of each paint color into a ziplock container
- Paint dots (or other shape) at random, one color at a time - I did gold first, then silver, and then black. Repeat as necessary to achieve desired dot saturation.
- Let dry overnight
