I feel the need to share this little tidbit of (mostly) useless information. When I first discussed the idea of basing one of our Birds of a Feather themed holiday tables on the Peacock, I thought I was talking about the entire species of avian that is most associated with its bright colorful plumage…and NBC. But low and behold, every time we say the word “Peacock” we are actually only talking about the male of the species. According to our go-to tool and bastion of truth (yes I’m talking about the interwebs) you would actually be referring to Peafowl. I submit proof to you that the saying, “You learn something new every day.” is still pertinent.
These curtain panels, which are in our living room as I type this are the main reason why I wanted to do a Peaco…Peafowl themed dessert table. When we first saw them on the Pier 1 website, we loved the look of them. Most notably the royal blue hue, and the simple but elegant pattern of Peafowl feathers. When we arrived to purchase said curtain panels, we were surprised to see that they were actually a deep almost iridescent teal color. Surprised…yes, but still very happy, we purchased them anyway. I kid you not, while researching links and pictures for content for this post, I re-read the description for the curtains…“shimmering blue-green base with peacock feather prints.” Blue-Green. Must have missed that part the first time around…funny how things turn out, huh?
These curtain panels, which are in our living room as I type this are the main reason why I wanted to do a Peaco…Peafowl themed dessert table. When we first saw them on the Pier 1 website, we loved the look of them. Most notably the royal blue hue, and the simple but elegant pattern of Peafowl feathers. When we arrived to purchase said curtain panels, we were surprised to see that they were actually a deep almost iridescent teal color. Surprised…yes, but still very happy, we purchased them anyway. I kid you not, while researching links and pictures for content for this post, I re-read the description for the curtains…“shimmering blue-green base with peacock feather prints.” Blue-Green. Must have missed that part the first time around…funny how things turn out, huh?
A year later when we moved to our current location, we decided to put up the panels in our new living room. They were previously pulling duty as our master bathroom shower curtains. We had an oil-rubbed bronze thing going on in there, and we really wanted something with a punch of color. These things practically assault your eyeballs, but in a good way. You’ll see. I personally had ambitions of doing some DIY projects to help co-ordinate and tie-in some of our other décor in the living room with our “new” curtains. That is when I went to our Lowes store in search of swatches to color match some paint. I had 2 of our 3 children with me, who are infinitely experienced in distracting you from what you originally went to the store for in the first place. A skill a child comes pre-programmed with. Regardless, I believe I left with perfect matches. From the Valspar line of paint; 2009-2 Caramel Cream, and from the American Tradition by Valspar line; 5011-8 Classic Teal and 3010-3 Heraldic Gold.
2009-2 Caramel Cream
5011-8 Classic Teal
3010-3 Heraldic Gold Ok here it is, the low down on the deals we found! For the rest of the props, of what would become our interpretation of a Retro 20’s Golden Glam Peacock Dessert Table, I did the usual searching and scrounging at our regular haunts. From Kroger, gold and teal jewel toned chargers ($1 each) that would serve as platters for some tasty treats. At our local Wal-Mart Supercenter, I was able to score the 2nd (of 2 great fabric finds) bolt of fabric ($5) that was like a bazillion yards long. I also found the purple and teal sheer and gold/white grosgrain ribbon from the crafts section at ($1 each). Jo-Ann Fabrics yielded a styrofoam cone ($7) for the awesome Rolo centerpiece, small golden holiday bells ($1), and gold beaded garland ($1). At Target’s dollar section I was able to find, almost hidden from me on the very bottom-most shelf, two golden colored metal buckets. Great as is, but even better after just tweaking them a bit with some turqouise spray paint.
In what seems to be the case as of late, the majority of our props have come from an unusual location. At the start of the holiday season, Dollar Tree’s trim-a-tree décor was a literal treasure trove for our gold, teal and orange color scheme. It was there we found our champagne flutes, artificial fruit (spray painted gold and teal), 2 styles of gold gift wrapping, clear fluted edge votive candle bowls, bronze candle holders (turned into stands) and shiny gold gift boxes. Everything obviously only a dollar each there. For the wrapped Christmas gifts behind the center piece, we just used some empty cereal and fruit snack boxes. I was also able to utilize some of our old stand-bys like my custom made DIY cake stands underneath the charges to give them some height and our white IKEA tray. Even after all the crazy good finds I just mentioned, I think the best of the best (of the best) came from a wee tiny yard sale that we just happened upon, as most yard sale finds do. As we sped by it, I spied with my little eye a small brass birdcage. Price… $1 American. You damn right…
For the star of the table, I had envisioned buying this Peacock from www.save-on-crafts.com. But after accompanying Heather to Charlotte, NC to deliver a cupcake order, she asked if I had ever been to a Garden Ridge store. I think my response was something like this…“A what?” She “claimed” that I would love it, and mind you she claims a lot of things. Refreshingly for a change, she was right. (Heather here, this make me LOL. I am right about these things most of the time, but I will leave this bit in here for the entertainment of you ladies out there who know how men can be…) We ended up browsing for almost two hours and purchasing ornaments, sprays, and birds for both Heather’s Cardinal & Birch table, as well as the bird for my Gold & Teal Peacock table.
For the printables, I had discussed a certain type of look I was going for with Heather. Specifically I had wanted to incorporate the silhouette of a Peacock’s head and accompanying plumes on top, and stick it inside the general shape of a gilded birdcage. After doing some rough sketches on my idea pad, I sat down with Heather to bang something out in Adobe’s Illustrator program. As you can see, we make a great team, as she was able to take my idea and translate it into a great set of party printables. (Our printables are available in our Etsy shop here.) When we had most of the major design elements finished we set out to find a font suitable for even the most discerning Peafowl. I had suggested to use Riesling, since I took one look at it and thought it was very Gatsby-esque, and would just totally jive with my look. We think our glitzy and glamorous take on the whole Peacock theme turned out stunning, and if you agree please let us know by leaving a comment, or even just saying so on our Facebook page!Come back for Part Two of this post later in the week, where Ms. Heather will dish on the delish! (HA! See what I did there?)