EBTH + Habitually Chic Dinner Party
by habituallychic
10 . 10 . 16
I recently had the pleasure of hosting a dinner party with Everything but the House (EBTH) to help celebrate the launch of their online estate sales in New York. A lot of thought went into all the table top details and the guest list and I enjoyed working closely with my dear friend Andrea Stanford and the entire team from EBTH and I thought I would share some of them with you.
The first step was finding a location. Our first choice didn’t have a private room so we quickly secured the perfect space at the French restaurant Lafayette downtown. After the food was finalized, we had artist Kate Shelter create a watercolor menu for each place setting. The table sat 20 people so the next step was to put together the perfect guest list. I didn’t just want to invite people who would enjoy learning more about EBTH but who would enjoy meeting each other. We invited a mix of interior designers, magazine editors, and vintage enthusiasts.
I would never think of asking or requiring someone to post photos from the dinner party on social media but my plan was to design a table that was so beautiful that guests wouldn’t be able to help themselves. I’m happy to say that’s exactly what happened. The plan was to use vintage china and glassware from EBTH to showcase the beautiful pieces available on the site. The jumping off point were two separate but complementary sets of harvest wheat china to set the tone for a fall dinner. Mixed salad plates with blue and yellow borders added color to the table settings.
The grounding element of the table was the neutral linen table cloth but instead of using plain dinner napkins, we worked with The Loveliest to embroider them with the initials of the guests to act as placecards. I will admit that this was the most stressful part since we were still receiving responses until shortly before the dinner. Luckily, we ended up with just one person without a monogrammed napkin and they were very understanding. Guests could take home their dinner napkin but we also had monogrammed cocktail napkins created as a take away for our guest at the end of the night.
The floral arrangements were a very important component to this dinner and I worked closely with the florist to achieve the final look. I put together an inspiration packet of photos for the look of the entire dinner and the flowers to help convey the mood to all the vendors. I saw a luncheon on Instagram that was the inspiration for the brass candlesticks, also from EBTH, and the robin’s egg blue taper candles that finished off the table and added a lovely ambiance. After the dinner, Repeat Roses came to remove the flowers and created new arrangements that they delivered to patients at the Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Care so nothing went to waste.
Once the table design was complete, it was time to work on the seating chart. It was very important to me to mix the group so editors and designers were not sitting next to each other. I was careful about who I thought might enjoy sitting next to who and that they would have something in common or would enjoy meeting each other. The biggest compliment of the night was when one editor told me that I sat her next to two perfect people. At one point in the dinner, I looked down the table and everyone was engrossed in conversation and enjoying themselves which was also gratifying.
The best part of the event is that you can buy the vintage tabletop look of the dinner on EBTH.
It was such a fun night and I’m so grateful to EBTH for allowing me to host their event and bring together a wonderful group to celebrate their launch in New York.
The flowers were a mix of roses, ranuculus, anemones, dahlias, thistle, heather, and ivy.
Andrea Stanford of EBTH welcoming everyone to the dinner.
The watercolor menu by artist Kate Shelter.
Guests included interior designer David Lawrence, Hodinkee editor Cara Barrett, architect and fashion designer Carlos Garciavelez, interior designer Elisa Shankle, and artist Kate Shelter listen to Andrea’s welcome remarks.
Guests at the dinner included editor Mieke Ten Have of Elle Decor, interior designerDavid Lawrence, Hodinkee editor Cara Barrett, architect and fashion designer Carlos Garciavelez, interior designer Elisa Shankle, artist Kate Shelter, Josh Greene, interior designer and co-founder of Hernandez Greene, Andrea Stanford of EBTH, Katie Rosman of The New York Times Style Section, interior designer Philip Mitchell, Traditional Home editor Tori Mellott, Olivia Pollock from EBTH, interior designer Tali Roth of Homepolish, Julian Taffel of Sotheby’s, designer Remy Renzullo, Mara Balagtas of Condé Nast Traveler, and me.
Monogrammed cocktail napkins for each guest.
Starrett Zenko Ringbom of Starrett Hoyt Interior Design and Josh Greene, interior designer and co-founder of Hernandez Greene.
Carlos Garciavelez, me, David Lawrence, and Kate Shelter
My dear friend interior designer Philip Mitchell chatting with Traditional Home editor Tori Mellott who’s dress I wanted to steal!
Repeat Roses dropping off flowers to the Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Care after the event.