How will we celebrate this year?

Year after year, as a child, adult, and mother, I’ve so loved and looked forward to classic July 4th celebrations, I’m sure just like you dear friend.

Though it’s so unbearably, sticky hot in Houston by this time of the year, there’s nothing else like it!

The red, white and blue, the parades, carnivals, cookouts, swimming, shaved ice, and of course the fireworks. Don’t even get me started on nostalgia and apple pie!

I have many fond memories of my boys riding donkeys and ponies, with sticky ice cream laden faces, going to bed after a beautiful and joyous evening watching the most spectacular fireworks ever, I am sure like so many of you.

Like our family you may be spending your July 4th celebrations at home.

So this year I got started early to plan ahead and make it more fun for my family.

You would think the one year we can’t go out and celebrate, we’d all stay in and enjoy the air conditioning, ha!

But there’s nothing like celebrating July 4th outside.

So this week, I’m sharing how I am taking the indoors → outdoors.

In this week’s episode you will see:

• How I bring the feeling of my home, the French countryside feeling, from the inside to the outdoors
• A beautiful way to bring red, white, and blue outdoors, especially if you are a fan of more subtle colors.
• A super easy DIY project that you can do with your kids, like I did mine, let’s face it, we’ve all got a lot of time on our hands!
• Plus you will also see a lot of gorgeous items you can find at Village Antiques in Houston (like I mean a lot!)

You can watch here:https://www.youtube.com/embed/GvO6BhWvR9A

So where did I start?

4th of July Table Setting Ideas:

Although we aren’t celebrating with many others, I still want to celebrate outside. So where do you focus when working outdoors?

Design tip: try to group as much decor in one place as possible, so you make a big impact.

I have a cute little French country bistro table on my patio, that is the perfect place to set up 4th of July table decorations.

So I am starting with creating a 4th of July table setting, where I’ll be adding a mix of July 4 table setting ideas mixed with a lot of French country decor items.

4th of July Centerpiece Ideas

My July 4th centerpiece design was based on three overall ideas:

1. A 4th of July DIY centerpiece table runner idea
2. Vintage style wood breadboards as my centerpiece
3. An assortment of creamware and chicken wire bottle vases

4th of July Table Runner Idea

First, I started with a great table decoration idea – a DIY drop cloth table runner.

With all of us spending so much time at home, I’m always looking for a great project that my boys and I can get into. So, my boys and I did a little DIY paint project and free hand-painted a few stars up and down our runner in gorgeous shades of blue and white with Amitha Verma Chalk Finish Paint.

If you think this is going to take all day, think again! This project took my boys all of about 15 minutes to start and finish, and then they were looking for their next project! Meaning, it’s very easy and very doable.

We started with a 4’ by 6’ drop cloth and folded it in thirds, so it could fit down the center of your table.

Then we drew out a few different sized stars with pencil, up and down the drop cloth.

And then finally we used Amitha Verma Chalk Finish Paint in Belgian Blue, Provence Blue, Chambord Gray, and Chantilly White to free-hand paint the stars all throughout our table runner.

Why Amitha Verma Chalk Paint? Apart from it being our signature, premium paint line, and my kids love it ;), it actually paints over the fabric like a dream.

Customers use it to paint the fabric on their stools, dining chairs, and even armchairs!

Once the table runner was dry we took that outside and placed it down the center of our table.

4th of July Centerpiece Ideas

When that was done we were ready to move onto creating our table centerpiece decoration ideas.

I know we will spend a lot of time outside so I started coming up with different centerpiece ideas and finally landed on pulling out one of my beautiful vintage style honey-colored wood breadboards to create a “help yourself” serving platter on my patio table. 

A great breadboard is one of the best pieces of French Country Decor you can have. On an island, coffee table, or dining table, this one-piece instantly adds loads of casual, come together, country charm.

4th of July Decor:

Next, it was time to start adding some of the 4th of July decoration ideas.

I love looking for a variety of vases and containers that I can use for all of the different holidays and then adding low cost holiday-specific decorations into the mix.

So, I dug through my different vases and containers and pulled a group of different sized vases and containers to arrange throughout my table. I mixed and matched a few different styles of ceramic creamware vases and glass and chicken wire vases to create a really gorgeous French country look outdoors.

You can find French Country decor vases like this from Village Antiques in Houston, Texas where I pretty much get everything that is in my home.

My best advice for you is to look for a variety of different sizes and vase openings so it’s easy to throw together a quick tablescape or centerpiece idea or floral arrangement in just a matter of a few minutes!

Once I pulled all of my different containers, the next thing I did is to arrange all of the flowers.

In my large container, I went with white hydrangeas because it immediately takes the feeling of my kitchen to the outdoors.

My kitchen is very subdued with different shades of white and gray so I want to carry that same calm feeling outdoors, so that’s why my largest vase contains white hydrangeas.

But to bring that beautiful red into my 4th of July table setting, I added red tulips and carnations into my small vases.

Next, for my main centerpiece idea, I added an assortment of cheese, fruit, and sliced baguette bread onto my vintage style breadboard.

Once that was done, I added a few small finishing touches like my favorite, gorgeous blue French striped paper linen napkins (yes – these are paper!), and my favorite blue and white silverware to tie into all of the red, white and blue fun we are having outdoors.

And lastly, my boys added their own finishing touches with a few small flags throughout the table.

I’m so glad I planned early, so my family can make this year’s July 4 celebrations fun, and memorable.

I hope you got some great takeaways so you can have fun too!

I am looking forward to a day of celebration, food, outdoor activities, and simply home time together.

Leave a comment and tell me what you and your family will be doing this 4th!

You can find all of the beautiful breadboards, vases, decor, and Amitha Verma Chalk Finish Paint that I used at Village Antiques in Houston.

Till the next time we meet, keep making your home amazing with your design gifts.

Most gratefully,

Amitha