I planned to have a nice dinner for four the weekend of Memorial Day, so I set the table a little early. I do that sometimes so I can enjoy the decorations for more than just the holiday day.
The reason is our dining table is fully visible from the second floor. Setting it in advance gives us a festive tableau to view while coming down the stairs.
This time I started with the Patriotic Table Runner I made last year. I added white placemats all around.
The white china plates are set with red salad plates. I like to use individual salt and pepper shakers at each place. Red napkins complete the setting.
These star dishes will hold side dishes of coleslaw and potato salad to go with our bratwurst and hot dogs.
The huge red basket holds silk flowers in red, white and blue, along with some foil shooting stars and two American flags. It looks great now, but it breaks my rule of low centerpieces so people can see each other. I’ll move it from the middle to one end when we sit down to eat since there will only be four of us.
Do you ever set a table just for the decoration?
From My Carolina Home 
This is beautiful and perfectly captures the reason for the holiday! I understand why want to put it out early 😉 This just put a big smile on my face today…thanks!!
This is so lovely to see, my DH is currently in the US having the weekend with dear American friends. I know they would have pulled out all the stops to give him a lovely Memorial Day weekend, and I’m sure he won’t take any photos, so it’s great to see how you’re celebrating!!!