This week our guest blogger, Susanna Salk talks about the importance of presentation.



A Dash of Whimsy
From Open House by Susanna Salk

The other morning I searched for a to-go container for my green tea but all I could find amongst my shelves was a Starbucks Christmas-themed cocoa mug. Being in a rush I used it anyway but confess I felt funny all morning. It worked to keep my beverage perfectly piping hot but the design was all wrong. It wasn’t that it had the typical tacky snowman and gingerbread theme I’ve come to abhor come the arrival of December. It actually had an elegant almost Matisse-like rendering of snowy trees. And even though it was April, it was 32 degrees out. So what was my problem?

Because I couldn’t ignore the fact that I wanted a sleek, silver vessel to match the elegant, Asian-inspired contents that lay within. And without it, I’m a little ashamed to admit that the tea tasted the lesser. (I ended up dumping it out my car window on a deserted country road if you really want to know.) This is a long winded way of saying: presentation counts.

It doesn’t have to be fancy. Tabletop has come a long way from the days when you registered at Tiffany and put your gold-rimmed plates high up on a shelf until Thanksgiving. Now the options are endlessly affordable and inspirational.

Read more about Susanna’s trip to the Tabletop Market and how she chooses from the many beautiful patterns available.