Each year, the Dallas Alumnae Association of Kappa Kappa Gamma sponsors a marvelous, local fundraiser, Kappa Tablescapes. This two-day charity event brings together a whole design world of Dallas, which includes florists, retailers, creatives and designers of all trades who come up with extravagant and wonderfully innovative table decorations. Each year, the funds raised benefit a group of non-profit agencies carefully selected by the alumnae association. 

We have so enjoyed being a part of this fun event the past few years, and this year was no different! We are excited to take you along our journey of creating our 2019 Tablescape and how we decided on our theme, how we were going to incorporate our products, and much more. 

Months prior to the event, our design team set aside time to start brainstorming our “theme” for this year. Each table creator gets to choose their own theme. Our first year we didn’t really have a theme, but instead creatively incorporated many Barrington products into the table design.  The next two years included a “Summer French Picnic” theme and a Christmas theme starring Beverly the Barrington Elf. This year we chose “Fabulous & Festive Fall”.

Drawing inspiration from the time of year this event is held and some of our new Fall 2019 patterns, we started our search for the perfect tablecloth to serve as a base for the rest of the table’s contents. After not finding quite what we were searching for, we set out to a local fabric store.  Sure enough, we scored a luxurious camel-colored Ralph Lauren fabric that we made into our table topper. 

Next, we considered which of our products we wanted to incorporate into the table to make sure attendees recognized who we are! We knew we wanted to use some of our favorite totes to serve as the “vases” for our centerpiece of florals, so we chose different styles and heights of totes to have some variation in the look. 

An all-leather Nantucket Tote was the largest Barrington item on the table, surrounded by a Westport Wine Tote in our Steeplechase pattern, and a St. Anne Petite Handbag in Black Watch Plaid. We also incorporated three smaller items in the centerpiece: an Everyday Essentials Pouch in Hunter Green Geometric, our new Legal Pad Portfolio in Graphite Tweed, and a Snap Valet to hold business cards. We chose these patterns, as we thought they felt like fall, and we like to showcase as many patterns as possible so attendees can see the great variety we offer. 

In another brainstorming session, we wanted to come up with even more creative ways to style some Barrington products on the table. We decided to use our Eyeglasses Case to hold the silverware, which was a darling touch to the table. We kept the pattern on these consistent and went with our newly popular pattern, the Vaquero. 

I think everyone’s favorite Barrington product incorporation was the use of our 15” Buchanan laptop case. We were thinking we wanted to create some sort of chair slipcover using one of our patterns, when a design team member happened to grab a 15” laptop case and slide it right over the back of a regular Chiavari chair- and voila! The cutest (and most clever) use of our products was born. This was the biggest hit of our table!

Moving onto the rest of the table, each member of the design team chipped in when it came to the tableware, bringing in things we each already owned. The pheasant placemats were on clearance at Pier1 (score!!). We used Annie Glass chargers, so that the feathered placemats could still be seen. The smaller plates were found at an estate sale, and we loved the maroon border that added the perfect touch of an accent color.

The clear Bee glasses came from Williams Sonoma, the tortoise glasses were from World Market (several years ago), and the napkins were from Pottery Barn (new).

We are so fortunate to have a  gifted floral arranger within our design team, who put together the arrangements inside our totes, adding layers and textures and really making the table pop with all the beautiful roses, hydrangeas, and pheasant feathers.

Lastly, a “favor” is gifted to the attendees who sit at your table, and our marketing manager happens to be quite the baker and cookie artist!  She made an adorable cookie version of our Axis St. Anne Tote for the guests at the table to take home. 

We truly loved our table this year, as it was very different from our tables in the past. If you live in the Dallas area and ever have the opportunity to attend this event, you must go! The inspiration you get from seeing all the tables is like no other, each one is different and yet so beautiful in so many ways!