Welcome to Mantel and Table!
I’m Barbara, your host at Mantel and Table, and I’m so glad you’ve found your way here!
What It’s All About
Mantel and Table is your one stop for all things Home Entertaining! My mission is to share resources and inspiration with people who love to entertain! Even if you don’t have a lot of time, M&T can help make it easy to bring a few family and friends together over a meal or to throw a big party – to gather around a happy and elegant table and connect.
Some of my favorite hours have been at a dinner table. There’s just something about relaxing in a pretty setting, talking, laughing, and sharing food and drinks, that creates a welcoming place where everyone wants to be. Making those connections happen is what Mantel and Table is all about!
Some History
Mantel and Table started because I LOVE setting tables! I always have. My mother was my first mentor and lifelong inspiration – an entertainer of the highest caliber! I watched and learned. As a child I used to help her set her lovely tables when guests were coming over. One of my formative memories is of Mom helping me choose the topic and prepare for my big sixth grade presentation: How to Set a Table for a Formal Dinner! I don’t think most of my 12 year old colleagues were too impressed, but I loved it.
I continued to love it into adulthood, and one day many years later when I got a gift certificate for Administrative Professionals’ Day and spent it all on table linens, I realized that my love had become a passion.
What I Do the Rest of the Day
I plan events! I’ve been an event planner in one capacity or another for more than 35 years. For over a decade of those years, I’ve been the executive assistant to the president of a pressure vessel fabricating and laser-cutting company (Think big metal tanks, huge state of the art laser machines, cranes, forklifts, and lots and lots of stainless steel!) It’s a work-boots and coveralls kind of place, and I have welding going on right outside my office window. But I still put flowers on my desk, and wear my skirts and heels. (See above picture of me trying to show you my heels at the office!) 🤣 Hey, they look great with safety glasses!
As well as the usual Assistant things, I plan and execute all our corporate events, meetings, conferences, trade shows, and private parties, just as I’ve done throughout my whole career. (One of my favorites was a five-day event in London many years ago where we entertained executives from all over the world. We called it “Mega Week,” and I have to say my favorite event was getting to ride around the Mercedes test track with a professional driver!! Testing out the 5-star hotels didn’t hurt either!)
Even though I don’t drive my dinner guests around the block or anything, it’s so fun to bring a home version of the professional event planning experience to Mantel & Table!
Our 100 Year Old House
I’m a Pacific Northwest girl – born in Washington state and raised in Portland, Oregon. We moved around the country when my kids were school-aged, with stops in Arizona, Washington, and Minnesota. But now I’m settled back in Portland with my wonderful husband in a house that’s over 100 years old. It’s on a tiny city lot that’s our very own little piece of paradise! (This picture was taken when we bought it, all those years ago!)
If you live in an older home, you know how much maintenance and repair are involved – All. The. Time! As my husband has been heard to say “Home ownership is for people who don’t have hobbies!” No, but really – we love it! We have a great neighborhood, and truly wonderful neighbors, friends, and family! We’re living the dream!
Music
I’m a singer and music teacher. I’ve been singing all my life, sometimes professionally, and I taught voice and beginning piano students for years. It’s so much fun to work with people who are exploring their own talent, and I think my students’ successes – large and small – have been some of my proudest moments! I’m not singing professionally or teaching now, but my colleagues have been polite and patient enough not to throw things at me when I hum at my desk all day, and my karaoke buddies let me revert back to some classical pieces every once in a while!
Marital Bliss
I’m married to an amazing man – my partner for almost 30 years, and my husband for almost a decade now! We had both been married before, and after a romantic whirlwind long distance courtship, he moved to Minnesota to hang out with us until my kids finished high school and I could get the heck back to Portland! Here was a man who was never going to leave Oregon, never going to have kids, with a calm and predictable routine – moving half way across the country, sharing a home with two teenage boys, and hanging on for dear life in our loud, busy, chaotic household! He was then and still is my rock and inspiration, and life with him is so much fun!
My Sons
I was blessed with two awesome boys! We’ve always been very close – I think we actually raised each other. They grew up to be awesome men, and I’m so proud of them both! Sadly I lost my youngest son to cancer in 2017. This is not a fun thing to share, and honestly I wasn’t sure I wanted to include it. But as I imagine any of you who have lost a loved one know, it becomes part of you, and changes you in ways you can’t even fully understand. I’ve never experienced such pain – or such love – and I think acknowledging it here honors his memory. If you’re interested in the story, you can read it here, in the blog I wrote to keep family and close friends informed while it was going on.
My Heroes
It was writing that blog that actually led to Mantel and Table in the first place! The boys thought I should also write one that was more fun, and we spent probably the better part of a couple days together thinking about a name, buying the website, and writing the first post! We got kind of busy after that and it didn’t go much further for several months, but the idea had taken hold. And one day when I almost accidentally came across my first decorating blogs, Shabbyfufu, Designthusiasm, and French Country Cottage – now my heroes in the home decor blogosphere – I knew I’d found my people, and that this was what I wanted to do.
Thank you so much for sharing it with me!
Where To next? Explore everything Mantel and Table has to offer!
See you over there!
Hi Barbara and Happy Thursday:
So many people do not know what a “tablescape” is. I did not either until I started watching your blog a few years ago. Thank you for sharing a bit of history around Mantel and Table and knowing that your sons/husband were a part of it. Sad to learn of your one son who passed away but so glad that you mentioned him. I was so happy to be able to meet you at the Oregon State Fair this past August – you driving 1 1/2 hours in traffic to meet me and us spending a few hours together. What fun. You are such a genuine person and I am proud to call you ‘my friend’.
I look forward to lots of Mantel and Table and what ideas you come up with. Take care, my friend.
That was so fun hanging out with you at the fair Janice! And TOTALLY sweet of you to come all the way down here! Isn’t the internet great? We never would have met without it, and now here we are – friends who share ice cream, sea lions, and TABLESCAPES!! 💛 Thanks so much for your sweet comment!!
Great post.
Aw thanks my friend! You knew all that stuff already! 😊 Great new heels though, huh?! See you soon! 💛
Barbara, I have been a member of M and T since Rosie the teacup started her traveling – I never knew the history of M and T starting as a blog.I am a retired nurse, and I can remember patients’ families asking me how they could get through the waiting at the bedside, and I suggested writing things down like what the doctor said and just their thoughts (this was in the days before a computer). I actually had one patient show me his journal 28 years later. Out of sadness came such a wonderful gift called Mantle and Table.
Thank you for sharing your story.
Oh Pam – that’s so sweet! Writing is an excellent idea – what a wonderful nurse you must have been. I’m so grateful to all the nurses that have helped me and my family members. 💛 And how great that you’ve been here since the beginning of The Traveling Teacup! Isn’t that so fun?! I love all the pictures and fabulous stories and interesting places she’s been. Thank you so much for sharing it all, and for your sweet comments all these years! It’s great having you along my friend!
I loved reading this Barbara! I’m an old subscriber but always nice to know more about the people we hang out here in blog land. Thanks for sharing friend. XO- MaryJo
MaryJo! You’re so right – I always love finding out more about my internet friends! So glad you’re one of them! 💗 Thanks so much for popping over, and hope you have a lovely week!