I’m feeling organized and nest’y lately, using a case of the winter blah’s to signal a time to re-energize our interiors. Since the urge to purge items from my various collections comes few and far between, I like to ride the wave when it does come. As I donate or give away the barely used items, I’m looking around and seeing what’s left, taking a hard look at our core essentials.
Our two styles of beloved, thrift-store-scored vinyl placemats (here and last image here) get used every day, usually twice or three times. I’ve considered lately that a less leachy material might be a better idea, especially for something we encounter, touch and eat from every day.
Enter a fine giveaway from MightyNest, a company that specializes in healthy home and living products, and great partner of HGGH. Their team has offered up a table makeover to a reader. I love their linens section and thought you’d enjoy this opportunity to makeover your table. Enter by checking out the widget below and taking the pledge!
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While I’m sad to see our old, familiar placemats go, I’m really pleased with our new mats which are completely safe and non-toxic, easy to clean, and actually highlight the grain of our table through the mat. I also like that I can set warm things directly on the mat since they’re high-heat resistant (up to 428 degrees F), like my just-out-of-the-toaster-oven lunch leftovers pictured below!
Napkins are another (my favorite) way to instantly spruce up a tabletop. My wife and I are cloth napkins people because, after a childhood of paper, it makes us happy to sop and dab and dot with a beautiful and soft item that doesn’t dissolve, doesn’t cut down trees, and doesn’t scratch faces.
Granted, I’ve always been a colorful pattern kind of napkin person because they hide stains oh so well, but after a marvelously thoughtful gift of these Oh, Little Rabbit organic dinner napkins (the canning jars) from a friend and then a complimentary set (my wife is a cyclist!) from MightyNest, I discovered that white isn’t impossible. Let’s talk about stains.
If you’ve read my book, you might notice light colored napkins are on the skip list unless you’re good at removing stains (for which I’ve prescribed some combat tactics in Chapter 5). I am currently experiencing a minor revolution in my inclination to never use the pretty things for fear they’ll get dirty or stained. (One of my grandmothers, not Bertha Burnham, covered her couch in plastic for fear of stains. I will not be that person, damnit.) I welcome life and it’s boundless realm of opportunity to exercise my stain-removal skills. These napkins are admittedly on the slower cycle of use and never get pulled out on turmeric-filled or roasted/pickled beets occasions, but most of our breakfast, lunches, dinners, and snacks are easily removed from these napkins.
Note: MightyNest doesn’t carry the jars design, but they do have a great assortment of other designs from Oh, Little Rabbit that are equally lovely, check out the other styles here.
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Let’s also talk about ironing. I only iron napkins (READ: anything) if I’m extremely overwhelmed or sad, so thankfully these napkins cooperate with my out-of-the-dryer-fold-fast or the whatever-screw-the-wrinkled-napkins techniques. I did not iron for the photos, to be true to how these napkins look on our table nine times out of ten.
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How to enter:
Take a moment to officially pledge (using the widget below) to use cloth napkins at least one day a week for a month to be automatically entered to win a set of 4 Oh, Little Rabbit organic cotton dinner napkins (winner’s choice of style) and 4 modern-twist placemats (silver or moss on grey). When you pledge you’ll be asked to select your local school. Giveaway closes on Tuesday, February 25, 2014 at 11:59 PM Central Time. Good luck!
MightyNest and Your School
MightyNest has a great program that benefits schools of all sizes across the country. MightyNest engages school communities in healthy, mindful lifestyles plus donates 15% of the sales when when other school members make purchases. Last fall, they awarded a San Diego elementary school $5,000 after they won the Mighty School Challenge!
Disclosures: MightyNest provided me with a complimentary set of 4 modern-twist placemats and a set of 4 Oh, Little Rabbit bicycle napkins. They will be shipping the winner’s set of table pretties directly. Opinions and support for these products are my own.