Celebrating Mardi Gras, an annual festival which serves as a last hurrah before Lent begins, is all in the family. My husband grew up in New Orleans, the epicenter of Mardi Gras festivities, and he was eager to pass along the tradition with our family.

When we can’t make it in person, we host Mardi Gras-themed dinners, but nothing can replace being at the parades with thousands of other people (many in costumes), collecting beaded necklaces and other treats thrown from the floats, and admiring the decorated houses along each parade route.

There are more than 70 parades during Mardi Gras, thrown by different social organizations or “krewes”, and we took our own crew to three this year: Hermes, Iris, and Tucks. Each krewe has its own fascinating history: the Krewe of Iris, for example, is the oldest and largest female Carnival organization and its members don white gloves and masks for their parade, while the Krewe of Hermes was founded during the Great Depression and became one of the first groups to revive their festivities after Hurricane Katrina.

The parades offer a tour of New Orleans architecture, winding their way through Italianate mansions, Greek-Revival style homes, Creole cottages, double gallery houses, and more.

The impressive iron balconies, stately columns, and unexpected color combinations never fail to remind me how different cultures and traditions can come together to create new, inspiring styles.

New Orleanians are serious about design, but they are very playful when it comes to their Mardi Gras decorations, offering opportunities for passersby to revel in bold colors (including the signature Mardi Gras purple, gold, and green), next level whimsical creatures, and oversized florals.

For a city that has seen its fair share of challenges over the years, Mardi Gras provides an opportunity year after year to celebrate the unique history of New Orleans and its varied influences. That’s a sentiment we carry through our approach to the design process as well: we firmly believe that your home should tell the story of you and your family and celebrate your traditions and interests.

From incorporating family heirlooms into a collection to sprinkling treasures that you picked up during travels throughout your space to incorporating design details that make a big impact, we love helping make your home feel like a reflection of you, your values, and your path to the present.

SHID was honored to create a tablescape for the Lenox Hill spring gala, held on April 28th. The work and legacy of Lenox Hill, a 128-year-old settlement house on the East Side of Manhattan that provides human services including an early childhood center, centers and care programs for the elderly, shelters and prevention programs for persons experiencing homelessness, and more, is beyond inspiring, and I was thrilled to support (and celebrate) them.

Using the gala’s theme “A Garden of Earthly Delights” as a springboard, I incorporated my favorite earthly delights from some of the places I have traveled and lived. With a focus on flowers and fruit trees, I set out to marry my traditional taste and penchant for punchy playfulness in “And the Zest Was History”, a sumptuous visual array full of whimsy and vibrant natural elements.

Many of the tablescape components are a nod to the East and Gulf coasts, highlighting the impact that Virginia, Louisiana, and Texas have made on me and my design sensibilities. The chair fabric from Palm Orleans, for example, features a lively print of oysters and citrus. Oysters are found in abundance along Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay, just south of New Orleans, and in Houston’s Galveston Bay, making them a highly personal and much beloved earthly delight!

I loved living among satsuma trees in Houston, but, since moving back to Virginia, have had to settle for a different breed of oranges. Their color, scent, taste, and the cheerfulness that they exude inspired me to choose these fruits as the table’s centerpiece as well. Pink peonies (which echo my garden in Virginia) as well as flowers found farther afield, like the orange pincushion protea flower, honor both a love of home and worldly travel adventures.

Naturally, we incorporated our signature SHID blue and white palette when choosing the table skirt, candles, napkin detailing, and even the ribbon for our favors (spoiler: they were delicious chocolate bars from local favorite Miss Maude’s). The table skirt has Virginia references hidden in plain sight: it features creatures that are prominent in the local landscape and the tableware selections include a tobacco leaf plate and dogwood napkin ring. As a nod to Jeffersonian and classical architecture, I even included a Chippendale planter on our table.

And, because every detail is worth attending to (and because I unabashedly love color and texture), I finished the table with pink champagne glasses, pink dogwood blossom napkin rings, clear glasses dotted with vibrant green, tobacco leaf salad plates, bamboo inspired flatware, and round rattan placemats.

Special thanks to our patrons: Zafferano America, Quadrille, Pomegranate Inc, Palm Orleans, Miss Maudes Bar of Chocolates, Hines and Company, and Capital Garden Products. Your beautiful products helped us create a lush and colorful table worthy of a place in a garden of earthly delights!

Special thanks to our patrons: Zafferano America, Quadrille, Pomegranate Inc, Palm Orleans, Miss Maudes Bar of Chocolates, Hines and Company, and Capital Garden Products. Your beautiful products helped us create a lush and colorful table worthy of a place in a garden of earthly delights!

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