When floral designer Jose Ibarra stepped into Tina and David Sheffler’s Asian-inspired home, he knew just what he needed to set a smashing dining room table for her. The house was featured on the Rose Garden Homes Tour in October and needed a designer’s touch. As always, you can count on Jose to turn up the creativity a notch.

For the Shefflers’ table, while he celebrated the Asian inspiration by using wooden Geisha statuettes and delicate orchids, he honed in on a  simple yet whimsical concept: Chinese take-out.

“Just because you have a party doesn’t mean it has to be catered,” Jose said. “It can be fun with what you have and at the same time look good.”

Next time you order Chinese takeout with friends and want to make some simple, but special touches, here are some of Jose’s ideas:

1. Use the white take-out containers as vessels for creativity: insert a small cup with water and add red roses; or fill with moss to give a “bok choy” effect. Jose stuck a pair of chopsticks in the moss and crinkled the paper chopsticks wrapper at the top to play with the color and texture. Wrap colored string around the boxes for extra color.

2. Add tall, wispy orchids in clear glass or simple vases to add height.

3. Keep the rest of the table minimalistic to showcase your special touches.

You might also enjoy these stories:

Asian-inspired backyard

Zen-like courtyard on Home Tour

Tract Home Extraordinaire

Leku Eder-A Beautiful Danville Place for Asian Inspiration

Here’s the complete slideshow:

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 at 10:34 pm and is filed under Antiques, Art, Decorating, Dining Room, Featured, Food and Drink, Furniture, Home Decor, Home and Garden, House Tours, Interior Design, Julia, Q & A, Q and A, Ranch, Rose Garden, San Jose. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.