Paint Refreshed Tote for a Farm Table Vignette

Hey friends, Here we are in November and it's all about the upcoming Holiday Season. Call me old fashioned or a traditionalist, but I can't bypass Thanksgiving. It's always been my favorite holiday and season so I'm sharing some late November decor posts and Thanksgiving, and then also bringing in some Christmas decor and inspiration too. Even though I love Thanksgiving, I too am ready to see some Christmas inspiration and ideas. Let's have both!!!

Dough Bowl Pumpkin Centerpiece On the Antique Sideboard Buffet

Hi Friends, this post is a bit overdue as I had wanted to get this out at the beginning of "Pumpkin Season", but I had to be out of town for a bit. I think most of us try to refresh our faux pumpkins every few years to keep them updated and looking crisp and new. I had a few in my fall squash stash that really needed a mini makeover.

Vintage Laundry Basket for a Fall Centerpiece

The Fall Season brings out the creative vibes for me more than any other season. Here's a centerpiece I put together last Fall on the farmtable in the Garden Room. I knew I wanted to try something different on the farm table for early Fall for a centerpiece. I usually have my big wooden vintage ice cream bucket filled with faux florals, and I love it... just wanted something a bit different. When I find something that works well in a space I sometimes get a little lazy and do the minimum. But after my vintage shopping trip a while back I had some new inspiration and ideas to try.

French Country Easter in the Dining Room

Hello Everyone, are you all ready for Easter? We'll probably have a quiet Sunday around here and just the two of us celebrating at home. I'm so glad you're here today because I'm joining in with a few friends to Celebrate Easter with a fun Hop hosted by my sweet friend Amber from Follow the Yellow Brick Home. Let's find some fun and inspiration for Spring and enjoy this wonderful time of Easter Week.

Easter Picket Fence Centerpiece

Monday I looked out my kitchen window and oh my gosh, there were little yellow blooms on one of my forsythia bushes. Now there were only a few, but how fitting that they show up in time for the official start of Spring! So today, all four of the bushes have blooms and I'm hoping to get out this weekend to snip a few branches to bring indoors.

Fall Centerpiece Basket with Pumpkins

I knew I wanted to try something different on the farm table this early Fall for a centerpiece. I usually have my big wooden vintage ice cream bucket filled with faux florals, and I love it... just wanted something a bit different. When I find something that works well in a space I sometimes get a little lazy and do the minimum. But after my vintage shopping trip a while back I had some new inspiration and ideas to try.

Christmas Lookback in the Dining Room(s)

I've been busy decorating for Christmas, but the weather hasn't been cooperating for photos. It's been gloomy and rainy around here, which is typical for this time of year, so I thought for now I'd share a few pics from past posts of my Dining Room/s.

This is just a peek at what I've been up to in here.

 My mantra this year for seasonal decor has been "don't get stuck in a rut!"

So I made a point to do something different from past Christmas centerpieces.

A Simple Centerpiece for the Garden Room

It's been fun seeing the shrubs, plants and flowers that have emerged here at the new place this Spring and Summer. Mid Spring, I was so excited to see a row of Forsythia at the back of the property line, and even though they were pruned to within an inch of their lives they are now becoming full and giving us a little more privacy.

Patriotic ReView

Hi Everyone, I'm always surprised at how fast summer flies by. This weekend will start a wonderful extended weekend for many of us, lot's of family and casual fun inside and out, so here are a few photos of one of my favorite Holidays, Independence Day! 

Lighted Twig Pumpkin

Each year I see the wonderful twig pumpkins all lit up with fairy lights and I think, "I'm going to get one of those next year!!", and each year it escapes me until we're already into the season. So I thought of this idea, not near as much "wow factor", but still pretty. It would work for a Thanksgiving or any Harvest Tablescape, since it wouldn't interfere with conversation across the table.

Pumpkin Roundup in the Dining Room

Hi Everyone, I hope you're having a wonderful week. We've had a taste of Fall here in Southwest Missouri these last few days with the trees getting more vibrant, a day of gray skies and soaking rain, and some much cooler temps. (High of 63). We'll hit 80 again, but it was sure nice for a change.

Summer Buffet Scape with Ticking Tablerunner and Sunflowers

A few weeks ago I shared some inspiration of one of my favorite Late Summer decor combos; Indigo Ticking Stripes with anything "Sunflowers". Ticking brings to mind lazy breezy summer afternoons on the porch swing, and Sunflowers are those wonderful happy faces that let us know that Fall isn't too far away. 

I have a cupboard full of mismatched ironstone and transferware, and that includes a stack of old platters that I use for cookouts. A good steak or Bar-B-Que requires something substantial so I put a few things together for an impromptu Summer gathering.

Velvet Pumpkins for a "Timewashed" Give-Away

Becky and I have been wanting to do this Give Away since earlier this Fall,

so we're sharing this opportunity now, still in time 

for you to create your own wonderful 

Fall and Thanksgiving Centerpiece.

Contemplating a New Fall Centerpiece...

That's what is going on...

I'm thinking about a new centerpiece display for the Dining Room Table. I haven't really made a commitment yet, because I'm not ready to start bringing the turkeys out. But since October is flying by, I'm putting together some ideas. It's a work in progress...

Patriotic Summer Kitchen Tote

With the 4th of July just around the corner, it is time to break out the 

 Red White and Blue!

I've been working on changing up the Kitchen Sitting Area, and giving it a patriotic feel. The kitchen needed a good dose of "Summer" so I'm giving it a punch of RED. I started with the kitchen table, and gave it something different to wear. So here's just a peek at my Vintage Summer Kitchen, with a white tote filled with vintage utensils.

Change-up in the Kitchen Sitting Area

Yikes, it's June and it's that time once again...

The week before Memorial Day I was ready for a change in the sitting area of the kitchen. I thought about bringing out my Patriotic things and be ready for July 4th, but I just wasn't ready. It's been a long rainy Spring, and I was craving something that just looked like "Summer".

A Temporary No-Sew Table Runner

...or the "I'm lazy 

and I don't want to sew this right now",

table runner.

Last week I was sharing with you all my love/hate relationship with my sewing machine. That I'm not too fond of sewing, but I find myself frequently needing a change-up in decor with pillows, table runners, curtains etc. And actually, my sewing machine is (a) over at the storage unit(s), (b) it's too cold to go hunting for it, (c) I'd have to bribe my hubby to go spend an hour or so messing with it. (Do any of these excuses sound reasonable?)

It All Starts in the Dining Room

I'm not sure why, but I always start my seasonal decor on the Dining Room Table. My choice for the centerpiece and tablerunner seem to sort of set the stage for the rest of the house. This year I fell in love with a burlap fabric my sweet friend Judy was working with in her Etsy Shop, 20 North Ora. She was creating tablerunners and I just had to have one.

I had Judy looking all over town trying to find more fabric to fit my table. I've threatened to paint this table more times than I can count, but my interim fix is to just cover up as much of the big brown wood top as possible. Anyway, Judy came through and I love how it turned out. I just put it on top of another raw burlap fabric piece and then gave it a stripe of red Tartan. (gotta have some plaid)

The ribbon isn't attached,

 and I would like to find a wider one, 

but for now I think it adds a little fun!

Last year I wanted Preserved Boxwood wreaths and topiaries, but never found them. So for something different this year I ordered 3 of the Preserved Boxwood Cones in cement vases to go inside the newer smaller windowbox. You can find them HERE.

Judy also sent along a sweet pillow, just right for my end arm chair.

Thank you so much, Judy!

For the chandy, I left the twiggy garland and removed the Fall leaves,

 replacing them with faux red Winterberries,

and then tied on a little Tartan ribbon.

Decorating this year is proving to be a work in progress.

I started with the basics the week before Thanksgiving, 

and I'm adding a little more each day.

Who knows, I might even have it done before Christmas!

(more coming in the Dining Room)

Joining in with these great parties:

Savvy Southern Style

DIY by Design

City Farmhouse

The Style Sisters

From My Front Porch to Yours

Daily Cup at Mrs. Olson's

No Minimalist Here

French Country Cottage

Craftberry Bush

Shabby Art Boutique

Dwellings

Coastal Charm

Cozy Little House

A Stroll Thru Life

Mod Vintage Life

xoxo,

p.s. Santa brought my white lanterns and they're 

HUGE

Now I just have to find a place to put them!

Today's Sponsor 

is Judy from 20 North Ora

Nature Inspired Thanksgiving Tablescape

One of my favorite yearly posts would have to be the Outdoor Fall Tablescape that I have done for the last three years. Doing an outdoor tablescape wasn't going to happen this year as our outdoor area was completely off limits due to a new roof and minor construction, then new guttering projects. I couldn't even really decorate the front porch, let alone style a photo shoot. So I decided the next best thing would be to put my energy into doing a Thanksgiving Tablescape indoors, like I had wanted to do outdoors.

I'm a more casual tablescaper, I feel more comfortable and at home when the mood and atmosphere are created with natural elements, and in the Fall and Winter, I'm all about a good Tartan Plaid. I had wanted to build my outdoor tablescape around a vintage brown plaid blanket and I wanted to use bits and pieces of my old Brown Transferware. I've not collected large stashes of dishes like many of you who tablescape, just picking up odds and ends when I find them for a good price.

When we moved into this house there were a set of handmade windowboxes that were so charming, that matched the front of the house. But after several years of using them and the fact that ants were coming in through the windows, I stopped. They had started to deteriorate so my husband renailed the better of the two for me to use here as a centerpiece box. My big windowbox that I usually use was just too large to consider for an actual "sit down" dinner.

I wanted it full of natural elements, and since we have Thanksgiving in the afternoon, I chose not to put candles inside, but fill it with leaves, antlers, pumpkins, vines and berries, with a little nest and quail; all things you would find in Nature.

Then I gathered my only "set" of  Brown Transferware, six placesettings of J.G. Meakin of England, "Scandia", which I think must be from the 60's. I used some other unmarked white ironstone that is much older to fill in for missing salad plates.

Some mismatched Brown Transferware cups became the individual candleholders for mini clay flowerpots and a votive candle.

I've had this set of heavy amber glassware for many years, I think they must also be from the 60's and then my Heisey wine goblets that give a little more elegance to the setting. When I was younger I never would have "mixed and matched", but now that's just part of the charm of a vintage table.

I wanted to incorporate another pattern along with the brown, so my caramel stripe French Grain Sack and a set of creamy floral napkins broke up the larger area of brown plaid, also adding a little interest.

This is my silver setting from Oneida, just cannot remember the pattern.

Each placesetting included a vintage Thanksgiving postcard used for a place card, held by an antique flower frog.

Another mismatched place setting.

I wanted the feel to evoke an English Country Cottage afternoon,

 after a day of hunting.

Thank you so much for joining me for my Thanksgiving Tablescape.

I hope this gives you permission to be casual and a little "mismatched".

Enjoy your family and the blessings of Thanksgiving!

Joining these weekly parties:

Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

Inspiration Exchange at Yellow Bliss Road

Fill Your Cup at Mrs. Olson's

Tips and Tutorials at Stone Gable

xoxo,

Today's Sponsor

Shabby Cottage Chic