Monday, April 13, 2009

Dining Room Design

I have hit blogger's block! I haven't posted much lately because I can't seem to come up with anything to blog about...I seem to have exhausted the gardening subject for now. So I thought to myself, what is it that I really like to see when I visit other blogs. I really like to see how they have decorated their home. I love to take the tour. That got me to thinking that I haven't shared many pictures with you of my dining room, and I have added some Nell Hill touches recently.

~ Visiting the Dining Room ~

A little corner decorated with finds found at garage sales, thrift stores and the flea market. The lamp came from Hobby Lobby and the wool rug I found at Lowe's. The little table was my Grandma B's.

I made this monogram G picture
using a frame from Dollar Tree and some scrapbook paper.

Here we are in the dining room peeking into the kitchen.
Love how the gold and the red flow so well together, they are the colors in the dining room upholstery. Underneath this new wall pocket, I would like a little chair with a stylish monogramed throw pillow!

This is a new dining room addition. I found the wall pocket at the flea market and added the ivy. In this picture you can see the paint color more correctly, it is reddish bittersweet. A friend of mine named it Rusty Pumpkin. The walls do look a bit orangey in these pictures, but it really isn't orange, all the light that comes from the big dining room windows makes it take on this orange hue.

I knew I just needed something on the other side of the windows, so last week I was scouting out plates to hang on the wall. This was definitely a Nell Hill inspired shopping trip. After looking around about 40 different booths, I found the perfect stack of plates for the perfect price! I wasn't sure about the turquoise color on the plates, but I thought they might just play beautifully with the wall color.

A closeup of the plates, all four are the same design.
In another booth, I found a matching bowl.

A very grand tassel found a home decorating the handle of the china cabinet, I found her at the flea market last week too!
Inside the china cabinet are silver and white dishes that I have been collecting through the years. I recently started picking up affordable silver serving pieces.
Victoria magazine has always been my inspiration for gorgeous serving pieces, especially their more vintage issues of the 1980's.

Just this past weekend, I served Cherry Preserves in this darling silver and crystal bowl. Isn't that spoon so very cute and dainty.

Here is a closeup of the dining room fixture. It coordinates with the foyer's fixture. The balls that look gilded are actually a metallic green with a crackle finish, the shades are an amber.


Looking into the dining room from the foyer. When I first got this grape ivy plant it was in a little 4" pot. He is just going bananas. A friend of mine in Colorado gave me the metal trellis. One day, I got the idea to stick it in this urn to give the ivy something to curl its tendrils on. I went out to the woods and found some moss and have placed it on top of the soil, I really like that conservatory/Mediterranean look!
~*~
Hope you have enjoyed visiting me and my dining room.
I'm hoping blogging inspiration will come back and I will have more interesting things to share!
~Jill~

Friday, April 3, 2009

Fabulous Finds...

I love hydrangeas and have been on the lookout for several months trying to find some pretty silk ones. I grabbed this basket right up when I spotted it! I really loved the muted colors and what a bargain at $3.

I have been playing around and haven't yet decided which room to keep them in.


I haven't really decorated much for spring.
I was inspired though, by all the pretty apothecary jars on different blogs, to make a little bird filled one for my coffee table!

I have been giving this little cabbage set the eye, for quite some time. This whole set was just $4. Lucky for me, he was in a booth that was pretty much off the beaten path at the flea market, so he waited patiently until I decided that yes, he must come home with me! This was someone's ceramic project in the 1970's. Isn't it amazing how some things really don't go out of style? Cabbage style dishes are all the rage! I think he is quite adorable with the matching salt and pepper shakers. They even have real vintage salt in them!

Not too far down from the cabbage tureen I spotted this cute print, also for $4.
It looks so French, ooh la la...
and looks wonderful above my whirlpool tub.
Looks like a French Soap label!

At the Salvation Army store I found a roll of Waverly red and white grape toile border for .50 cents. No plans for it yet, but I am sure I will think of something!
~*~*~*~
I am so ready for it it be warm and sunny!
I am so ready to put on my gardening overalls and putter in my plants!
Soon...we will get to go to Lowe's and buy all the picket fence for my kitchen garden!

It was dry enough a couple of days ago for us to finish putting in most of the spring garden. We planted radishes, green onions, lettuce, turnips, beets & peas. I went to Wal-mart yesterday and they had pack of 9 tomatoes for $3. I bought a pack each of Celebrity and Better Boys. Eighteen tomato plants, that's a good start! I am already thinking of fresh salsa. Doug said these were the littlest tomato plants he has ever seen. Right now they are sunbathing on my back step! Grow little tomato plants, GROW!
I also bought a jiffy pot that had 4 Basil plants in it for $3. Basil is just about my most favorite herb! Basil is kind of a tricky herb to try to dry and preserve because it can turn black. But I have had pretty good luck freezing the leaves whole and then giving them a rough chop before adding them to spaghetti sauce. Hmmm...I am also thinking how yummy basil is with a thinly sliced tomato on a slice of crispy french bread!
~*~*~*~
Hope everyone enjoys a beautiful weekend!
We are going to see Disney on Ice tomorrow!
I can hardly wait!
~Jill~

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