An Italian Tablescape and a Giveaway

Pfaltzgraff is celebrating the tenth anniversary of its "Villa Della Luna" pattern of dishes this year.  I was contacted by Lifetime Brands and asked to do a tablescape for fall featuring these dishes, and I was happy to oblige.  :)

My Parents' New Sunroom

Happy Monday everyone -- can't believe it's here again already!  :)  I'd like to share a renovation from my parents' house this week.  I think you'll enjoy seeing this cheerful, cozy room.

On Saturday, I paid a short visit to my parents.  I delivered some groceries that my mom had asked me to get for them, and it was so good to see them.  I think my dad is making some progress towards getting better, but it's very slow right now.

Last fall, my mom and dad decided to turn their screened porch into an enclosed sunroom.  You can see how this room looked as a screened porch in this post from 2012.  I just love how it turned out, and so do they.  Thankfully, I remembered to take my camera along yesterday, so I took some pics to share on my blog.

A Small Update To The Dining Room

Happy Monday to you -- hope you had a nice weekend!  My dad finally went home from the hospital on Friday, after spending five weeks there.  I know he was so glad to get back home to his own bed, comfy chair, and his yellow lab, Gracie.  I appreciate all of you who kept us in your thoughts and prayers.

We made a little update to our dining room this weekend, and I'm sharing it today at Metamorphosis Monday.

A Fourth of July Table

I don't know about you all, but our town seems to have emptied out.  It seems that everyone is traveling somewhere for the Fourth of July week -- everyone, that is, but us.  :)  My husband says there has been very little traffic to and from work every day, so no complaints there.  Those who have gone to the North Carolina coast may have their trip spoiled by Tropical Storm Arthur, but I hope not.  That happened to us one year, and it was no fun.

We're planning on staying right here for the week, but my husband has taken an extra day's vacation in order to have a four-day weekend.  Woo-hoo!  We'll be going to my in-laws' house for the Fourth, but I set a patriotic tablescape in my "new" kitchen just for fun.

Making A Pretty Bird Feeder

I've been feeling crafty lately --

Flower Therapy

Happy Monday to you!  I just wanted to share a few pics of what I did this past weekend.

An Irish Table for St. Patrick's Day

I'm into my fourth year of blogging, and this is the year I finally put a St. Paddy's Day tablescape together and actually got it photographed.  Yippee!  Mr. Forest Manor did the photography for me (Thanks Honey) -- I really appreciate the good pictures he takes.

A French Catholic Missel

Several years ago, my in-laws traveled to France, and when they returned, my mother-in-law gave me a little book as a memento.  Actually, there were two books, and she let me choose which one I wanted.  I was instantly taken with this one...

Valentine's Day Tablescape

**Note:  I just realized I put the knives and forks on the wrong side of the plate!  This calls for another head slap!!  I was in such a rush to get this table set up last night for pictures, I didn't even notice I'd done this.  I promise I do know where they're supposed to go.  I don't know where my brain was last night.  It didn't help that I was trying to watch the figure skating competition in the Olympics at the same time that I was doing the table.  I'm chalking this one up to another senior moment.  

I finally got a chance to set a pretty table in the dining room.  Unfortunately, we've kind of been using our dining room as a storage area for the past year and a half.  Not cool.  Now it's back to being what it's supposed to be, and that makes me happy.

The Big Chill

I feel kind of like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz -- "Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore."  Wow, what a snowstorm!  It just stopped snowing here about an hour ago, so we had 24 straight hours of snow, at times mixed with sleet.

I can't pretend I didn't enjoy it -- I've been longing for a pretty snow this year.  

A New Kind of Flameless Candle

Have you seen the new flameless candles with the realistic moving wick?  Oh wow, I love these!  I'm probably the last person to find out about them, since I'm always late to the party; but in case you haven't seen them, let me share with you.

The Joy of Books

It's no secret that I love books.  For as long as I can remember, I've loved books, and they've been such an important part of my life.  In fact, I met my future husband in a bookstore where I was working part-time.  He came in to look for a book, and he found me.  :)

I can't imagine a home with no books in it, can you?  It would seem rather cold and impersonal to me.  Not only do I enjoy reading books, I love the way they look and feel.  I have a Kindle, and I've finally started using it.  It's certainly convenient, but it could never replace "real" books for me.

Snow Men Brighten the Winter Days

Hi everyone!  Have you had a good day?  We spent the day running errands, so I'm glad to be sitting down, finally.  One of those errands involved buying a new, much-needed grate for our fireplace, so now we can have some cozy wood fires in our den. 

The Christmas decorations are finally down and mostly packed away.  I enjoy them so much when they're out, but our house feels much more spacious once I've put them away again.  I used to feel a little melancholy after packing all the cheeriness away.  Then I discovered that if I put my snowmen out in January, it helps to jolly things along during the long cold months between Christmas and spring.  :)

Images of Christmas Past

Alma, who blogs at The Tablescaper, has a wonderful idea for a link party.  Tomorrow, for her weekly Seasonal Sundays party, she's suggested we link our posts from previous Christmases.  I think this is a brilliant idea because we're all busy as bees trying to get ready for this Christmas -- decorating, shopping, wrapping, baking, addressing Christmas cards.  Soooo, I went through my archives and found some things to share from previous Christmases.  Some things were published in posts, but others are just pictures we took, but I never got a chance to do a post on them.  I hope you enjoy!

Our Kitchen -- Before and After

I noticed yesterday that a post I wrote early in 2012 is now being viewed again.  The post was written at the time that we were just beginning our kitchen remodel, and I showed lots of pics of our kitchen as it used to be for the first 15 years that we lived here.  Then I showed some more pictures of the ongoing renovation, but I've never shown a real kitchen "reveal" since we've completed everything.  That's mainly because we waited about three months to hang anything on the walls because we couldn't stand the thought of messing up that pristine paint job.  :)  By then, we were into the 2012 holiday season, so again, I put off showing the kitchen until after the holidays.  I wanted everything to look perfect for my reveal pictures, so I kept putting off doing the post, and I finally realized that I just need to show you how everything turned out.

*WARNING*  Picture Heavy Post

There are several pictures here (the understatement of the century).  They were taken on different days at different times during the day with two different cameras, so please overlook the fact that the quality of some are not as good as others.

Diane's Garden

I want to say a big "Thank You" to everyone for your sweet comments on my mom's pink and green tablescape!  My mom enjoyed seeing her table on the blog, and she really appreciated all the nice comments!

I'll bet many of your thoughts are starting to turn towards fall, yes?  Mine too; I pinned some really pretty fall images yesterday.  :)  But I'm still trying to hold on to the nicer parts of summer; the older I get, the more guilty I feel about rushing the seasons and wishing my life away.  Life really is so precious, and it goes by much too quickly these days. So for this post, I'm going back to late spring/early summer to share with you some pictures from my mother-in-law Diane's garden this year.  I always enjoy walking around my mom and mom-in-law's yard every spring and summer to see what they have blooming.

A Pink and Green Tablescape

Back in the first week of July, we gathered at my parents' house to celebrate my dad's birthday, which was July 3rd.  We had a delicious summer meal of grilled hot dogs with all the fixings (including my mom's homemade chili), baked beans, potato chips, Asian coleslaw, deviled eggs, and homemade ice cream for dessert.  It was wonderful!  :)

My mom had set the prettiest table in her dining room -- just a summer tablescape that she planned to leave out for a few weeks or a month, since they only eat in the dining room on special occasions.  I just fell in love with these dishes and the tablescape, so I wanted to share it with you.

 

Updates To Our Living Room

Hi everyone!  I want to share some recent updates we've made in our living room.  I showed some pictures of our living room back in February, with a few snowmen here and there. The snowmen are packed away for another year, and I've replaced them with some rabbits.  I have a fondness for rabbits -- you can tell I don't have a vegetable garden.  :)

The bigger changes I wanted to share are what we've done around our piano, including new window treatments.  For years, I displayed about four or five accessories on top of our piano.  A treasured plate from my sister, a baby picture of our son, a Royal Doulton vase, and a few other items adorned that spot. 

I don't have a picture of the piano as it was at that time.  There was nothing wrong with the way it was, but at some point, I just wanted a change.  I decided the room needed a touch of silver.  I had lots of good black and white family photos, and so I set about getting silver frames for them to be displayed on the piano.

In addition, I wanted to hang something different on the wall above the piano.  This is what I had there for 16 years.  This picture was taken at Christmas, so I had ceramic Christmas carolers on the piano, but you can see the swag that hung on the wall at the time.