Humor me and allow me to repost from a year ago ...
START WITH A PILE OF RED FRENCH DISHES FROM THE GOODWILL ... wait, let me back up ...
Hats off to ALL of you charming women that take tiny little mouse houses, farmettes, fancy French homes in Texas, bungalows in the Cotswalds, Victorians in the Midwest, and every where in between ... and call them home.
I adore you from the bottom of my little midwestern heart.
You use what you have, you find it for a song, you embelish plain jane, ho hum, nondescript walls, bedrooms, powder rooms and porches ... magazine worthy and breathaking ... how do I know? You show them off on this feast of a venue called blogger.
We suddenly all became good friends and invited each other into our living rooms. Well put your feet up, have a cuppa', pour some wine and make yourself 'ta home.
Most of of us don't have financial backing or a rich husband who knows someone who knows someone who is an editor.
As the song states ..."we were country when country wasn't cool."
We've been collecting white ironstone,(most of my pieces I've had for about 30 years, when they were 50 cents or less) Johnson Brothers, glass ornaments, sugar churches, bakelite, french barometers, and the like before any one woman ever wrote a book about them.
Before any one decided to make money on "how-to's," we had already done it. So settle in and enjoy the vignettes from this old farmhouse.
Pour a toast and then lift your glass to yourself.
You are one inspired bunch of ladies. I can hardly make it thru the day without that inspiration.
I'll start with "how to set a pretty table ( on a goodwill dime) and end with other fun stuff to feast on.
Gathered corks used as place cards ... cost ... a bottle of wine.
Flatware from Target...99 cents per piece
yes it looks imported!
Go ahead, put a big ole' garage sale piece of statuary in the home office and dress it with greens ... and then while you're at it replace prisms with German glass ornaments.
Old books snagged from the local farmer's market ... look for fanciful covers and of course, anything about Christmas.
Back to table dressing~~~yep you guessed it~~~these gold coasters from Bombay were gathered in late summer with my Christmas table in mind. I shelled out a whopping 25 cents each. Thrift shop table cloth set me back one dollar and sixty one cents. A perfect caddy for a wine bottle.
Faux real!
You guess????
Head on over to your local stamp store.
I'm sure they will have you monogram initial somewhere in the pile.
Stamp with black ink on any brown paper bag looking napkin.
I take my time dressing the table ... start early in the day so as to not be rushed.
Layer, layer, layer ... chargers, tiny dessert plates, and bowls.
... mix and match is the name of my game ... light the candles , pour the wine.
Oh, and move over Martha !!!!
