Vintage Baby Shower

Today I am joining Chari at Happy to Design for Sunday Favorites.  There are so many of us who love dishes and I thought it would be fun to repeat a Vintage Baby Shower post my daughter and I hosted for a family member a while back. When the shower was held we didn't know if the parents were having a girl or boy.  Little Sabrina just turned two this past week so it seemed a perfect time to replay this post.  Thank  you Chari for hosting.  It's nice to be able to repeat a post when I am busy preparing for my Spring Floral Show.






I'm excited to finally be participating in Susan's now famous Tablescape Thursday. I look forward to this each week and I wanted to share the baby shower table setting my daughter and I created on Sunday. Greeting our guests as they entered the home was a freshly strung line of sweet baby clothes. We felt this was a fun way to set the mood as we all said hello at the door.

I'm quite sure many of you remember actually hanging tiny clothes on a real outdoor line. I know I have done this from time to time. The silk plant lady decided to go for REAL flowers for this shower. Can you believe it??

~ These white pitchers are thrift store finds ~

My daughter and I knew we had found our centerpiece when we spotted these petite pink tulips in the cooler.

The new parents to be are not finding out the sex of the baby, so we chose a blue and pink color theme.

The dishes are also a thrift store find. I only have dinner plates but I'm okay with that because they are easy to match up with white or white and gold cups and other serving pieces when necessary.

The accessories we used on the tables actually came together over a couple of weeks time of thinking. I just kept remembering baby pieces I had and they just all worked so well together to form an innocent tablescape. This little plate below was my baby plate. The silveware belonged to one of my daughters.

The little Beatrix Potter figurines added so much interest to the antique mirror in the center of the dining room table. The mirror was a garage sale find.

We had 21 guests at three tables. This was a card table using vintage linens and my daughter's baby blocks from the mid 70's. We spelled out the new baby's last name under the glass dome.

Placed on the server in the dining room we had the cake, napkins and plates ready for dessert.

I love the simplicity of the cake.

Below is the kitchen table set with the vintage damask tablecloth which belonged to my mil. The white napkins are the ones I was ironing last week. :) Notice the pink rose dishes? These were my very first set of dishes purchased at a grocery store after I became engaged. Many are broken but I still have enough to enjoy.

We used silver baby mugs belonging to my three daughters, my three grandsons and one belonged to Mr. Brown Socks. We filled them with water and added white baby carnations.

SWEET??? I ask??? Last but probably my favorite are my very own baby shoes perfectly positioned under a tall glass dome.

We asked the grandmothers to bring pictures of the new mom and dad to be.

***On the menu***

~ Grape and pecan filled Chicken Salad Sandwiches ~

~Marinated Vegetable Pasta Salad~

~Assorted Fruit~

~Iced Tea~

~Caramel Drizzle Coffee~ Now let's go and explore more blogs to see what others have been up to this week. This is such fun, isn't it?? ;)

Thanks for stopping by to enjoy a vintage baby shower.

I am also joining Dittle Dattle for Amaze me Monday
Marty at a Stroll Thru Life for Tabletop Tuesday

Kim at Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesdays

Kara at Elements Interiors for Whassup Wednesday


Sherry at No Minimalist Here for her Open House Party on Thursdays

Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday


Linda at A la Carte for Junkin' Finds on Fridays

Debra at Common Ground for Vintage Inspiration Fridays

Laurie at Bargain Hunting and Chatting with Laurie for A Few of My Favorite Things Saturday

New Furniture for my Living Room

 

 

Hi Blogging Buddies! 

Do you remember recently I shared pictures of my open floor plan and a few of the woes that come with decorating with not many walls, etc ? 

Here is the room before:

 

I have been anxious to share with you an addition to my living room.  Thinking I wanted to wait until the whole room was done, I haven’t shown pictures of my new piece of furniture, but I just can’t wait any longer.

Most rooms are a work in progress and so is my living room!  The whole progression started about a month ago when I was in my hometown celebrating my birthday.  I had a phone call from my sister in law Connie who also loves to decorate.  She was in a thrift store and found a secretary that she said “had my name all over it!”

She knew I had been looking for one and she knows how I like dark wood.  Of course thrift stores will not hold pieces.  This was Saturday and I wouldn’t be able to get into the store until Monday.  Knowing it would be gone she took a picture on her cell phone and sent it to me.  It was somewhat hard to tell but I just knew Connie knows my style.  She was willing to purchase it for me and then they would hold it until Mr. Brown Socks and I could get in there on Monday to pick it up. It had a few little problems like dried glittered glue (which popped right off with a little Murphy’s soap and a straight edged razor.  It needed washing down and some tung oil to give it luster. 

  At first we placed it on the same wall as the fireplace. Then after studying it and talking with my decorator friend Susan, we decided it wasn’t quite tall enough to compete with the fireplace mantel.  Sooo…we scooted it over to the corner and I LOVE it there!  Don’t you think it made a huge difference in the way the room has come together?

  This sweet little green chair used to be in my silk floral work room. It came from a local little store that was going out of business.  I was so lucky to find it as it was buried under a pile of “stuff”.  I almost missed seeing it myself!

As much as I have enjoyed it in my workroom I really like having the bright color in my living room now.  It seems perfect nestled up by the secretary and just seems to give the room the extra piazza it was lacking.  I also brought in this white dish and placed on the coffee table (Goodwill find)

 

 

 

and added white urns on top of the secretary to give the room some contrast. 

The mantle is still a work in progress. I took down the big tree picture (shown below) because it seems so fall/winter to me.

Also still on my list are new pillows for the couch and the little green chair.  But for now I am very happy with the direction this room is going.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s amazing what this one piece of furniture did to make me love my living room.  Another thing that I like about it is having the shelves to add more of my accessories.

Do join me over at all these other great blogs I am joining this week.  There are always some many great ideas!

 

Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday
Mary at Boogieboard Cottage for Masterpiece Monday
Sarah at Thrifty Decor Chick for Before and After Monday (first Monday of the month)
Marty at A Stroll Thru Life for Tabletop Tuesday
Linda at Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesday
Kim at Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesdays
Kara at Elements Interiors for Whassup Wednesday
Gina at The Shabby Chic Cottage for Transformation Thursdays
Leigh at Tales from Bloggeritaville for Thrifty Thursday
Jill at French Cupboard for French Inspiratin on Thursdays
Sherry at No Minimalist Here for her Open House Party on Thursdays
Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday
Courtney at French Country Cottage for Feathered Nest Friday
Linda at A la Carte for Junkin' Finds on Fridays
Debra at Common Ground for Vintage Inspiration Fridays
Sherry at The Charm of Home for Home Sweet Home Friday
Laurie at Bargain Hunting and Chatting with Laurie for A Few of My Favorite Things Saturday
Donna at Funky Junk Interiors for Saturday Nite Special

 

I am always so happy to have you stop by! 

Donna

Mixing up the Dishes ~ In a Hurry!

 

 

Hello again!  Let me start by saying I LOVE my dishes and I love my napkins.  It’s fun mixing and matching and playing around with things  ~~~~~

BUT

   If I don’t have guests coming over for dinner it seems unreal to put a lot of time into a tablescape.  Today I’ll be showing you how to create a finished table with color and interest FAST!

 

Don’t get me wrong, for those of you who pour lots and lots of time into it, I am the first to say I appreciate your efforts.  My spring show is just around the corner and I feel guilty not being downstairs working instead of playing!  LOL!  When I am really entertaining I spend lots of time on my tables, tweaking and playing and redoing til the guests arrive!

Since it’s time for Susan’s Tablescape Thursday over at Between Naps on the Porch I hurriedly started looking through dishes seeing what would be pretty together.  I happened to have four of these precious little salad plates out on display

so that was my starting point.  Oh yes, they did come from the Thrift Store and have a couple of little chips, but you won’t see those. They are underneath. There are no markings so don’t know anything about them other than I had to have them, chips and all.

 

Knowing you can’t go wrong with solid white that was next in line. Johnson Brothers Ironstone, England.

 

 

Okay, we are all itching for spring, so let’s pull out these Robin’s Egg Blue chargers.  These I found last year and I LOVE THEM! Remember, stack stuff up.  It always looks more impressive that way.

Next we need napkins.  First I thought I would use the white ones with black I found awhile back, clearanced at Pottery Barn.  Hummm, they are okay, but a little formal.  Plus we are all eager for color and who doesn’t love this bright green?  I promise I would have ironed them if you had been actually coming for a meal!  These came from World Market.

 

 

My running bunnies were just pulled out last weekend and Yes, they will work fine for the centerpiece.  Notice the antique tray.  It’s one of my favorite Goodwill finds.  I did have a new mirror made to fit and it looks wonderful in so many ways.

A splash of a soft flower and some gorgeous deep blackberries and we have plenty of color and variety to make this table work in a matter of minutes.  The little silver pedestal dish was an estate sale find.

Some glasses, silverware and tiny little individual bunnies and birds finish this table off nicely.  See?  You too can put together a table anyone would enjoy sitting down to in nothing flat!

Oh, I almost forgot to show you this SWEET little platter that I added to the table.  It will certainly hold something I am serving.  It is made in France and I found it in an antique store in North Carolina.  It’s one of my favorites.

 

Okay, before I go over to see everyone’s tables this week I will first “unset” my table.  Are we craZy or what??

 

 

 

 

As always, I thoroughly enjoy your comments and visits.  Thanks for stopping by!

I am also pleased to be joining Linda at A la Carte for Junkin’ Finds Friday

Debra at Common Grounds for Vintage Inspiration Finds and

Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday.

 

So Many Changes in the Works!

 

 

What a fun weekend!  It was filled with family fun AND talks of decorating!

 

 

 

 

The newlyweds came home and we got to meet Gordita.   She is growing but still full of lots of puppy spunk…

 

And Puppy Kisses!

 

Maggie watched behind the scenes fearing the worse…. Nervous as the cat she is that we had brought another beloved pet into her domain to stay.  She watched with scary eyes, rarely taking her eyes off of the puppy.

 

My sister in law Connie was over.  Connie loves to decorate too.  We went through fabric books searching for a nice piece to go on Jamie’s salvaged chair.

  I was looking on my computer trying to find a “before” picture of this chair (with no luck).  It was one of those great finds that you are SO excited about…a chair abandoned by someone moving from an apartment and having no interest in a piece of furniture with SO much character!  What is wrong with these people? It was a dull, scratched white with no seat or back, just sitting by the dumpster.  Jamie looked at me in disbelief when I stopped my SUV, opened the back door and quickly threw our great salvaged piece in the back. She is in training, don’t you know?

Here it is painted and sanded with a bottom but still in need of a back and FABRIC!

 

 

Below are a couple of her favorites.  She has darling vintage turquoise chairs in her living room, so this piece with the blue would be so cute. 

 

But isn’t this a black and white fabric worthy of strong consideration?  We got busy doing other things and she still hasn’t given me her final decision.

 

On to another project.  I have a pair of wingbacks that are probably 22 years old.  When they left my living room I just couldn’t part with them because I loved the legs.  The structure is still solid but the fabric certainly needs changing.  I have a new place where they the chairs can reside ~~ in the downstairs family room.  It will be fun to have them reupholstered.

 

 

 

Here’s what I’m strongly considering.  Doesn’t it tie in with the other patterns and elements in the room?

While I had my strong son in law home along with my strong husband, I had them move some other furniture around.  I am now sitting at my new to me desk and am in the midst of flip flopping our downstairs furniture upstairs.  Everything is a mess right now but hopefully I will have some finished results to share soon.

 

 

Lots of projects going on along with preparing silk plants for my spring show.  Life is busy but life is good!

I hope you are feeling the same way.

 

Until next time……