Friday, December 29, 2017

New Year's Eve Tablescape

We are ringing in the New Year a day or two early!
I actually had to look up if the term is Ringing in the New Year,
or Bringing in the New Year.
For future references - either one is correct!
We are doing it in style with lots of shiny gold this year!
What better than a gold paisley table cloth to set the tone.
 Stripes, stars and even plaids to add to the mix of patterns on this table.
I even got some polka dots on the champagne flutes in there!
I could not decide which coffee mug I liked better, so I mixed and matched the plaid and the houndstooth.
Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow;
The year is going, let him go;
ring out the false, ring in the true.
- an excerpt from an Alfred Loyd Tennyson poem

While this past year has had it's ups and downs, I choose to celebrate the ups!!
I hope that 2018 brings you many wonderful opportunities to enjoy the ups!

Thanks for stopping by,
Ann

Sources:
Tablecloth & napkin - Cynthia Rowley - Homegoods
Gold Chargers - I've had forever and don't know where they are from
Star dinner plates - Target about 15 years ago!
Gold striped salad plates - Luxe by Ciroa - Homegoods
 Coffee mugs -10 Strawberry St- Homegoods 
Stemware (both) - Marshalls, several years ago
Flatware - Value City many many years ago before they closed!
Striped votive candle holders  - Hobby Lobby

I am linking up at the following parties:
Tablescape Thursday @ Between Naps on the Porch
Foodie Friday and Everything Else @ Rattlebridge Farm


I read and enjoy all the comments anyone has taken the time to leave here.
All are very appreciated!


Thursday, December 14, 2017

Christmas Table Clad in Plaid

The Corner of Plaid and Paisley presents Christmas Clad in Plaid!
I mixed several different plaids on this Christmas Tablescape.
As in the title of my blog, I am a lover of all things plaid!
So I hope this is not a plaid overload for you.
Just in case it was, I built a virtual tree lot down the middle of the table to break some of it up!
A simple red package all tied up with a big plaid bow and a sprig of greenery tops each place setting.
I was pleasantly surprised when I found this ribbon in my stash of Christmas stuff from several years ago.  Thankfully I had enough to embellish all six packages!
With all the plaids I thought it was best too keep a few things simple, like the napkin rings and the wine glasses.
The placemats and napkins are Winter Tartan, Williamsburg pattern by Park Designs.
The greenery placemat, white chargers, plaid plates and mugs are all from Pier1.
I bought the chargers several years ago, but I am pretty sure they still have them.  The greenery placemats were purchased in the middle of the summer when they had a sale going on. I had received a gift card for my birthday and saved it for something special -  when I saw these plaid dishes, I knew it was time to use the gift card.
Since it just snowed several inches, we have a beautiful white blanket covering everything and it is really beginning to look a lot like Christmas.  
I hope your Christmas preparations are going well.
Thanks for stopping by!
 Ann

Sources:
Tartan plaid placemats and napkins - Swiss Country Lawn & Crafts, Sugarcreek, Ohio
Greenery placemat, white charger plaid plates and mugs - Pier1
Twig flatware - Homegoods
Green salad plates - Butterchurn Kitchenwares, Walnut Creek, Ohio
Resin wood trees - Cracker Barrel

I am linking up to the following parties:
Tablescape Thursday @ Between Naps on the Porch 
Foodie Friday and Everything Else @ Rattlebridge Farm
Feathered Nest Friday @ French Country Cottage
Metamorphosis Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch 
Inspire Me Tuesday @ A Stroll Thru Life
Celebrate Your Story @ Celebrate and Decorate
Reader Tip Tuesday @ Jodie Fitz

Wednesday, December 6, 2017

Peace Love and Gingerbread Tablescape

I decided to go a little whimsy and do a Peace Love & Gingerbread Tablescape for the Christmas Tablescape Blog Hop hosted by Chloe Crabtree.

Chloe, at Celebrate & Decorate, has put together another great hop this Christmas.
This one is specifically for Christmas Tablescapes.
There are 26 talented ladies participating in this hop, all of the links are at the end of my post.


We have been busy doing a lot of baking in the last few days, so I have cookies on the brain.
For some reason Peace Love and Gingerbread kept going through my mind, so I ran with it.
Those are some of the gingerbread men that we baked in the centerpiece, although, no longer edible since I glued them to a skewer I painted white!
I had fun with lots of candy cane stripes and I threw in a few polkadots for good measure.
These cute little gingerbread houses are ornaments, I can't take credit for making them!
I also didn't make the gingerbread men hugging my mugs!
But they are edible!!
My mantle is decked out with Gingerbread as well.  If you want to see more of the mantle go to my previous post- Christmas Home Tour.
So, Peace Love and Gingerbread to all of you!
Enjoy this holiday season by being kind to the person in front of you and behind you in line at the stores!!  I try to print out extra coupons, if I can (like Micheals, Joann Fabrics, Bath and Body Works Etc)  and hand them out in line.

You will find more wonderful Tablescapes at the following blogs:

Thursday, November 30, 2017

Christmas Home Tour and Hop

The halls are decked and
our home is ready for Christmas.
I am joining Chloe Crabtree and many other creative bloggers for Celebrate & Decorate's Holiday Home Tour blog hop.  There is a ton of inspiration here if you are looking for ideas to decorate your home for the holidays.  I will have all the links at the end of my post.
I am going to start in the kitchen for my little tour.
We have a very open floor plan, the only thing separating the kitchen/eating area from the living room is our two sided fireplace that stands in the middle of the room.
I used a lot of red accents in the kitchen.
I kept it pretty simple in the work areas of my kitchen.
Lots of greenery!
I used a gingerbread theme for the kitchen mantle,
and hung the majority of our stockings on the kitchen side of the fireplace.

We have a small flocked pencil tree in the kitchen/dining side done in simple red ornaments.
Our hutch kind of bridges the kitchen/dining area to the living area.
I have a few of my favorite Santas joining some Christmas plates in the hutch.
Now, we are heading into the living room where I decorated everything with more natural, earthy tones and items.
Lots of snowflakes since we live in northeast Ohio!
 The snowflakes inside the baskets were my favorite project this Christmas.  I have had these snowflakes for years and have used them many different ways, but this is my favorite yet.
And starring (get it!!) our newly painted fireplace!
You can read about our fireplace redo in my previous post.
 The Holy Family is taking center stage on our mantel.



Well, I hope you enjoyed the tour!
Just so you know, no animals were hurt during this decorating, but there are two dogs who are sick of listening to me sing Christmas music at the top of my lungs as I have been decorating!!
Have fun as you decorate your home for the Holidays.
I wish you a very festive Christmas!

The following blogs are participating in the Home Tour hop,
so please stop by and check out the other beautiful homes.

 Monday 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Ann

I have linked up to the following parties:
Tablescape Thursday @ Between Naps on the Porch
Foodie Friday @ Rattlebridge Farm


Monday, November 27, 2017

New Fireplace just in time for Christmas

I just could not decorate this "Brady Bunch" fireplace this Christmas!
So I decided to take this project on just after Thanksgiving.  
After all, I read in several blogs that it was no big deal.  One young lady said it took her just one afternoon to completely redo her fireplace!
Well, that wasn't the case here!!

If you have read about my kitchen remodel, you will know that we bought this ugly fixer upper last May.  We have been working on projects a little at a time for the last year and a half. This little, one afternoon, no brainer ended up being several days of work. It took me a while just to figure out how the ugly brass doors were attached and to remove that.  As I was laying on my back looking up into my chimney and my dog was trying to lick my face - I knew this was not going to be as easy as some made it out to be!!
The shelves above were not only screwed in but glued on as well.  Once I finally took my sledge hammer to them I was able to remove them.  Then there was a day of using adhesive remover to remove all the glue they used.
I filled the holes and some of the spots where the glue pulled off a bit of the brick.  After the first coat of primer I knew I was going to love it.  We are now on day 3!!  I painted over the primer with Valspar Stark White in an eggshell finish.
After the second coat of the white paint I was satisfied with the coverage, so my husband hung the new mantle piece.  We then worked on removing the candle wax on the hearth and painted that with 2 coats of primer.  While I was doing all this painting up stairs, my husband was down in the basement working on that ugly brass surround.  He took every piece apart and sprayed the parts separately with Rustoleum High Heat spray paint.  Good thing he took pictures of how it was put together before he disassembled it, because there were a lot more pieces to it then I would have thought!
So even though this took me several days of work, I think it was well worth it.  The 70's took this side of our two sided fireplace back and we are now ready to move into this holiday season with a much brighter, decorator friendly fireplace on the living room side.
You got a little sneak peak here of what I am using for my Christmas decorations for my mantle.  Come on back on Thursday and you will see, not only this side of the fireplace completed, but all decorated for Christmas!

I will be taking part in Chloe Crabtree's,  from Celebrate & Decorate,  Holiday Home Blog Hop.

Here is the line up:
Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Ann

Linking up at:
Amaze Me Monday @ Dwellings - The Heart of Your Home
Celebrate Your Story @ Celebrate & Decorate
Reader Tip Tuesday @ Jodie Fitz