A little Spring decorating vignette

Is it Spring? Is it St. Patrick’s Day? Valentine’s Day? You guys, I don’t even know right now… I mean I know what the calendar says, but my brain is just so DONE with Winter. The other day I was trying to set a St. Patrick’s Day themed table with some Limoges dinner plates that I’m thinking of selling in advance of the holiday – here’s a sneak-peek, I can’t wait to show you the rest!

… but hard as I tried I could NOT stay focused. The whole thing kept over-stepping the intended holiday and venturing into a general Spring theme. Well you know me, I just rolled with it – and I love the finished table but it left me feeling just a bit guilty that I didn’t give poor old St. Pat his due. Maybe I will set him an Irish tea table just to make it up to him!

But I digress – already. Anyway, I went thrifting (of course!) this weekend and a stop at my favorite consignment shop proved very fruitful indeed because the very first thing in the door that caught my attention was this gorgeous silk floral arrangement – which immediately hopped into my cart and insisted on coming home with me at full price. The audacity!

Spring fling floral arrangement

Ok, all is forgiven, it’s just so cheerful and Spring-like – I immediately set to work changing up the vignette on the blue washstand so it would be the first thing you see as you walk in my door, too!

Spring fling floral arrangement

I styled it with a few other thrifted items, including this pretty “Paris” clock –

Thrifted Paris clock

A sweet little silver tray holding seasonal antique postcards – can we please bring back the habit of sending these beautiful vintage cards to each other as correspondence? Who wants a pen-pal?

Antique postcards and calling cards

A tiny butterfly print –

Spring butterfly print

… and my also-thrifted-this-weekend magazine rack, holding a collection of recent and specifically “Splendid Spring” back issues of Victoria – the magazine that doubles as a decorating accessory!

Spring magazine rack

Funny aside about the magazine rack… when I first picked it up, I couldn’t figure out what it was for. It appeared to be two metal lyre-shaped andirons (for a fireplace), welded together for some unknown reason. I quickly surmised I could figure out a way to turn it into a gilded magazine rack, and for less than $10 I of course snapped it up.

70s magazine rack

Later, I was doing a bit of research into the piece and quickly learned via Google Lens that it is, in actuality, a magazine rack from the 1970’s. I admit I was a bit disappointed to think that I was not, in fact, cleverly re-purposing something, but I was definitely amused to realize that my instincts for its use were on target!

I picked up several other wonderful things this past weekend which of course I’ll be sharing – along with my St. Patrick’s Day/Spring Tablescape – in future posts! Have you found anything amazing while thrifting lately?

Spring fling on the washstand
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Peacock-themed tablescape with dinnerware from 222-Fifth

Friends, it’s here! The Eight Hundredth (800th!!) week of Tablescape Thursday over at Susan’s amazing blog, Between Naps on the Porch. You have no idea how much I have loved this weekly feature of hers – going on now for more than 15 years! I first discovered it with the 100th installment, in 2010. She doesn’t know it, but with that post Susan was literally responsible for me discovering the art and fun of tablescaping. I had been collecting random dishes for a period of time, and enjoyed mixing and matching pieces, but it wasn’t until I started visiting Tablescape Thursday week after week that I finally understood how you could express so much creativity through table settings! This has lead me to a much larger collection of dinnerware and tablescaping accoutrements than I ever imagined myself having, to the creation of the Facebook group I started called Thrifty Tablescapers that now has almost 7,000 members (and accompanying Instagram account), and of course to my own full-blown obsession with the art and fun of setting pretty tables! I specifically set out to create an elegant but fun and colorful table to share for the 800th installment of my all-time favorite blog link party – and to do that I started with a set of dishes that I appreciate so much because of where they came from. Read on, but please do hop over to the 800th Tablescape Thursday for so much more tablescaping inspiration!

I have a really sweet friend (we were college roommates!) who knows how much I love tablescaping. She also knows I love peacocks especially in art, and that I have a large peacock tattoo. So one day she was thrifting, and she found the most amazing set of dishes – dinner and salad plates in this gorgeous peacock pattern by 222-Fifth.

Peacock dishes by 222 Fifth

Did she call me to come and get them? No! Ask the manager to set them aside for me? Again, no!

Instead, she bought them and gave them to me for Christmas!

Originally I was going to try to do an over-the-top, gold sequined spectacular theme for this table, but the more I played around with these beautiful plates the more I just gravitated toward something a little more refined, a little toned down. So let’s take a tour around my brushed gold, elegant peacock table!

Peacock and gold tablescape

The tablecloth was a challenge – I wanted to use the gorgeous textured runner (a charity shop find) with all that incredible fringe – but I felt like even the runner needed “grounding.” I tested a few candidates, and settled on my thrifted gold damask cloth. Appropriately wintery, because weather-wise we were in the deep-freeze at this point.

Peacock and gold tablescape

The place settings featured the dinner plate – I will have to do another table featuring the salad plates at another time – set upon a brushed gold charger. These were from Dollar Tree. For the salad plates I used a simple white plate with gold rim, also thrifted. I off-set these to the right so guests would immediately see more of the peacock design on the dinner plates.

Peacock and gold tablescape
Peacock and gold tablescape

Napkins had to be the aqua beauties I had recently found at my local Stuff, Etc. consignment store, and the thrifted napkin rings were jeweled and beaded in shiny brown, amber, and gold tones.

Peacock and gold tablescape
Peacock and gold tablescape

Flatware is my heirloom “Flair” by 1847 Rogers Brothers, handed down from my grandmother. And glassware is the stunning “Bahia” tumbler by Rocco. These are pure artistry to me and were a steal at Goodwill several years ago at $2.99 each!

Peacock and gold tablescape
Peacock and gold tablescape

For the centerpiece, I rounded up a few items from my peacock collection to carry through on the theme. The candleabra is a recent Goodwill find.

Peacock and gold tablescape

The metal peacock was a gift from my daughter, and the little sparkly brooch was a gift from the same friend who gave me the dinnerware!

Peacock and gold tablescape
Peacock and gold tablescape

The next piece may seem out of sorts – it’s just a ceramic head, after all. But hear me out! When I worked at a small antique mall several years ago, one of the vendors was a man who was trying to sell some of the smaller pieces from his deceased mother’s collection of highly artistic home decor. She had wonderful taste, though not really in keeping with the vintage vibe of the little mall. Her son had put several pieces from her peacock collection in the booth, including this one. I couldn’t afford anything else in the booth, but I wanted to support this particular customer so I bought this lovely piece even though it appeared to be the lid off something else. I had it for a few years before I finally figured out that it is indeed the lid from a trinket box in the Edie Rose Peacock Collection by Rachel Bilson.

Peacock tablescape with 222 Fifth

Here is the salt and pepper set for the table – vintage, from a large collection of S&P sets that Greg and I bought to re-sell. I kept this one pair.

Peacock tablescape with 222 Fifth
Peacock tablescape with 222 Fifth

Here are a few more views around the table.

Peacock tablescape with 222 Fifth
Peacock tablescape with 222 Fifth
Peacock tablescape with 222 Fifth

Here’s the birdseye view:

Peacock tablescape with 222 Fifth

And a few shots using the magic of candlelight – I just always oooh-and-ahhh over the soft shimmer that candlelight bestows on a dinner table!

Peacock tablescape with 222 Fifth
Peacock tablescape with 222 Fifth
Peacock tablescape with 222 Fifth
Peacock tablescape with 222 Fifth

And a final view from one of my favorite angles:

Peacock tablescape with 222 Fifth

And here is the put-away shot, with everything gathered up and looking beautiful before it goes back into the cupboards:

Peacock tablescape with 222 Fifth

Finally, here’s a Pinnable image in case you’d like to save the Peacock Table for future ideas!

Thanks for looking, and don’t forget to visit Tablescape Thursday for more inspiration!

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Four small decorating projects that made a BIG difference!

I’ve been binge-watching decorating videos on YouTube, particularly a gal named Sherri whose channel is called Canterbury Cottage. In a video I watched recently, she gave examples of some things around her home that she did not like and then explained something small, decorative, or DIY-ish that she did to improve the spaces with minimal expense. All of this had the effect of really changing her perspective on these areas. And because I didn’t want to just be a slug who lays on the couch and thinks about making tiny improvements around my space, I picked out a few things in my own home that I wasn’t crazy about and completed four small decorating projects that made a BIG difference! Here they are:

Replaced an old clock insert with a new one. I recently purchased this amazing mantle clock at a local antique mall, for fifty percent off the asking price. The body of it may be a vintage Linden clock, but the mechanism was a modern-ish insert that was battery operated. It also didn’t fit that center hole very well and was glued in. It did work after adding a fresh battery, but I wasn’t crazy about how un-attractive and ill-fitting the mechanism was.

Blue and white mantle clock

I ordered a new mechanism for about $9 from Amazon (here is the one I orderedthis is an affiliate link, which means if you buy this item via my link you pay nothing extra but I earn a small commission to help off-set blog hosting fees. Thank you!) and to my delight it fit snugly into the opening due to a rubber gasket that helped account for irregularities in the shape of the hole.

Blue and white mantle clock

I liked the clock before, but now I think it’s just stunning! And goes so well with my small collection of blue and white figurines!

Blue and white mantle clock


Added and styled a shelf under a framed picture. I love this picture and its vintage wooden frame, but it looked small and lonesome on the wall next to the hallway.

Framed cottage picture

I knew it needed a an appropriately cottagey shelf underneath it, and over the weekend I found the perfect chunky yellow piece – for $1.50 at a local charity shop!

Framed cottage picture

SO much better, styled with a cranberry vase and “French girl” figurine filled with faux greenery!

Framed cottage picture
Framed cottage picture

The shelf was the only new expense on this project – everything else was already in my stash. I think it looks SO charming!

Framed cottage picture

Disguised an ugly door! I’ve been living with the awful 1970’s back door of my little mobile home for five years. I’ve tried a couple ways to hide it, especially in Winter when its nearly non-existant insulation wreaks havoc with my energy bill. To make it worse, the inserts in the windows are yellow plastic, which casts a hideous glow during the day time. This door is just awful, 24/7/365.

The ugly back door.

Well it finally – FINALLY! – occurred to me that I had everything already in my stash to actually do something to hide (if not insulate) this door. All it took was a spare sheer, a spare drapery panel that matches the living room (I knew I kept those for a reason!), and a thrifted tassle (which also matches the ones used in the living room). I even had the necessary curtain rods stashed in the closet!

The ugly back door.

Now I realize this isn’t perfect – my drapery-hanging job leaves a lot to be desired – but it is such an improvement over what it was just 30 minutes previously, that I don’t even care right now. And for ZERO new dollars!

Added lighting to cabinets and kitchen counter. For this final project, I added mood lighting to three areas: my hutch/step-back cabinet, my curio cabinet, and my kitchen counter. In the kitchen, I pulled this small lamp from storage and the shade from a Goodwill “to be donated” box (sorry, Goodwill shoppers!).

Kitchen counter lighting

Added a lightbulb already on hand and this unlit corner now looks cozy in the evening.

Kitchen counter lighting

I purchased a set of five small tap-lights (here’s the Amazon affiliate link for the ones I bought) and tried them in two places: first, I put one on the center shelf of my home-built hutch/step-back cabinet. Loved the look, so I tested them under the other two shelves but they didn’t have the same lovely effect in those spots. I’m not sure why – I’ve ordered another set so I can experiment a bit more.

Step-back cabinet lighting

These are stick-on, battery-operated lights. I really liked the look on this particular shelf:

Step-back cabinet lighting

Because I didn’t like the lights on the other two shelves of the hutch, I decided to try the remaining lights under the wooden shelves of my curio cabinet.

Curio cabinet unlit

Here’s the curio with all the shelves lit up. It sure lets me enjoy all the collected treasures!

Curio cabinet lighting

I need to re-locate the vintage wooden box, and hide the cables, in the corner at the foot of this cabinet but let’s stay focused on the lighting for now! 😀

I absolutely love the results of all these projects! I hope you will take a peek at Sherri’s channel if you get a chance – she’s also the absolute QUEEN of upcycling thrift store items on a small budget!

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Snowy Winter tablescape: embrace the chill

It’s been an unusually mild Winter here in Iowa this season (I’m not complaining – I’ll take it!) and we just had our first major snowfall this week. Don’t get me wrong – it’s beautiful, and I’m especially glad I work from home so I don’t have to drive in it.

Only about a third of what we ultimately got!

But Winter is not my favorite season, even though I do enjoy creating a Winter tablescape. While last week’s table was all about the cozy, this one embraces the chill with an icy, silver and white color scheme.

Snowy winter chill tablescape

I made a subtle change to this after I started taking pictures – so some of them will reflect that change while others won’t. You’ll see what it is, I’m sure. For how, here is our “Winter chill” plate stack:

Snowy winter chill tablescape

The salad plate is “Bellemeade” by Minton, made in England but sourced (where else) at my local Goodwill thrift store.

Snowy winter chill tablescape

The dinner plate – harder to see! – is vintage Anchor Hocking “Bubble” in icy blue. I remember this pattern from my grandmother’s home: she had just one plate, and she used it at every family dinner I can remember to serve the crescent rolls! To me it will always be “the roll plate,” and it’s so odd to think of it as an actual dinner plate! My set of 4 was also thrifted.

Snowy winter chill tablescape

Silver chargers are from Dollar Tree. The shimmery napkins are woven with silver and gold threads. Do you want to know a secret? I hate them! They snag easily and threads get pulled, creating puckers in the surface – especially if napkin rings are involved! And their polyester fabric is just too slippery to be useful as actual napkins. But they do contribute to the shimmery, icy look of a Winter tablescape, so I’ve allowed them to stay. I honestly feel the same way about the silver-threaded tablecloth. Great for looks, but icky to use!

Snowy winter chill tablescape

Glassware consists of the sparkly “Dublin” water glass on the left by Godinger (a recent Amazon purchase. You can find them herethis is my affiliate link, which means if you purchase from my link you pay nothing extra but I earn a small commission to help defray blog hosting fees. Thank you for supporting my blog!). It’s paired with a set of four wine glasses recently thrifted with a leaf and snowflake pattern. They are not marked, but are similar to some Libbey patterns I’ve seen.

Sparkly Winter chill tablescape
Sparkly Winter chill tablescape

Flatware is the gorgeous mid-century “Flair” by 1847 Rogers Brothers, which was handed down to me by my grandmother. Also a set we used at family dinners throughout my childhood!

Sparkly Winter chill tablescape
Sparkly Winter chill tablescape

Remember I mentioned something I altered after I started taking photos of my Winter tablescape? If you compare the above photo to the very first photo in this post, you’ll see it – I really felt that the two silvery candlesticks at either end of the centerpiece were missing something. I decided they needed something soft and snowy for texture. I added bits of polyfill for the little tealight bowls to sit on, both on the candlesticks and on the table itself. It really helped soften all those hard surfaces!

Silvery winter chill tablescape
Silvery winter chill tablescape

Here are a few more views around the table!

Silvery winter chill tablescape
Silvery winter chill tablescape
Silvery winter chill tablescape
Silvery winter chill tablescape

And of course a few candlelight shots!

Snowy winter chill table
Snowy winter chill table

And here is a Pinnable image in case you’d like to re-visit this post for future ideas!

Snowy Winter Chill tablescape

I’ll be sharing my snowy Winter Chill tablescape over at Susan’s blog Between Naps on the Porch. Be sure to click through for the 798th Tablescape Thursday!

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Another portrait project: ‘Two Little Sisters’ by Alice Kent Stoddard

I mentioned recently that I have been on the hunt for portrait paintings to include in my evolving decor, and that they are very rare in my neck of the woods so what I find are most often portrait art prints. In that regard, I have found some really lovely pictures including this favorite which has been waiting in the wings for quite some time to be displayed.

Two Little Sisters portrait

This is a print of “Two Little Sisters” by American painter Alice Kent Stoddard (1884-1976). I found it back in August 2023 at my favorite consignment store, where it was 80% off. I paid $6 for it. It was 26 x 30 inches, including the frame. I haven’t been able to find much information about it, but it is a similar style to other portraits by Ms. Stoddard completed around 1925-1930.

Two Little Sisters portrait

Generally speaking, to look more authentic as an old portrait, it needed to be hung without glass, without the matte, and in a more ornate frame. I also wanted it to look more like an original painting, but of course as a print it was two-dimensional on paper. I had seen a method for adding “oil painting texture” to an art print, and since the paper used for the print seemed to be of higher quality (i.e., not a glossy poster), I decided to try it.

I started by removing the print from the existing frame. It was solidly affixed to a piece of foam core so I kept that intact.

Two Little Sisters portrain

To create the texture, I used a paint brush to glob clear-drying white glue in “brush strokes” all over the picture, trying to go in directions that made sense for the different parts of the picture: short, wispy strokes for the girls’ hair, longer strokes for the dark parts of the background and their dresses, etc.

Two Little Sisters Portrait

Not gonna lie, this was scary! I wasn’t going for a light, even coat – I wanted raised texture, and I’m not a portraitist so what did I know about brushstrokes?! I certainly didn’t want to ruin this lovely print, because the odds of replacing it at such a bargain price were pretty much zero. (Although, you can find it online at Art.com, AllPosters.com, and other art print websites.)

Two Sisters Portrait
At this point I was definitely screaming “What have I done??” in my head…

I covered the whole picture, and when it was dry I felt that it had worked, but the effect was very subtle. So I went back over the whole picture again with more of the glue. After it dried again I was quite satisfied with the overall look – not entirely realistic, but it did provide texture which I felt was a better look than the flat paper print, especially since it would not be behind glass. It’s hard to capture the effect in a photo, but here are a few attempts.

Two Little Sisters Portrait

Two Little Sisters Portrait

Once I was happy with the texture, I cut away the excess print paper so I was left with a picture the size of the printed portrait itself: it was 22 x 24 inches.

Next step was to patiently hunt for a frame. I had nothing in my stash that would work – this is an odd size, so I knew it would take awhile. I have a beautiful large picture hanging in my hallway that had the perfect level of ornate detail – I held my portrait up to it to see how it would look if this were its frame, and I was thrilled with the look, but also a bit dismayed because the odds of finding this frame in this size were just not good.

Two Little Sisters Portrait


I looked often at thrift stores, flea markets, and consignment stores but after weeks of hunting I was getting discouraged. I did find an empty wood frame for $5 that was the right size but that didn’t have much detail – I bought it anyway and decided to use it, knowing I could always replace it later if I found something better. I immediately framed up my “Two Little Sisters,” and thought they looked adorable!

Two Little Sisters Portrait
Hung in the hallway with a so-so wood frame – at least it was less modern-looking and had more texture than the original.

But there is one more step that really helped me love it: I discovered a product called Rub ‘n Buff! It’s a gold-tinted paste that you apply to metal or wood to give the item gold highlights or even to change its color altogether. I bought a sample pack with three different gold tints, (Amazon affiliate link – if you purchase through my link you’ll pay nothing extra but I will earn a small commission to help offset blog hosting costs.)

Rub and Buff sample pack
Rub and Buff on the frame

I applied Rub and Buff all over the frame, and it really changed the look! This is what completed the project, for me and my “What’s in the Downton Attic”/Gilded Age heart – the gold just gives it a warm shimmer that I really love.

Two Little Sisters portrait

I previously had three small botanical prints in this spot, then three Christmas prints throughout December. For now I’ve returned two of the botanicals to flank the portrait, but this area definitely calls for something else now.

Once again, I am on the hunt!

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