A small Thanksgiving gathering

For the first time ever, my daughter is away for the holidays with no opportunity to make even a quick visit home. She will soon be finishing up her second six-month round of working at Walt Disney World in Orlando, but for now she is far away. I’m certainly looking forward to the day she comes home in January!

I’ve nonetheless set a very pretty table for a small Thanksgiving gathering, keeping it simple but celebrating the season with Fall colors and textures.

Thanksgiving table | Vintage Floral Cottage

Thanksgiving table | Vintage Floral Cottage

Thanksgiving table | Vintage Floral Cottage

For the place settings, I couldn’t decide between Johnson Brothers’ Windsor Fruit or Harvest Time – both are perfect for this time of year and with very similar coloring, so I used two of each, with pretty rattan chargers set beneath.

Thanksgiving table | Vintage Floral Cottage

Thanksgiving table | Vintage Floral Cottage

Thanksgiving table | Vintage Floral Cottage

I really liked working with the tablecloth in this setting – it is actually a single drapery panel, made of tan velvet. Hard to get a good picture of the texture, but maybe this shot of the Oneida Chandelier flatware gives a hint of it. It felt very sumptuous!

Thanksgiving table | Vintage Floral Cottage

Napkins are a hem-stitched style and are from Pier 1. I removed the Gerbera Daisy blooms from ready-made napkin rings and substituted silk sunflowers.

Thanksgiving table | Vintage Floral Cottage

The centerpiece is made of silk florals from Dollar Tree, real tiny pumpkins from my favorite city-fied pumpkin patch, and hand-cut wooden leaves.

Thanksgiving table | Vintage Floral Cottage

Thanksgiving table | Vintage Floral Cottage

 

Actually those wooden leaves are tied together with jute twine and raffia, and are a bit of handmade Fall decor that normally hangs on the door! I just re-purposed it for my table because it was just the right motif and gave a little bit of height without being overwhelming.

Thanksgiving table | Vintage Floral Cottage

Thanksgiving table | Vintage Floral Cottage

Drinkware consists of large green water goblets from Dollar Tree, plus smaller crystal pieces rimmed in gold found at the Goodwill. For this meal they aren’t for a beverage, though, they’re for a small serving of cut fruit!

Thanksgiving table | Vintage Floral Cottage

Thanksgiving table | Vintage Floral Cottage

Thanksgiving table | Vintage Floral Cottage

I just love all the texture around this table –

Thanksgiving table | Vintage Floral Cottage

Thanksgiving table | Vintage Floral Cottage

Thanksgiving table | Vintage Floral Cottage

Equally lovely Thanksgiving colors and textures when it is all gathered up and ready to be put away!

Thanksgiving table | Vintage Floral Cottage

 

Here is an image to Pin if you would like, for future ideas!

Small Thanksgiving Table | Vintage Floral Cottage

 

Wishing you and yours the most bountiful Thanksgiving!

 

 

Posted in Holidays, Tablescapes | Leave a comment

Upcycled chairs get a storybook look

I’m hosting a Christmas cookie party in early December, so I’ve been on the hunt for a couple extra dining chairs that I can pull in if needed for my guests. I scored four – one pair was free, and the other was $20, and all four needed a re-do. Easy enough, but I didn’t get to it quick enough – I only got two completed before spray painting season ended… but boy, are they cute!

The two that I completed are both nice vintage wooden chairs with cane seats in very good condition. They were painted gray when I got them – true to my style I didn’t take a “before” picture of the two of them together, but I did manage to get a shot of one chair in each color! I chose a pretty aqua for the re-do. (In case this is a crappy photo, the “before” is on the right.)

Storybook upcycled chairs | Vintage Floral Cottage

I used three cans of spray paint for the entire project – one for each chair and one for final touch-ups on both. Also, I discovered this handy device which turns your spray can into a spray GUN – I loved this thing and wish I’d discovered it years ago! It eliminated “finger fatigue,” kept the overspray mostly off my hands, and felt like it gave me more control over the heaviness of my paint… which is good because I am a HORRIBLE spray-painter .

Storybook upcycled chairs | Vintage Floral Cottage

Made sure to also do the underside – yes that is paint in my yard… it will “mow out” next Spring.

Storybook upcycled chairs | Vintage Floral Cottage

Next step with both chairs painted was to bring them inside and hand-paint the details across the top using my acrylic craft paints.

Storybook upcycled chairs | Vintage Floral Cottage

This looked so soft and pretty I almost left it like this:

Storybook upcycled chairs | Vintage Floral Cottage

But I decided in the end to go ahead with the dark antiquing wax that I was originally envisioning. It is a scary moment when you gob that stuff on and wonder whether you just completely ruined your project!

Storybook upcycled chairs | Vintage Floral Cottage

Gaaaa!!! But just trust… that if you rub enough of it off, you get something really special and pretty. Here it is half-done… this is the point where I knew I was going to really love it.

Storybook upcycled chairs | Vintage Floral Cottage

Storybook upcycled chairs | Vintage Floral Cottage

And here they are completed – looking like they just stepped out of a fairy tale!

Storybook upcycled chairs | Vintage Floral Cottage

I guess they are not *quite* actually done because I would like to put some seat cushions on them – but for now, I smile because they are placed on the opposite side of the table from where I usually sit, so I get to look at them every day.

Storybook chairs | Vintage Floral Cottage

Storybook chairs | Vintage Floral Cottage

Point being, dark wax is a scary thing but it certainly turned into a Happily Ever After for my storybook chairs!

 

Please join me at these awesome link parties for more ideas!

Inspire Me Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life
Flaunt It Friday at Chic on A Shoestring
Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage
DIY Salvaged Junk Party at Funky Junk Interiors

Here’s an image to Pin for this post if you would like!

Vintage dining room chairs get a storybook fairy tale look makeover. Chairs fit for a princess. #paintedchairs #paintedfurniture #upcycledfurniture  #princesschair #furnituremakeover

 

 

Posted in Decorating, DIY & Crafts | 2 Comments

Pretty-in-plaid tablescape for Fall

Hello friends! Well, I am convinced it’s finally Fall – yes, “Faded Summer” has come to an end – because our colors were beautiful at their peak and now we’re getting lots of cold, gray, and clouds. I hate to utter that dreaded four letter word, but snow cannot be far behind.

I’m working on ideas for several Fall tablescapes… I have so many elements for these, I guess I really love Fall decor and can’t resist it when I find it in the thrift stores.

Last year, before I was setting many tables, I found a set of four plaid salad plates with a fruit motif that looked so pretty next to some amber glassware that I had purchased the same day. I decided to set them together for the first of my Fall tables.

Pretty in Plaid Fall Table | Vintage Floral Cottage

Pretty in Plaid Fall Table | Vintage Floral Cottage

To ground the elements of this table I used a piece of unfinished yellow jacquard fabric.

Pretty in Plaid Fall Table | Vintage Floral Cottage

Each place setting starts with a simple ivory dinner plate rimmed in gold. These are marked “Franciscan Fine China” and “Made in California.” The dinner plate is topped with the plaid salad plate.

Pretty in Plaid Fall Table | Vintage Floral Cottage

Pretty in Plaid Fall Table | Vintage Floral Cottage

Pretty in Plaid Fall Table | Vintage Floral Cottage

Green and yellow napkins are from Pier 1; the floral napkin rings were a Fall clearance item last year.

Pretty in Plaid Fall Table | Vintage Floral Cottage

Pretty in Plaid Fall Table | Vintage Floral Cottage

Each place also includes a small ceramic “leaf” nut dish – these were a grocery store find last year.

Pretty in Plaid Fall Table | Vintage Floral Cottage

Pretty in Plaid Fall Table | Vintage Floral Cottage

Pretty in Plaid Fall Table | Vintage Floral Cottage

The Amber glassware works so well with the plaid plates.

Pretty in Plaid Fall Table | Vintage Floral Cottage

Pretty in Plaid Fall Table | Vintage Floral Cottage

The centerpiece is very simple and starts with my new Autumn friend, Dan Quail – a pretty planter in soft fall colors, holding a silk arrangement.

Pretty in Plaid Fall Table | Vintage Floral Cottage

I’ve included a couple of Dollar Tree ceramic pumpkins and my Pfaltzgraff salt and pepper shakers.

Pretty in Plaid Fall Table | Vintage Floral Cottage

Pretty in Plaid Fall Table | Vintage Floral Cottage

A few more views around the table –

Pretty in Plaid Fall Table | Vintage Floral Cottage

Pretty in Plaid Fall Table | Vintage Floral Cottage

Pretty in Plaid Fall Table | Vintage Floral Cottage

Pretty in Plaid Fall Table | Vintage Floral Cottage

Pretty in Plaid Fall Table | Vintage Floral Cottage

And one of my favorite things to do when photographing each table… the “put-away shot,” where everything is stacked and ready to be put away until next time!

Pretty in Plaid Fall Table | Vintage Floral Cottage

I’m sharing my Fall table over at Susan’s fabulous “pretty table link party,” Tablescape Thursday on her blog, Between Naps on the Porch,

Here’s a Pin-able image if you’d like to save this post for future ideas!

Plaid plates and amber glassware make a "Pretty in Plaid" tablescape for Fall at Vintage Floral Cottage! #thanksgivingtablesetting #thanksgivingtable #thanksgivingtablescape #tablescapeideas #tablescaping #tablescape #falltablescape #easyfallcenterpiece #fallcolorstablesetting #falltable #autumntable

Posted in Tablescapes | 4 Comments

Custom dish storage cabinet

I seem to be able to hand Greg any crazy idea I have in mind, and he has the ability to build it “on the fly” without plans yet somehow immediately getting my vision for what I’m needing to build. Case in point: my farmhouse step-back cabinet – a beautiful piece in and of itself which I use to showcase some of my favorite Limoges, bone china, and ironstone pieces.

Now this week, he just completed another of my “big ideas” – weeks in the making because it took me so long to find just the right core elements, but completed in an evening because he just seems to know his way around a carpentry project.

Custom dish storage | Vintage Floral Cottage

So the problem was, I needed storage space to house my growing collection of vintage dishes. My kitchen cupboards and the base cabinet of the hutch were full, plus I had some in the basement and some in my new curio cabinet and still more in my barrister bookcase. My solution/big idea was to find two gently used kitchen wall cabinets (because base cabinets would be too deep for the tiny room they were going into), and somehow join them together into one storage piece. Extra points if they were already white.

It took so long to find them, I started looking at other potential solutions: china cabinets, antique buffets, etc. But the china cabinets I was seeing just weren’t what I wanted, and the buffets all had too many drawers – I needed shelves!  Also, these types of pieces were out of my budget – I wanted to spend less than $100 on the whole project.

Finally after many weeks of looking, I stopped in for a second visit at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore in our area and – voila! – there they were!  Two matching kitchen uppers, 30 x 30 inches, two shelves each (plus the bottom shelf), already white, for $36 each. That is a $72 storage unit just waiting to happen!

Custom dish storage | Vintage Floral Cottage

Two matching kitchen uppers, in my living room. Temporarily.

Custom dish storage | Vintage Floral Cottage

Custom dish storage | Vintage Floral Cottage

I had literally all the other elements of this project on hand: all the scrap lumber Greg used to strengthen the tops and bottoms of each cabinet…

Custom dish storage | Vintage Floral Cottage

A lone piece of white laminate shelving that he cut to fit as a base to help join the pieces together, which gave it strength but also raised it up just a skosh so the doors don’t drag on the carpet…

Custom dish storage | Vintage Floral Cottage

The pretty rose-scented drawer liner that I cut for each of the shelves…

Custom dish storage | Vintage Floral Cottage

And even the two pieces of vintage carsiding that we used for the top.

Custom dish storage | Vintage Floral Cottage

Custom dish storage | Vintage Floral Cottage

Also on hand: two little silverfish who tried to hitch a ride from the garage into the house, so I sprayed all the vintage nail holes with Raid. Those damp spots are slowly drying out. Sorry bugs…

Well as you can guess, I have already lightened the load in my kitchen cabinets by moving lots of pieces into this new unit. I tried to leave a little room for expansion, but I’m afraid I’m just going to need another one of these real soon.

Custom dish storage | Vintage Floral Cottage

Custom dish storage | Vintage Floral Cottage

Custom dish storage | Vintage Floral Cottage

Custom dish storage | Vintage Floral Cottage

Custom dish storage | Vintage Floral Cottage

 

I’m sharing my custom cabinet over at FunkyJunkInteriors.net for the DIY Salvaged Junk Project party!

Posted in DIY & Crafts | 4 Comments

DIY bar cart from bookcase section

We’ve had a few successes with repurposing projects – cast-off items we purchased and then transformed into something different and useful. (Remember our Beachy Federalist coat rack?) By far our mutual favorite is what we simply call our DIY bar cart, which started life as one section of a barrister bookcase.

DIY bar cart from bookcase | Vintage Floral Cottage
We found the section at Goodwill – normally it would sit horizontally and be stacked on top of other identical sections – and quickly re-envisioned it as a bar cart. So we got to work designing, and came up with the general idea that it would sit vertically, with a hinged shelf that would pop up, and shelving inside for bar supplies, glassware, and liquor bottles.

Engineering these elements was interesting… Greg handled the problem-solving in this phase, based on my design.

DIY bar cart from bookcase | Vintage Floral Cottage

DIY bar cart from bookcase | Vintage Floral Cottage

DIY bar cart from bookcase | Vintage Floral Cottage

We also opted for caster wheels on the bottom, and envisioned a sort of industrial color scheme with a light green painted base and a faux copper spray-painted top.

DIY bar cart from bookcase | Vintage Floral Cottage

DIY bar cart from bookcase | Vintage Floral Cottage

We put the finished cabinet in one of our antique booths, and to our delight it sold within a week. After this project, we’re pretty well convinced that most any cabinet could be repurposed into a home bar!

Update: I’m sharing this project at Donna’s DIY Salvaged Junk Projects link party! Click through for great inspiration!

Posted in DIY & Crafts | Leave a comment