Showing posts with label Fourth of July. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Red, White & Blue Inspiration, Part 2

Hi, All! I love patriotic holidays and red, white & blue so much that I have tons of pictures to share, even after last week’s post (here). While last week was mostly about red, white & blue gardens and other great inspiration from our trip to Newport Beach, California, this post is more about home—our home specifically.

The table is set! Won’t you join me for a patriotic luncheon? I used my Ballard Designs Southern Living tiered basket (love, love, love it—it’s so versatile!) as the main attraction and to save room on the table by using it to hold the dishes, napkins, mugs, etc.

The flag is actually a scarf (coincidentally, a souvenir from our Newport Beach visit). The Warren Kimble Colonial sugar and creamer are ready for the coffee to accompany dessert, which includes fresh fruit: cherries in a pewter star dish (a GREAT gift from a friend many years ago), and strawberries in a blue-and-white bowl. The silver underplate for the strawberries complements the pewter star dish and adds a bit of “ummph” to the bowl, rather than setting it directly on the table.

As you know…no holiday decorating is complete at our house until the china cabinet is done! As you also know, I’m The Lazy Decorator, so a few touches of red added to the blue-and-white Spode Delamere, and voilà! A subtle “salute” to a patriotic holiday!

After our luncheon many of the pieces found a home in the china cabinet.

These flag stirrers were a great find (wish I remembered where!), as was the blue-and-white pitcher—DO remember where I found it—at a second-hand store!

Hardly is there a time when you don’t find blue hydrangeas somewhere in our home—and a great addition they are to our red, white and blue decor!

For some reason I feel like people are decorating earlier for the Fourth this year—have you noticed that? I don’t mean stores—they had Fourth of July merchandise out in March, I believe! Do you think it’s the earlier-and-earlier Christmas decorating habit that is spreading even to the Fourth? Will be, like the stores, be decorating for the Fourth in June? Or just carry it over from Memorial Day right into the Fourth?

Speaking of Memorial Day, I have one more picture to share with you! We were in Florida over Memorial Day weekend, and thinking ahead, I took the flag scarf, AND A SMALL FLAG, in order to observe that day while we were there~

Remembering those who serve and have served is important—even while on vacation. Thank you to all of them, and their families.

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Since I’m seeing more patriotic deco, I’m feeling pressure to get my decorations out. I also want to get my posts done, in the hopes that they’ll offer some ideas and inspiration to you. I get so many ideas and inspiration from you all, that it’s the least I can do! :) That’s what blog friends are for, right? Next week’s post will be the front porch, so stay tuned!

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From my nest to yours~

Zuni

Monday, June 23, 2014

Fourth of July Table

Are you ready for the Fourth? Doesn’t it seem like we’re still in early June? It does to me! And yet, the Fourth is only a little over a week away! I just hope we’re not careening into the holidays! (LOL).

Last week I shared my outside patriotic decorations with you (here). I hope my Fourth of July table will get your creativity flowing, so you can start planning for your own celebration.

Our screened porch is a favorite spot during the summer months, so of course it’s fun to change the decor often.

Let’s take a closer look:

I bought this geranium at a fund raiser the local firefighters hold every Mother’s Day. It is a perfect complement to a Fourth of July table. Although the plant had no marker, I named it “Brushstrokes” because of the gorgeous coloring.

The Mexican blue-rimmed glasses are from Pottery Barn (several years ago), and the blue goblets were an awesome auction find!

The twig chargers are from Grandin Road a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, I apparently got the last four, because they were unable to fill my order for eight. I keep checking back to see if they have them in stock again, but no luck so far. Attention, Grandin Road: You could sell a boatload of these chargers if you’d carry them again!

The wrought iron shelving is also decked out in red, white, and blue.

Another area of the screened porch has a collection of wood red, white, and blue lighthouses and other items,

and a touch of whimsy with a patriotic banner on a twig wreath.

This geranium is “Calliope”—it’s a gorgeous, velvety, deep red, also perfect for Fourth of July decorating.

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There you have it! I hope you have a chance to set a lovely, fun, red, white, and blue table for you and yours. Do you find that as you look through blogs you not only get ideas, but are reminded of things you have and could use for a tablescape or a vignette? That sure happens to me!

Happy Fourth of July to All!

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From my nest to yours~

Zuni

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Patriotic Outside Decorations

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the patriotic holidays~

MEMORIAL DAY

FLAG DAY

FOURTH OF JULY

VETERANS DAY

I get chills and my eyes often well up when I hear or sing our national anthem, especially “…gave proof through the night that our flag was still there…” Wow. What a sight it must have been, to see the beloved Stars and Stripes after a night of fierce battle in the War of 1812. Certainly powerful enough to have inspired 35-year-old Francis Scott Key, a lawyer and amateur poet, to write such an inspiring lyric!

As I started to write this post, Flag Day was waning. It was a glorious, perfect day here in central Ohio—the kind of day where the sky is that perfect shade of blue with big white poufy clouds that serves as the perfect backdrop to our beautiful flag.

Source: http://all-free-download.com/free-photos/american_flag_194592.html

As you might’ve noticed, I love to decorate with red—it’s such a versatile color! It works for Valentine’s Day, and for patriotic holidays, and for Christmas…just add accent colors and you’re on your way with seasonal colors! So every spring, as I buy our annuals, I buy a lot of red flowers, 1) because I LOVE red (did I already mention that?); 2) I LOVE hummingbirds, and they LOVE red; and 3) because I’m planning ahead to Flag Day and the Fourth of July—I know I’ll want to incorporate flags into the flowerpots and I’ll want the flowers to coordinate with the décor.

It’s so much fun for me to decorate our front porch and screened porch! I invite you to come on over and let’s take a walk around the house!

Our cottage is a light taupe with burgundy shutters and white trim, which is perfect for decorating—neutral enough, but with some color and contrast. Can you believe that, after all these years of decorating for patriotic holidays, I hadn’t noticed that the hand-painted slate heart I use so often has the same colors as the house? How’s that for a happy coincidence?!

I like things a little shabby and a little chic, so while we have well-painted trim and furniture, but we also have shabby and chippy, like the little red wicker table. It’s shabby and chippy, and not chic. And the flowerpot shows signs of years of wear, and in my book, that’s okay too. We wouldn’t want things to be too perfect and pristine around here!

The chippy table holds a lovely geranium I’ve named “Brushstrokes.” I was going to “erase” the lettering on the flag, but WAIT! It reads "MADE IN USA!!" Well, that needs to stay right where it is!! Surely American flags should not be made anywhere but in the USA! Unfortunately, some are made in other countries! There ought to be a law banning that!

Red, white and blue flowers by the front door, with flags, of course!

The vintage wicker table sports a {red} geranium {when it’s cooperating for a photo shoot}, and additional touches of RED, WHITE, and BLUE.

These hurricanes are pretty neat when the candles are lit, so they’re great to have out on the porch to light while enjoying the swing.

Now let’s walk around to the back~

One of my favorite garden items is this old, old, old twig chair…it has surely seen its better days, but I still like the texture it brings to the {garden} party, so I’ve kind of cobbled it together to extend its life for a year or two. I haven’t seen one like it to replace it…I’ll be sad when it’s time to say goodbye.

A few more pictures to share, then next week I’ll share a patriotic table and china cabinet.

Isn’t she oh, so beautiful?

Having fled to the USA from Cuba in search of freedom, on the Fourth of July {and every day, really} I’ll be thankful to have found freedom, thankful to those whose sacrifices granted and continue to grant us our freedom, and thankful for a country that welcomed our family and allowed us to work and re-establish ourselves.

Are there particular reasons why you celebrate the Fourth of July?

The best reason, of course, is because we are Americans, sons and daughters of this great land.

LONG MAY SHE WAVE!

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From my nest to yours~

Zuni

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

4th of July Table and More

The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays (along with Christmas and Easter). I have fond memories from when I was on the drill team in high school, and we marched in the Fourth of July parade. It was such a thrill to be there. The parade route went through a neighborhood that to my young eyes was fantastic, and I decided that was exactly where I wanted to live when I grew up—right on the parade route, so my family and I could step right out our front door the evening before and set our lawn chairs out to reserve our spots. I don’t know exactly when I realized that the reason the parade went down that street was because it’s a wide and busy road, and that the houses, though nice, aren’t really all that grand, but the memories of the patriotic music, all the flags, and the cool morning air when we got there early in the morning…I’ll never forget. Oh…and I forgot to mention another part of my young girl’s dream: we’d have a BIG barbeque in the backyard with LOTS of people in attendance, and all would be decorated in RED, WHITE, and BLUE. What fun!

Well…we don’t do the big, blow out party, but for all my adult years I’ve done some semblance of decorating and setting a patriotic table. In fact, in my 4th of July bins I still have pictures of a Country Living spread that I fell in love with, probably in the late 80s. My passion goes back a loooonnnnggg ways.

Now that blogging has entered my life—how FUN to get to share my tables with all of you! So here it is, my FIRST 4TH OF JULY TABLE FOR BLOGLAND! In anticipation, in our screened porch…

Let’s play Find the Differences! Here, I’d forgotten that I’d wanted to use my PB tall, red sherbets, which you’ll see in the pictures above. What a difference they made, yes?

My Longaberger bean pot was the perfect centerpiece. And the PB glasses, trimmed in blue, are perfect for the flag stirrers.

The candles in the PB tall sherbets are floating ones, but I was afraid to light them and have the heat break the fragile crystal, even with water in it. I love these stems, and they were a gift from my husband, so the risk wasn’t worth it (and PB doesn’t carry them anymore).

Even the log cabin is sporting a flag, and the whirligigs on the patio catch the light to bring some fun. Those will go home with the grandbabies for the parade.

The wrought iron shelf is now decked out in R,W,&B too.

A McCoy vase holds lavender sans water, so it’ll dry.

I bought this wood “box” to hold plates when I serve buffet style.

I love slate…this heart was a happy find in an auction box lot! Perfect for this girl. :) The beach towel? At the ready for heading to the pool.

Then evening came, and even I was surprised by these AWESOME candle holders! I’d gotten them at Kohl’s last year after the 4th, so I hadn’t seen them lit up. Oh.my.gosh…what FUN!!

The fireworks are doing double duty—they’re decorations now, until the big day arrives. And the glass gentleman?? Also an auction box lot; he’s George Washington, filled with red water.

Patriotic, chocolate-covered sunflower seeds.

And now for a few vignettes, inside and out~

Some of the elements of the screened porch table started out inside, as the centerpiece on the dining room table.

Because we have a storm door, regular wreaths don’t work, so I use a garland that can be pressed by the door and not damaged, then added the flags, which I had attached to twine with clothes pins for another project.

Every year when I buy our annuals I choose reds because they attract hummingbirds, and invariably, as the 4th draws near, I find myself buying blue ones too.

I wish you all a happy and SAFE 4th of July. Please take a moment to reflect on the freedoms of this great country, and the sacrifice of those who have served and currently serve to protect it and us~

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