Blue and White in the Old/New China Cabinet

I was ready to be done with the Valentine’s red in the china cabinet and go to the more serene and perennial favorite, BLUE AND WHITE.  I’ve also been ready—for a long, long, long time—to make a major change in our china cabinet.  I mean for YEARS.  So after having gone to the Pine Tree Barn for our Valentine dinner, and once again seeing a cabinet/hutch there that I love (see below), I decided that the time had come to take the plunge and give the china cabinet an ALLOVER MAKEOVER.

I’ve been in love with this piece since I saw it last Christmas season.  I love that it’s open, and I love the blue, distressed interior.  It seems like everything displayed in it just pops—even the reds and greens of Christmas.

Lo and behold, when we went to the Pine Tree Barn, the cabinet was still there.  The next day I said (in my sweetest voice), “Sweetheart, could you take a look at the china cabinet to see if we could remove the doors (and the stationary center panel)?”  And before I knew it, I had a new piece of furniture!  Really!  Take a look for yourself and see the incredible difference!  Why, oh why, didn’t I do this years ago like I’ve wanted to?!

So we went from this:

Beautiful, arched doors and stationary center panel, with lovely “domed” glass,

To this:

No doors, no arches, no domed glass.  Ahhhh….so much more open and “approachable.”  I had never been able to “make peace” with the stand-offish feeling of the glass, as if to warn, “LOOK BUT DON’T TOUCH; NOT TO BE USED!  ONLY FOR DISPLAY.” 

What do you think?  A new piece of furniture?  More approachable?

And to the BLUE AND WHITE ~

Like I said, I’m not ready for Easter…I need space/time between holidays.  I guess I could never work in retail.  The jumping into holidays weeks and months before the calendar says they’re here, and jumping from one holiday to the next would wreak havoc with my psyche!  I need a calendar, and I need breaks.

So I was anxious to bring out my BLUE AND WHITE Spode “The Blue Room Collection,” mixed with Bianca Leaf by American Pelier—a fabulous Home Goods find.

A very vintage mustard pot holds my “vintage” hydrangeas from last summer that I love to have out on display.  A bird’s nest brings a hint of spring without stripping my gears as the gray days of Ohio linger and the snow continues to fly.

Hydrangea blooms take the place of soon-to-come robin’s-egg blue eggs.

My beloved Nicodemus chubby robin, and others birdies, are harbingers of {wonderful} things to come—in a few months.

The Bombay Company candleholder (left) once again makes an appearance, along with mini cups (larger than a traditional demitasse), which are a new auction find.

This precious little teapot was a gift from my precious friend Cookie, and the bunny is another Nicodemus piece.  The hydrangeas are real, dried from my SIL’s father’s garden.

And this bunny…well, I guess we’re inching toward spring and Easter—putting a toe out there, in a subdued way, shall we say?  He’s of no particular pedigree—he’s completely unmarked, but I’d fallen in love with him at a local store, Harick’s, and after a particularly fruitful shopping spree there with our friends from out of town, the owner offered him to me for a steal.  I just couldn’t wait any longer to bring him out!

Pears, the color of the hydrangeas, also bring a touch of spring, in the Simplydesignz dish from our son and DIL.

So I need your help.  Now that I’m head over heels with my “new” china cabinet, I’m thinking about painting the inside.  But I’m soooo scared!!!  What do you think?  Yes???  No???

If yes, what color?  White?  Cream? Very light teal (my favorite color, but may be too limiting)?  Blue like Pine Tree Barn’s??

I can’t wait to hear from you and get help from all of you super-talented decorators out there!  :)

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Thanks for stopping by. I hope you’ll leave me a comment to let me know you were here—I love them and read every single one of them! And if you like what you see a lot, maybe you’d like to +1 this post or pin it on Pinterest too! Thank you! I invite you to follow me. If you’ll let me know that you’re following, I’ll be sure to follow you back. 

Here’s where I’m going to party this week:

Thursdays at Tabletop Thursday: http://betweennapsontheporch.net/

Thursdays at Home Sweet Home: http://thecharmofhome.blogspot.com/

Thursdays at No Minimalist Here: http://nominimalisthere.blogspot.com/

Transformation Thursdays at http://www.theshabbycreekcottage.com/

Be Inspired Friday at http://www.Commonground-do.com/

Fridays at Feathered Nest: http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/

Inspiration Friday at http://www.atthepicketfence.com

Sundays at The Tablescaper: http://thetablescaper.blogspot.com/

Mop it Up Monday at http://www.ishouldbemoppingthefloor.com

Metamorphosis Monday at http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

Tuesdays at http://www.astrollthrulife.net/

Wednesdays at Let’s Dish: http://www.cuisinekathleen.com/

Wednesdays at Wow Us: http://www.savvysouthernstyle.net/

From my nest to yours, ~Zuni

Taming the Monster in the Basement

The good news is we have a HUGE basement…the bad news is it’s a HUGE basement!  It’ll be eight years next month that we moved into our home, and it was only about six months ago that I decided made peace with the fact that we’re staying—at least for a while.  You see, we moved from the BIG house, thinking we were going to simplify our lives, only to realize, about two days after the move, that we NEEDED a big house.  Too much furniture, too many pretty things I (well, actually we, to some extent) didn’t want to part with.  So….thank heavens for a big basement!

When I finally decided to unpack EVERYTHING a few months ago (we’re staying, remember??), our basement looked like this:

Stuff everywhere, as I got my arms around the massive amount of stuff we had.  Yes, in the old house we DID use all these Christmas trees!  And the hammock…and the wrought iron plant stands…

Then, to make matters worse :) my brother and SIL introduced me to auctions…hmmm.  Just what I needed.  A NEW monster was created, and sometimes our basement looked like this:

Shelves organized, then new stuff would come in.  And the problem with auctions is that you sometimes end up with things you don’t want too.  It’s called box lots, where you bid on a box of stuff because of ONE thing you want, but you get the whole box full of other stuff you don’t want.  Do I need more snack sets (see the boxes stacked under the table?)?  Not.a.single.one.  My parents always had nice big parties—as in no paper plates, regardless of the number of guests—and the snack plates and punch cups were always put to use.  I think it’s a safe estimate to say that they had more than 100 of each, some of which I now have.  And then there are the linens…I can hardly pass up a fine piece of hand-embroidered linen.  See them stacked on the basket? :)

Oh, and did I mention punch bowls?  I have a “thing” about big bowls and punch bowls—maybe it’s my dreams of always having large family gatherings.

This one was an auction find that came with 36 punch cups.  Wait!  I just said I didn’t need more snack sets!  Ahhh, but I DID need THESE.  I really like this pattern!!, AND besides, this one came with the stand!  My identical punchbowl didn’t have a stand…I NEEDED it.  Oh, and did I say I got the whole thing for $3???!!!  Yes, THREE DOLLARS!!  How could I pass it up??  You understand, right?  (And to the right edge of the picture are other punch bowls, and upstairs on the buffet is our sterling one my MIL gave us years ago, which I’ve happily used often—you can see it HERE.)

To redeem myself now that I’ve shown you the bad and the ugly, while all that was going on, the shelves we bought when we first moved here WERE organized.  The problem was the ADDITIONAL stuff from the unpacking, coupled with the new auction stuff…

So we bought more shelves and made progress taming the monster:

But there was always more to go…

But now, I’m happy to report, THE MONSTER IS TAMED!

Yes…new dishes to be put away.  My SIL gave me the Pottery Barn plaid ones for Christmas.  Yippee!!  Lucky me!  I’m anxious to use them, so I’m thinking about how to use them for a non-Christmas table.  Any ideas?

The Christmas things were tamed, but now they’re in a different place, to allow more room for my “play room.”  (There’s still lots of room on the other side too, so the little chickadees are going to get a play room to ride their plasma riders down here too!)

The crystal was safely tucked away months ago when I unpacked.

And unused pieces of furniture were put to good use…

The forest was tamed and covered to keep the dust off.

But here is my FAVORITE fix!!  (I wish I could claim credit for the napkin solution, because it’s SO CLEVER, but no…I got it from Mary at Home is Where the Boat Is.  Isn’t it brilliant?)

  Shoe holders!  They’re the PERFECT solution for napkins.  I’ve had this ton of napkins in deep drawers in the buffet, in baskets, on shelves. None was the perfect solution, but I do believe this is going to be!  (I used kids’ shoe holders because they’re the perfect size for folded napkins.)  I’ve wanted to get a clothes hanger for the tablecloths for some time, and NOW was the time.  I have so many tablecloths that it’s always been impossible to store them in one place, and while these aren’t all of them, I was able to free up quite a bit of drawer and closet space by moving the good linen ones down and putting others here too.  I will check with Susan at My Place to Yours—she’s the expert on caring for fine vintage linens—on how to cover them.  I’m pretty sure she’s going to tell me to get rid of the dry cleaner bags.  (Susan, if you’re reading this, please advise!)

 

So here’s how this spot turned out.  I keep the seasonal placemats I’m using on a regular basis upstairs, but these were tying up valuable drawer space in the dresser under the shelf with stemware.  Now I have EMPTY DRAWERS!!  That means more room for more stuff! :)

So any other suggestions?  How do you store your vintage linens?  Oh, and don’t forget that I’d like some ideas on how to use my new plaid dishes NOW—I don’t want to wait till next Christmas!

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you’ll leave me a comment to let me know you were here—I read every single one of them! And if you like what you see a lot, maybe you’d like to +1 this post or pin it on Pinterest too! Thank you!

I invite you to follow me. If you’ll let me know that you’re following, I’ll be sure to follow you back.

Mop it Up Monday at http://www.ishouldbemoppingthefloor.com

Metamorphosis Monday at http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

Tuesdays at http://www.astrollthrulife.net/

Wednesdays at Let’s Dish: http://www.cuisinekathleen.com/

Wednesdays at Wow Us: http://www.savvysouthernstyle.net/

Share Your Cup Wednesday at http://jannolson.blogspot.com/

Thursdays at Tabletop Thursday: http://betweennapsontheporch.net/

Thursdays at Home Sweet Home: http://thecharmofhome.blogspot.com/

Transformation Thursdays at http://www.theshabbycreekcottage.com/

Fridays at Feathered Nest: http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/

Feathered Nest Friday at http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/

Home Sweet Home Fridays at http://thecharmofhome.blogspot.com/

Inspiration Friday at http://www.atthepicketfence.com

Sundays at The Tablescaper: http://thetablescaper.blogspot.com/

July Birthdays Birthday Party

My husband and I have five children (he, 2 boys and a girl, and I, 2 boys).  Three of the 4 boys have birthdays in July (one of his sons and my July son were born a week apart—same year—and my July son and his other son have birthdays 2 days apart—(did you follow all that?).  PLUS, two of our DILs have birthdays in July, and my husband’s birthday is in July!  Whew!!  It would be impossible to celebrate each one individually, so this is the party for the 4 who will be able to join the July Birthday Party!

First let me warn you, though.  The heat wave that’s hitting much of the country has not missed us in Ohio…so this was the fastest table and picture-taking session on record.  My husband wondered why I wouldn’t be doing it inside—well, we can’t have a BEACH birthday party inside!  To the screen porch I went!  I actually set most of the table the night before, and got up early the next morning to “beat the heat”… but the heat beat me!  I finished the table and took pictures so fast that if I didn’t use Picasa you’d think you were suffering from vertigo—quite a few were NOT straight.  It was truly a point-and-shoot day!  And you’ll notice not evening shots…Let’s just say the heat won.

But here we are—the table got done, the pictures were taken.   

Happy birthday to all my July sweeties!

Let’s start with dessert first, shall we?

With this heat we can’t have real ice cream, so how ‘bout ice cream cone candles?!

  I know, I know…we’re in Ohio.  But that won’t keep us from pretending we’re at the beach!  We’re BEACH people!  We have SAND from our favorite beach in Siesta Key, Florida, shells galore from there too, and . . . FLIP FLOPS!

I’ve had the flip flop plates for years and had planned to use them for this table, then I saw Mary’s Home is Where the Boat Is post with flip flops she made from Nutter Butter cookies….HAD.TO.HAVE.THEM on MY table!  No worries, I let her know I would be “stealing” her darling idea and giving full credit. 

Are these not the cutest things ever?! Mary made hers with icing, but I take shortcuts—it was 10:30 at night when my husband and I hit Kroger.  So I bought two tubes of gel icing, and I, too, had flip flop cookies!  I sprinkled them with nonpareils and added the little stars.

Served on my vintage Tiara tiered server.

  And how about a high-heel server?!  My husband bought that for me at an arts festival several years ago.

Pottery Barn shell pewter hors d’oeuvres picks, also from a number of years ago,

and Pottery Barn crabs—can’t be at the beach without them!  (They’re really place card holders.)

We also have our table-size sandbox—a darling gift from our son and DIL…perfect for Mom the beach lover!  At the top corner you see the “trunk” of the palm tree, and the starfish could go there instead.  It’s a Nora Fleming dish with interchangeable embellishments/add-ons.

Water!!  Lots of water!!

And now I have to tell you about my dishes…the serving tray--$26.86 originally—is a Zak Designs, and so are the teal plates and the glasses.  Got them all—and the pitcher—for $3.00 at a auction!  I didn’t even know what was in the box lot, but I saw teal, and that was good enough for me!  I couldn’t be more excited about them!  I’ve never had Melamine dishes before, but to settle my heart’s desire for teal dishes for this table, they are perfect!  Take a look at the “glasses”—they look like glass!  Boy, do I wish I could find glass ones just.like.these!!

Thank you for stopping by our July birthday party.  I hope your imagination got a good workout and that you enjoyed our beach in the screened porch!   What do you do when you have multiple birthdays in one month?  Are you able to celebrate them individually like I’d love to do?  And do you do beach themes even though you’re nowhere near the beach—just to bring it a little closer?

I’d love to hear from you to know you stopped by…and please tell me what you thought.  Love your visits/love your comments. 

I invite you to follow me.  If you do, please let me know and I’ll be sure to follow right back! 

I wish you happy beach days,if only in your dreams.  Here’s where I’ll be this week; I hope you’ll stop by and visit me and the great selection of posts you’ll find at these great parties!

Seasonal Sunday at http://thetablescaper.blogspot.com

Show Off Your Cottage Monday at http://houseinroses.blogspot.com

Mop it Up Monday at http://www.ishouldbemoppingthefloor.com

Masterpiece Monday at http://boogieboardcottage.blogspot.com/

Cozy Home Scenes Tuesdays at http://cozyhomescenes.blogspot.com/

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday at http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com

Tuesday’s Treasures http://www.myuncommonsliceofsuburbia.com/

Tabletop Tuesday at http://astrollthrulife.blogspot.com/

Cuisine Kathleen at http://www.cuisinekathleen.com/

Wow Us Wednesdays at http://savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com/

DIY by Design Party at http://diybydesign.blogspot.com/

What's It Wednesday at http://ivyandelephants.blogspot.com/

Thursdays at StoneGable http://www.stonegableblog.com/

Home and Garden Thursday at http://blissfulrhythm.blogspot.com/

Tablescape Thursday at betweennapsontheporch.net

Open House Party Thursday at http://nominimalisthere.blogspot.com

Share Your Cup Thursday at http://jannolson.blogspot.com/

Transformation Thursdays at http://www.theshabbycreekcottage.com/

Feathered Nest Friday at http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/

Home Sweet Home Fridays at http://thecharmofhome.blogspot.com/

Potpourri Friday at http://twenty-eight-0-five.blogspot.com/

Inspiration Friday at http://www.atthepicketfence.com

Thrifty Things Friday at http://thethriftygroove.blogspot.com/

Vintage Inspiration Friday at http://commonground-debrasvintagedesigns.blogspot.com/

Show and Tell Friday at http://romantichome.blogspot.com/

Fridays Unfolded at http://www.stuff-and-nonsense.net/

Saturday Nite Special at http://www.funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com/

From my nest to yours~

Zuni