another ifi meta monday

ok I just got back from vacation and wanted to show a meta monday post. So because I am pressed for time the photos are small. The transformation is ifi because the after pics were done at night and the colors don't come out well so the after pics may look worse!! HA!! In the pic below the before look of this room has a rug that is too small for the space. So in the pic below I switched rugs from another room. It does look beter even if you can't tell!

Now in the next pic below the colors look crazy!! because I have taken the picture with night lighting--I GUESS! This is the after pic.

Below is the blue and white before--which I do love....but I felt like some bright reds.

Tablescape Thursday --NOT --JOKE

I am in a rush and it is tablescape Thursday-- It is Tablescape Thursday and since we are camping in the Mountains near a lake I give you our elaborate tablescape---it took a lot of work :_) I didn't use photobucket and forgot I had to load pictures backwords!!! So Here is a backwords look at my tablescape. For Dessert we have a game of Candy land---This was a blast--stopped at the peanut, gum drop, candy cane, ice cream, chocolate places---fun---a virtual dessert.!! Before the meal we worked up an appetite--Rhianwen excitedly climbed up to the loft. See her expression.

The view from the dining room--a lake, woods, ducks.

The elaborate tablewear----a sippy cup, big plastic bowl for the salad with a wonderful styrafoam cover!

VERy expensive top of the line silverware

ANd of course an enjoyment of the tablescape--the center piesce is the red salad bowl. And views of the other A-frame.

Notice Alden's decorative seat!! Oh and the water bottle--exquisite!

Ps. I had to sneak these in quickly!! So much to do here!!

Rhondi's Fall Party

Well, Rhondi is having a Fall party at Rose Colored Glasses and even though I am going to the Mountains I have to do something quickly!! So to celebrate fall I give you this!



In the picture above you see the large fall spider that has built a web across one of our back doors. I told everyone to use the other back door so we could watch this beauty. So for two days I loved checking on her. BUT ALAS WHAT HAPPENED? We had a new mail lady yesterday and I had a package from Amazon. The lady came to the door , rang the bell, and whipped open the door to leave the package!!! I ran down and GONE was our lady spider.....I don't know if the mail lady didn't see her or destroyed her!! Ah well...... below is a close up of the spider I found on flicker.

This is where I am headed to---Mt. Mitchell is the tallest mountain east of the Mississippi--which doesn't say much to those who live out west!!! HA.


This is what I will be doing to celebrate Fall this week!! Yeah, and YaY!!

Met Monday

This is for Metamorphisis Monday. I happened to find this tarnished silver bowl at Salvation Army this week for $4.50. I remember Bill from Affordable Accoutrements bragging about how Wright's Silver polish does such a smashing job. I rubbed it a bit with my finger and thought," hmmmm--I think it will work...I will buy it and try it! " This is what it looked like.




Below is how it looked after I polished it. The only black you see is the reflection of my black top I was wearing!



Below is the place where it shines to its hearts content. (lower left)

I like this picture below because it cought so many reflections! There was the reflection from the glass of the hutch and the reflection off of the silver and so forth--very cool to see what you can see in it all!

Tablescape # 4

It is tablescape Thursday --to see more go here to between naps on the porch.




We like to sit in front of these windows and watch the walkers pass by as we eat. We have these little lights up in the picture molding in the ceiling that give the room a nice atmosphere in the evening--the photo does not quite get it right! We eat in various places in the house, but in the summer this is one of our favorite places






My hubby purchased these mikasa plates at an antique store on a business trip to Atlanta. He has never done anything like this for me and I was flabbergasted! MORE dishes from my HUBBY--wow....and he went in an antique shop without me!! YIKES! I placed some petals from our carpet roses which have done wonderfully out doors (unfortunately so have the mosquitoes ---note: I try to fit mosquitoes in whenever I can, ha!))




I again used my favorite depression glasses of pink with green at the base



My hubby hadn't yet mixed his salmon and basil pesto.......it was delicious. HMMM-I notice he got the wrong plate for his bread!!!!!! AH WELL THIS IS REAL LIFE!! (Oh , and he is left handed so I get to reverse the way the setting goes for him, right? RIGHT.

Metamorphasis Monday

This is for Metamorphis Monday . You can go here to view others.




This is the before picture--(which you may have seen two weeks ago) of a nook we use for occasional eating.





I decided (for now anyways) that I wanted my blue and white cups on the teacup shelf. Then that led to moving the regular teacups to the mantle area, changing out the pictures, tablecloth, etc. One thing led to another! See below










I like the regular teacups (above) on the mantel area because I seem to notice them more (probably just because I moved them!....and the hummels always make me smile. This all led to a chain reaction--I ended up moving furniture in the sunroom which ajoins this area and moving the other table that is in this dining area!!!! Of course my family is totally used to me moving stuff......sometimes they don't comment ....but usually I think they think it is fun?!

Marty's cloche party

On Friday, September 11 Marty at a Stroll Thru Life is having her cloche party . I am posting this early while I have the time! I didn't think I had anything that would classify the cloche category......But last week I was desperate to have live flowers that my cat would not eat (alas he eats every live plant that enters the home including corn husks, leaves from our sneakers, etc--you get the idea). He proceeds to barff , puke, whatever you want to call it. So I came up with this solution (after 15 years, mind you):







I get to see the real thing and enjoy my garden flowers--can only do miniture bouquets!! Some day I will think of a way of doing larger ones (any ideas, ya'll). I do take them out of the container when we sit down to eat.....but meanwhile I get to enjoy them here!!

Tablescape 3

It is tablescape Thursday at

Hey nobody mentioned I had the wrong link for a couple of days!! I had Metamorphis Monday on here instead of tablescape Thursday!!! ah well.

The air was fresh and slightly cool (low 80's serves as cool here in the South ;-) ) So we decided to open all of the windows and enjoy the wonderful evening. The sun was going down. We put on a Ladies Sing the Blues cd. We listened to the birds , the trickle of our fountain outside of the bay window area.


I love the light and shadows at this time of the evening (in the above photo) --something romantic and comforting about this time of the day! We also had our little glowy lights lit atop the room--always makes me think of fireflies or warm christmas like feelings.

We had some roses and marigolds from our garden

I love yellow and blue splashed together!!

Just a simple happy table

This is an old vase (above) from an estate sale I went to back in the 70's! I love this little thing.


We were surprised by a guest at this meal. We did open up the leaf that faces you in this picture. So with wine, candlelight, soft jazz, fountain and bird sounds we had a wonderful talk about Japan. This guest was born and raised there until the age of 14. He is now a college student here in the states (don't worry he is of drinking age, but chose water anyways!). It was a delightful time.

The moral of the story---quick tablescapes are better than no tablescapes any ole time of the day!

Ps. I will be using this for the tablescapes Thursday thingy later this week.

Transforming for Fall

This is for metamorphasis monday click the link above to see others. Also Before and After is doing a similar thing.


So fall is is NOT here....but the feel is in the air! These candles make me very happy with their orange glow (now, I almost said GLUE instead of GLOW because I couldn't get the sticky glue off of the bottoms---I ended up putting paper back on the sticky part) pahhh


Below is the room for the more summer feel. This is a bit serene...which I like--at one time I had a ton of dishes in the corner spot.....but I streamlined it.....perhaps it looks a bit empty with the big table...not sure......I just wanted to remove some of the clutter. Also the plates limited what colors I could use on the table.....hmmm decisons, decisions

However in looking at some tablescapes this week , I saw a table similar to this one without a table cloth and I wanted the look of the wood for fall (at least for today ;-) )

So I put a more fall colored picture behind the table and pulled out some fall stuff--but it wasn't balanced correctly on the table.

Notice the glare in the above picture---I can't remember if I used a flash , but must have.

This is with the candle light and I forgot to remove the lighter .hehehehhe


see the lighter is still there!

Ah well.....we have some pretty lights that run along the top of the wall in the picture molding---I didn't get that in the pics. This room still needs some work.....Maybe I should go for something simpler on the table---but I love colorful stuff (a warning) I have italian and oriental things---hmmm let us call it eclectic......It isn't quite right---any advice?

OK so I made some changes on the corner shelf area and table:

I removed some of the stuff on the table and added the white doiley (I know not everyone likes doilies, ah well. I like the contrast. I added some color to the shelves and put a few larger objects on the shelves and moved the tea set together)....