Roses Are Red, Violets Are Blue....

....I've set the table,

Just for you!

I know it has room for improvement, but I used my new dishes for our belated Valentines dinner. I had to be at school with the bitty one for her Valentines party....

....which was immediately followed by Jeffrey's wrestling meet.

BTW, Hartland is undefeated 6-6 in wrestling and one of the teams to beat at state! Go Jeffrey!

Anyways, this is about a table, not more of my incessant bragging about my kids.

So....

Onto the table!

I dressed the table with an antique tablecloth I bought last summer for a whopping $7.50!

I know it would look alot better if I had ironed it. I was in a rush though and just ran out of time. I love the cutwork on this tablecloth.

Then of course....

.... the star of the table, my new dishes! I also drove myself crazy cause I wanted crackle glass goblets. Wouldn't you know I could not find any?! Not a single one! So I picked up these balloon glasses from Pier 1.

I am still on the hunt for the goblets though! I love the crackle glass and the view of the snow out the window.

For napkins, I used ones that I made. They are a brown ticking stripe.

Napkins are really easy to make. I won't even do a tutorial on them because Yvonne @ Stone Gable wrote an excellent one already. You can find it here. I put the napkins under the top plate like this.

I used my everyday silverware, but I do have my eye on a set from Horchows.

Of course you need candles cause it is Valentine's Day!

My wonderful sister bought these for me for a Christmas gift many years ago. I just love them! They are by Mikasa and have the tiniest hint of pale pink on the base.

Pale pink roses in a vase with some petals scattered around for a centerpiece. I picked the pale pink roses to go with the muted tones of the table. I love this vase. Everytime I look at it, it reminds me of how sweet my husband is. When we got our first house, we were at Pier 1 shopping for stuff. I saw this vase and really liked it. He wouldn't buy it cause he said he wasn't going to buy me just a vase. Argh, I was so upset at him. The next day he came home and sheepishly handed me the vase with a dozen roses in it. He is so thoughtful!

To add a pop of color....

.... a box of chocolates on each plate for my loves.

So there it is, my debut table with my new stuff! I still need to improve on my tablescaping skills a bit, but it's a start!

Menu

Beef Wellington

Roasted Red Potatoes

French Green Beans with Almond Slivers

Merlot wine

Hope you enjoyed my tablescape as much as I did putting it together!

Posted @ BNOTP's Tablescape Thursday

In My Next Life I Want To Be Yvonne!

Ok, so if you know me at all, you know that among others, I adore Yvonne @ Stone Gable. If you haven't stopped by Yvonne's blog you should! Not right yet though, I'm not done whining.... errrr.... talking.

You see she has this one set of dishes that everytime she uses them I drool....

.... I whine....

.... I cry....

.... I downright throw a tantrum worse than the bitty one!

I looked at my Home Goods. Don't you like how I refer to it as "my Home Goods" as if they specially put the store there just for me? Well anyways, I looked cause that is where Yvonne got them. They were ALL gone! Gone and no longer to return.

Except for in Yvonne's beautiful tablescapes. In case you are wondering I am talking about the bottom dish in the above picture that I stole without asking. Isn't her photography beautiful? Ugh, and you should see the fantabulous food she serves on them too.

Well.... no longer will I suffer from dish envy! It only took me 3 stores but I found 8 plates and 8 salad plates

Aren't they gorgeous?

I am planning their maiden voyage on a tablescape. Maybe they will make their debut on Valentines Day? I know it was well worth the wait.

Kinda made all the whining and crying worthwhile. Every time I look at them I think of Yvonne.

Ok, I am done talking now. You can mosey on over to Yvonne's to read all her drool worthy posts.

In the meantime.... I will be trying to find a way to con her out of those gorgeous leather chairs....

I Will Never Fear White Again!

Ok, I'll admit I am as much a drama queen as Scarlett, but this is how I feel about white.

I love white.

It's pure, clean, untouched and had no business in my house with my tribe.

Last year when I redid the bathroom, I bougtht white towels against my better judgement. In two months time they were ugly orange with tan stripes. Not really what I had in mind. I thought of dying everything in the house black. I even went as far as to take the whites up to the laundromat. Everything still was orange.

Now....

....life and my whites are much brighter. I know, I know, you have heard this all. I have got proof now though.

Look at those bad boys! That is only after 1 washing! The one on the left is before and the one on the right after. 3 cheers for iron out!

I no longer cringe when opening the dishwasher after running it. No gritty feel that you have to try to rinse off. No orange dishwasher. No orange dishes!

The one on the left is just out of the dishwasher. The one on the right is how they usually look. The glasses are clear and clean. No spots! Woo hoo lemon shine!

As for the crappy pics, I took them with my phone. It was before I got my new camera.

Now the the dishes are clean and the laundry done, I feel like sipping a mint julep on the porch pretending like I am at Tara.

I WILL NEVER BE ORANGE AGAIN!

From Blah....

..... to Taa Daa!

And.... at no cost!

One more thing off the list!

Posted at Cottage Instincts Make It 4 Monday

Woohoo! I finally made one!

Not the Sharpest Tool In the Shed!

So yesterday I took some time to do some thinking. It was pretty painless. I was surprised I didn't hurt myself actually. I needed a game plan for the girls room on how to proceed once it is crap free.

See these two pieces are going. I found them when I was cleaning under all the junk. Just kidding! But both the girls stuff don't fit in them. My much larger chest will hold their stuff and not take up as much room. You know the chest that is still in my room waiting to be swapped out with the one up north? Yeah that one.

I got these cleared off, cleaned up all the pencil drawings and weeded through the clothes. Think it is safe to say that the bitty one has outgrown the 12 mo outfits in there.

Yup, that would be the one. Don't blame me for that outfit, she dressed herself. You can see what I mean though. She is wearing an old dress that works as a shirt now.

Anyways, in my superwoman determined mode, I slapped them on Craigslist....

and sold them 2 hours later.

Now before you congratulate me, think about this. The dresser for this room is still in my room with Dad's clothes in it. Said dresser still needs to be painted also. The dresser to replace it is still up north with no hope of coming home in the next two weeks. So, the million dollar question is.....

Who's clothes get thrown in a laundry basket?

Mom's! It's all her damn fault anyways! I have no idea how I ended up getting the short end of this stick.

I can live with it though cause yesterday I had to do some thinking. I do my best thinking when I am sewing though. Don't ask why..... You can ask what I was sewing though. I'll let ya.

I did a little something for the windows in my room! See look up. I made pleated valances to match the bedskirt. I wanted to do this last month but didn't.

I do have a tutorial on how to do them coming up.

And as excited as I was about the butterfly project, I didn't do anything about it yet. I do have a frame that I am planning on using though. The glass broke so I need to replace that and have a mat cut. Then 70 butterflies....

Ramblings....

It doesn't feel like I got a whole lot done yesterday. I did get the floor in the girls room cleared off and cleaned. Thank goodness I got the green marker cleaned up before Dad saw it. His head might have spun around! I did find that the furniture is really 3" shorter than what it looks like. Why? Cause it was sitting on junk crammed under it!

Once I got all the clothes cleared off it, I remembered how cute this chair really is. Not bad for a 15.00 summer find right?!

I also moved around the furniture....

....only to decide to move it right back to where it was before.

The artwork did come down though. The bitty one had to stand there with her hands on her bips and lecture me on how hard she worked on it.

Yeah I know honey, get over it! Love Mom.

I wanted to thank Londen @ Sixty-fifth Avenue for visiting cause I now have another cute blog to drool over! Isn't that a pretty name Londen?! She did the absolutely cutest playroom with some Pottery Barn inspiration. She is so clever! I asked her if I could *ahem* "borrow" this idea cause I just absolutely loved it!

Isn't that sweet?! I just went nuts over this! She made it with scrapbook paper and a butterfly punch! Clever Londen! I thought about just doing pink butterflies in different paper. The more that I look at this though the more that I like the different colors. So now I am on the hunt for a frame and mat to copy this. Thank you so much Londen for the inspiration!

I just counted them and I got 70 butterflies to make!

I better get scooting....

I Made a Ding!

It is a small one, but I did it!

You can actually see the floor! Well some of the floor. In making my ding I found....

that the bitty one has not just limited her artwork....

....to just the walls!

Oi Vey!

I do have a funny true story for you though.

There was a man who played the bagpipes. He was asked by a funeral director to play at a homeless man's funeral. The ceremony was graveside at a pauper's cemetery. The director gave him directions to the service, but the man was unfamiliar with the backwoods of Kentucky and got lost. Being a man he didn't stop for directions.

An hour late, he finally arrived at his destination. No one was there except for 2 men digging. He got out of his car and walked to the men. He looked in the hole and saw they had already put the lid on the vault. The men were taking a lunch break so he asked if they minded if he played. The men told him "no" so he went to his car and got out his bagpipes.

The bagpiper played Amazing Grace like he had never played before over the open hole. When he was done, the bagpiper and the two men digging were in tears. The man thanked the two workers and walked to his car. On the way to his car, he heard one of the men comment.

"I have never seen anything like that before and I have been digging septic fields for 20 years!"

Have a great Wednesday!

And Now For February

So here it is the February room. I chose this room for the shortest month since it is farther along than the others.

The Dreaded Girls Room!

It's a small room only 9x15. Brianna and Syrina share this room for now, much to Brianna's dismay. Hurricane Syrina does go through here on a daily basis too. The first thing is some kind of additional organization for all her toys.

I also need to do some wall cleaning and possibly repainting since she has taken to drawing on her walls. This is her pic of something over her bed.

So her sister did not feel left out, she also got over her bed. She's so thoughtful!

I also need to do something with this area. That is the desk I gave a revamping to this summer. If you can see the bark chair buried under the mound of clothes that is the one I want to repaint. It may have to wait til summer though. I want to spray it with "Ballerina Pink" that Gina @ Shabby Chic Cottage loves so much. The room is painted SW Familiar Beige with white trim. The furniture is painted SW Reliable White. I plan on doing the cream and tan colors in here with small touches of soft pink. In the box is a new desk light that I got at the antique mall to replace the one in here. I also have an idea for Brianna's headboard. Not an original idea, just an idea. I also thought of putting her bed along this wall for more room. I have to think on that some more though.

I think this is going to go. I am thinking of putting some shelves up instead of this bookcase. Maybe around the desk?! My kids are garbage collectors. They love collecting junk.

The top of this has just turned into a catchall. It's Syrina's dresser and all her clothes do not fit in here. The cubby door is full of receiving blankets. I need to go through the clothes and get the ones that don't fit out. She LOVES piggy banks! I started her a collection of the. The white one with the flowers I got at a flea market last spring. I am thinking of taking this out and repainting the 2 nightstands from my room for in here. I could put all the girls socks and underwear in them next to their beds. Then condensing their clothes into one chest to save on room also.

This is Brianna's dresser that is too small for her clothes. When I swap out my chest I am going to repaint it and put it in here. It's big enough to hold both girls clothes. I also need to put that 500 lb rack that my Dad made for her Webkinz up too.

She also wants a place to put up more pics. Yeesh! If you could actually see the floor it is new also. We put the wood laminates down in here last winter. I think that I have a bit of trim to finish putting up in here though.

If anyone has any suggestions, please feel free to leave them. I can use all the help I can get in here. Thank you all for your sweet comments on my room! You guys just make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside!

I'll be in here if you need me....

What I Did With My January

Well, I am disappointed. The BIG REVEAL is really a BIG REVEAL. It seems like I didn't get that much done as I thought I would. I did learn a lesson though. I need to get off my lazy butt (contrary to what sweet Jacqueline thinks) and do more with my time!

I still have projects stacked up and waiting to be done for this room so look for a continuing saga.

Anyways, let's look at the little that I did get done. I did manage to get a really good cleaning done on the room. Some stuff that was hanging out in there found a new home.

The closet did get fixed and the hound now has a new bed.

The curtains did get pleated and the junk on the dresser did get pared down.

The stripes did get done (LOVE!), my nightstand got swapped, the sheets did get bought and a new blanket with the duvet at the end.

Oh yeah, the bed did get put together. I love my bed!

I still have a project with the windows to do, fluff up the bed, find a new nightstand for my husband's side of the bed, swap the chest, make a duvet and find a dresser....

....and move onto the next room! This one needs lots of organization help! Hurricane Syrina seems to hit this one on a daily basis.

Now to get my buttocks in gear.... I think I need some coffee!

While the Kiddo Is Away....

....the mom will go shopping!

So far I have not spent any money on this room. So I figured a shopping trip was in store.

And shop I did!

I got more hooks for the revamped panels on the windows. Boring! I also needed to get new sheets for the bed and some dressy stuff for it.

I was having a hard time with the bed. I love my comforter. My husband bought it for me when we went to Boyne Mountain a few years ago. It is really warm though. Our room is always about 380 degrees too. I didn't want to get rid of it though. This morning I was talking with him about it. He is like a furnace when he sleeps, so it is waaaay to warm for him. He suggested folding it at the end of the bed and just using a blanket over the sheet.

Hmmm.....

Sometimes he gets good ideas.

So I got new sheets....

350 count sateen sheets that are so incredibly soft! I love soft sheets. I almost had a panic attack when I realized that I forgot to check to see if the sheets were deep pocket ones. They fit though, so surprisingly no return trip to Marshall's was needed.

Now get ready to pull your shocked eyes out of your butt. I took my husband's advice!

This blanket is soooo super soft that I don't know if I will EVER get out of bed again! I want to make a pair of feety jammies out of it and never take them off. It was on sale at Marshall's too.

This is what I have so far on the bed. He also requiested more pillows. The way I had the bed before I had 8 pillows on it. Seems he likes that. So a duvet cover and more pillows are still on the list. I will save that for the BIG REVEAL DAY too.

I'm going to post the reveal on Monday morning though. Yeah I know. That way hopefully the chests will be swapped though.

Tata for now! Back to the sewing machine for me!

Posted at Faded Charm for White Wednesday