Showing posts with label Thanksgiving decor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thanksgiving decor. Show all posts

Sunday, November 1, 2020

Thankful for our Small Home!


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Thankful for our small home!


As we age, we are in our 70's now, I'm really thankful for our smaller home. It's a bit short of 1400 square feet. We happily raised two boys here, I ran my business from here, and occasionally it felt small. With the large basement, someone could always escape. 


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This year, I am wondering if we will have a Thanksgiving. I skipped decorating for Halloween this year, but we put out candy for the Trick or Treaters. Since Fall is my favorite time of year, I decided to be thankful and decorate for Thanksgiving anyway.


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Hand-painted porcelain platter with pears/ and gold trim. Perfect for a Fall display. The transfer ware pitcher was my mom's favorite. 

Will we be gathered around the dining table or not? We will have to wait and see.

Thanksgiving has always meant FAMILY here, mixed with deer hunting (up North) and Football. Seriously, the small TV in my kitchen dining area, is there simply for Football on holidays. Less the sound, the boys can still see their games while we have a civilized meal.

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Normally, I plan on serving desserts, pies, punch, and beverages from this buffet in our living room. This year 

I've decorated with larger pieces. Because, I know there won't be the usual dessert bar here. At the most we will be 8, if we gather, buffet style and spread out about the house.

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I brought in a blooming Mandilla pot which was companion planted with a burgundy Sweet Potato Vine. The vine was frost nipped and has a bit of gold on its leaves now. I stuck a large rustic fruit/grape branch in the planter and set it in a large Aesthetic transfer ware bowl. We will see how long it lasts. 

I have lights behind, which casts a warm glow off the 1920's mirror from my grandmother's attic in the evenings or on cloudy days. 

Hubby bought the Pilgrims and the resin turkey a few years ago...perfect colors for our room and this holiday month. 
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The rest of the decor sits on a thrift store runner. Fresh Pumpkins and gourds and the Pilgrims 

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Here you can see the lights reflected in the mirror.

In the darkest corner, a piece of my mom's (broken)Staffordshire.  She would buy chipped or damaged pieces if she couldn't afford the perfect piece. 
I always smile at this, knowing it was bought with 'sugar bowl' money saved from being frugal. 

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Staffordshire with a faux leave arch.

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Most of our really good antiques are family heirlooms, like this brass plate with the noses rubbed off from polishing. This piece dates late 18th century.

Another treasure are family pieces of 
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P.Ibsens Enke, from Norrebo, Denmark from the beginning of the 20th century. The matte glaze was created in the early 1900's and used extensively by fine artists working in the Ibsen potteries. Even Georg Jensen designed and worked there. Enke stands for widow, Louise, wife of artist/designer Peder Ibsen. Louise and her son, Berthel continued the company until the 1950's after her husband's death in 1860. Yes, it is a very old company.

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As a potter/artist, I totally appreciate the design and especially the glazes on these stoneware pieces. And, they are treasured.

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Hope you enjoyed our little tour...
And, Stay safe!

Do you use treasured pieces for Thanksgiving?
PLEASE  STAY SAFE!

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Kitchen REDO Done:Dining Area

Have you ever had a paintbrush in your hand as company came up the walk? 

I almost did.

http://oldnewgreenredoblog.blogspot.com

First coat on Monday before Thanksgiving.

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The BEFORE picture.

Our OLD dining area was the last of our farmhouse kitchen to be finished... 
we impatiently waited for the NEW wallpaper to arrive.

 The cabinet REDO took two coats of satin enamel in off-white to match the IKEA kitchen cabinets.

I had hemmed and hawed about painting the blue cabinet, it had been blue for so long. 
This was a furniture rescue from a second hand store in 1980's. 
It had been a store fixture and in a fire.
 I dragged it home and hubby rebuilt and sanded it down (all the burned finish) 
and it fit perfectly in that corner. 
The bottom has tons of storage for craft supplies, candles, serving pieces and vases. 

http://oldnewgreenredoblog.blogspot.com
My inspiration is shown above. Note, I did get my wallpaper at Sherwin-Williams, basically the only place to buy wallpaper within 15 miles, here in Chicagoland. REALLY?
I just couldn't do it online because of matching colors. 

We chose the red wallpaper for the lower walls and the ticking stripe for the bits of walls not covered in cupboards. We only needed to order a double roll of each.
 The stripes also have a creamy background to warm up all the white ceiling. 

http://oldnewgreenredoblog.blogspot.com
 I think the creamy background sets off the porcelain blue/whites nicely. 
Wednesday night before Thanksgiving I put up my plates. 
 I had to pick and choose from my huge family stash.
 These OLD plates date from the 1940's to the 2000's.
 I still have MANY to find places to hang. 
I had them sprinkled all over the soffits in the OLD kitchen.

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These plates are the oldest of my grandmother's and great-grandmother's. 
They are a mixture of Royal Copenhagen and Bing & Grondahl Christmas plates-dating back to 1906. These are quite moody and simplistic in their design and portray the long Danish winters and the dreamy half-light a northern country is subject to during those months. Denmark, Land of the midnight sun, and endless night.

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Granny's bowls from this previous POST are now on top of the corner cabinet.
You can just see a glimpse of the lower walls with the red denim paper. When all the chairs are paint creamy white, I think it will show up more.

http://oldnewgreenredoblog.blogspot.com
It was terribly dreary day to get pictures, but I tried. 
I have to find some wonderful piece of vintage stitchery to put over that TV.  
I haven't put tons of stuff on the sidewalls by the cabinet. 
I'm trying to edit, but losing the soffits in the old kitchen 
has left me with totes brimming with plates, crocks, and tins.

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Its was was a different story when the NEW light was on in the cabinet. 

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We had one of the under cabinet lights left from the kitchen cabinets. 
This NEW stick light has a small switch and is LED. So far, it has been on all the time.
Love my hubby, he tubed all the cords, mounting them in the corner and they disappeared.

http://oldnewgreenredoblog.blogspot.com
My grandmother's OLD very OLD kitchen window sill people. 
I never asked her where they came from. 
They are all unmarked porcelain. 
My mom had them on her window sill for over 20 years.
 My sill is too narrow to house the, so they have been in the cabinet.
 The small people are a salt and pepper, the lady is a bell.
 Wooden shoes and pointed caps were also common in Denmark,
 though I think these are Dutch.

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I have used some OLD plates with more color. I think the cabinet will morph into being,
 and change seasonally. The OLD creamer and sugar are marked Japan, 1950's maybe.

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The turkeys kept sneaking in the pictures.
 Grandmother's coffeepot is filled with three generations of handmade wooden spoons. 
I have a few Spode plates in the cabinet, for the moment. 
The OLD vintage vase is signed Delft.

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 An OLD salt pot, and the top of my farmer's scale, is unmarked.
 I really do love the warmth of the stripes.

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The odd bit of wall by the pantry with the new wallpaper. It really sets off the NEW moldings.

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 Hubby put the stripes above the roaster shelves in the back hall.
 I really do need to REDO that wall.
The hole on the top shelf is because of the HUGE roaster is in the oven with the turkey.

http://oldnewgreenredoblog.blogspot.com
 So paint still curing, wallpaper still drying, family coming up the walk, taking the paintbrush out of my mouth, Turkey in the oven --and
we were ready, PHEW---for Thanksgiving.

I'm Thankful, we are done

with the Kitchen REDO remodeling project of 2016!


Thanks always for visiting. 
I will try and respond to every comment and answer every question.

All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions or posts. Please do not use photos without linking back to this blog without my permission. Thank you for your cooperation, Sandi Magle

I will be sharing at these fine Parties!






Sandi





Friday, November 13, 2015

Being Thankful for Sunshine and Turkeys!

I'm Thankful today and everyday...but today the sun is shining!

It's still trying to be Fall here in Chicagoland. Hard to think we will be sharing turkey and pumpkin pie in less than two weeks. We should be thankful for anything other than snow. Last year we had 10 inches on the ground this weekend. Many people did not get Christmas decorations and lights out last year because of the miserable November weather.

This year, most of the trees have emptied in Chicagoland with our continuous fierce winds and dry conditions. Our one maple has hung on and just this week began its Fall show, while the sister tree, branches to left in forefront is already empty.


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You can see the bushes are barely hanging onto any leaves at all. The forsythia and bridalwreath have still not turned and while everything else is empty. This entire year has been wierd, weather wise.


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I took these before 8am on Wednesday. The NEW chairs were my funky choice this year in bright lime green and the sun has already mellowed them. Love the matching one for the Grand.

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Hubby added a NEW resident turkey this year...and me a strange shadow....lol.

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Here I have clipped "mysterious" out of the picture. Turkey has a big pot of lemon grass and a real large pumpkin anchoring him down. The winds have been crazy this week. Power was out again last night.

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This is the front yard, despite three serious frosts, and my marigolds are blooming like crazy still. The NEW flower bed with perrenials around the tree is doing great. I planted 7 hostas and 4 coral bells and transplanted REDO a sedum and a large hosta. We will see how it looks in spring. Hubby totally did a REDO in composite (GREEN) of the front deck railings and stairway this year, I haven't taken complete pics yet, because he is still tweaking it. We are thankful it is almost done in time for Christmas.

For the inside, I'm thankful for these OLD antique images, which have been on my computer for a few years, I know they were free, but I have no idea where I got them from at this point, so simply enjoy! They are OLD postcards, at least 100 years old. It always amazes me how they can be so brilliant, still.

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I love this one...our house has been a gathering place for many the last few years. This year we will be only seven, which will be strange, no baking four to six pies this year, lol.

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This little pilgrim has such a sweet face. And the Turkey seems interested in the invitation to his demise, lol.



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I have done a REDO some of these images for cut-outs for the table. But, my last tote of Fall has been completely awol this year, I will probably find it for Easter.

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NOW that is PIE, as my family would say....Love the towel she has underneath implying it is hot, hot, hot!

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Another OLD image of a Pilgrim lady off to church. The small birds and pumpkins in the background. The cottages actually look pretty authentic to the sketches I have seen of OLD Plymouth. 

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This card is actually postmarked, LONDON, Ontario...1910...which is great. Love the golden wishbone. Now to the inside of the house.

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I have had to do a bit of decor tweaking after Halloween. Our house is small by today's standards, 1400 square feet. So, when the plants come in from the outside, it becomes smaller! Here is the REDO Christmas Topiary on the front table from an earlier post. Hopefully it will fill in for the holidays or I will be improvising. Hydrangeas in a silver tray, a velvet pumpkin and a mottled dried gourd from the garden share the tabletop.


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Two little owls, have already found some comfortable holes to reside in.


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Another new resident (My hubby has squirrel wars over the birdfeeders) so we have a taunting resident squirrel, who has moved in. He feasts from an OLD orange margarita glass filled with acorns the Grandbaby collected last year. Here, another plant has stolen the display area.

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He is quite smug and happy here, and can talk to his cousins through the front window.



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Last year the day before Thanksgiving, Hubby came home with these NEW pilgrims at 70% off and a huge resin turkey. The colors are perfect even though they don't fit under the china cabinet.


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The colors are beautiful, and of course they quite happy with my other decor. Huge dried squash from our GREEN garden, Indian corn in a pitcher and leaves. Sorry for the glare on the pumpkin plate, but this corner of the livingroom is simply too dark to attempt natural light pictures.




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I've kept the small arrangement and OLD silver tray. I may swap out the runner though.

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I still have my Fall Printout for the mirror up---a few GREEN baby butternuts from our fence have landed here. I will have to work on finding the apporpriate 'Be Thankful' to put on the mirror.

But, I  am very Thankful for our Sunshine and Turkeys and very THANKFUL for my readers. My blog is now registering followers after almost 5 months. So I'm up to seven, lol.  If you haven't followed, please click the blogger registery...so I have some idea. I know there are more of you...for sure...as my mailbox is full all the time. 

All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own,
 or I am in possesion of the originals, or are captioned as source unknown. 
I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions, posts or products used. 
Please do not use my own photos without linking back to this blog without my permission. 
Thank you for your cooperation, Sandi Magle


And THANKS always for stopping by, I will be partying at these fine blogs:




Sandi