Showing posts with label gourds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gourds. Show all posts

Monday, September 29, 2025

Deja Vous Fall

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Hi, All!

Vintage Fall and Naturals 

on the Front Porch

Good Morning, it's finally FALL!

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Slowly, I have been starting to do Fall as temperatures have finally tempered here in Chicagoland. Yesterday was spent in the garden, pulling up done plants, 
and trying to find our pumpkins and squashes. 
We had some great growth, but not lots of produce. 

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 I found this NEW great greenhouse garden frame for $4.00 at a craft store discount aisle,  I showed it in an early post here: Somethings Old….
 I thought this would be great for a REDO vignette for Fall, with the rich rust coloring on the metal.

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I wanted to use different things on our porch this time, 
I thought this would be a great addition for cool Fall nights, an OLD kerosene lantern.
Here is a closeup of my Grandfather's watchman's lantern cleaned up from an early post:

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I confess the garden-shed frame was tucked away behind the settee on the porch all summer. The porch has  new railings and stairs---with NEW 'out of stock' materials since May---holding up the whole show for almost six months--that's a YELP story for another day.

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Still not 100% done, the porch is ready to style a bit and use now.
 We bought the larger pumpkin at the local grocery store, as ours were too small. 
The gourds are from years past; dried and left natural grown in our own, GREEN, garden. 
 Every time I walk by, I fiddle with the gourds, and occasionally I find a walnut stored in there by one of our local squirrels.
Do they really think the corner of the stairs and my Fall vignette is a hiding place?

 I did spray the gourds with some Johnson's Wax-Pledge when they were fully dry to enhance the color and seal in the dustiness of the gourds.

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Here's our Zinnia's--oops we found out they were Sunflowers in July. I picked one of the dried blossoms and used it for the 'GREEN' element in the front.
Another sprig of smaller sunflowers was put in the back. 
Adding a few pinecones and that is pretty much it. 
I'm sure this will change when my Fall bins are delivered by hubby, from upstairs in the garage.

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The craft wood Scarecrow was from a painting project I taught at Michael's back in the 1990's. I taught free-hand painting without patterns---back then, which was out of the norm. 
Somewhere I have a photo  of 14 of these all painted differently by the students.
This scarecrow is a favorite of the Grand Girl as the arms move up and down. He has long since lost his "Pumpkins for Sale" wired sign. My gosh, he is OLD and vintage now.

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A straw hay bale waits over in the corner with the houseplants, for a pumpkin or two or three--
they are really small!
The pensive angel tile was a NEW rescue from 'HomeGoods' two seasons back.

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The one plant that was very happy outside this summer was my Rosemary--I'm wondering where on earth I am going to keep it in the house this winter. It smells so good.

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Here's a  view of the entire seating area--with a lightweight throw REDO
 for those cool nights-perfect color for the porch from GoodWill-$2. 

I added smaller mums in the summer planter box.
 Grampa's OLD lantern and a stoneware candle pot from my potter days, probably from the 1980s, finish off the table top. A REDO antique crate serves as a table between the chairs. 


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So Finally---beginning Happy FALL

from my OLD front porch to yours.

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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 my photos without linking back to this blog without my permission. Thank you for your cooperation, Sandi Magle
And Always, Thanks for stopping by, 

Sandi



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

Wednesday, November 6, 2024

Fall Kitchen Tour!!

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It's Still Fall in our HOME!

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We didn't decorate much for Halloween this year. I started Fall in early October because of having surgery in the middle of the month. I didn't want to have a huge change to make.

I pulled this thrifted tray out to set this vignette on my counter. Basically all I use this counter for is to unload the dishwasher. I'm blessed with tons of counter space and a large island where all the prep and cooking goes on.
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I'm still dealing with plants that haven't found their homes yet from outside. The long enameled pot is a French Fish Poacher. The pumpkins and gourds are a mixture of Faux and real, can you tell which is which...lol.  A blue jar filled with dried Dill and a stack of heavy stoneware plates,  and a Fall towel hide the empty banana rack. Gourds dried or Faux.

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Our everyday dishes are in this cabinet. I still have to rearrange the top shelf when I am comfortable on a ladder. And I have to wait until Hubby is home.

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The cabinet is a bit messy, but this is what works for us. This photo tells me this cabinet needs some attention. Many of the dishes are thrifted and I see my Tulip plates (center back) are still up from Spring. Hmmmm? 
Normally I add a few color pieces for seasons...I still haven't found my Fall ceramics tote???

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Our little white buffet is covered in a thrift store woven tablecloth. It has a 70" round  Hearth and Home tag, and still had folds in it from the original packaging. A steal at $2.00. I gravitate towards plaids for the Fall and winter holidays.

The long squash is one of 6 we grew, very delicious---was some sort of Illinois variety that my friend gave me seeds for. 

The white pot holds a lemon grass plant from outside. We will see if it sprouts again or not. It was so dry outside for 8weeks and now we have had 3 days of rain.

This is quite a mess, as I have a large pot of Rosemary, a Hummingbird plant. 
On the far end is my curly willow plant from the pond. The frogs disappeared soon after I removed this, I think they liked hiding under there.

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Pigs and mushrooms and gourds, and even a gnome are here and there. Way too much, but it will change a lot as  I get more organinzed. These plants take up so much space and the kitchen has the best light.

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Curly willow, an Oxalis (left), a spider plant designated for my bedroom, soon. 

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Fall is sparse here, but i mixed our German flasks with a Danish brass (drinkers) plate (the noses are rubbed off from so much polishing), my Grandmother's Friar Tuck Cookie Jar, and one lonely pumpkin. LOL. A few bits of fall toned dishes and pots.

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Here's the main kitchen problem...Herbs and all my Mandilla plants that are still blooming like crazy.  I set up a temporary plant stand to give them all the light they demand.

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This kitchen window is a southern exposure and gets the best light in the home for plants.

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With the rain the third day...I actually turned on the lights above the windows. They are woven in a Eucalyptus vine and I haven't needed to use it. But, with daylights savings done and the rain, it's been so dark in the afternoon the warm lights are welcoming.
My dining table has a Walmart plastic table cloth on right now..I have lots of messy projects to do...and this is perfect for right now. 75% off, so $2.00, and I love that their seasonal cloths are wide enough for my large table. 

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Our large Enamel platter holds one of our garden pumpkins and some squash the rest is Faux. I elevated the pumpkin on a bean pot.

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The other side has faux cabbage, a real pinecone, and faux Tomato, mixed with gourds, real dried and faux
On the back end is my favorite Fall candle.

WELL, that is unplanned Fall in our home...a bit of this and that from one tub of Fall stuff. It's taken me 6 weeks to get this far...I can't even imagine doing Christmas.
I'm not sure we are even doing Thanksgiving.

Do You Use Real or Faux
 Decor in your Home?

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All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, unless otherwise designated. I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions, posts or any products shown or anywhere I shop.


Thanks ALWAYS for visiting!

I will try and respond to every comment and answer every question. Please don't use my photos without my permission.
 Sandi Magle

OldNewGreenRedo

Sunday, September 22, 2024

A Glimpse of Fall in our Kitchen

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It's been hard to think Fall when your temps are in the high 80's and 90's for the last 6 weeks here in Chicagoland. Actually it has been HOT since the second week in June. 

 I think we had 3 days of 70's last month and no rain for weeks. Today it finally rained. I put a few dried Hydrangeas in my transferware. I may still switch this out when I find my brown cottage pieces.

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Right now this container is an old porcelain tea canister I found last summer. It has transfers on all four sides...and in my favorite blue and white.  

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I have a few old this and that Fall items,  and this may change later.

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This was my cookbook counter in 2022, I try to  coordinate tablecloth in soft fall tones. 

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Then the Rex begonia I thought was dead from being chewed on,--but revived when I brought it inside. Bugs and critters have been voracious this year. The one this year is recovering also from being chewed on.

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I  love to add something natural, and here are some gourds and mini pumpkins. I only have three pumpkins this year. They just couldn't get going in the heat. Illinois is one of the top producers of pumpkins...I wonder how the crops are this year.

I have a few thrift store Halloween things that will go out soon, not before October 1, though. We have some large Skellies for the yard, which will be fun.

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The Mandillas were very happy this summer with the heat, I have 5 to bring in this year. This one is on the end of the cabinet and still in full bloom---and twining away...and a Happiness is Homemade sign. 

Honestly the seasons "HALLOWTHANKMAS"
are so rushed in the stores now...it's crazy. Life flies by and the stores are already loading up for Christmas. UGH!

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We have many a gathering here with family all year. We are having Thanksgiving this year, but not much else.

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I love Sunflowers...and pulled out a faux bush, now that they are done in the yard. The real ones are left for the birds, upside down Goldfinches are the most fun to watch.

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Normally if I serve buffet style off the island. I can't remember what it was like when this kitchen didn't have the island. It functions so well...and this little end I always have something Happy going on! 

Right now it is 'Harvest' for sure. Antique pickling crock, enamel coffee pot, grandmother's crocks a few gourds and peppers for color.

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The sink is seldom empty, and here is the basil I need to process for the refrigerator and freezer. I need to buy garlic, olive oil and pine nuts to make pesto, this afternoon.
I still have to dry a huge crop of Sage and Majoram. Also, need to dry the Thyme and Parsley plants.

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The busiest place in the kitchen is our coffee station....pumpkin spice is always nice!


Staples, actually some need filling...I don't have a walk-in pantry like some bloggers, but this works for all those essentials.

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The workaholic in the kitchen the toaster/convection oven. Use this constantly for two people...it's perfect. Plus throws off less heat in the summer. Now we turn the stove oven on for dinner and taking the chill off.

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I'm going to refresh this shelf this week, maybe with some pops of orange and yellow, or I might bring out some transferware. Depends on how much energy I have.

Almost everything is inherited or thrifted in our home.
 I love the hunt and let's face it, old stuff was made to last!

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Last bit of clean counter---more staples...in our family antique blue jars. My mom-in-law's Kitchen Aide. Love it, except it is so HEAVY! My old mixer went to my kids.

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Since my kitchen was clean enough to share and
now I'll go mess it up and making PESTO!

If You enjoyed this post please FOLLOW IT in the upper right hand corner, to get just one email of each AD-Free post.

All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, unless otherwise designated. I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions, posts or any products shown or anywhere I shop.


Thanks ALWAYS for visiting!

I will try and respond to every comment and answer every question.
Thank you for your cooperation,

I will post at the following Link Parties, I hope you visit them.


 Sandi Magle


OldNewGreenRedo





Thursday, November 3, 2016

Late Fall in the Upper Midwest

Part of living in the upper Midwest is to complain about the weather. We had a horrid cold/wet Spring, a late beginning to a brutally hot Summer, but Fall has been slow, lingering, and beautiful. This week we have had above normal temperatures in Chicagoland.

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Trees and leaves have been slow to turn. Flowers are still blooming.

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I moved the Lemon Grass pots to the front of the garage from the backyard which is now in perpetual shade because  of the angle of the sun. They provide texture and are turning yellow. 

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A fishing creel with artificial greens is in the wreath made from our own grapevine.
 A pumpkin and a few mums add color.
Our flowers in the planter boiled (literally) this Summer.

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Everything is scraggly, but still trying to bloom. My OLD chairs are greatly in need of a REDO. Maybe next year.

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After this picture, I turned the pond off because I can't keep up with the leaves.

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The kids here, are patiently waiting for fish to bite. The real frogs left about three weeks ago when we had a frosty nip.

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The last of the flowering pots. I'm not deadheading blooms anymore, I leave the rest for the birds. I have picked many heads of flowers for seeds, a GREEN thing I do for starting next years plants. T
The Zinnias and Marigolds were crazy gorgeous this year.

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I put pumpkins in the middle of the planters to fill in the empty spots and added a few small mums

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Even the Dahlias are blooming and it is November 3? 

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These Dahlias grew over four feet tall, I'm going to try and bush them more next year. 

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The porch is always covered in leaves. I added a few mums, some outdoor pillows I found in a thrift shop an OLD wire basket, I filled with gourds, leaves, and artificial hydrangeas and berries.


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The real rubber plant went to my son's yesterday, otherwise it has been happy on the porch. The Rosemary is about ready to come in, next cold spell.

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A squirrel has resided in the arrangement, maybe he will keep the real ones from rooting around in there. The basket is sitting on a twig wreath.



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The dried gourds came from our garden. I just set three in the middle of the basket. 
They can be reused each year for a GREEN redo.
I try and decorate with what I have, I confess I have hordes of artificial flowers and grasses.
 So I seldom have to buy a thing. This Fall I did buy one sunflower bush because, I haven't found my totes of Fall items, YET? They might be barricaded in the the storage rooms downstairs, we still aren't totally moved in upstairs, yet. 


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Squirrel was a Christmas ornament last Winter from Walmart that sheltered in the china cabinet.

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This porch faces South so it's quite warm and cozy in the Fall. The REDO Ivy tree topiary has really filled out this year, you can see how to make your own, HERE. 
I'm looking forward to decorating it for the holidays, it's so thick and bushy.


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The sun is so low we have shadows all day long now.

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The throw was a thrift store find. I love the colors and it's very soft. I don't mind it getting wet or dusty out there when it was so inexpensive.


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While taking photos, I couldn't help but pick a few flowers and leaves and stick them in a vase for the kitchen table, and it's a perfect Fall day to enjoy with a cup of Chai. 

Happy Fall, I wonder how long it will last?

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