Home and Gardening With Liz: January 2018

January 30, 2018

Up North Rustic Romantic Dining (T)

As Valentine's Day is drawing near romantic tablescapes come to mind. I created a rustic romantic tablescape using my green lantern, antlers and pine cones.

I chose mirrors to create the feeling of cool icy water and reflection...

Pine cone salt and pepper shakers just seemed fitting. Found them at T.J.Maxx long ago.

Sorry for the background editing...I'm prepped for Valentine's Day on the plate rack but didn't want it to show yet)

A full bodied bottle of wine to compliment the short ribs dinner recipe I found

at Williams Sonoma "here".

This tablescape was inspired in part because of the new dish I bought with the deer and the wood candle holder. I imagined using these in the rustic green lantern (that I've used before as shown "here"). Using sprigs from a faux pine branch and natural acorn pieces help naturalize the look.

These dishes by Park Designs were found locally and are perfect for a setting like this. The napkins came from the same store and are also by Park Designs- called Walk In The Woods). Though I've had the dishes a while they are still available- in fact there are other coordinating pieces now for it including one with a moose!

Napkin rings from Pier 1 (a year ago) help pinch the napkin together making it look a bit like a bow tie.

The green stemware from Pier 1 (from a while back) worked well for the theme and chosen wine.

Thank you for joining me for my Up North Rustic Romantic Dining!

I’m Joining the following blog parties:

Dishing It & Digging It

January 27, 2018

Shuffling Furniture-How I Do It

I was finding myself too cold this winter and decided the sofa had to come away from the wall which is by two windows.

This layout has worked quite well and I will likely go back to it when winter has passed. Several years ago I discovered these room planners that different furniture manufacturers and even places like Pottery Barn offer on their web site. So I took accurate measurements of the room size and place certain things like windows and the fireplace to help me lay things out. The two odd looking pieces on the lower part of the picture are representing the two wood tops that are part of the built in cabinets that you can only see from inside the living room and the straight white piece is supposed to represent the step down into the room. I only include them because they have opening doors and drawers so furniture can't be up next to them.

I reorganized it a bit to pull the sofa away from the wall but in doing so I had to shuffle a few pieces around. The room is large but the two wing back chairs are recliners and have to have a certain footprint given to them. This saves me from moving the real furniture around and a little less backache. I also measured each piece of furniture for width and length so they are as accurate as possible. I save each plan so I can come back to it and do any re-arranging that I want. I just save it as a new plan with a new date and it works great.

I moved the green striped chest to the corner on an angle so there would be room for the one recliner.

I got out y furniture pads and started the move. It wasn't terribly hard but my coffee and end tables are super heavy and cause me the most labor.

A couple of adjustments of the chair, sofa and recliner were made to fit in the best way and then I was done. Dan doesn't much care about watching tv (he reads and surfs the web on his iPad) so he gets the recliner on the left since the tv is not easy to view from there. All the rest of the furniture is comfortably set to be able to view it. I go between the white swivel rocker and the sofa. I avoid the recliner because I always fall asleep!

So here it is all put together.

A panoramic of the room. I can walk behind the sofa to access the windows when needed. One end table ended up by the window on the left side which is now holding my big Christmas Cactus. Dan enjoyed his new spot last night and I found the new setup to work great for me too!

It was a sun filled warm day and the early evening sky was beautiful. Snow has been melting like crazy and we're all happy about it up here! Reality is coming back though so next week it's back to the real grind of winter!

I’m joining the following blog parties:

Share Your Cup

January 24, 2018

Take A Walk On The Wilder Side (T)

Though it's winter and I'm far far away from places with leopards, zebras and elephants I decided it would be fun to step into that world for a bit.

My white elephant candle holder became the centerpiece today. Using snipped off flowers from last weeks bouquet I filled the bottom half of a crystal candy dish to top it off.

I wanted a powerful color to go with the animal print plates so the Pink Flamingo glasses were added. I really didn't imagine using these two patterns together but I do like it!

Did you know- Flamingos are found in various places including Africa. Here is a" link" about them.

The Mikasa dishes are called "Color Studio Animal Prints"

The bright green placemats (Bed Bath & Beyond several years ago) added a nice pop and I found some pink napkins in my stash to pump up the color!

I've always liked animal prints.

These dishes came as a boxed set of 4 (discontinued in 2013).

The flatware (called Baroque) came from Neiman Marcus a while back.

It's fun to think about being in a warmer climate and perhaps some wild adventure too! I always thought going on a safari would be fantastic! For now I'll just have to dream about it!

Take A Walk On The Wilder Side!

Joining:

Tablescape Thursday

Share Your Cup

January 20, 2018

Amaryllis and a Pedestal Rocker

Finally it’s blooming! I feel like singing the song from Neil Diamond "Hello" with part of the lyrics being- Hello, my friend hello...

Growing the amaryllis each year feels like an old friend...you can't wait to see them again.

I moved the planter over near the window daily to capture some sun. It was in the kitchen window but proved to be too cold so they needed a different location.

The contrast of pretty flowers growing indoors plays nicely against the winter white background.

Now what does an Amaryllis and a Pedestal Rocker have to do with each other?

NOTHING!

LOL

I do try to incorporate something to do with gardening on my blog frequently so that's all I have to say about that!

This is a very old Spindle Pedestal Rocker that my Mom and Dad salvaged after the war when they were getting their life going. My Dad worked briefly at a bus garage in Detroit and there was a pile of old leather that had been stripped from seats on the bus heading to the garbage bin so he grabbed some of it to use to reupholstered the rocker.

I won't kid you I have always thought it was a bit of an ugly duckling and not all that long ago claimed my dislike for it.

But..

I saw this picture on Facebook that I was admiring but my eyes stopped when I noticed the rocker.

Now this is a far more attractive version of a pedestal rocker but what intrigued me was seeing the pretty fabric and the nicely padded seat and back. I also learned a bit about these rockers and apparently this kind is a Hunzinger Platform Rocker. The flat spring mechanism in the center is how you can tell the brand. The one we have is likely an Eastlake.

I ran across several pictures while doing some research and this one was incredibly close to the one above. These types of platform rockers seem to be considered from the Victorian age and likely from the late 1800's to early 1900's.

I am guessing that our chair had the nail heads and that my Dad reused them like this chair shows.

I was looking for examples of similar chairs and to see if anyone else has upholstered them. Though this is a different style rocker and I wouldn't pick such a modern fabric I saved it for future ideas.

I won't ever paint it and I feel a tad bit sentimental knowing my Dad had reupholstered this, but I can't help wonder how it would look with a little updating and a softer look. I don't think anyone else wants it and as we draw near the end of life at home as we knew it I feel compelled to start thinking about things like this.

This is my Mom this past Christmas. I sent her that lantern and one of my sister's snapped a picture for me. She's 95 now and sleeps most of her days away.

Mom and Dad 1941

My Dad dressed for their wedding and a random picture of my Mom in Wilmington Delaware where she lived near the air force base where my Dad was stationed. They just got married and he was going to be drafted so he enlisted in the Air (Corps) Force. Once he went overseas she went back to Detroit to live with her parents until he returned.

So the chair has some history...do I spend money to update or not?

Joining the following blog parties:

Dishing It & Digging It

Metamorphosis Monday

Celerbrate Your Sory

Inspire Me spire Me Tuesday

Share Your Cup

January 18, 2018

Cheerful and Bright, Red and White (T)

Flowers and lots of color always makes me feel cheerful!

Though the sun is mostly hidden today it is very bright outside which is a good thing!

This table is about "color" which I am craving right now.

I went for a cohesive look of red, white and black.

I do love red- and so many colors can be mixed with it too!

I love this combination of whites and greens. I picked up the flowers from Costco. We just got one up here and I noticed they always have beautiful roses and mixed flowers bouquets so I know I'll be back for more.

Imagining a delicious morning breakfast with stacked blueberry pancakes or french toast, sausage or bacon, orange juice and coffee!

My favorite clear glasses called Trellis by Fitz and Floyd

Polka dots and checkered patterns...

Salad dishes by Ralph Lauren (called Spectator, Paisley). The all creamy white dinner dish below accented with the black border was from Horchow a while back (CMG, Portugal is marked on the back). Flatware also came from Horchow several years ago but had no identifiable pattern name.

I even changed the plate rack out to add more color!

Since our world is rather white outside right now so I eagerly seek color!

The green dishes came from One King's Lane several years ago and the red polka dot patterned ones (222 Fifth, Home Cupboard) were ordered through Replacements, Ltd., a while back. I was thinking along the lines of Mary Engelbreit when I started focusing on the plate rack. It still needs something- perhaps yellow!