Tablescape Times Three

http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com

Curried Fruit

2013-12-02T13:47:00.001-05:00

1/2 c. butter
1 c. light brown sugar
2 tsp. curry powder
canned fruit: halved pears, peaches, pineapple slices, maraschino cherries
fresh fruit (optional): prunes, plums, or apples

Drain and dry fruit as much as possible. Heat butter, sugar, and curry. Arrange fruit in baking dish and cover with butter mixture. Bake 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

Delicious!

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http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com

A Thanksgiving to Be Thankful For

2013-11-29T12:06:00.000-05:00

Our home has become the gathering place now every Thanksgiving - and we love it. I have to say, we were more ambitious than last year, but somehow, the prep work, cooking, and cleaning were much easier. When your helper actually lives in the same house, it makes for much more effective teamwork.

Being a "Southern" family, our traditional foods are things like turkey, ham, dressing/stuffing, sweet potato casserole, pistachio-gelatin salad (with marshmallows and pecans), roasted potatoes or mashed potatoes, copper carrots, green beans, etc. That being said, we did something a little different this year. I decided to change the recipes a little and then make some very traditional dishes that even predate the era of "company chicken" and the "Seven Layer Salad." Everyone who asked what they could bring was assigned a dessert except for my aunt. I asked her to find good (not soupy) Brunswick stew. And she delivered!

Green beans, creamed mushrooms with lemon and tarragon, Steve's maple amaretto agave carrots, and black-eyed peas

Brunswick stew, broccoli salad, curried fruit, and a ginger beer and lime gelatin fruit salad

Turkey, cured and baked hams, three sauces, and gravy

Steve's delicious lemon turkey

Green bean casserole - but made with all fresh ingredients - no cans were opened for this dish

Sweet potatoes in a shallot and white wine sauce with bacon and parsley

Traditional broccoli salad

From scratch cranberry sauce with not much sugar - red grapes add the sweetness

Four cheese mac-n-cheese, sharp cheddar, Gruyère, parmesan, and Fontina - with a hint of nutmeg

My favorite dish - cornbread dressing with sausage, apple, pear, raisins and walnuts. Holy cow, this was good!

Corn pudding

Desserts brought included a caramel cake, traditional pecan pie, brownies, and sugared cereal like White Trash, but with chocolate. YUMMY!

I went with a brown toile pattern last year, J & G Meakin's Americana:

So this year, seating 16 in the dining room, breakfast nook, and library, I went with Royal Stafford's black toile Blacksmith's Forge in the dining room and Churchill Blue Willow in the nook and library:

I used Mikasa Richelieu iced beverage glasses everywhere and all manner of sterling patterns, depending on purpose and location. Sir Christopher by Wallace framed the settings in the dining room and nook. Old Master by Towle complemented the lower key space of the library. Both were using for serving dishes, and they were augmented by pieces in Francis I by Reed & Barton, Apollo by Alvin, Old Atlanta by Wallace, and Imperial Queen by Whiting.

My breakfast today included a piece of the sausage-fruit dressing and curried fruit.

Will share recipes in subsequent posts! They are worth it! I lucked out with my choices, and even though it's only one day later, the leftovers are almost gone!

Andrea, Steve, and family

Sharing at:

http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com

Entertaining at Sans Souci Part 4: A New Living Room and Kitchen

2013-08-05T12:49:00.000-04:00

Greetings!

I hope you have been keeping up with the whirlwind of changes in the new house. To catch up on how we got to this point, you can read our welcome back post here, the library post here, the dining room post here, and the floor plans post here.

So far, our posts have been about a little construction and some shifting of the purpose of rooms downstairs.

Another major issue was some very loud décor. Here's the before:

Blood red formal living room

Aztec-y flamestitch striped kitchen

There is that lovely wallpaper again from the library post.

The foyer looks presentable from the first picture, but keep scrolling...

Wow, that's a lot of green!

On the plus side, it looked plenty scary with Halloween lights...

But this sort of racist? xenophobic? wallpaper...it's gotta go.

Sadly, this wallpaper goes with everything and was clearly super expensive. It's very rich and shimmers almost gold, but it's really just too, too much.

And it looks like all of these poor women tied in Rock, Paper, Scissors.

We call this our Rock, Rock, Rock wallpaper.

At this point, we have repainted the formal living, (now the den - see the dining room post), the library, (which was the old dining room), and the kitchen. It was a cheap and easy fix to update the house. We also made the back porch into a solarium/office. Because we are actually remodeling our Atlanta home right now, cheap and easy fixes in this house were important!

Transforming the formal living to a family den

Transforming the kitchen

Transforming the library from the old dining room

We tried to tie the blue from the kitchen into the library. It was hideous, so we painted over it.

The new office/solarium

We haven't yet tackled the foyer. We are thinking that we are actually going to have to re-wallpaper that space.

But for now, we are so happy with these changes. And we completed them all (including the library) in one month!

Andrea, Steve, and family

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http://thetablescaper.blogspot.com
http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/

Entertaining at Sans Souci Part 3: The Ground Floor Changes

2013-07-31T18:11:00.000-04:00

Greetings!

As promised, I have drawn up the plans for Sans Souci. You can read about all of the library and dining changes here and here.

Here is the before:

You can see how crowded that small dining room was. Also, I didn't have a lot of furniture starting out again, and most of these items were gifts or loans from my mom and dad. It wasn't really noticeable except for the formal living room. That space was sort of a waste, both in terms of furniture and in terms of functionality. There was no cable jack, and the electric piano didn't really go in there. However, the piano didn't really go in the solarium either. There is no climate control out there, and it's very hot and very cold at different times of the year.

Here is how we rearranged everything once Steve started building the library. We had the cable folks come and install a cable line in the formal living room. As for the library, the plans are actually to finish the room with shelves and replace the puzzle and homework table with a petite baby grand. One can dream! Here it is in its current state:

The only issue we have right now is overhead lighting in the new dining room. We have made the solarium into an office for Steve, but we keep a heater and a portable air conditioner in there for him. The formal living has become the family room, and the children hang out in there or in the library most of the afternoon unless they are playing outside.

The next post will be the very inexpensive updates to making the new family room along with the kitchen tolerable in terms of color and pattern. They were, um, sort of loud before. With a little help from some paint and our favorite stores TJ Maxx and Marshall's, we were able to update the spaces in time for our First Annual Croquet Tourney last October!

Also, I would just like to say that I made these floor plans in PowerPoint of all things. In the past, I have used Paint, and I actually do have AutoCAD, but I've never used it. Steve always does his plans in PowerPoint and they come out so nice, I thought I'd give it a whirl. After I finished, I saved the images as PNG files. I hope to give you more refined plans of the upcoming projects, but I just had to share this new-found use of an old stand-by.

Andrea, Steve, and family

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http://thetablescaper.blogspot.com
http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/

Entertaining at Sans Souci Part 2: A New Dining Room

2013-07-29T19:39:00.005-04:00

Today, we are moving on to the FABULOUS new dining room at Sans Souci. To catch up on how we got here, you can read our welcome back post here and the library post here. The library is in the place of the old dining room.

So, then the question became: where do we put all of the china? Here are the first ten or so boxes I unpacked in the old family room.

The house is symmetrical, with a formal living to the right of the front door, and a family room with library built-ins around the fireplace to the left of the front door. We had originally decided that the dining room would move forward into the formal living room when we took the dining space as the library. However, it occurred to us that 1) the family room is actually connected to the kitchen, 2) there are already a ton of built-ins, and 3) I had already unpacked china boxes in that room. You can see how the family room led to the breakfast area before the remodel of both rooms.

The built-ins were being emptied into the new library...

With a nice bottle of Educated Guess in the Lismore Waterford, already empty on the table in the foreground, the swapping of books for china began as the books found their way to the new library.

The sofa was moved out to the formal living room, and in goes the china cabinet and the dining table...even though the side table and lamp were still there.

The first night we were able to have dinner here was October 11. Scallops! Yum!

It was ready for the fall and our first Thanksgiving in the new house!

It's also seen an at-home winter wedding...

Birthdays, dinner guests, baby showers, and so much more. Father's Day was very special for this wonderful man who took on a handful of a wife and three children all at once!

Notice we took down the very expensive (but very dated) draperies in the before pictures. One bad thing about those: you couldn't actually open the shutters. We prefer this because of the natural light.

You can see the color of the curtains better in the formal living which has really become the family room. These curtains are also on the back French doors leading out to the solarium. The wall in the dining room is a different color than that in the the living room below. The living room and the library walls are the same color, and the curtains match the color of the paint inside the library bookshelves. We couldn't really change the wall color in the dining room (former family room) because all of the trim was stained. We decided it wasn't worth it at this time to move to anything darker than this creamy off-white shade that was on the walls when we got here.

One of the more fun things I have had here was a baby shower for a dear friend who once hosted us in Germany a few years ago on our travel adventures. We have known each other since third grade. Maybe earlier? We can't remember!

You may have seen her picture in an earlier Tablescape Times Three Blog. You will definitely see it on a post this fall on our sister blog, Here's What You Do (Travel) on a week-long do-it-yourself trip to Germany.

Next up will be how we updated the formal living into a great family space, transformed the kitchen with a fraction of the cost, and have created and re-created the solarium AND made a dog-heaven for our new puppies out back.

Andrea, Steve, and family

Sharing at:

http://smilingsally.blogspot.com/

http://www.hometalk.com/851282/a-new-library

Entertaining at Sans Souci Part 1: A New Library

2013-07-24T11:44:00.001-04:00

I moved to this wonderful home with the children in May 2012. When I met Steve, he suggested I give the house a name to symbolize what kind of home I wanted it to be. As a former French teacher, I chose Sans Souci, which roughly translates to, "no worries." But I think of it more as an expression of serenity and peace. So far, so good!

The original owners of the home had really high quality décor, though much of it had been put into the house in the late 1980's and 1990's. The house was a little dated!

While I was still reeling from all of the moves and the lack of my furniture, Steve began encouraging me to start making this home my own. We focused on two major issues. The first was the eternally small dining room. Why do big and little houses have small dining rooms? This one wasn't too bad at 13' x 13', but that size is still a crowded room for eight dinner guests. Inasmuch as this house has a living room and a den, we started thinking about using the den as the new dining room. Then what would we do with the old dining room?

The second issue was an even more important one to me. By making the den into the new dining, I would lose all of the library shelves for my treasured book collection. But Steve had a brilliant idea. He offered to build me a library in the place of the old dining room.

So he had a way to help me make the house into a dream house. When we began discussing getting married, his request was that I let him paint over the tragic walls. I was behind that 100%!

Dining Room Becomes Library

Our original painting idea didn't really work. Even layers of primer wouldn't cover those flowers.

We had to get the room to a presentable state when we had company for the weekend in the middle of renovation.

Steve starts the shelves!

We painted the bead board blue for contrast. We have curtains this color now in the living room and it ties the rooms together nicely.

Steve used rope lighting inside the shelves and above.

We were married in this room.

Our wedding rings included the name of the house.

Now, this room is for puzzles, games, piano, and homework. We also still use the table for overflow when we have large dinner parties.

We still aren't finished. Eventually, we will have another wall of shelves and a baby grand piano in the middle. Believe it or not, our books are still overflowing into many other rooms in the house.

Note the way we have the outlet in the center shelf for music.

Steve wrote the project up over at Hometalk.

I love this library! I am so grateful to have such a beautiful and special place for all of the books our family has collected over the years.

Stay tuned for Entertaining at Sans Souci Part 2: A New Dining Room!

Andrea, Steve, and family

Sharing at:

http://ivyandelephants.blogspot.com/

http://smilingsally.blogspot.com/

Where Tablescape Times Three Has Been

2013-07-22T11:24:00.001-04:00

Greetings, fellow tablescaping fans! We're back!

Where did the time go? Well, it's been nearly two years since our last post. But we have a really good explanation, though.

For those of you that had the opportunity to read how our blog originally started, (http://tablescapex3.blogspot.com/2011/03/our-first-giveaway-comes-with-little.html), we had a hospital/homebound child. This blog was part of how we got through that very difficult time. As an update on Emma, she earned a very prestigious scholarship in 9th grade to boarding school and will be beginning her second year this year. She still has some lingering health issues, but she is a fighter. The experience has been great for her, bolstered by her maturity and desire to succeed. We are back to traveling and dining and almost all of the things we used to do.

But - you say - that was BEFORE the blog hiatus. So, what gives?

Well, the illness was not all that happened. Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up. There was a move, (3 actually), a divorce, a new job, new schools, brave venturing out into the dating world again, (eHarmony - not even kidding - too scared to go straight to the face-to-face thing), new boyfriend who became a new husband and step-father, new dogs, new household, remodeling and renting of a house, new blogs, OH MY!

New Sun Room

New Job

New Schools

New Boyfriend

Who Became New Husband

Who Became New Step-Dad

New Dogs

Two years may seem like a long time, but I feel like I am Dorothy returning from a trip to Oz, complete with the horrifying scary parts and finding a real home at the end. With as crazy as this sounds, and it really was crazy, LIFE IS SO WONDERFUL NOW!

So, let me tell you what you can expect now that the blog is returning!

First, my mom Diane branched out on her own. She has a new BEAUTIFUL blog. If you haven't found her there, please do! Check out Confessions of the Obsessed: http://confessionsoftheobsessed.blogspot.com

Her entry around the time of the great upheaval was here: http://confessionsoftheobsessed.blogspot.com/2013/01/what-i-have-been-doing.html

Her post is a great summary of some of the changes that were underway.

I will be including links to her blog from time to time, but she will be writing there primarily.

Emma is off at school most of the year, so we will have guest entries from her at the holidays.

You may remember my other children, Carson and Ava. Ava, in particular, has been pushing to become more involved in the blog, and she is a key third generation member this go-round.

Remember her first blog? http://tablescapex3.blogspot.com/2011/05/ava-makes-her-debut.html

And let me tell you about how entertaining has changed for me. The new house is wonderful, and being married to a pretty handy husband now is amazing! When we married, Steve relocated to my new home, and he immediately set to work building shelves and updating the kitchen and new dining room so that we could entertain together. I am working on a post showing the architectural changes that have left me with a 19' x 14' dining room!

Steve is somewhat of a foodie, and that has turned out to be incredibly fun. Steve's a wonderful cook. He British and from Bermuda, so he has added many of his grandmother's recipes to our kitchen. We love to entertain together, travel, and plan all kinds of activities. Steve started a blog reviewing venues and restaurants the same month we met. So, we have been working on consolidating all of our projects so that we can manage them over the past year. We have just rolled out our travel and consumer versions of that blog, and there's more to come!

Our Here's What You Do (hereswhatyoudo.com) is a great, comprehensive blog that began with day trips in and around metro Atlanta. We took a break during our wedding and during the reorganization phase. Along with travel and consumer product reviews, Gourmet and Education are coming soon with even more to follow.

Here's What You Do - Travel http://hereswhatyoudo-travel.blogspot.com/
Here's What You Do - Consumer http://hereswhatyoudo-consumer.blogspot.com/

We are also in the process of moving all of those blogs to a new platform so we can tie all of our interests together in a one-stop shop. Stay tuned!

The other thing we have been doing is developing iPhone and iPad apps. We found that in starting a new life together, we have a particular way of organizing things like budgets, grocery planning, allowance activity for the children, bill payment, etc. There was no app that would do everything we needed. So, we built the first phase of our master app plan, the Famously Simple Budget App 1.0, and we released it in June 2013. It will eventually integrate into a database system, but even the first version is so much better than anything we had tried to use! Check it out! http://itunes.com/apps/famouslysimplebudgetapp

This presentation was on the first design. We have already published a few minor updates:
http://prezi.com/d9iphwirbkau/famously-simple-budget-app/
http://www.famouslysimple.com

I guess that's all for now. I can't wait to post my first blog about the house, and then the second will be about our wedding and our last minute meal plan, and I think the third will be Steve's 40 days of 40 - his big 40th birthday celebration at home with lots and lots of cooking and tablescapes!

We have Facebook pages for all of our blogs, so please feel free to find us there:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tablescape-Times-Three/503454099733376
https://www.facebook.com/HeresWhatYouDo
https://www.facebook.com/HeresWhatYouDoTravel
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Heres-What-You-Do-Consumer/448970045200673
https://www.facebook.com/FamouslySimple
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Custom-Assessment-and-Publishing-LLC/354754424627886

Thanks so very much for reading this and putting up with the pause in productivity! It's hard to document life when it's moving so fast!

Much love,

Andrea & Steve and family

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http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com
http://smilingsally.blogspot.com/

One Lump or Two?

2011-08-30T19:31:00.034-04:00

I have been doing some rearranging at home lately and realized that I have quite a collection of sugar and creamers. I, also, have a secret concerning them, but more about that later!

I have always had a passion about the design of these special serving pieces. Maybe, I like the fact that they come in pairs and enjoying seeing them on a table together. Maybe, it is the fact that sometimes they are the very best designed pieces in a china pattern. I really am not sure, but I do love them!

I have gotten rid of several pieces through the years and, now, wish that I could have them back. What was I thinking? Oh, I remember! It was a space issue at the time.

My first ones were the Lenox “Solitaire” set, which are pictured at the beginning of this blog.

I have pieces made out of several different materials. Here is a silverplate set that I received, when I married.

I have glass ones – Gorham “Star Blossom” and

Cambridge “Diane”

I have small ones like this Wedgwood Jasperware set and a

Royal Crown “Devon Rose” demitasse set

I, also, have large ones like the Cardew “Alice in Wonderland” and

Maxcera “Amour”

I have ones that look like space ships – Taylor, Smith and Taylor “Boutonniere” and

Ones that look like Aladdin’s lamp, Harker Pottery’s “Aladdin” pattern in the teal color. These were my mother’s.

I have several that match my china patterns

Narumi “Mountain Cherry”

Royal Doulton “Samarra”

Villeroy and Boch “Intarsia”

Mikasa “Yardley”

Syracuse “Wayne”, one of my favorites

Minton “Marlow”

And one of the two sets that match my Spode “Christmas Tree” china – the other set, which consists of a Jack-in-the-Box sugar and a Rocking Horse creamer are really packed away – I am sure you will see them, when I post my Christmas blog this year!

I hope that I remembered to include all of my sets! Do you have some piece or pieces of china that you really love and cannot resist? If you are reading this blog, I will bet that you do!!

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you my big secret about collecting sugar and creamer sets. I never use them myself – I drink my coffee black!!!!

Diane

My Family Loves Tennessee!

2011-08-21T00:39:00.000-04:00

My family likes Tennessee. In fact, we love it. I know I have talked a little bit about our globe-trotting, but we do a fair amount of site-seeing around the United States, too. And any part of Tennessee is always a fun trip. We have been to the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg areas numerous times with them, and they have really enjoyed Nashville and even Memphis. It is a beautiful state with a lot of neat historical and cultural sites. There's just something to do for everyone.

On this week's trip to Pigeon Forge, we did a lot of strolling around cute little parts of the town we'd never been before. For instance, we had never visited the Old Mill walking district. There is this great restaurant where we had lunch, and little old-fashioned shops with locally-made goods. And the restaurant shown above had the wide variety of traditional country fare, as well as a surprising touch of country club-esque cuisine.

This is our lunch trip and the beginning of our exploring:

Behind the Old Mill Restaurant

The actual mill

Looking at the ducks and pigeons near the water

The ducks below are difficult to see among the rocks in this picture

We missed out on the mill tour. I don't even think we realized there was one until we looked back at this picture!

Upcycled wind chime, made from pots, pans, lids, and the odd coffee mug.

Better view of the wild life on the way into the restaurant.

View of the river outside the window of the restaurant.

Even though my family ordered things like dumplings, roast beef stew, fried chicken, and catfish, I ordered the veggie broccoli and almond quiche, with fresh fruit, and pecan muffins.

Posing in the restaurant.

A cute tinman made from left-over food cans. My children thought the pull-tab nose was especially creative.

The beginning of our exploring.

This was the place I nearly couldn't leave.

Here's a little taste!

Birthday at Replacements

2011-08-10T19:36:00.001-04:00

I have mentioned several times in this blog about my husband's being a “keeper”. Never was this more evident, than when he surprised me with the idea of taking me to Replacements in North Carolina for my birthday this year. What a gift!

We actually left for North Carolina on my birthday and stopped in Charlotte for a couple of days, before traveling to McLeansville, where Replacements is located. To all of you lucky people who get to live in Charlotte, let me say that I am jealous with a capital “J”!

What an incredible city.

We stayed downtown, which was full of beautiful buildings and tree-lined streets.

The Green, a park with huge art installations, is a great place for families and visitors to enjoy. It is across the street from the some of the downtown museums.

I loved the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, especially the Niki de Saint Phalle exhibit. Next door is The Mint Museum, which is dedicated to crafts and design.

The NASCAR Hall of Fame is, also, downtown. I never thought I would enjoy it as much as I did, but it really is a fun place to visit with lots of hands-on exhibits for the young and old alike.

One of the former racers, Ned Jarrett, was there the day we were. He was giving an informal talk and signing autographs.

For those of you who may not be familiar with Replacements (if there are any who are not!), it is the holy grail of replacement pieces for your china, crystal, silver and collectibles. It was begun officially in 1981 by Bob Page, although he had been collecting and helping friends find replacements pieces for years. I have been ordering from the company for a very long time, even before they had an online website. The first occasion I had to discover its existence was reading a small ad in the “Southern Living” magazine. I was thrilled to know that there was such a place and have been so happy with my dealings with them throughout the years.

We arrived at the showroom early on a Monday morning and were met by a friendly greeter. I chose not to take the very informative tour, because I wanted time to look around on my own.

The first gorgeous things that we saw were pieces of silver – silver, silver and more silver.

An Unger sterling silver dresser set.

My heart skipped at least a couple of beats as I wandered through the beautiful old display cabinets filled with unique serving pieces of flatware, stunning tea and coffee services, and every other kinds of sterling tableware that you can imagine (or cannot begin to imagine!!). Everything was for sale!!

I caught a brief glimpse of the famous “Wall of China”, before workmen covered up the doorway to work on the floor in that room. The wall of china holds 500 patterns of china side by side.

The room also contains crystal and flatware patterns.

Some of the different items for sale in the showroom

One of the display tables decorated for July 4^th.

The showroom displays some of the china that is for sale. Of course, they cannot put everything out at once, so if you go, be sure to take a list of what you want to buy!

After looking at everything for sale, we moved on to the Replacements Museum, which is located at the rear of the showroom. Here you will find pieces from Bob Page’s personal collection.

Some of the many pieces of Chintzware in the collection

Royal Copenhagen’s “Flora Danica”, supposedly the most expensive china in the world.

A display of how Lenox china is made

I had read that Bob Page had a collection of crystal clarets, but nothing prepared me for how many there were!

Some of the clarets

Here is the largest soup tureen that I have ever seen. It is so large that it has two openings for soup ladles, one on each end.

My favorite part of the Museum was the display of Wedgwood. I have been collecting and admiring Wedgwood Jasperware for a long time, but I have never before seen any shoes with Jasperware heels! The buttery leather sandals were gorgeous by themselves, but who would think of making the heels from Jasperware? I would love to meet the woman who owned these – I think that I could definitely be her friend!

Another wonderful part of Replacements is the overstock room. I found some unbelievable bargains in there. Shopping in that one section is well worth the cost of the trip!

After visiting some of the other rooms with wares for sale, I finally produced the list of wishes that I had brought with me. This photo shows the wonderful, Peggy, who helped me with everything. She could not have been nicer and I found out that her mother-in-law originally had been from the town in which I live!

Everything on the list was produced and sometimes I was encouraged to look at several of the same pieces that I wanted, so that I could choose the best of the bunch. After everything was bought and wrapped, my sweet husband surprised me, again, by buying 6 forks in a very old pattern that I have been slowly collecting. I will show them to you in a future blog.

What a birthday this one was, but you know the best gift of all? Having a husband who understands my passion for these beautiful old things – priceless!!!

Diane

Lenox Outlet

2011-08-10T19:35:00.000-04:00

As most of you fellow bloggers know, many of the china companies have closed their outlet stores. How I still miss the Villeroy and Boch ones! Many of the Lenox outlets have also closed throughout the country, but I have great news! The Lenox outlet in Commerce, GA has not shut down. Not only have they not closed, but they have moved and expanded.

The new store is now across the street from the old one and is much larger. At the beginning of the summer my daughter, granddaughter and I traveled to Commerce to see the new store.

The store is a mixture of a retail and outlet items. The retail pieces are in the new showroom.

"Gilded Tapestry"

The employees were still moving merchandise into the showroom, when we visited.

Flatware

Glassware

Most of the outlet china is located in the back room.

The Christmas Corner

Easter Items

My traveling companions and I had a wonderful time searching through all of the treasures. With a thirteenth birthday coming up, I asked my granddaughter to choose her favorite china in the store. After looking at everything, she had two patterns that she liked. They both were Marchesa patterns:

"Palatial Garden"

“Painted Camellia”

Of course, neither was an outlet-priced one! In the end, she chose “Painted Camellia” in the accent salad plates. If you follow this blog, you will know that she used the china for her birthday setting.

I think visiting the new store was well-worth the trek to Commerce. However, for those of you who are used to the outlet-only pricing, you could be in for sticker-shock on the retail items! I know I was.

Diane

Something Fishy!

2011-08-03T07:54:00.001-04:00

Have you ever tried to shoot a tablescape, only to discover people are eating what you've made before you've even finished setting the table? If you look through my tablescapes, I almost never have shots with food for that very reason. Tonight, I came soooooo close to getting it on the table before everyone got into it. Sadly, when I came back to the kitchen, the baked potatoes were being dressed and the salmon had already been pulled out of the oven and served.

But we can enjoy the table nonetheless!

Our pattern of the month is Samarra by Royal Doulton; I decided to pair it with some great antique fish plates my mother found on eBay.

These fish plates are hand-painted and are marked "Elite Works" and "Limoges." I was excited to be able to use my Apollo by Alvin silver for the first time. I had decided last winter I would work on collecting it this year. I am almost finished with six place settings! I just need knives now.

I really like the laurel pattern with the Samarra. I used antique Bryce by Glastonbury's laurel-patterned goblets.

Maybe next time, I will set the table before I start cooking!

Ode to Avocado Green

2011-08-03T07:53:00.000-04:00

When I was a young engaged bride-to-be, the “in” colors were Avocado Green and Harvest Gold (I will bet that some of you had those colors in your homes, too!). Before the wedding, my mother and I made a visit to the local jewelry store, which was the place in our small town to select all of the tableware. I have written about this trip in another blog and I confessed that I am still happy with all of the choices that I made that day. The Tablescape Times Three pattern for July is the one that I selected for my informal china, Royal Doulton’s “Samarra”.

Another confession that I must make is that I never actually used this beautiful china for informal meals. I realized quickly that it was too nice to use all of the time, so my mother gave me a set of white ironstone that my husband and I used for every day.

For my table setting this month, I decided to use almost all avocado green tableware to pay homage to that fabulous color.

I set a brunch table for four.

“Samarra” dinner plates were placed on top of ecru cotton placemats.

I added matching salad plates.

On top, I placed avocado Bia ramekins, which were a recent purchase from Tuesday Morning. These are the perfect size to use as fruit cups, before the entree is presented.

Coffee or tea can be poured into the “Samarra” teacups. Our family usually prefers hot coffee or iced tea, but we do entertain guests occasionally who want hot tea or cold coffee!

To serve the coffee, I set out my coffee pot, creamer and covered sugar. When I married, I did not receive the creamer and sugar as wedding gifts. However, many years later, my two children gave them to me one Christmas. They found them on Replacements and I was thrilled, since the pattern had been discontinued by then. The coffee pot is an even later addition to the collection, but I purchased it from Replacements, also.

The avocado green footed glasses are Fostoria in the “Mesa” pattern. These glasses were chosen at the same time as the china.

I managed to find avocado napkins and napkin rings and used them together.

The flowers on my grandmother’s “Presentation” silverplate flatware mimic the delicate flowers on the china.

I did decide at the last minute that I should add a little bit of additional color, so that the table would not resemble the Jolly Green Giant. I cut a few of my miniature roses and put them in silverplate creamers from Two’s Company.

I had fun creating this table. It brought back so many memories – I only wish that I taken the time to find photos of those extremely stylish Harvest Gold appliances that I had in my first two houses!!

Diane

Frog Blog!

2011-07-28T13:46:00.022-04:00

I live in the south. I live in the south on a small lake. For those of you who share this common bond, you understand the sounds we hear sitting on our screened-in porch in the evenings this time of the year. Frogs, frogs and more frogs!

I have been thinking about frogs a lot lately. It started when I moved my rather large trash can and a small frog was hiding behind it. I wish that I had been carrying my camera or phone that day, so that I could show you a picture of the little guy. Alas, I had left them behind so that my hands would be free to roll the trash can to the street.

The next thing that made me think of frogs was my sister-in-law’s announcement that she will soon be publishing a new book about her frog family. She is a children’s book author who has written several books. The first few books were about a girl named Ida Claire. That series was somewhat autobiographical about my sister-in-law and her cousin, Mike, who was “Will” in the series. My husband who is older than his sister, also, is featured in the books as “Franklin”. It is not a particularly pretty picture that she paints of him, so we will just leave that one alone!! He swears he never did any of the things that she said he did in the books and for our family’s peace – I have chosen to believe him. However, I was the youngest child in my family with an older brother and sister and I know how they treated me at times (just sayin’!).

Anyway, back to the frogs! The series that my sister-in-law has recently been writing is about a frog family who goes on lots of adventures.

This is the cover of her first frog book. The book is illustrated by a very talented artist, Jean Weiner.

I decided that I should invite my sister-in-law’s darling four year-old grandson, Maddox, to lunch and we would surround ourselves with frogs! Maddox loves his grandmother’s books and he might make an appearance in the upcoming one.

I started the place setting with some new placemats from Dillard’s. I love these, since they are reversible. This side is plaid and the other side is a beautiful floral. A green Bordallo dinner plate went on top of the placemat.

Next, I used to Weimar German plates, which feature frogs decorating the rims. I bought these charming plates on eBay.

The girl for me

The boy for Maddox

For our bread plates, I used Bordallo, again. Tiny frogs sit on the little lily pad plates – perfect!

Oneida “Cantata” flatware and white napkins with napkins rings that fit in with the nature theme – they were purchased on the One Kings Lane website and have tiny bees on them.

Hazel Atlas “Eldorado” green footed glasses complete the place setting.

The centerpiece is a collection of three pieces – a peace lily in a bronze urn, my sister-in-law’s book and a beautiful C.E. Cory frog pitcher made in Portugal that I purchased at a different time on the One Kings Lane shopping site.

I think my little guest and I will have a jolly good time lunching together and talking about frogs. After lunch, we might even meander down to the lake and see if we can find any. Maybe, I will let him take one home in his pocket. Isn’t that where little boys are supposed to carry their frogs???

Diane

P. S. If anyone is interested in purchasing any of my sister-in-law’s books, her website is: www.KayHeathBooks.com.

A Birthday Tray for Emma

2011-07-10T21:34:00.001-04:00

Emma may have spent her birthday morning eating birthday cake for breakfast, but she had a special tray for her dinner. These Lenox Painted Camellia salad plates were part of her birthday present from her grandmother. And the awesome Barbie salt and pepper shakers were a gift from a friend of mine from high school!

Why these plates are called Camellia, I don't know...

The plates could go with all colors of glassware. I can see more than just the aqua and pink!

I like the Barbie motif with the leopard tray! Oh là là!

Happy Sweet 13, Emma!

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Better Late Than Never!

2011-07-10T21:02:00.001-04:00

Please forgive my tardiness in posting! I have started two new jobs in the last two weeks, and I have not had time to write this up!

But, really every day is worth celebrating living in the United States, so I don't feel too bad about uploading these pictures almost a week late!

Last week after a pre-July 4 lunch (pictured here), we were enjoying fireworks at Stone Mountain, Ga. and spending time at the lake. Despite the fact, the park was so crowded it eventually was closed to people trying to get it, we just made it in and it was soooooo worth it!

My July 4 brunch was simple because I love these dinner plates. They were made by Syracuse for the Continental Insurance Company. I am not even sure when. I pieced together a eight dinner plates that were the same from eBay sellers. The Anchor Hocking sherberts are used for floating tealights, (also from eBay).

I love my little George and Martha salt and pepper shakers!

The red golf ball crystal iced beverages are by Morgantown, and the eagle wine glasses are by Libbey.

I used Imperial Queen by Whiting mixed with my Sir Christopher by Wallace.

Thank you to my ancestors Josiah Daniel and Richard Hamlin who fought in the American Revolution.

God bless America!

-Andrea

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Happy Birthday, America!

2011-07-01T08:00:00.001-04:00

“There are those, I know, who will say that the liberation of humanity, the freedom of man and mind, is nothing but a dream. They are right. It is. It is the American dream.”

Archibald MacLeish

On this July 4^th, the 235^th birthday of our nation, I am extremely grateful for all of the freedoms that we enjoy. Hopefully, the American dream is alive and well. To celebrate, our family will have a “Happy Birthday America” party.

My husband is the star of this holiday, as we enjoy the food that he grills, the homemade ice cream that he churns and the fireworks display in our neighborhood to which he contributes.

I do get to “set the table” and there is no question about the colors I choose – the traditional red, white and blue!

First I used a white tablecloth and layered red, white and blue placemats with stars on top.

Next, the dinnerware was added – red “Louisa” plates, then Johnson Brothers’ blue and white “Asiatic Pheasant” plates.

Coventry “Liberty” salad plates went next. I used them as an under plate for the ice cream bowls, which will hold my husband’s yummy dessert. Red, white and blue sprinkles usually top the ice cream, which adds to the Americana theme.

Blue Artland Glass goblets with wine charms attached were chosen for our drinks. Each wine charm has a patriotic theme.

White napkins with red napkins rings were placed at the settings. Tiny American flags were tucked into the napkin rings.

Hazel “Moderntone” salt and pepper shakers were used at one end of the table. Tiny red, white and blue star salt and pepper shakers were used at the other end.

I placed blue and red star votive holders down the center of the table and sprinkled patriotic confetti all around.

For the centerpiece, I used a pitcher from my pottery collection with a wonderful cobalt blue glaze. I placed cypress branches, sparkles and flags inside.

Leaning against the pitcher is one of my favorite books. It was given to me years ago by a friend and I pull it out every July 4^th. It is The Spirit of America by Barbara Milo Ohrbach. It is a collection of recipes, quotes, poems and songs about America. The illustrations are charming and always put me in the spirit of this holiday.

I hope all of you remember the “Spirit of America” this year and have fun celebrating the birth of our nation. It is a special one and many thanks to all who have fought to keep us free!

Diane

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Someday daughter, all this will be yours!

2011-06-28T21:48:00.001-04:00

Have you ever seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail? There's a scene where a king has his arm around his son, points out the window at his lands, and says in an amazing Cockney accent, "Someday son, aaaaallll this will be yours." And the son replies, "What? The curtains?"

That son has his mind in the right place! Land is very nice of course, but decorative arts are worth passing down as well!

My sweet Emma is 13 today. The lovely antique Royal Cauldon plates on this table are part of her birthday present from me. She loves gray. She doesn't always love gray on plates, though. I found these on eBay a few months ago and inquired if she liked them. She said she loved them, but alas, they were no longer available, (because I had already bought them!)

She also really loves my pink glassware. I put this tablescape together to present her plates as a surprise. It probably isn't as great as some of her other birthday presents, but she was very happy with this gift. Bless her heart, where will she put all of this as a young college graduate in her first house!

-Andrea

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Birthday Cake for Breakfast!

2011-06-27T15:20:00.001-04:00

My oldest grandchild and fellow blogger, Emma, turns 13 in a this week. What a remarkable and centered person she is. Her parents have done an incredible job of raising her and I cannot possibly put into words the joy that she has brought into my life. From the moment that she was born and made me a grandmother, we have had a wonderful bond.

We all should have guessed that she would eventually be a tablescaper. In this photo, she has just reached out and grabbed this Waterford “Lismore” goblet. I had returned from a trip to Bermuda and brought the glass to her mother, as a gift. Emma, obviously, appreciated the finer things from a very young age!

We have had some fun times together on Emma’s birthday. Two years ago, she and I spent the night at a fancy hotel in Atlanta and shopped, until we dropped at Lenox Square. Last year, we were in London with her mother and two siblings. She celebrated on her birthday with a party at the London Hard Rock Cafe. This photo was taken the same day, when we were shopping at Harrod’s.

On the eve of many of her birthdays, Emma has chosen to spend the night with me and we have a great tradition of eating birthday cake for breakfast! Once, again, this year we will enjoy a spend-the-night party and enjoy that special treat.

We usually cook breakfast together and Emma wants to eat her first birthday meal of the day on my screened-in porch. She loves to experiment with food coloring and our food always ends up looking very different, than when we start.

In this photo of her 7^th birthday morning breakfast, you might wonder what that dark glob is on our plates – purple colored grits, of course! Immediately, after blowing out the candles, she wanted to head for the porch.

Since, this birthday is such an important one, I decided to make it even more special by dressing up the table with a few elegant touches.

Flintridge “San Marino” china in her favorite color, gray

Pearl napkin rings in honor of her birth stone

I used flatware that was passed down from my grandmother. The birthday girl and I both got the Emma in our names from her. All three of us have June birthdays and Emma and my grandmother share the same birthday.

A dessert fork for the birthday cake, after our meal

The Syracuse “Wayne” coffee cups will be used for coffee and hot chocolate. The hot chocolate, topped with lots of marshmallows (yes, even in the summer!), is an essential part of this annual meal.

After many, many months of being ill, Emma has been pronounce “well”. How wonderful to be feeling so much better in time to experience the beginning of the magical teen-age years!

Happy Birthday, dear girl – I am so blessed to have you in my life.

Love,

Nana

Three generations of tablescapers on Emma’s second birthday.

Diane

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Blog Disasters

2011-06-22T05:34:00.001-04:00

Have you ever had the perfect table setting in your head and thought you had everything you needed to set the table only to realize that you did not? This happens to me frequently and napkins are usually my nemeses! I have lots of different napkins and always think that I can just pull some out at the last minute. However, I have been wrong so many times that you would think that I would learn to plan ahead much better!

This blog is a prime example. I have been planning it for quite a while. I had these interesting Mikasa “Coq D’Oro” plates and thought that I could make a cute breakfast table setting with them.

A green tablecloth went on the table first.

I have ruffled green and gold placemats, so I knew that I could use one of those colors with the plates. I decided on the gold ones.

Green glassware was no problem. I have lots of Fostoria “Mesa” in an olive green color that I chose for my everyday glasses, when I married.

I recently bought these small glasses that I will use for juice on one of my shopping trips to the Goodwill thrift store. I would just like to say that I love shopping there! I always find something interesting to buy.

The rooster centerpiece was a find on the shopping website “Joss & Main”. The first one that I purchased arrived broken and the customer service was incredible! Dealing with Karen there was such a pleasure and it was no time before she had a replacement sent, which arrived in perfect condition.

I searched for a while for rooster napkin rings. I found these awesome ones online at Bed, Bath and Beyond.

All of the pieces were ready. As I added the different layers, I was feeling really good about how the table was beginning to take shape.

Then, it happened! After pulling out napkin, after napkin, I realized that nothing looked just right! My yellow ones were too yellow. The green ones were not olive enough. The red ones did not have enough pink in them. The rose ones were too pink. The white ones did not look right with the centerpiece, which has cream on it. Noooooooo, not again!!!

I was in a hurry and did not have time to spend all afternoon shopping for the perfect napkins, so I settled for ecru ones. They are definitely not what I wanted, but sometimes we just have to settle for what we already have. “The real world” is what my husband calls it – facing the reality that we cannot always have or even find exactly what we want.

Good lesson to learn, but next time I think I will buy the napkins first and plan the whole table setting around them!!

Diane

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"Brothers in Clay"

2011-06-16T07:40:00.001-04:00

On Father’s Day this year, I am honoring my father’s love of history. I developed a love of genealogy, travel, and anything handmade by listening to him talk about his love of these things. Traveling for him was always about the historical significance of any place that he visited. We would stop and read historical markers and traipse through cemeteries reading headstones wherever we went.

Today, I am featuring two of his prize possessions – pottery jugs.

I have set the table by using the jugs as the centerpieces.

The first jug was made for him in Cartersville, Georgia in 1940 by William Joseph (W.J.) Gordy at his Georgia Art Pottery studio. It may be the only one of its kind in existence, since my father insisted on having a top made for the jug.

My father grew up in the mountains of northern Alabama and I always smile, when I look at the second jug. It is a stoneware whiskey jug that was probably used for “moonshine”. Since my dad had at least one older relative that made such concoctions, he was probably familiar with these jugs in his youth. I do not remember where he acquired this jug, but I think it was in an old house, possibly in Georgia. It is not marked and is glazed only on the top, because the contents stayed cooler in an unglazed jug.

The third piece of pottery in the center of the table is a contemporary one. It was made by my niece-in-law’s husband. He gave it to me, since he knew that I loved pottery. I have been collecting, since the 1970s. I love this piece and I think it looks wonderful with the older pieces. Thanks, Matt!

Two of the other pieces of pottery on the table are part of my collection.

This one was made by Jim Sockwell in the ‘70s. I purchased it at The Signature Shop in Atlanta, Georgia, which is still in business today.

The other one is a more recent piece made by the potters-in-residence at Westville near Lumpkin, Georgia. Westville is the re-creation of an 1850s town where demonstrations of crafts and cooking are usually happening, when you visit. My husband gave me this bowl as a gift.

For the table setting, I have used Oneida “Adriatic” plates, because they remind me of the look of pottery. I placed them on brown and ecru variegated placemats. Next, brown bamboo flatware was added.

Elrene “Carmella” napkins were place in copper beaded napkin rings (for just a bit of bling!).

Sweet iced tea (my husband’s favorite) is being served in my Mikasa “Ariana” iced beverage glasses.

The four adult coffee drinkers will drink their after dinner coffee from pottery mugs made by W.J. Gordy’s brother, D. X. Gordy, who worked in Primrose, Georgia. Primrose is in very close to where I lived as a young child. These mugs were given to me by my mother-in-law. I am fortunate to have many generous people in my life!

If you would like to know more about the rich tradition of pottery making in Georgia, including the Gordy family and many of the other family potters, you can read Brothers in Clay by John A. Burrison. I gave this copy to my dad many years ago and my sister in an incredible act of generosity gave it back to me, along with the two jugs that I have used in this blog. Thank you, sis, from the bottom of my heart!!

I will leave you with a few more pieces of pottery that have been hand made by friends of mine, Huey and Anne Wheeler of Dawson, Georgia. They no longer have a website, but are listed on Facebook under “Folk Pottery by Huey and Anne Wheeler”. They make wonderful face jugs and sculpted lamp bases, among other pieces.

I hope all of you fathers have a wonderful Father’s Day this year and I hope that you realize the influence that you have on your children. I know my father did!

Diane

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