My Winter Porch...A Burlap Wreath and Lanterns

A winter wreath has always been a puzzle to me. Ideas for autumn and Christmas wreaths are easy and obvious. So are spring and summer…but winter? Then I came across the idea of a burlap wreath and I knew my problem was solved! This is my version...adding check and toile ribbons, with my guest bedroom decor still fresh on my mind. I love the look and the texture of the frayed fabric! And it was really easy!

It is simply strips of burlap threaded on a coat hanger bent to form a circle…that’s all! Here, I would have to add a few notes. I used two yards of burlap cut into 4 inch strips. However, it seemed that the weight of the fabric pulled it to the bottom of the coat hanger circle to the point that I know my neighbors were wondering what I had hanging on my door! lol Soooo…I took it down, spaced the fabric and hot glued it to the hanger every few inches…problem solved! I also added some keys…more about that later.

I also wanted to use lanterns on my winter porch, so I headed out in search of some larger ones to beef up my collection. I stumbled on these unusual lanterns at Marshalls...recognize them? They were featured in that gorgeous house in the movie It’s Complicated. However, I left these for another lantern lover, since they are a little too Asian for me.

This is more my style. You might remember these... my Pottery Barn copy cat lanterns that I featured on my autumn porch…

…and then decorated for Christmas with candy cane stripes and cranberries. Sooo...I was jumping up and down when I found ....

...these big chunky lanterns! I decided to take a cue from my wreath and add strips of burlap…the more frayed, the better…along with a little toile ribbon and a couple of keys. I placed these on one side of my front door…

…and these on the other, using more burlap and checked ribbon with another key.

I found the keys at Hobby Lobby...with five different antique-style keys on a ring. They are frequently on sale and I keep going back for more, since I have used them in both my vintage tag and framed key projects as well. They add a little extra layer of interest for me. The checked ribbon came from Michaels and the toile from Hobby Lobby.

So finally…here it is…my winter porch. As you can see, my porch is small and doesn’t lend itself to anything very elaborate. I think I like the simple wintery starkness for a change. What do you think?
And in case you are wondering why my blinds are up…it’s for my staff! lol You cannot see her furry little face, but our CEO Ozzie was busy supervising this entire photo shoot!
Thanks so much for stopping by! Please head on over to visit these wonderful blogs to see what everyone has going on!
Mary at Little Red House for Mosaic Monday
Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday
Kimba  at A Soft Place to Land for DIY Day
Sarah at Thrifty Decor Chick for the Before and After Party
Layla at The Lettered Cottage for A Few of My Favorite Tutorials 2010. 
This will be fun! I can’t wait to see what everyone has going on! See you next time! A la prochaine!

My New Love...My Bouillotte Lamp

I want to introduce you to my new love…my bouillotte lamp! I found it while thrifting with CC Catherine at Catherine de thé Cups last weekend and I think they could hear me squeal in the next county! And…it only cost $18...an absolute steal! Woo hoo! Now, maybe you are saying…what is a bouillotte lamp? Warning…warning…I feel the French teacher in me coming out! lol



Bouillotte (pronounced boo-yaht) is a card game similar to poker that was very popular in France during the late 1700's and into the 1800's. Players sat at a round table with a gallery edge that was lighted by a special lamp. You can see the table and lamp in this painting by Jean-François Bosio (1798).



The lamp had a special metal shade that could be lowered by turning a key as the candles burned down in order to shield the players’ eyes from the glare. There was usually a sort of dish at the base that was used to hold the game chips. The electrified versions have the same characteristics, although the adjustable shade is really no longer necessary.



Mine is a relatively simple one…not very ornate…which suits my style just fine. But let me show you some other examples of bouillotte lamps…



…such as this one from Pierre Deux. Isn’t it beautiful? Bouillotte lamps can have two to four arms and, more often than not, there is a metal tole shade which is narrower than ordinary lamp shades. The three and four armed lamps have a round shade…



…and the two armed variety like mine have an oblong shade. This Empire style lamp is from Fourcoux-Prince, a Parisian company specializing in bouillotte lamps. I love the Napoleonic N and those wonderful bees! Hey…if I were talented enough to paint mine, I could make it look almost like this one!



Now here is the real deal…a pair of antique Louis XVI style ormolu bouillotte lamps recently sold in auction at Christie’s in Paris for about $8,000! Aren’t they magnificent??



This one is a special favorite of mine because it belonged to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis! She loved this Louis XV style lamp so much that she took it from their home in Georgetown to the West Sitting Room in the White House and finally to her New York apartment. It went up for auction with the Geiger Collection of Historical Artifacts in 2007 with an estimated value of $35,000 to $50,000. I love the hand-painted Chinoiserie on the shade!



However, there are still bouillotte lamps in the White House. Here is a pair that is included in the permanent collection in the Blue Room. The room was decorated in French Empire style in the early 1800's by President James Monroe and has remained that way ever since.



And now, I have a bouillotte lamp! I love the way it lights up the corner of the room and adds a warm glow! I love that I have this classic French lamp in my house! And I love that somebody decided to give it away so that I could adopt it and take it home with me! I think I will name it Jean-François! lol
Thanks so much for stopping by! Please head on over to Mary’s at Little Red House for Mosaic Monday to see one of her beautiful mosaics and to find a list of this week’s participants. You will be treated to some wonderful photos from some very talented people!
Next, be sure to visit Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday where you can get a peek at her gorgeous home and see what sorts of changes she is making, as well as find out who else is playing along! I can’t wait to see what everyone has going on! See you next time! A la prochaine!

Silver Sunday and Mosaic/Metamorphosis Monday...or...Goodwill Hunting Trophies!

The new Goodwill Store near me had its grand opening Thursday…more about that in a moment…and here are some of my trophies! I scored an assortment of grapey, roostery, frenchy things…all the things I love! And…I am the last person on the planet to finally get one of those plates that you can write on! Bonjour!

My favorites? These two! The Triple Play Plus! French is a really interesting computer program for teaching French that uses cute drawings and games. It even has a microphone that allows you to practices your pronunciation and tells you if you are correct! I must report that my nine-year-old grandson loves it…yaay! He is working on learning to speak French for a trip that we have planned in a year or so. But best of all, it was only $3.50…brand new, still in the wrapper! Price online? $242…yes, that’s two hundred forty two dollars! Woo hoo! Bargain of the day!

I also love my Larousse Gastronomique It’s is a first American edition (1961) of a very well-known French food and wine encyclopedia and is without doubt one of the most interesting books I have ever picked up! It not only defines every food and cooking term that you can imagine (plus a multitude that I have never heard of), it also gives the history of many dishes, mini-biographies of famous historical figures associated with food and needless to say, includes recipes for oodles of French dishes. The list of hors d’oeuvres alone take up 40 pages of this 1000 page book. Plus it has wonderful illustrations! If you want to know how to filet a fish or how to tell where a wine comes from just by the shape of the bottle, this book is for you! Oh, I have not even scratched the surface! This will be a fun book! The cost?…$2.50!

Some silvery finds…a cute baby cup for 99 cents, a deer head candle snuffer and a nice, big sugar shaker. I’ve been wanting one of those for my cinnamon sugar and needed a candle snuffer to keep me from getting wax everywhere! As for the baby cup…well, I’ve got a new little grandson on the way who will make use of it!

I also found these old volumes of American Educator Encyclopedia from 1956. Aren’t they pretty? They are serving as stands for my new rooster lamp thrifting find. More about lamps in another post!

And finally, these wonderful little picture frames were also thrifting finds…$1.50 each…with professionally done double mats! I have been keeping my eye out for something like these for a little project I’ve had in mind ever since I saw the framed antique French documents at the Madison, Georgia Christmas Tour of Homes.

Sooo…I got out my Le London stamp from Hobby Lobby and stamped a sheet of drawing paper…a little thicker than most kinds of paper...using waterproof ink. Next I used my left-over teabag….might as well recycle!…to stain it. I placed the paper under the glass that came with the frame and placed a heavy book on it while it dried. Then, I took a key (also from Hobby Lobby) and marked two little dots on either side where the key would be placed. (I have moved the key to the side so you can see.) I used a large needle and pliers to punch a hole through the paper and the cardboard backing so that I could wire the key in place.

And…voilà! The key is actually held in place by the two wires. I didn’t reuse the glass, but left the frame open instead. Now all I have to do is finish the other one and decide where to hang them!

As for the Goodwill Store grand opening…can you say craziness? This is the view of the checkout line…and it got worse…much worse! There were three police cars directing traffic! Hey!…how did all these people find out about my GW? lol I was one of the goofballs waiting out in the freezing temps for the doors to open! And inside, I managed to find my new bloggy friend Babs scoping out the household goods like me! Later, my fellow blogger, CC Catherine from Catherine de Thé Cups, joined me for more Goodwill hunting and lunch! What a fun day!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Please head on over to Mary’s at Little Red House for Mosaic Monday to see one of her beautiful mosaics and to find a list of this week’s participants. You will be treated to some wonderful photos from some very talented people!

Next, be sure to visit Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday where you can get a peek at her gorgeous home and see what sorts of changes she is making, as well as find out who else is playing along! I can’t wait to see what everyone has going on!

I’m also joining Beth at Gypsy Fish Journal for Silver Sunday! It’s a new blog party and what a great idea! It will be fun to see the wonderful ideas our fellow bloggers have for using Grandma’s old silver in some new ways!

See you next time! A la prochaine!

We're Nesting!...A Special Baby Shower

I attended a very special baby shower over the weekend where the guest of honor was…my daughter! Yes, I am going to be a Granny again and it’s another boy! My daughter’s friend Kate was our gracious hostess and we are so very appreciative of all that she did to make the shower special. As you can see, the theme was nesting. She also tied in the colors of my little grandson’s nursery…baby blue and green with chocolate brown.

Kate’s beautiful home was decorated to carry out her theme, using blue and green birdhouses on her mantel. Isn’t her home just gorgeous?

I had to sneak a few stray photos so I could show you. (Sorry, Kate!) She is a decorator with fabulous taste!

She continued the nesting theme on the table, using a burlap table square and some cute blue and green eggs under a cloche. ( I should have saved this for Marty’s cloche party since I am so cloche impaired!) I love that wonderful silver cake stand!

On the menu…some of my daughter’s favorites…a cheese ball (recipe here), along with chicken and pasta salads.

But best of all were the petit fours! Kate designed the little nesting birds on top…so cute…and very yummy!

This was new to me…a candy bar! When they were discussing it, I just kept picturing a Hershey bar! lol Cute little goodie bags were provided so that the guests could take home an assortment of candy as a remembrance of the shower.

Kate worked very hard to find blue and chocolate brown candies to match the nursery colors. Whoppers…yum! My favorite!

The little lollipops even had baby-related shapes, like this cute baby carriage.

We had a wonderful time! My daughter received lots of generous gifts, for which we are so thankful! There is almost a 10 year age difference between my new little cookie-to-be and my sweet grandson. I cannot believe how much baby things have changed in that period of time! Now we just have to wait for his arrival at the end of February. My grandson can’t wait to be a big brother! He has assured his parents that they need not worry. He will feed his baby brother and change his diapers if they are tired. What a sweetheart!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Please head on over to Susan’s at Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday, where we get to see another one of her wonderful tablescapes and find a list of all of our fellow bloggers who have been playing with their dishes!

Then on Friday, please join our own Gollum, Michael Lee, at Designs by Gollum for Foodie Friday to see what she has cooking and to find out who else is participating! I’m hoping that there will be lots of recipes for something warm!

See you next time! A la prochaine!

At Last!...Progress in the Guest Bedroom!

Finally! The toile guest bedroom that I have been blabbing about for years is taking shape! I am so excited to finally see the room that has been brewing in my little brain for ages! I still need to hang a few pictures and I am searching for the perfect frenchy black headboard, but I am getting close!

I have been showing you what I have been collecting for the past year and I am happy to say that virtually everything I chose made it into the room!

The plant stand was painted black and topped with the wooden tole-look tray that I found while Goodwill hunting in Asheville, NC with Barb and Kathysue. Thanks to my friend Pat for the inspiration! The bedding came from Target ages ago…the original source for my toile vision!

The bunnies were hung over the Target bookcase which I filled with baskets (also from Target) and topped with some GW and clearance aisle bargains. I say the bunnies were hung because…

…last week I found this framed poster while GW hunting with my friend Linda at Nina’s Nest and now I am debating. The poster must have been a souvenir from a trip to France that was professionally framed, because there is nothing available like it anywhere. The artist Adrien Moroni is from Monaco and has a studio in picturesque Saint Paul de Vence. And…I only paid $6.96!! I’m trying to introduce some splashes of red and yellow to brighten up the room. What do you think? Maybe the bunnies can go over the bed facing each other?

My wonderful flea market frenchy chair is here along with a new Target chest (on sale) that I had to assemble…yikes! One of my homemade vintage tags is hanging from a knob. And Isabella is checking out my $40 bargain rug from the Ballard outlet!

I love this frenchy print! I had been eyeing it at an antique/flea market for months when it was finally reduced and had to go home with me! Woo hoo! Do you see that my Dollar Tree critters are the same as the ones that are stacked up in the picture? The lamp was a GW find to which I added a Hobby Lobby tassel. I bought the shade for a song while standing in line behind a woman who wanted only the lamp base she was buying! lol It never hurts to ask!

And the vase is actually a broken silver flea market coffee pot that got polished and repurposed! I am so happy about my new room that sometimes I just stand in the doorway, stare and smile! lol Do you ever do that?

Hmmmm… now there is only one problem. My staff thinks I did all of this for them and they have claimed the room as their new lounge! lol

Thanks so much for stopping by! Please head on over to Mary’s at Little Red House for Mosaic Monday to see one of her beautiful mosaics and to find a list of this week’s participants. You will be treated to some wonderful photos from some very talented people!

Next, be sure to visit Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday where you can get a peek at her gorgeous home and see what sorts of changes she is making, as well as find out who else is playing along! I can’t wait to see what everyone has going on!

I’m also joining Beth at Gypsy Fish Journal for Silver Sunday! It’s a new blog party and what a great idea! It will be fun to see the wonderful ideas our fellow bloggers have for using Grandma’s old silver in some new ways!

See you next time! A la prochaine!