Thanksgiving: Set the Table

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hosted Thanksgiving at my house for the first time ever! 

It ended up going well, but you feel like there is tons of preparation, cleaning, cooking, etc, then you sit down, stuff your face, & -snap!- it's over! 

Not to mention the mess to clean up...

I wanted to share some of my table decor, which I culminated from various pinterest inspiration.

I had 2 tables, which both set 4 people, but we had 9, so my daughter was squeezed in. 

Here is the table in my dining room (which I inherited from my great-grandmother): 

The placemats I found at Ross (cost $4 fo 4), & the centerpiece was a combination of things I already had, a splurge (from Pier One), & Goodwill.  Of course the dishes (Mikasa French Country) are our everyday sets.

A closer look:

The tray I had, which I lined with a lace placemat (the splurge from Pier One).  The bronze dessert cups I found at Goodwill, which were perfect to hold votives.  And one of my faux pumpkins.  I added some raffia to give it the look of "tendrils".  The glass pedestal I also already had.  I wrapped a strip of my burlap garland around the center of the table to act as a runner, which you can barely see peaking out at the bottom of the picture (you can see it better in the picture above).

The second table, which was in my kitchen breakfast nook:

I also found these placemats at Ross, for the same price.  I love the colors against the black table.  You can see my daughter sitting at her seat with her placemat she made at school. 

A closer look at the centerpiece:

Same story here, center placemat was also a splurge from Pier One, & the pedestal I already had (a previous find from Goodwill, one of their new items.  Did you know they had new items?)

For the flatware, I bundled them in a paper napkin (well, one of those "fancy" linen-like paper napkins) with a cinnamon stick & tied with twine.  Super easy, & no stressing over where all the pieces go! 

I'll round out this post with a shot of some of our spread, which I served buffet-style from my kitchen island (that's my dad in the background):

Yum, yum!

Simple Fall Wreath in 5 Minutes

I had a grapevine wreath on hand that I got on sale at Michael's, so I decided to incorporate it into a fall wreath.

Very simple was my goal.

I also had this roll of burlap garland (also from Michael's) that had been sitting in a corner of my room gathering dust.

I cut a length of it off to hang from my ever-present over-the-door wreath hanger, & secured the wreath.

Finally, I had some other fall-ish ribbon in my stash, & I dangled a monogrammed letter behind the wreath, by hanging the ribbon directly from the wreath hanger to the desired length for the letter to dangle in the center of the wreath.

Here is the finished product:

Done in 5 minutes!

Simple Fall Decor Using Old & New Objects # 3

This whimsical display-o-pinecones is actually one of my favorites, mainly b/c of the chair ~

This itty, bitty, tiny chair is part of my dining room decor, & it is a vintage school chair used by my great-grandmother in her classroom (circa 1920's, I think?)

I tossed the pinecones in a wooden purse, which only looks old, but actually came from Hobby Lobby. 

I kind of like how it turned out.

Simple Fall Decor Using Old & New Objects # 2

I shoved some faux fall flowers (from the Dollar Tree) & cinnamon sticks into an old galvanized pitcher (found at Goodwill).  The pitcher sits in a crystal serving bowl handed down to me by my grandmother.

A touch of rustic & elegance (and fake, I guess!)

Simple Fall Decor Using Old & New Objects # 1

I just love the colors of these "sweet dumpling" squashes, or gourds, if you like. 

3 placed in an old black wire bowl make a great table centerpiece.

Goodwill Hunting: Ugly Frames - Repurposed

What can you do with someone's old, discarded, ugly a** frames?

I have devoted a whole category in Pinterest to reusing old frames.  Check it out for some inspiration if you feel so inclined.

Here is a sample of 3 ugly frames I purchased on a recent Goodwill outing:

Yeah, my favorite is the windmill painting, which was dated 1976.

I actually liked the floral print, just not the dark bamboo-ish frame, & the owl print, but again it was too dark.

Here's a closer look at the windmill painting, just in case you missed it the first time.

Beautiful, huh?  I really picked this one up for the burlap border.

What to do, what to do?

A little paint does magic.

For the windmill painting, I first painted all the wood, even the painting itself with a buff/cream color using craft paint from Michael's, & left the burlap.

It already looks better.

Then I took a lighter creamy off-white & very lightly dry-brushed over the burlap.  I just wanted to freshen the color, not lose the texture of the burlap. This was a very tricky process.

Finally, I took a metallic finish (the same one I used on my pumpkins) & just went over the inside wooden frame with my finger dipped in the paint to give it some shimmer.

For the other 2, I taped off the portions I didn't want painted, & used the buff/cream color again.

              


















And again, I added some of the shimmer paint using my finger around the inner rim of both paintings to give them some shimma-shimma.  I even added some over the owls eyes.

Here they are completed:

See how the metallic gleams in the light?  I love that stuff.

Stay tuned for how I used these in my decor.

Once again, don't pass up an ugly a** frame just because it's ugly, it may turn out to have some potential!

Halloween Hoopla: Halloween Wreath

I needed a quickie little Halloween wreath, so I whipped up this little baby:

It only required a few ingredients & a few simple steps: 

• Metal wreath form (from Michael's)
• Ribbon of various colors: the bigger, patterned ribbon came from Michael's - I used 1 spool of each type. The filler ribbon came from my previous visit to the Dollar Tree (otherwise known as DT) - 1 spool of each color - purple, black, & orange.  I cut lengths of ribbon from each spool, & tied/knotted them through the middle two "rings" of the wreath. The wreath form was comprised of 4 separate concentric "rings". This helped my ribbon supply to stretch further, & you couldn't tell once the ribbon was all added. I tried to make the ribbon look kind of haphazard-like & spidery for a Halloween-ish effect.
• White tinsel garland (has spiders on it also, but you can't really see them - also from DT). I felt lazy & didn't want to tie on more ribbon, so I just weaved this throughout the ribbon to fill in any "bald spots" & make it look fuller (including the outer "rings" of the wreath form). Talk about lazy, I actually did this step while the wreath was hanging from my front door right before the trick-or-treaters hit!  
• Finally, I hung a felt spider web (actually a placemat, I think, which also came from DT) directly behind the wreath from the over-the-door wreath hanger. No, they are not attached, although it gives that illusion.  

So, there you have it.  Simple, quick, Halloween wreath.  I did have some inspiration from Pinterest: 

                   

However, I know mine didn't turn out quite as good as these.  Oh well, worked in a pinch!

Happy Halloween!