Were "I" to Serve Tea..

 

I confess I am not much of a tea-anista!  I know, I just made that nonsense up, but I hope you get the point. Much like a fashionista has a passion for great style, I think it takes quite a bit of flair to host a tea party!  I really do love seeing all these fabulous tea sets and tea parties you ladies pull out.  I am so in awe of your delicious goodies and sets that it has inspired me to pull out a very special set to share with you today.  I am not even 100% sure this is even a tea set as it looks more like an espresso set to me!  LOL!  However, were I to host a tea party, it might like look this...

Please forgive me for not bringing out the goodies too, but I thought we would focus on this goody of a tea set only.  Again, I use the term tea set lightly, as I'm not really sure.  This set belonged to my mother.  She gave it to me many years ago after she sold the house I grew up in.  It was a gift from my father to her from his travels to Germany.  He was a jet pilot in the Air National Guard and had may trips abroad.

  My parents divorced when I was just a young girl and I was raised by my mother.  When she moved after I got married she cleaned house.  This set held no real sentimental attachment for her, but for me it did.  You see, I remember seeing this in our china cabinet growing up.  I used to want to play with it all the time because it looked much like a child's tea set to my young eyes.  I was never allowed to play with it.  I have kept this set packed away.  I have never used it or even played with it until now! 

It is white china with silver trim.  I have always admired the simplicity of this set.  Here is a picture of the bottom of one of the saucers to show you the markings.

Keep in mind these next close up shots are making these pieces seem larger then they really are.

It has six of these very small cute cup and saucers.

A small creamer...

A sweet small and chipped sugar bowl..(maybe I did get ahold of this set once)

And a lovely tall and slim tea pot!

I would set it up to be served off of this small silver plated tray by Oneida.

Then I would certainly need teaspoons and a linen for spills.

So I would bring out this lovely tea towel inherited from my husbands family, with our monogram.

And our beautiful monogrammed silver teaspoons, also inherited from my husbands family.

Luckily he only had one brother, (and two sisters) but the boys got to split all the monogrammed items.

I can't read the name of the silver on the back, but it's a beautiful pattern!  Our monogram is on the back of the teaspoons.

And of course, I would bring in some freshly cut hydrangeas!

I wanted you to see a close up of the two tones on this one in particular.  I love when that happens on hydrangeas and you get that effect.

Well, that's what I might do, were I to host a tea party!

However, the reality is I'm not really much of a tea party kind of gal, I do enjoy tea though.  Usually it's good old fashioned sweet tea for me.   However, in the winter, I keep an assortment on hand.  This is the reality of my tea parties, they are solo, and served in this....

My choices look like this...

And that's they way I really am!

I sure have enjoyed sharing this set with you and had fun imagining what I might do!  Thank you so much for letting me share in your worlds today, it was wonderful!

I hope you enjoyed it too!  Leave me a note if you drop by, I'd love to hear what you think of my set.

I am joining the following parties today!  Be sure and visit these fun parties for more!

http://ladykatherineteaparlor.blogspot.com/ for Tea Time Tuesday

http://astrollthrulife.blogspot.com/ for Tabletop Tuesday

Last Weeks Deals

Last week I didn't think I was going Yard Salen so I posted a few thrift store finds early.  However, in my usual laid back style on Saturday morning, I made another last minute decision.   After several cups of coffee it was getting close to 10:00am again and I decided to go for it!  Not ventured, nothing gained right!  As luck would have it  did okay!


I am joining Debbie @ http://debbie-debbiedoos.blogspot.com/ for Garage Salen.  Please be sure and drop by and check out the other ladies great finds!  You won't be disappointed...we are a thrifty bunch!

Here's the whole amount of last weeks finds!  It's not much, but I'm happy with what I got.

Yep, I have added rooster item # 2 now..this could be trouble!  This only set me back $1.00.  From the same house I also purchased these Very large LC hoops for only .50 cents.

Then a little church sale was nearly sold out but I did manage to find this Yankee candle plate for $1.00

And I purchased these embroidered denim pillows at $2.00 for the set.

My next stop gave me the most exciting deals of the day!  I bought two table runners for $2.00 a piece.

This first one is a light sage green chenille with an inside tag that says Calzeat of Scotland...woohoo!  It's probably originally from T.J. Maxx but a girl can dream.  LOL!

But the big deal of the day was definitely this table runner for $2.00.  It was brand new still had the tags on it from Pottery Barn...original sticker of $45.00.  Can you believe it?  It's long too!  It has to be at least 3 yards long.  It stretches all the way across my dining table with a long overhang on each end that almost touches the floor!  I am in love with this runner! 

And from the same lady I purchased these two candle holders.  She said she thinks she got them from Pier 1 but can't remember for sure.  IDK!  She was asking $1.00 each on them and I said OK, then when I was pulling out my money since I was buying the two runners, she said, "just give me a $5.00, I'll take .50 cents each for the candle holders..I've never used them."  So I gladly gave her a $5.00.

Aren't they cool?  I am running out of hanging space. Honestly, I was not sure where I was going to hang them until I saw Kim @ Savvy Southern Style's deck reveal yesterday.  And it hit me!  Thanks Kim!

Here's a glance at where I hung them on both sides of the table on our top deck.

And a little closer up shows how cute they look!  Not to bad for .50cents! I'll add the candles on an as needed basis, or they will melt here for sure in this hot SC weather!

I really don't have a clue if I'll make it out again tomorrow or not, it just depends.  If I do I'll be sure and let you know, that's for sure!  Have a great day if your headed out for some deals tomorrow and if you not, I hope you have a wonderful weekend all the same!

Mary

Repainted Chairs

Do you remember I repainted my bar stools several weeks back.  If not you can see that post HERE!   Long story short,  I repainted them to get a nice contrast against my newly redone kitchen island.  You can see that post HERE!  Before I even painted the first bar stool I knew what I was in for.  I knew this was going to lead to yet another paint job.  It was one of those paint jobs I had been wanting to do for awhile now but had been putting it off.  You see, I've been putting this job off because I've been down this road before, several times in fact.  Let me show you what I am talking about.


This is our kitchen table!  We inherited this piece from my husband's family.  This is the kitchen table that he grew up with.  It is a massive 55" round oak claw foot table.  We had quite a bit of concerns when we bought this house if it would fit the space.  We literally built a very large kitchen dining area in our old house to accommodate this table, as most kitchen dining areas tend to be rather minimal.

It has two 10.5" wide sleeves that you can insert to expand this table bringing it to 76" long.

That comes in handy during the holidays when we have the extended family over.

The base on this table is a nice thick barrel.

And has four massive sized claw feet on casters to roll.

Can you tell I love this table!  I am so thrilled we were able to get it as my husband has other siblings that could have just as easily wound up with it.  It came with 6 wooden slat chairs that had also been in his family for years.  This is how our kitchen table with chairs used to look last week. 

The chairs were painted a light sagey green.  I painted these myself when we moved into our old house.  I used a brush and left the strokes visible as I was going for a shabby look.

As you can see over time they flaked and the chippy look was fine with me too.

Here you can see why I have been putting this job off.  You see, I have painted these chairs several times already.  Three times already to be exact!  I had my son help with the sanding this week and he went a little far on this chair.  He's never sanded before and didn't understand I just wanted a light sanding.

But I took these photos so you could see all the colors these chairs have been.  The light green, blue, and burgundy rose are all colors I've done.  The yellow and my son says there's a darker green there too were from my husbands family.  They were a bright yellow when we first got them.

Anyway, I love these chairs as much as I do the table with all their history and color.   I've never wanted new chairs for this table.  But I do enjoy a new look, so now these chairs have another coat of paint.

And here's how they look today!

It's been quite a project as the green chairs had a coat of shellac on them that was hard to sand off.

But I am pretty pleased with them now!

And I think they look wonderful with the black bar stools now too!  Don't you?

I am joining the following party today @ http://www.theshabbychiccottage.net/

for Transformation Thursday.

And by invitation also, http://toolsareforwomentoo.blogspot.com/

for Modern Craftswoman Monday!  Thanks Rory!

Leave me a comment if you please and thanks for stopping by!

HOW TO START?

I am hoping I will have a few loyal followers today who read this and respond.  Those of you who have followed me know I have a history in retail in a small shop.  Well, what I have not mentioned to you is that I truly would like to have my own shop one day.  I do think I could manage it quite well myself and have a fantastic idea of what I would want to specialize in!

I'm not ready to fully reveal my concept on here yet, but I will say it has more to do with resale.  I would ultimately like to have a real brick and mortar building with some retail items but mostly resale consignments!  However, I do not have the capital to do this or even know where to begin.  My thoughts are that I would like to start something online and see if that would evolve into a sustainable business one day. 

My question for you is this?  Where do I start gathering information?  Who do I need to speak with?  I have seen so many of you who have your own business and would love to exchange emails with some of you who are willing to offer some sound advice.  I have already researched Ebay but do not want to go that route.  I'm not sure about using ETSY either, but really haven't looked into that.  I really am getting excited about this idea and want to give it a try!  Is it realistic to think you can start out small and grow in this economy?  IDK! 

Well that's it!  Please respond if you are willing to help or know of any blogs or websites that have information available about this. Even if you don't have your own business and follow me,  I'd appreciate all your thoughts and comments on this idea too!  I really want to hear from all of you!

Thanks In Advance!
Mary

Backyard Birds

I've been desperately trying to capture these beautiful birds around here.  But they are far quicker and wiser than I.  It would seem they rest comfortably near me when I am sitting and enjoying my yard but the minute I get up for the camera they sense something and leave.  I was able to catch a few sightings this past week and am sharing that glory with you today!  I hope you enjoy!

Before I could fully focus this beauty lands cautiously on the bird bath!

And there she/or he is preparing to take a dip!

Satisfied no one is watching, she/or he jumps right in!

Then it's back to the branch to dry off.

And look for anyone who is watching!

This one flutters about in the water so quick I barely have time to grab the camera let alone get focused.

Then perches atop the old cement squirrel!  If only he knew!  LOL!

I am joining Susan today at http://asoutherndaydreamer.blogspot.com/

for Outdoor Wednesday!

Please be sure and stop by the link above for more wonderful Outdoor adventures!