In Celebration of Easter

Preparing for Easter is one of my favorite holidays to plan for.  I have been especially blessed this year with the time to make sure I have the details in order.  I am celebrating this year with my side of the family.  They are not the types to be concerned with china and decorating but they are kind enough to indulge me in my whims.  That's what families do, they accept who you are and make the best of it.   They understood along time ago that it makes me happy to focus on the pretty things in life.  There are so many situations and sorrows that can steal your joy, but focusing on good things can keep you in the spirit.  I am blessed to be able to serve my family in a way that I think they are worthy of, so here is a vision of how we will be dining this year.  I am linking with Susan at http://www.betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/ for Tablescape Thursday this week, please enjoy others by following the link above.

I am very pleased to be able to include pieces from two of my grandmothers, in my table setting this year.

I am using my paternal grandmothers china and my maternal grandmothers crystal.

As you can see, those sweet little duckys made it to the table this year.

This was Grandma Millie's crystal.  My grandfather, her husband, was employed by the U.S. to entertain dignitary visitors to the Panama Canal as it was being built.  My grandmother was a very important part of that position back in the day.  She played the piano for guests and entertained beautifully.  To think that she may have used these while entertaining in their home makes me very happy.  I love how they are very simple and etched in gold, something we rarely see or use these days.

This is my grandmother, NaNa's china.  It is from China.  Brought back by her husband during WWI.  They were simple farmers in South Carolina descended here from Germany.  They settled into an area here that was named Dutch Fork after the German descendents that inhabited the area.  The original area of DF is now under water after a lake was built in the area dividing my ancestors on several sides.  I love how chipped this china is because my Grandmother believed in using this every Sunday and as often as possible.

I think they would be both be very happy to see their pieces being used and even happier to see how I have decided to use them my own way.

I plan to add some dyed eggs in the center of this bowl  that holds my faux chocolate bunny.  I am looking forward to trying out the Southern Living recipe for speckled tea stained eggs.

The Old brown bunny who lives by the door on my front porch year round is ready to greet our guests.

My front door is subtle but simply announces Easter to all who enter within.

The bunny village rests on our old hutch in the den...

And my newest of favorite Easter decor adorns the fireplace.  These vintage looking bunnies were purchased a few years ago at Ross for a steal of $12.99 each.  They are 26inches tall and utterly creepy according to my husband and sons. I love adjusting thier ears, and the way they look right through you with that creepy bunny  stare.  LOL!

I hope each of you has a very enjoyable holiday celebrating Easter this year. There is much to celebrate even without all the fun pretty things.  It is Jesus who has given us the true reason to celebrate.  With that in mind,  it is my wish to celebrate with all that he has given me.  Those who have come before me and with those that are here before me now.  God Bless each of you!

Happy Easter!

Easy Coach Light Renew

After several years of exposure to  the elements and many powerwashings later, our outdoor coach lights on the backside of our house were looking pretty shabby.  Since I really like these little lights I decided they were worth the effort to repaint.  It is still a work in progress as I only finished one this weekend.  I am linking up with MM today and hope that you will be inspired by mine and many other blogs here at....

Look closely and you will see how badly they were flaking paint, Yuck!

I thought I could remove the glass easy enough, but that was not the case.  This is what I used.  First I gave it a good sand job.  Then after several minutes of taping the glass with painters tape and a huge dose of patience I was ready for the spray paint. 

Now it's one down and one to go and everything is back to looking fresh and new again!  Well, umm, atleast the lights are looking fresh and new again! 

What a difference, I can't believe I let them go this long.

Well, that's all I've got for now, until next time.  Thanks for stopping by!

I love all comments so don't be shy!

Garage Sale Saturday Finds

Wow!  Today I was a BIG spender!  I spent a whole $4.50 TOTAL.  I don't know what came over me but I just could not stop myself.  Haha!  This is definately turning out to be a good day.    When my husband announced this morning he was going to one of our local church garage sales my first thought was, WHY, it's almost 11:00 already!  However I am not one to turn down a good garage sale when it's convenient.  Truth is I love garage sales, I just don't love getting up bright and early and rushing out to "possibly" score a deal.  I am not a morning person at all and fit more into the category of a leisure antique store browser.  Anyway, off I went expecting to find that all the good stuff was long gone.  To my suprise that was not the case today,  here is a sampling on my loot.

Yep, that's right!  I purchased all of this today for only $4.50.  That is 5 groups of stuff, or 20 individual pieces.   How ever you look at it, it still looks pretty good huh?

One can never have to many flower vases.  These two had such a nice simple shape and size.  I just couldn't pass up these for $.25 each, could you?

Another $.25 each and I purchased these two books.  I can't remember if I've seen the movie to the book on top or not, but I remember it was a good one and will be a nice way to spend a lazy afternoon one day.

For $1.00, I purchased (4) linen placemats and (4) linen napkins.  They are a pretty off white linen with 2 shades of green on the leaves and vines and  mixed shades of red and rose on the flower embroidery.  Not a stretch to know why I would love these if you know my former employment was in a local embroidery shop.  I like to think I know a little about this particular find, and trust me this is the good stuff.  Sweet!

And I almost passed these by, but then I did a double take and scooped them up.  At $.50 for the lot of four it was a steal.  These adorable little porcelain ducks will look so cute on the table this easter.  I can't wait!

Finally, the DEAL of the day was these beautiful green plates.  $2.00 for all four and not a chip or scratch on them!  Another tidbit about me, I love green!  Especially this shade of green.  The plates are called "Barrarte" and made in Portugal.  They have such a decorate edge and simple raised wheat leaves with just a hint of brown.  I know I will use these often, especially in my fall settings.

I'm soooo excited about my wonderful finds!    I'm not linked into anything today because I don't think there is a Garage Sale Saturday link.  Remember I am still new to blogging so feel free to let me know if there is such a fun link.  That would be exciting!  I think I did pretty good today, don't you?  Well, I hope your Saturday is going as fabulous as mine is.  Have a great weekend!

Easter Snippets

Pulled out the Easter decor yesterday.  It's still a work in progress, with much to be improved upon.   I thought  I'd share a few snippets of fun for Tabletop Tuesday.  As with most things with me, one thing leads to another,  I off I went on a napkin tangent.  I have several napkins I really love!  Isn't it such a shame  to keep them all stored away until we use them.  So I played with a few ideas to display them.  Please enjoy other vignettes here.. at http://astrollthrulife.blogspot.com/2010/03/5th-table-top-tuesday-more-spring.html

This is my pretty little egg I won when I used to sell Avon, it just sings spring to me!  The little bunny belonged to my husbands mother that I inherited.

This cute little bird egg was a cheap find at one the dollars stores a few years back but I love the colors and the open design and of course " the bird ".  I love birds in decor!

On my dining room buffet I added my little handmade egg candy dish that I made as a child in girls scouts, and this sweet little dish I picked up at a antique store for $1.00.

On the dining table I put out these precious little bunnies, more inherited pieces from my husbands family.  They aren't very big and add just a hint of spring.

As I said earlier, one thing leads to another, when I moved these napkins off the dining table, I put them on this dish on the buffet table.  This sparked my last idea....

The floral napkin vase!  I was working on ideas for a floral arrange that needs a few more pieces.  While the vase sat empty I kept looking over at my other napkins and thinking how much I like having them out and how I would like to display more.  And that's when it hit me to make a floral napkin vase!  It will probably be replaced with my arrangement soon but for now, what fun!

Thanks for taking a peek and leave me a message if you please!

MM - Kitchen Island Redo

I am participating in Metamorphasis Monday today for the first time ever.  Please take a moment to check out my blog and others like it showing before and after photos here at the following link...


We have lived in our home for almost 7 years now this coming May.  I love my kitchen with it's very large kitchen island.  When we purchased the house from the previous owners the kitchen island was painted white and looked much like it does in the photos below, with the exception of the current hardware and countertop.

I have always thought this island needed a little more PIZAZZ! 

 From the day we bought this house, I suggested to my husband we should add more details with moulding and really make it fantastic!    He agreed, but, like most people, other priorities in life take over.

  The first thing I did was to change out all hardware in the entire kitchen.   I fell in love with these wrought irons drawer pulls for $1.99 each from, The Closeout Company.   That was a deal considering I needed 25 drawer pulls total.  For the knobs I chose glass in a crystal ball shape, and  I only needed 29 of those!

 

 Soon more time passed and in a haste to do something I painted our island the green you see pictured here.

 I came across a $1.00 pint size can of "Oops" paint at lowes.  That's a custom mix that someone had made that they did not like and returned.  I always monitor the "Oops" shelves for colors I like and great deals on paint.  I have been known to buy paint longgg before I know what I'm going to use it on.  Really!    Anyway, painting my island was a welcome change that I enjoyed for a time. 

Eventually, we had to replace a cracked sink in the original solid surface counter top.  A solid surface counter top has a moulded porcelin sink and can be quite costly to repair or replace. Big $$$!  After checking out all options and to my extreme delight would you believe it really wasn't that much more to do granite. 

As you can see our large L shaped Island was quite nice and the center hub of our family life

 but still I wanted more...so

After many years of waiting... my husband and I finally found the right time to complete this project.  He was the carpenter and I was the painter and our Island now finally looks finished to me.   I love the details!

Because our kitchen has a cottage feel, we knew beadboard would be a perfect fit.  What do you think?  Isn't is just soo inviting?

For those of you who are on RMS, yes, you have seen this before.  Sorry for the repeat but it's my most recent project completion and I really wanted to use it for my first MM.  Yay!

I do hope to find another pair of barstools in black with a different look and style but that's probably another MM in itself.  Stay tuned.

Now completed, I love how the black countertop feels new to me again against the contrast of the white paint.  I especially love how warm and welcoming this Island feels the minute you see it.  Everyone always gathers here and we are happy to be able to finally say we did it! 

Well, that's the story of my Island redo, hope you enjoyed the history of my long wait.  Some things really are worth waiting for!   Leave a comment if you please and let me know what you think?