Rearranging the Back Porch

This weekend I found some time to rearrange and CLEAN the back porch.  It is amazing how many spider webs and dust spores can accumulate over a long hot and dry summer.    I usually keep up with it all summer, however this year was so hot I just could not deal with it much.  I am going to spare you the before pictures, because trust me it wasn't pretty!  However for those of you who want to know how the porch used to look when it was clean you can go here.


After vacuuming, cleaning and moving a few things around this is how my porch is looking today
.

One of the first things I did was to move the bakers rack to this side of the porch.  Why?  Because as you are going to see in the next photos, it's going to have much more use over here.  This time of year we tend to have more gatherings on the porch and that means the hammock comes down.

And our wrought iron round table comes in!  We use this table often, especially at Christmas when the whole family is over and seating is limited.  The porch is often a favorite dining spot for many when you have a house full of guests who are hot and full of Christmas cheer.

 

I have the other two chairs handy on the front porch right now at another smaller table.  I can easily move them in here should I need more seating one evening. 

I like the bakers rack over here so much better now. I am excited to think about how I will use it this year during times of entertaining.

I did a little  vignette rearranging on this too.  I really streamlined it a bit more.  Sometimes, I think a little goes a long way.  Especially when you are faced with having to clean so much.

I moved this pumpkin that I have on a candlestick from the dining room out here.  I like how the yellow and orange play off of the blue dish with nuts.

For the bottom shelf I moved this blue glazed piece down lower and added my two turkey baskets.

I really need to paint this table again.  I hadn't realized how much that needed to be done until I saw these photos.  Whew!  Do you see my water fountain in the background?

My BIL gave this to me one Christmas.  I just love it!  I haven't even turned it on all summer though and now I can't get it to turn on.   Luckily, the Mr. is going to take a look at it more tomorrow, he's pretty good at fixing things.  I just love the way the water sounds when it's trickling down this pineapple design.

Over here, you will probably notice that again I just streamlined and decluttered.

I can't remember if I ever showed you these cute little baskets I got for these shelves.  I got them from DT.  They are plastic baskets.  They have been so wonderful this summer.

Here's the other side of the porch where the bakers rack used to be.  Don't mind those spots on the chairs.  I noticed a few spots on the fabric that I had to clean.  It's not dry yet.  LOL!

Much more open and airy now.

This little TV stand got moved over here where the bakers rack used to be. 

I just love my white peacock, I think it looks great here!

 

Well, that's it!  Shew! I'm exhausted.

It feels great to get this chore done.  I feel like I have a new room again!

I am linking up to;

Metamorphosis Monday

and

Tabletop Tuesday

Thanks for stopping by for a visit.  The back porch is always open for company, urr, now that it's clean!

Mary

Yard Sale Treasures

It's been several weeks since I've hit the yard sales, but today I was fortunate enough to go again.  I have the Mr. to thank for that one.   He was actually the one who encouraged me to go.  The funny thing about my husband is that he doesn't care for going to antique stores and thrift shops so much but he does enjoy a good yard sale!  Anyway, he actually looked these up ahead of time yesterday and said, "I'm going to a few yard sales tomorrow you welcome to come if you want".  Ya see, he's an early riser!  That means if I'm going with him were up and out of here early!  So that's what I did this morning, now let's take a look at the goods.

Not too bad!

This cute little distressed shelf/box whatever, only $2.00.  More then I thought I should have paid but I knew the people here and didn't want to barter with them.  LOL!  I'm so nice!

This fabulous heavy wrought iron planter was only .50cents, can you believe that?  I would love to hear alternative suggestions on what I can use this for!  Hmmm????

These are actually little hurricane vases for votive candles to turn your candlesticks into votive holders.  They were .50cents each.  This person had several of these, kinda wish I had bartered more and bought the whole lot.  Oh well, what do I really need more for anyway?

I did get her to come down on these to .25 cents each since they were smaller.

She is the same seller who sold me this cute little wine bottle basket for .50 cents.

At another house I got this (very timely) cream and sugar set for $1.00.  I'll be setting this out straight away.

And for the cream of the crop, I got this beautiful marble top plant stand for $15.00.  I have wanted one of these forever.  I usually see these in the antiques stores for way more then that with wooden tops only.  The marble top on this one actually sits on a nice wooden top.  So versatile and has the original old manufacturers tags on them that say Kimball.  This seller was selling off her mothers furniture.

Well that's it, it was a great yard sale day!  I'm linking up to Debbiedoos Garage Salen Party.

Thanks for dropping by!

Mary

Fall Cloche Party

Woohoo!  It's finally here!  The day has arrived!  Are you ready?  For what you ask?  Well, let me tell you! It's only one of the most enjoyable parties eva!  It' time for Marty's Fall Cloche Party! 

 I am so happy to be able to share my cloches with you!  Let's start in the foyer!

Thank you Jennifer for helping me put this one together!

The adorable checked ribbon looks great here on this silver goblet cloche,

..with my very cute little pumpkin!

Did you like that? Great!  Now let's move into the dining room.

I've been hiding this side of the hutch from you in previous posts.

So that you could enjoy it up close during this party.

Ribbons and tassels and all!

It's a chicken in chicken wire!  LOL!

Hold on there's one more to go!  It's on the dining table.

Do you remember that Goodwill find I got that was in two pieces (click here)  that I wasn't sure how it was supposed to be.  Well, I told you I had an idea how I was going to use it didn't I , and here it is!

I am quite pleased with the creation of this stand for my largest cloche dome.

It's fancy fabulous!

And quite a contrast to the cutesy old scarecrow couple inside!  LOL!

I used a DT pumpkin here for the back side of the cloche! 

There you have it.  Hope you like!  I have been waiting awhile to show you these.

 Thanks Marty for hosting such a fun and enjoyably creative party.  I can't wait to see all the other cloches too!

Thanks for stopping by, I really appreciate it!

Mary

Autumn Tablescape

When I think of Autumn in it's full glory I think or deep rich glorious colors!  This setting reminds me so much of a beautiful Indian Summer autumn.  I hope you enjoy!

My setting started using these beautiful woven round place mats I've had forever.  I purchased them years ago online from Crate and Barrel.  I have so many!  I only recently stained four of them the color you see here, they were a light unstained finish.  I will be doing a post on that later.  The darker stain reminds me of the woods seen outside.

I then added these beautiful green wheat plates purchased from a church sale this summer.

Then I added my green terra cotta salad bowls.

The napkins I got on sale this summer from Pier 1.  Don't you just love the rich jewel tones on these!

I just love paisley too!

I can't remember where I got the blue glass napkin rings, only recently too.  Short term memory loss I guess!

I decided to use my grandmothers crystal with the gold trim.  The gold has worn to an almost copper look that I absolutely love.  I think it looks great in this setting!

And for my flatware, I used my everyday again.

I really like the simplicity of these.

Doesn't this table just radiate warmth to you?  I think so!

For my centerpiece I have several items on our lazy susan.  This has been in my husbands family for years and we have had forever now.  The Mr. just adores this thing.  I used to hate having it there when I wanted to decorate the table but I have now learned to just decorate with it!  I started by adding the yellow napkin on it I purchased from the Pfalztcraft outlet.  I have learned a napkin keeps things from sliding off the lazy susan easily when it is being turned.  That's called a life lesson!

Then I added my SL hurricane filled with fall pears.

A small floral arrangement I through together with some older florals I already had.

 I purchased the vase at a thrift store this summer.  The gold overlay on the brown looks so wonderfully aged and mimics the gold on my glasses wonderfully.

I had forgotten all about this little basket until I was looking through my cabinet.  Doesn't it look wonderful with the salt and pepper shakers?  I have only used it for sugar packets before.  I love this new application.

And of course I wanted to bring one of my newest gifts into this setting.  There has to be a candle in all of my table settings.  This jar candle just looks so perfect!  I put it on the plate so you could see how cute candles look on these small plates.  I love to give this set up as gifts.  I posted about that more here.

Here is a close up of a dish I got from the clearance section at Belks many, many, years ago.  Not sure if you can see the autumn leaves on it!  I only have one for use with my candles.

Check out this photo.  I got on a chair and held the camera under the light and just clicked!

It looks great doesn't it?  I was quite pleased.

I hope you enjoyed my Autumn table scape.  Please be sure and visit some of the other beautiful settings

at Tablescape Thursday today. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Mary