Birds in the Late Spring Holiday Cupboard

May has always been Bird Month for me. Around here we have nest building, new babies, and new faces at the feeders. I've collected a bit of bird themed vintage items during my time as a vintage market dealer, picking up figurines, tins, illustrations and ephemera during the years. It's a perfect themed match for my other favorite vintage theme which is old garden goods.

Peter Rabbit and Friends in the Cupboard

Hello Friends, Happy Easter week! Everyone is gathered in the Holiday Cupboard this Easter and spring season in honor of the Peter Rabbit Books. I don't have a big collection of vintage Easter items, but I have a few vintage figures, and some rabbit/bunny figural pieces that I've collected through the years.

Easter on the Farmtable and Vintage Ephemera

Hi Friends, I thought I'd share a quick refresh for Easter out on the farmtable, and a sweet little vintage card that reminds me of Easter graphics from when I was little in the late 50's. Yes, truly vintage!

Summer Patriotic Cupboard with Red Transferware

June is here and it's time to add a bit of the RED/WHITE/BLUE to the decor around the house and inside the Holiday Cupboard. This year I thought I'd try something a little different by combining my usual "summer" dishes, my French faience, along with the few red transferware pieces I've collected through the years. 

The Holiday Cupboard is for the Birds

Hello there, Friends! I hope you're having a wonderful week and that you're enjoying warm pleasant late spring weather. We all seem to have some outdoor projects we're trying to get to, but golly, it's been chilly and rainy around here... again. I'm not sure why this surprises me because it's often cool and rainy in early to mid May, but I'm sorta over it.  You can remind me of this when I'm complaining in September that it's too hot and dry. I've been wanting to get my outside containers put together and it's been too cool to get out and do much. I did finally get to the nursery over Mother's Day weekend to pick out some flowers so maybe I can get those finished up by this weekend.

Cupboards and Cabinets in Decor

Hello Friends,

I'm so glad you're here, because today I'm joining a great group of bloggers as we share our love for all things vintage with the Lifestyle of Love Blog Hop, hosted by our wonderful friend Cindy from County Road 407. We were given the topic of "How we use Cabinets and Hutches in our decor". Well, let me tell you I was jumping for joy when I saw that I would get to share one of my favorite pieces of furniture. 

Yes, you guessed it.

The Holiday Cupboard!

Using Vintage Dishes in Seasonal Decorating Hop

Hello friends, I'm so happy you've come by today and I hope you'll be checking out the fun that we're having at this bi-monthly Hop, Lifestyle of Love. Cindy from County Road 407 is our hostess with these wonderful vintage themed Hops. If you hopped over from Amber's blog, Follow the Yellow Brick Home, I know you loved her wonderful collection of vintage ironstone, pottery and dishes.

This month our Hop theme is "dishes" if you haven't guessed already, and I can guarantee that you'll find tons of inspiration on using dishes in seasonal decor. Whether you're a die-hard tablescaper and dish collector, or someone like me who just loves using them in vignettes and vintage decor, I know you'll love all the ideas from our group. 

French Faience in the Holiday Cupboard

A few weeks ago I decided to try something a little different here in the Holiday Cupboard, by bringing out my French Pottery aka my "wedding china". When I was choosing my china pattern for my Bridal Registry back in the 70's, I fell in love with this beautiful handpainted romantic look.

Starting on Spring with Green Transferware

After Valentine's Day I'm starting to think about Spring and Green and needing a change from the cold and dreary February weather. It's too early to be going all "Easter Bunnies" for me. But as I was thinking about my Holiday Cupboard in the Garden Room, I realized that bringing out some of my Green Transferware might be the first step that I needed.

Spring Market and Vintage Ivy Dishes

Spring Open Houses seem to be a little late this year, but since our weather has been on the cold side, I think we're all running a little behind schedule. We (my sis and I) only made it a couple of places, but we got our fix for all things Spring.

A Nature Themed Kitchen Cupboard

Smaller house equals less spaces to decorate, and that goes for Christmas decorating too. So I have to think "inside the box". This box would be inside the Kitchen China Cupboard, which at the old house never was decorated for anything. But here, it does double duty as the home of my Brown and Red Transferware and a stand in for my "Holiday Cupboard" which used to be in the basement family room at our previous home.

Life is like an old cupboard...

(feeling a little Forrest Gump-ish today)

Inevitably, when you move and downsize many of the furniture pieces you love and have collected have to be sold. Or in order to make the cut, they have to be relegated to different purposes and function. I can't tell you how much was sold last year, but let's just say it was literally truckloads. A couple of pieces that I could justify keeping were for storing things. I bought this piece to use at my antique mall space before I started blogging, but once I finished it, I realized it would be perfect for quilt storage in the downstairs guestroom. Now, it's in the basement/lower level kitchen nook next to the bar, displaying some of my odds and ends "collections".

Here at the new house

The Spring Forecast is Green

One of the things I loved most about having a shop space or antique mall booth was the styling and designing. I always had plans for each new Holiday and Season rearranging furniture and displays. That part was something I truly enjoyed, and I've really missed those days that I could bring in some new items and then just "play". Taking a color scheme and expanding on it with prints, dishes, linens, and accessories was and still is, one of the best ways for me to get my creativity and inspiration flowing.

Kitchen China Cabinet with a New Look

You've heard the old saying "It's got to get worse before it gets better." That's exactly what happened here at the new house this weekend. We rented a U-Haul trailer and made several trips from the 3 storage units back to the house with all kinds of boxes...kitchen dishes, decor, china, crystal, pillows...etc. Hubbs brought some of his fun stuff, and it all ended up opened and stacked on every flat surface available. After 6 loads of china and crystal going through the dishwasher, we started putting it all away.

Of course it took longer because I decided that I wanted to put my transferware into the kitchen china cabinet instead of my French Faience. (You can see this cabinet at the old house decorated for Christmas).That meant having some kind of a plan. I'm still missing some of my Old British Castles in Brown, but when they show up I'll just rearrange a little. Decorating can slow you down, you know...

And this morning before taking pics,

 I knew I needed something on top of the cabinet

So I added a few pumpkins to the mix and some bittersweet.

This cupboard has glass doors that stay closed, but I opened them up so you could see inside without at bunch of glare. I'm having to figure out the best time of day for photos at this new house, because this room has south facing windows and the blinds cause a lot of issues for photographing.

This is a newer cabinet that we purchased when we moved into the other house 12 years ago. I went back and forth on this one or a hutch and top cupboard, but in the end I chose this one. It matches the kitchen table and chairs with a somewhat creamy distressed finish.

I really enjoyed putting this all together, it's just a mix of my brown and red random pieces. I'd had the Faience in it for a long time, so I wanted to change things up a little. In the Spring I may go back to the florals and pastel dishes, but for the Holidays I wanted to stick with predominately brown.

A few of my old friends are here too, like the cows and cottage ware teapots and sugar and creamers. I have more of these...somewhere. Oh, and good news...Hubbs found the Dining Room chair slips (YAY!!) and they are now waiting to be washed and ironed. We literally looked for that specific box for hours, and of course it was hiding at the very back behind my outdoor garden goodies. He had packed that last storage unit with all kinds of various random boxes, and he knew not to come back home without it.

If you noticed, a few pieces of wicker found a spot here in the kitchen dining area. It makes me feel a little better for not having a sunporch at this house. Now, if I can just not "over-decorate"...I don't know if that's possible.

I'll be a part of Sherry's (No Minimalist Here) Thanksgiving Vignette Blog Hop this week, starting Wednesday November 12 through Friday November 14. Please come visit us for some Thanksgiving fun and inspiration. 

I'll see you again on Thursday for my Thanksgiving Vignette

 with the rest of the gals.

I'm linking up here this week:

Dwellings

Cedar Hill Farmhouse

Coastal Charm

A Stroll Through Life

Cozy Little House

Stone Gable

Have a great week!

xoxo,

Summer candlelight

the ones that care about what's happening to me in life, and that I don't have to "entertain" and impress. Thank you, to all of you who care about the person behind the blog, and that realize that sometimes,  "Life Happens", and it's not always about pretty pictures, lovely houses, and the latest and greatest. (although, we all still love that too!)

Before I tell you about my week, I want to tell you about these wonderful (I have two) little beeswax candles that I ordered along with a bee skep for my baker's rack. I had been feeling pretty down and these were waiting for me when we arrived home. I'll share the bee skep soon, but thought this little vintage floral saucer said "Summer" right along with a sheet of vine-y greens from my wallpaper sample books. 

(gosh, I love wallpaper, but get tired of one particular pattern too soon)

 The order contained this little tied herb bundle 

and some cinnamon wax melts. 

heavenly...

I have two sets of these cups and saucers,

 but the other's must be packed away...somewhere.

Carrier filled for Spring

I mentioned last week, that each time I'm at the other house packing the endless number of "things", that a few of them inevitably end up in my tote bag to come over here and join the other decor tidbits. I'm careful not to be too blatant, otherwise hubbs will look at me like, "we're supposed to be packing this stuff, not playing with it." sorry, I have to play...

The pink vintage bunny planter, majolica rabbit plate, and Fitz and Floyd Berry Platter were my spoils from last weekend.

This platter has some cracks and chips,

 but I fell in love with the raised basket weave design.

so Springy.

This little guy has no markings, but I did a Google search and it appears that he's Shawnee Pottery from the 50's...old bunny, real old bunny. He's all cotton candyish sweet pink with lots of little crazing.

Last year none of my daffodils bloomed. I don't know why, but there weren't even any bloom pods, just greens... what a disappointment. And this year only a few, so I wanted to enjoy them while I could. Last year I planted a few hyacinth bulbs in the same area, that did come up. When I went to cut them, some bees were eagerly working on them, so I left a few behind for them. They make a petite bouquet in one of my small Staffordshire white Ironstone pitchers.

I've always loved the unique shape of this hexagonal soup tureen. I can't decide if it's ironstone or ceramic, but it's different. And it's small enough to decorate with. I've changed out this carrier several times since I've been at this house. I only  have a few places to "decorate", so this is doing double duty to help with my decorating addiction.

And if course, I've never met a white carrier that I didn't love.

This is a strawberry carrier, with slats in the bottom,

sitting on the small bench in front of the wicker settee. 

I didn't have enough room for my coffee table here,

 but this old tool caddy bench fit perfectly.

The weather is confused here; it thinks we're still in March. It's been so windy today and chilly. Hopefully it will be in the 70's again by the weekend; the Iris are starting to come up. Hope you're having a wonderful week!

joining in on these parties:

Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style
It's a Party at DIY by Design
Blissful Whites at Timewashed

Treasure Hunt at From My Front Porch to Yours
Creative Friday at Jen Rizzo
Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage
Home Sweet Home at The Charm of Home
Shabbilicious Friday at Shabby Art Boutique
Simple and Sweet Friday at Rooted in Thyme

xoxo,

Today's Sponsor

French Bleu Vintage

Be sure and check out the 50% off sale going on now!

My New, Old Cupboard

I still have boxes sitting around, but last weekend I just had to unpack my ironstone and transferware. Each time I'd look at my cupboard in my new little sitting area, it called my name. So, the bathroom and office could wait. I needed to have some fun with dishes.

I debated on using my red transferware in the upper cabinet since it's close to Valentine's Day, but since I'd never styled my brown, the brown won out. As I've mentioned before, I don't have "sets" of any pattern, although the "Old Britain Castle" by Johnson Brothers is probably my favorite. Some of the plates have chips, but that wouldn't keep me from using them for display...just use a well placed sugar bowl or pitcher and no one's the wiser.

The ceilings here are high, so that gives more room for some displayed items on top... yay. One of my antique laundry baskets that received a whitewash last year is holding my boxwood wreath, an ironstone tureen, and some ironstone platters. I'm thinking "Spring" in here, so an old watering can, some clay pots, and a ivy topiary are squeezed in.

You might not be able to see her, 

but a little birdie is nesting in a clay flower pot.

I still have more brown at the other house that needs to be packed, but I only took what I hoped would fit in the cupboard. It's a little jammed in, but I wanted as much to enjoy as possible.

Some barnyard cows are here too, the brown and white one in the back is Meissen, very old, with a faint crossed swords mark and "Germany" engraved on his side. He/she has a horn busted and shows some wear, and I can't remember where I found it, but I knew he was valuable. He only cost a few dollars.

I'm not sure about the all white mamma and baby, but they are also bisque porcelain, although I can't find any markings. I don't know that I'd ever shown these, they were in my powder room at the other house. This is a Cordon Blue creamer, but an older and more detailed one than most.

No markings on this cutie.

I stole  permanently borrowed these cream and marmalade jars from my husband's crockery collection to include in the cupboard. He collects Civil War era pottery, crocks, and bottles, etc. Actually, he was collecting demi johns before they became so trendy. You'll see those too, soon...on the fireplace hearth, I think. 

So here's the bottom part of the cupboard; it's housing my red transferware for now and more misfit ironstone and brown transferware. I have to get the rest of it together and see how much I can fit in without totally breaking those shelves. I still have a load of green and a few pieces of blue. yikes. 

I don't have room to leave the doors open in here, but a few times a day I peek inside, and smile. I've wanted a dish display cupboard for ages. (Ever since I sold my first antique pie safe about 15 years ago.) Who knew moving to a smaller house would get me one?

Things are coming together over here. It's a little frustrating at times since there are some changes that I would like to make if this house was mine, but I'm having to do my best to camouflage them and work around them. 

I thought about starting off this post by saying how dang cold it is, but you all know that. Hope you're staying warm and inside with a fire and some hot tea or cocoa...I know I am.

joining in with these party people:

Savvy Southern Style

City Farmhouse

Timewashed

Mrs. Olson

From My Front Porch to Yours

Jennifer Rizzo

French Country Cottage

Shabby Art Boutique

The Charm of Home

Stone Gable

Cozy Little House

A Stroll Thru Life

Coastal Charm

love ya bunches,

Today's Sponsor

Bel Monili