Cottage Review: Roses and Redoute

The Weekend Cottage Review is a time that I can share some personal thoughts, ideas and inspiration around the blogosphere, and some oldies but goodies. 

Valentine's Day in the Holiday Cupboard

Welcome to February...

 let's have some fun in the Holiday Cupboard!

Do you have a favorite place to "putter" with decor? I've mentioned before how much I love playing in this cupboard with dishes and knick knacks. It goes back to my old days of having vintage goods spaces where every inch was fair game to "decorate" for holidays and seasons. Besides, it's good therapy for me to design and create with dishes and ephemera. And since it's Valentine's Day I'm gathering all things floral, sweet, pink, and teensy bits of red!

Flags and Teapots in the Patriotic Holiday Cupboard

Hi Friends, wow, it's so hard to believe that the July 4th holiday is just around the corner! Are you getting into the Summer groove? A few weeks ago I brought out my traditionally summer French Faience and exchanged the Green Transferware in the Holiday Cupboard here in the Garden Room.  

Vintage Tea Party Vignette

I have sweet memories of the times when my two girlies were young, that our church would host a Spring Tea Party or luncheon in honor of Mother's Day. Moms and daughters would dress up in their best Springtime dresses to come and celebrate with teas, cookies, cakes and tiny tea sandwiches. Surrounded with flowers, ferns and fun pastel accessories, antique tea sets and china were part of the festive decor.

Spring Tea and the China Cupboard Preview

Hi Friends, the last time you heard from me I was knee neck deep in boxes of vintage dishes. Well, I've managed to work my way out and have a lot of my things put away. I'd been anxious to get the Dining Room China Cabinet and the Kitchen China Cupboard put together. They were looking pretty bare and lonesome without their contents. Here's a little preview...

AND...

I'm excited to be part of a Blog Hop on Monday sharing our ideas and inspiration for a Spring Tea Party. My sweet friend, Amber from Follow the Yellow Brick Home, is always a wonderful hostess and coordinator of these Hops.

There will be some pretty feminine goodies to be shared for Mother's Day, too.

So please plan a fun time visiting the gals Monday morning...

Have a wonderful weekend,

I'm hoping to make it to the nursery for some flowers...

if it will ever quit raining!

A Little Cottage Romance

Hi Friends, I challenged my decorating "self" this month to do some Valentine's Day vignettes with pinks and soft pastels instead of a lot of red. No sooner do I put away the reds from Christmas than they're back again for February and Valentine's Day. I wanted to keep the Baker's Rack romantic and feminine, so I used my antique china teapots and some of my English Cottages to keep things sweet and homey.

Christmas Dining Room

I love this time of year, 

but getting dark around 4:30 can be frustrating,

especially when you're editing photos and realize

that you need just one extra shot.

I tried to make use of the lower light 

and just add a little twinkle.

So, let's take a peek at the Dining Room,

all dressed up for Christmas.

Roses Revisited...

Hi Everyone, I thought I'd stop by for a quick update on this last week. I'm sharing some pretty and peaceful photos from a few years ago that were taken on my sunporch. That was my favorite spot for photos, since the room was north facing and the light was always perfect. I've never had regular rose bushes, but we did have this lovely Knock-Out bush in the front yard. It would bloom proficiently from Spring, all Summer, then into late Fall.

I'll share some prettiness before I bore you with my day-to-day fun...

Easy Festive Votives with Plaid and Boxwood

Hi Everyone, I hope you're having a wonderful weekend.

 Getting the Christmas decorating in hand, shopping,

making plans for this busy time of year...

 and enjoying your loved one's companionship.

A French Country Inspired Spring Brunch Buffet

Hello Everyone, 

we're all so excited to start off this special week of our

 Share Your Style Spring Blog Hop!

This week all eight of us will be sharing some fresh new Spring Inspiration and we hope you'll share what you've been doing to transform your spaces for this brand new Season.

A new teapot and a bit of Toile

I have to admit, I have a few small rituals that I really enjoy. Having a few cups of hot tea in the afternoon is one of them. This last week has seen really low temps, so that just adds to the comfort level that having something "hot" to sip on can bring. I'm not a cup and saucer and "pinky in the air" type; I love a generous and heavy mug; something to wrap my hands around.

Of Roses and Redoute...

Last weekend I shared some photos of the front yard, and a Knockout Rose bush that is blooming profusely this year. Our yard has two levels and this bush is nestled in a little grotto area that is shared by a much used bird bath and surrounded by Black-eyed Susans.

I thought I'd clip a few sprigs of blooms and bring them inside to enjoy up close.

I thought they'd feel at home in this petite Staffordshire Crown China teapot, trimmed out in a lacy pink pattern of flowers with gold trim.

I  also just recently found this little white chippy box and thought it might work for one of my "Vintage Seed Box" embellishments. Spring and Roses go together beautifully with one of my two vintage Redoute framed prints from the 40's, that I had on my baker's rack on the sunporch.

Below, I included some interesting information about Redoute. Knowing a little about the artist makes these beautiful prints all the more interesting.

 Pierre-Joseph Redouté (10 July 1759 in Saint-Hubert, Belgium – 19 June 1840 in Paris), was a Belgian painter and botanist, known for his watercolours of roses, lilies and other flowers at Malmaison. He was nicknamed "The Raphael of flowers".

He was an official court artist of Queen Marie Antoinette, and he continued painting through the French Revolution and Reign of Terror. Redouté survived the turbulent political upheaval to gain international recognition for his precise renderings of plants, which remain as fresh in the early 21st century as when first painted.

Paris was the cultural and scientific centre of Europe during an outstanding period in botanical illustration (1798 – 1837), one noted for the publication of several folio books with coloured plates. Enthusiastically, Redouté became an heir to the tradition of the Flemish and Dutch flower painters Brueghel, Ruysch, van Huysum and de Heem. Redouté contributed over 2,100 published plates depicting over 1,800 different species, many never rendered before.

 Marie Antoinette became his patron. Redouté received the title of Draughtsman and Painter to the Queen's Cabinet. In 1798, Empress Joséphine de Beauharnais, the first wife of Napoleon Bonaparte, became his patron and, some years later, he was her official artist. 

What perfection is found within the bloom of a rose.

My heart is heavy with all the devastation in Oklahoma. We are in the same "tornado alley" as they are. Storms start in North Texas and then take the northeast route each Spring. Many of us here in Missouri have basements, but Oklahoma has so much bedrock that basements aren't incorporated into a home's structure; not much comfort, but a little. I'm praying for all those who have lost so much in these storms this week.

I'll be linking up to these parties this week:

Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style
A Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson
Stone Gable
House Party at No Minimalist Here
Rooted in Thyme
The Charm of Home
French Country Cottage
Shabby Art Boutique
Jennifer Rizzo
Craftberry Bush

xoxo,

Easter in the Holiday Cupboard

You all will be thrilled to know that this year I have recovered the lost stash of Easter Goodies. Last year I was bemoaning the fact that I had a bunch of my vintage Easter things that were lost somewhere in the Twilight Zone. You know, that place that various and sundry items go to that is unbeknownst to your conscious mind. Yep, that happens to me every once in awhile, and when it does it triggers all kinds of thoughts about the state of mental health concerning moi.

(not too old cauliflower teapot) 

I prefer to regard it as just a busy person

 with a lot of "stuff" and not enough organizational skills.

(mini wheelbarrow with turnips)

Anyhoo, a couple of my old chalkware bunnies have found their way out of that parallel universe and back into the Holiday Cupboard.

I love old seed catalogs and Garden books

and just received a new purchase that I'll show you soon.

See the green garden box here on the bottom shelf?

Next week I'm going to share an idea I have for making them...

It won't be rocket science, but it will be be fun...

and on the cheap.


I'm joining these parties this week:


Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style
Rooted in Thyme
French Country Cottage
The Charm of Home
From My Front Porch to Yours
Coastal Charm

xoxo,

Romancing the Mantel

I wanted to bring in a little bit of a Valentine feel to my mantel. Last year I used some of my frenchy "couple" figurines, but this year I just opted for feminine and some pastels. I don't have a lot of pastels for decorating, so I turned to my kitchen china cabinet for some inspiration. How about some vintage English teapots? that sounds pretty romantic to me.

Last summer I was gifted with this precious monogrammed heart by my sweet friend Julia, from the blog Vintage with Laces. I had tried a few different things for the center of the mantel, but hanging this lovely linen heart from a scrolly mirror seemed to be the answer; a subtle nod to Valentine's Day, with just the right amount of romance.

I brought back my two white urns with faux and dried hydrangeas and roses in place of the white Wolff Pottery. This mantel is always hard for me to style as it is over 7 feet long...eeck.

My layered vintage mirrors are always my backdrop.

I would say that vintage teapots is my oldest collection, 

as I started it before I was married. 

Even though this didn't end up staying, I wanted to share this wonderful German wedding certificate that I found last year. I need to find a frame for it, but wanted to let you see it today as the graphics are so pretty, and definitely full of romance.

(just click on the  photo for a bigger image, then click again for details)

And another little random bit of romance is this little cardboard crown that I found in St. Louis several years ago and haven't yet shared with you.

Who wouldn't want to be "Queen for a Day" in this?

(yikes, do you remember that old tv game show?)

Partying at:

Savvy Southern Style
Coastal Charm
Primp
From My Front Porch to Yours
Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson
Timewashed
No Minimalist Here
Stone Gable
French Country Cottage
Shabby Art Boutique
Jennifer Rizzo

xoxo,