Tablescape Thursday – Casual Lunch

For this week’s tablescape I am using mainly green and white, with a bit of yellow and brown. There are three place settings at one end of the dining room table.
Here are the dishes and utensils for a menu of an appetizer, manicotti, spinach, garlic bread, garden salad. The tablecloth is a goldenrod yellow linen that I got for a quarter at the thrift shop. The natural woven placemats, I’ve had for a couple decades. Bordallo Pinheiro cabbage plates are set on a white Canonsburg "American Traditional" dinner plates. At two places Johnson Brothers white ironstone hexagonal fruit bowls are set on the cabbage plate, to hold a light appetizer. At one place a Canonsburg fruit bowl is used, since I only have two of the Johnson plates, but liked the shape with the cabbage leaf plates.

The salad bowls are set on the Canonsburg bread and butter plates. The flatware is a mixture of silverplated pieces. Green and white napkins are placed in a wooden napkin ring. The brown goblets are Fostoria "Virginia." Their angular shape works well with the other shapes at the table.

The centerpiece has a pair of Bordallo Pinheiro candlesticks, a white squash or pumpkin with white faux flowers.
A white ceramic grated cheese dispenser (in shape of the Leaning tower of Pisa) bought at TJ Maxx several years ago, and a long green and white ceramic server for olives. My mother got a pair of these very narrow servers from Lillian Vernon catalog.

I almost forgot the dish for the garlic bread. It is a white dish lettered "garlic bread" on the inside. It was also a gift to me from my mother.

Other incidentals are a Canonsburg salt and pepper set, and a small Pinheiro leaf dish.

Not actually a part of the tablesetting, but nearby is a footed cake plate in green and white with a motif of pears. A ceramic pear and two ceramic limes

I hope you enjoyed my casual table for three diners. Do visit again soon, and leave a comment, please.

Be sure to visit our hostess Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for more Tablescape Thursday posts.

Post no 349 Thrifty Thursday

I am also linking this post to Thrifty Thursday hosted by Leigh at Tales From Bloggeritaville.



Here are the thrifty elements from the above tablescape:

Johnson Bros. Ironstone - 50 cents for 3 pieces
Tablecloth - 25 cents
Bordallo plates $3.99 each at TJ Maxx
The Bordallo bowls, candlesticks, and pumpkin basket were all bought at TJ Max at sale prices.
Silverplated flatware - gift and thrift store, some for 10 cents a piece
The brown Fostoria “Virginia” goblets were a good buy on Ebay
The faux flowers were a couple dollars at a consignment shop.
GIFTS – olive server and garlic bread tray from my mother, footed cake stand from my sister, ceramic pear and limes from my secretary who also made them.

For more Thrifty Thursday posts go to Tales From Bloggeritaville.

Consignment Catch II

In Sunday’s blog I mentioned the pine hutch I bought at the consignment shop. It was delivered today, since yesterday was Columbus Day.
Here is a photo of how it looked when it first arrived, before cleaning:





The unit was only a bit dusty, but while sanitizing it, I got to know every inch of the solid pine piece. The upper molding has simple dentil detail. The two upper doors have glass panes with frosted etching to imitate leaded glass. They can be changed out very easily since the glass is held with screws and metal braces. Under these doors are two small drawers. The base unit has two larger drawers and a two-door cabinet with one fixed shelf.




With a surge of patriotism, and conscious of being in the great Bay State (or, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts), I have decided to display the blue and white transferware called “Liberty Blue.” This English Staffordshire ware was made for the Bicentennial of the United States in 1976. Each piece depicts a building or event in the American Revolution. Knowing that I liked Blue and white dishes, my middle sister bought pieces each week at her supermarket in New York and gave them to me as a gift. In later years, I worked to gather twelve 5-piece place settings, plus the various bowls, platters, gravy boat, salt and pepper shakers, cereal and berry bowls, etc. in this extensive line. My sources were yard sales, antique and thrift stores, and eBay auctions. I still lack a few pieces, but have plenty enough for a Thanksgiving dinner or other meal with family or friends.






The surface of the base cabinet or buffet holds pantry goods in canisters. Mixed in with the display are some Bordallo Pinheiro green leaf ware and vintage aluminum tray. The base cabinet provides storage for the rest of the “Liberty Blue,” plus some “Blue Willow.”

This looks so much better than the bookcase I showed on Sunday, right?




When December comes, it will be fun to put Christmas wares on display in my “new” pine hutch and buffet.

Consignment Catch

For some time now I’ve been wanting a hutch for my small kitchen. Many that I found were too big and/or too pricey. Well, this morning I stopped at a new consignment shop for the second time. Since it was raining, I hurried up the steps to the door. As my hand gripped the unyielding latch, I read the hours of opening – Sunday 12 to 4. Ah, it was just about 11 am. Going down the steps I heard, "It’s O.K., I am here and I just finished my paper work, so I can open for you."

Well, thanking her, I went in and looked at all the neat things, stopping to read the labeled price tags. Guess what my eyes focussed on in an aisle that I had passed by minutes before? A neat pine hutch! The price was just right, so I got one of the owners and asked if the price was for the hutch and for the buffet under it. She said "Yes, it is."
Well, we quickly put a SOLD sign on it, and I rushed home to clear a spot for it in my kitchen.

Her husband wanted to deliver it this afternoon, but I could see that it would take me a while to get the things off the bookcase with sliding doors that the pine hutch would be replacing. So I should be getting it tomorrow. I can hardly wait! Now I have a place to display…. I am not sure if I want to put my collection of blue and white cups there, or blue and white dishes, or just what I had on the bookshelf all along – Green Bordallo leaf bowls, canisters with foodstuff. Probably the last choice, since it is the easiest for now. But, just think, I can change the display whenever I want.

Here are photos of the bookcase before I took all the stuff off it:

Once the new piece is delivered and set up, I’ll take photos for another post. Thank you for letting me share my excitement with you.

What Is In A Name?

On the wall in the front hall there is is a framed sign with the house name Oak Rise Cottage. It hangs between the gilt pineapple plaque and the sun print, mentioned and pictured in yesterday's blog. I made this sign several years ago on a Mac.


Now I am planning for another sign which incorporates oak trees, oak leaves, or acorns, to better evoke the name, ‘oak rise’. Recently I read an editorial piece about a fabric by Robert Kime named “Oak Leaves,” which should make a great mat for a new house sign.

My neighborhood is a cul de sac which is reached by scaling a steep hill. This is especially fun in the winter when the road is slushy with ice or snow. With an abundance of very tall oak trees on each lot, we get to rake up pounds of leaves each fall. So, with the hill in mind and the oak trees in mind, I came up with the name ‘Oak Rise’ with ‘Cottage,’ because friends had referred to my home as ‘cozy’. Also, it has seven standard-sized rooms (make that small – especially the dining room) which dictate placement the larger furniture pieces. With bedrooms, built in 1987-88, it was four years old when I bought it in 1992. I quickly went about making it my home and a place for all the many collectibles and furnishings I had accumulated over the years.

Recently, I finally had the kitchen wallpaper (pink plaid with tiny blue flowers) stripped off, the walls textured and painted a blue-green. The paint color chip I settled on was Benjamin Moore HC-142, Stratton blue. This color coordinates well with my blue and white dishes and green Bordallo Pinheiro ‘majolica’ from Portugal. During the Christmas holidays, my Spode “Christmas Tree” dishes also fit in well.




My hope is to share my ideas and ventures with other homeowners/ homekeepers/ homemakers. I am very new to blogging and hope to have a great time learning and sharing with the others whose blogs and websites I have been so thrilled to discover.