Monaco Blue

Pantone's color of the year 2013, Monaco Blue.

Formal...

Or fun...

It works!

Trust me, it will show up on everything, everywhere, from Target to Neiman's. Can't wait, I think it's great!

Any Monaco Blue in your future?

Goodwill, Dollar Tree, and Big Lots

An urn from Goodwill, Pumpkins from  Dollar Tree, and dish towels posing as napkins from Big Lots!

Right at home with my Wedgwood Medici china that will be twenty-nine years old next week!

Kitchen Island

We all know how expensive custom kitchen cabinetry is, so I just had to share with you this photo of a piece of furniture turned into a kitchen island.  

This is a very high end kitchen, the stove alone cost in the neighborhood of $8,000.00. The fact that they used a former dining room buffet as an island is great in my book.  No electrical, no plumbing, just a slab of granite!

Definitely will keep this in mind and keep my eyes open for a piece that can be repurposed as successfully as this!

Fall Tabletop

The other day while walking up and down the hills of Hallowell, I noticed a make shift stand in front of one of the homes I pass daily.  Japanese Lanterns, 25 cents a stem, read the sign next to a large vase of those intriguing bright orange flowers.  What made it even more Hallowellian was the coffee tin with a slit cut in the plastic top sitting on the table, on the sidewalk, unattended...the honor system.

 You can be sure the next time I walked by I had a dollar bill and more than a few quarters to stick in that slot.

Once home, those Japanese Lanterns started it all.

Out came the antique brass birdcage with the sort of creepy bird, at least he's orange, and a pale green rooster.

Then a walk downtown for the little pumpkins and gourds.

 My mother-in-law's reddish roosters and my thrift store candle toppers, came out of the cupboard, and so did the Dollar Store ceramic pumpkins from last year.

They all add up to Fallapalooza on my sideboard!

Oh, that's what one might call a gourd candle sitting by the roosters.  I found it and that basket at my salvage store, $7.00 for the two.

I know some would put the lanterns in the rooster, put the rooster on the table and call it a day, I've just never been that way!

Fall Decor

There's a nip in the air up here in Maine and it's time for my porch to welcome fall. I have had these mums  for three weeks or so, I knew it was early but couldn't resist. Don't you just plain get tired of your summer flowers about now?

A small rug, rag or whatever, and the porch is beginning to come together.

A few sticks add some height to the mums.

And a rooster plunks itself down in a planter!

The same old wreath gets pulled out every year,
and looks just fine against my fairly newly painted black front door.

My porch, smack dab in the center of town, changes with the seasons.  How'd I do this fall?

I often turn inside items into outside items and vice versa.  Two mums and a pumpkin were all I needed to add to what I already had! Under $25.00 and it's a wrap!

Ikat, White, and Zebra

My little room has long been neglected and I wanted to turn it into a place for me and my ideas.  

Two old chairs, some white spray paint, and an ikat remnant, voila!

An old farm table turned into a desk with lots of space.

A few new accessories, the blue green shell platter, only $3.00 at T.J.'s and the Moroccan trellis frame, $7.00 at T.J's.  

Painted my Target lampshades gold, added a few baskets, found an old column for $8.00, borrowed a garden stool from the porch, and am good to go!

Oh yes the rug.  It had been in the living room waiting for me to take down the wallpaper and paint this room WHITE.

Here's how it all came together, please tell me what you think.