Iv'e got my Mo Jo back!

Hey there all my blogging friends. Today I feel like I have finally got my MOJO back, well at least for a while anyway. I guess that the inevitable will happen again when we all live such hectic lives. As I said in my last blog   http://thriftytablechic.blogspot.com/2011/06/roses-delight.html I just couldn't find it in myself to create a table which I was happy with. I managed to knock out two and preferred the second one. But funnily enough I found that looking back over the photos the second one didn't photograph any where near as good as the first. Ah well, look for yourself and you decide.

So on to our table for this week. I have been going down the bright colour route for a while and decided to head down a different path. This table was started, because I had managed to get a new pile of plates and dishes which I knew would go with my cream patterned china. When I bought the first set it was only for four people, but I loved it so much. It's funny because I nearly always reject such a small set as I generally like to buy for eight or six at the very least. However, this one spoke to me....Buy me, Buy me it shouted!! No it really did...it was quite embarrassing and I had to hide my face as I walked out with it. I didn't want others to come and kidnap me so that they could do research on me and my talking dinner set. Anyway, we escaped with out incident and I had this one sitting nicely in  my china cupboard. BUT, as usual I couldn't leave well alone, I knew it needed to be added to. So low and behold what do I find nearly a year later? Yes you guessed it, the perfect pairing for it. Well I think so anyway. See for yourself. I did my usual trick of mixing and matching. It is a great way of making a small set go further.

I added my beautiful vintage pink water glasses. Sorry I don't know who made them (that's the trouble with op-shopping you often don't) and then added the other wine glasses that you can see.

It's a real shame that in the picture you cant see the beautiful engraving on the smaller glasses. 

With my gorgeous, very old (c1910) enamel jug for a centre piece to hold my delightful yellow roses, placed on a gold organza runner, which I scrunched up into a pile with a pink napkin. Then added my newly acquired Greek, pillar, thingamabob.

Pink candles placed into some old brass candlesticks added a bit more gold to enhance the gilding on the plates. 

A little note about Brass.... it is usually very cheap in thrift shops here in NZ and indeed in the UK, but let me tell you a secret it is going to be the new "MUST HAVE" design element for the coming season. Personally I love anything that is still very affordable and bought mine about two years ago. You can always sell it after you have grown to dislike if you want, it holds it's scrap value very well. Anyway I digress, See for yourself if you like the effect.

See the gorgeous little pink depression glass bowls that I bought from the Market? I added a couple of decorative little flower candles, but I can a myriad of uses for those little babies. How about using them as a salt and pepper bowl ? HUH? Yes I know, they'll look perfect won't they with two tiny little silver spoons. Ooh, I'm thinking already about where to get some more. ( I bought one for  my girlfriend last Chrismas with a darling little salt. Darnnit, should have kept it). Ah well the fun of the hunt, etc!!!....

The napkins were very simple plain pink with cream and gold napkin rings which came as a part of the Japanese set I bought about a year ago. You can see the place mats in the picture below. 

I Used the old vintage cream linen table cloth. I love it but it is a bugger to iron, (thanks to the Women's Institute for that one). Anyway as time went on found that the whole table had a bit of a Grecian feel to it, so I added my cord tie backs which my son decided that he no longer wanted in his room. Ha ha his loss my gain!!

Here is is again in candlelight.

This beautiful jug is pink glass with the most exquisite gilding on it. It was absolutely perfect condition when I bought it

And finally..........

So there it is my MOJO table.

Please leave some comments, I love getting them. It does make blogging seem worth it if you know people like what you are doing. HAPPY BLOGGING!!
I will be joining Inspiration friday @ the picket fence http://www.atthepicketfence.com/2011/06/welcome-to-inspiration-friday-no-21.html
Tablescape Thursday @ between naps on the porch http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/2011/06/4th-of-july-table-setting-welcome-to_29.html
Pink saturday @ How sweet the sound
http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/pink-saturday/

Roses Delight

I don't know about you, but sometimes I really strugle to be inspired and create a tablescape that I am happy with. Todays was no exception. I had managed to acquire a new dinners set (or two) from my local thrift store, which looks dangerously like Fiesta. It's not, I hasten to add, but it sure does look like it. I was able to buy both sets for about $12 (US) each. So really good value. I loved the way I could colour co-ordinate the two sets. But when it came to laying the table everything I put on there didn't seem to work for me. I choppped and changed it as you will see, but I am still not sure. I will let you decide.

Don't you just hate it when you go off the boil though? All your creativity goes out the window with the summer. Don't forget all you ladies in the States we are in the debths of winter here in NZ. I can't get inpired by all this rain we are having. So this is my attempt at brightening up our day......

I used all the things that I had eg linens glasses etc in this colour scheme to lift the dark gloom of the moment. I added some ivy and drapped it around the green bottle and yellow and blue candlesticks....Hmmm...still not sure though! Let me show you some other elements of the table so you can make your own mind up, before I show you the changes I made.

I must confess I love these little geese. My salt and pepper set. 

 I used my mismatched green and blue wine glasses, I love odd things on the table, it definately appeals to my sense of eccentricity. I love this small table cloth and I have two of them, which I use quite often. Here I have folded one of them and used it as a runner.

 These place mats were the right colours but, Hmmmm still not sure!!I couldn't resist these little cow napkin rings. OK! Maybe not for this table but it has given me another idea for a later date.

 So here is what I changed the table to. I know the photo doesn't quite show it off to it's best but, you will have to trust me when I say that this table looks better. I even asked the old boy which he liked best and he agreed that the second table definately looked more sophisticated.

I have added a tablecloth and changed the mats and runner. I also changed the napkins, even though they were the same colour. I bought those this week also. How about this then??? Twelve napkins for $3.50 (US). Good Huh? You can't quite see the linens in this picture though. Can you see how I have alternated the dinner plates?

Another view of a different glass. See the little blue votives making an appearance?

 Oh look the geese are still hanging around. And you can just see the embroidery on the runner.

What about these vases? I can see I will get a lot of use out of them. I bought them yesterday, at the hospice shop for $12.50(US) for the two. They were down to half the original price. The candlesticks I have had for ages. I should have put new candles in, for the photo, but the table was just for us, so I didn't think....der stupid!!! Look at those Roses though. A little bit of summer sun in the winter.

 A close up of the setting with new blue cutlery and.....

 Napkins .......

 ........and rings.

 Well there it is do tell me which you like better. Or just drop me a note to say whether you suffer from tablescaping and bloggin dryspells.  Please say it's not just me!!!!

Enjoy!!!!!!!  

I will be joining Tablescape thursday @ Between naps on the porch

Wow us wednesday @ Savvy Southern Style
Good luck wednesday @ A beach cottage
Recognition day thursday @ Homemaker on a dime

Thrifty thursday @ Tales from the bloggeritaville

Open house thursday @ No minimalist here

Inspiration friday @ At the picket fence

Feathered nest friday @ French country cottage

Show and tell friday @ My Romantic home 

  

The Background Fairy

I have just managed to finally work out how to customise my blog and add a nice background. I want to thank the Background Fairy for all her invaluable advice. She truly is a Magical fairy!

I hope you like it! xxx


http://www.backgroundfairy.com/2011/01/super-simple-blog-tip-bloggers-new-new.html

A vignette to brighten a dull evening

I recently added a photo of this vignette to the header of my blog as I love it very much. It was hard to get the pictures to come out clearly as I'm not the best photographer in the world. However I think it came out ok.

If you are new to my blog then you probably don't know that everything I write about, are purchases, that I have made from Thrift stores,  Op-shops, Antique stores or Flea markets. In short, any second hand purchase. I do allow myself bargains from very low end shops aswell like the two dollar shop.

This little vignette came together after I bought this silver tea set from an Antique shop which was closing down. I already had a silver tea set but nothing as pretty as this one. Along with the crystal candle sticks I think it has made a really lovely vignette. What do you think?

Now at night it really came alive. The beautiful candle light just sparkles away devinely.

Here is viewfrom above so that you can see the individual pieces.

I love lighting up the candles in the evening. You can see below how they have been used often. The candles are nearly gone.

I hope that you have enjoyed your visit and come back soon.

I will be linking this to
show and tell friday at My Romantic home
Newbie Linkie at Debbiedoos
Tablescape Thursday at Between naps on the porch
Thrifty Thursday at Tales from Bloggeritaville
Tabletop tuesday at a stroll through life

Where do I keep mine?

After looking at many blogs on here about where all the other plataholics or dish addicts keep their collections and having all sorts of people asking me "where do you keep it all?" I decided to show you how I have come to store all my tablescaping stuff.  So feast your eyes my little china comrades and linen lovers all will be revealed.

Firstly let me show where it all began. One sunny day, far, far away (ok I made that bit up) while sitting enjoying a coffee with my hubby in one of our numerous cafes around the harbour in Auckland, I decided to put together a new dinner service made entirely of odd pieces of china. I think that you can see (2nd shelf down) that I succeeded.

   I managed to aquire over about a year, a complete dinner service for twelve people. It consists of dinner plates, salad plates, side plates. Soup bowls, desert bowls, serving platters, gravy boats and assorted serving dishes. Along with cups and saucers and oblong sandwich plates, condiment sets, candesticks and as you can see a few jugs t'boot! Once this was complete I was totally addicted to the sorting through  of all the goodies that thrift shops had to offer. I was amazed and still am at what you can buy for very little money. So onwards we go on our journey of  dinner service storage.

Here you can see the orange, Norwegian retro 1960/70's set. A complete set for 8 people and in perfect condition. Along with my glass set for 14 you can also see the Crown Lynne, Sandown 1970's set for 10 (bottom shelf). What about the Sundae dishes on the left. Keep in mind virtually everything in that cupboard has been bought from op-shops or thrift stores.

   Next I will take you to my dinning room where you can see my white china, complete with silver rim. It sits comfortably if a little cramped, in the sideboard with my silverware and crystal.

Boxes and canteens of cutlery fill the draws. Notice the lovely black cloth wrap that my son made me. I use it to protect some bone handles knives, which didn't come in a box. (Isn't he a darling?)

Next I will take you back into the hall for another cupboard or dresser just brimmings with linens. Each coloured carrier bag contains many assorted napkins, runners, table cloths and place mats but, all in one colour scheme. The green bag contains only green linens etc.

So now into the garage. My lovely hubby built me some amazingly strong shelves. Originally I had all my china wrapped in tissue and in storage boxes ( I do live in a country which suffers from earthquakes) but I found that I could never remember what I had to use on any given day, so I decided to get them all out so they could be viewed whenever I needed them. I try to keep them all colour co-ordinated.

                       

 I'm still trying to finish the French, Arcoroc, black glass shell set. Notice the very early and collectable Portmerion, Susan Williams Ellis, Cypher, 1964 set on the second shelf. Not to everyones taste but I love it. The pumpkin bowls are still on my radar when hunting as I only have four of them. I would love another two at least. The amber glassware became another obsession of mine. You can see how much I ended up with. I just love the way it glows in the day light or at night reflecting the candle light.

(The ugly bubble wrap behind is just there to stop the intense sunlight from heating up the glass through the window and then contracting with the cold of the night. I don't want to have cracked and broken glass all over the floor now do I?)   

In the boxes at the bottom of these shelves, are more linens, (multicoloured ones) and assorted silver and brassware. More glasses, napkin rings and candles. 

Finally, oposite these shelves are my accessories or props as I like to call them. All the little knick knacks that go to complete a themed tablescape. You will find teddies, sea life, china, farm animal ornaments, candlesticks, votives and vases galore. And maybe just a few other coloured glasses.

So I hope you have enjoyed being taken around the house to see where the op-shop addict keeps all her hunting trophies! 

SEE YA AGAIN SOON.

Linking to

debbiedoos Newbie party