Thanksgiving Placecards - Antique Style

Thanksgiving is bringing 31 people together at my house.  That's  a lot of china, silver, and chairs.  I decided to use placecards to make it easy on deciding where to sit.

I found some antique trade cards  from the late 1700's and used them for my base format.

As usual, I couldn't decide what print to use, so I used a bunch:

I stuck with harvest and farming themes, with some thrown in because of the period dress.

The chef, who has a huge garden and grows oranges, will get the orange grower business card.

I had to play with the sizing.  once I get the size figured out, I print them out on cardstock.

It's not the typical pilgrim/ fall leaf// pumpkin placecard you usually see for Thankgiving.  So that makes it perfect for my table.

I'm linked up to Marty's "Inspire Me Tuesdays" at A Stroll Thru Life.

Fall Dining Room & Tablescape

I thought I would share a photo of my dining room from a party I had.  You can see the table set with antique crystal and the breakfront loaded with American Brilliant Cut Glass.

For the centerpiece I used a large beaded fruit wreath.  I placed a large wax insert in the center, and put a real candle in it.  The inserts are hard to find, but I like the glow that it creates.  

I love my breakfront filled with an antique Limoges fish set, and the cut glass.  The Limoes fish plates are very pretty.

 The glass by itself disappears in the cabinet and the fish plates help. I didn't style the picture below, it's the way it is-- you know, you bring one new piece into the house and you have to put it somewhere....

It won't be long until I'm thinking about christmas!

My Sideboard

I was looking at my sideboard this morning, thinking I want to change things out for the upcoming Thanksgiving.   Before I do that, I'd like to share a photo of what it looks like right now.  

Colonial Williamsburg Sideboard

The oval mirror over the sideboard came from an estate sale (surprise).  It was a bargain price of $50.  I found an old eagle that used to be on a federal mirror, it looks nice watching over the activities in the dining room.

Mirror fragment of an eagle

I have alot of items that have eagles on them.  They always catch my eye, and I'm delighted to find them in any form, but wood carved are the favorites.

On each side of the mirror, I have 19th century plates, a Royal Crown Derby Imari pattern called "Kings", and two Imari vases.

I like the little wall brackets with oromlu "ribbon" swagged.  They are the perfect size for the Imari vases.   Imari has wonderful colors that look so great.  The coral and the blue complement each other perfectly.  The plates are older, probably 1850's.

I don't have alot of Imari, but I do enjoy it.  You can find lots of Imari on ebay for really great prices compared to the high end shows around the country.

The American Brilliant cut glass pieces, made from 1880-1910, are a Hawkes flower center, Pairpoint candlesticks, and a Libbey water set.

They are all engraved.  The water set is cut and engraved cherries, the flower center has carnations and the candlesticks have daisies and swirls.

The last statue is something I've always liked.  I have no clue as to its age or who they are.  I just like the look of them on the sideboard!

That's the story on the sideboard.  I hope to come up with a fall-scape in time for Thanksgiving.  Moving on, weekend antiquing was fun.  I found a wonderful piece of embroidery, with gilt metallic thread.

 I left the photo large so you could see the detailed work.   What would you do:  hang it up as is, or cut it up and make pillows?

Dining Room Project

This is a project from last summer. I didn't have much time to work on it. It was over 2000 miles away, and I had to order everything in advance, and show up with one weekend to pull it together. I didn't know exactly what was available from existing items, so there was a day of last minute shopping to pull it all together.

The dining room is a narrow long room. It's a condo, and while it's very roomy, the table had to be narrow so you can walk around it easily. The windows have a fabulous view, and I didn't want you to feel like you were crammed against the wall when you want to look out.

Before:
This is a room filled with leftovers from other rooms, other projects. The table was a George 3 breakfast table, a fabulous table, just not good for this application. The top wobbled. The chairs, a very cool pair of antique chairs, with the maker's name stenciled on the back of the seat, I'm not sure if you can see it in the photo. They have cane seats. The rug made the room look smaller than it is. The demilune table on the wall was a $20 garage sale piece. The tables were sent to the auction house. The tapestry was sold on Ebay. The sale of the items completely paid for the table. How nice is that!
Don't you love the silk drapes though!

The Table: My favorite French antique shop carries this farmhouse table. It is not antique, and that works best at times. You can order it in any size, length, width, etc. It has a wonderful finish with great patina. This table can also be used as a desk, back of the sofa, isn't it great!


I had a weekend to do the decorating, so I was scrambling to find a picture for the wall. I decided on the bird print. I liked the black on the frame, and the whimsy of the writing on the print. The dog painting seemed to heavy and stuffy for the effect I was going for.

After:
The console table has drawers in it which provides some storage. It is narrow so it doesn't take up alot of room. I really like it. The top is marble. It is a reproduction, and I love it! The table painted finish doesn't match the finish of the chairs, but I think they work together all right. I was planning on adding some grey-blue antiquing to this. I didn't want to smell up the place with paint that weekend. What do you think--do you have any combinations of paint you like to use? I studied a fabulous painted piece once and it had a periwinkle blue covered with a brown stain and then a pale grey wash. It looked great--I'd never have guess that the base paint was a periwinkle!
I found some Italian faience plates (estate sale) which I paired with some vintage Borghese cherub statues on brackets (again,estate sale). The black cherubs pick up the black on the picture matting, and the faience plates look good with the picture also. I actually have 4 plates, but thought the two brackets and statues provide some interest vs. the 4 plates. When I was done I thought perhaps I should have hung the plates higher, I could have added the other two plates below the brackets. I didn't do the usual grouping on the floor before I hung them. That always helps when you are an amateur like myself.

The tole hydrangea had a black and ivory paint job, which looked to stark, so I painted it green and blue, and some gilding. It was a bit of late-night work, but I liked the feel of the tole. A collection of pitchers came in handy. The pottery beehive pitcher is fabulous even though it is new. It is by Juliska, check out their whole line. I debated about putting the pitcher in the middle of the table. It also looks good on the side of the table, but that was before I found the tole.

The camphor chest wound up underneath is by default, we were tripping over it and tucked it under the table.

We found some reproduction dining chairs have a soft finish on the wood, and the fabric is a natural linen fabric. We got 5 side chairs and one arm chair. The room was too small to really carry off 2 arm chairs. Is this acceptable?
I love the drum chandelier over the table. The crystal chunk finial is picked up in the drapery hardware from Restoration Hardware. Isn't this a great improvement? The owner is happy, loves the farmhouse table paired with the upholstered french chairs.  How nice is that, to have a new dining room over a weekend?