Let it Snow - On Our Sideboard

It was definitely time to get the Christmas things put away and move on to some winter fun on our sideboard.  I thought a snow theme would be fitting and also meant that I would be able to incorporate some of our Christmas decorations.

So here's what I came up with:

On the right side I tied some white pompom ties around our wooden candlesticks.  I saved the pompom ties from our Christmas crackers last year.  A few members of this family have expressed disapproval of this addition to the sideboard, but then again what do they know.

I bought the metal deer on sale at Loblaws, our local grocery store, that has amazing home decor items.   

I thought these pompom snowballs were sweet.  They likely would be an easy DIY project, but there they were, so I bought them - but only after they went on sale I hasten to add.

They are all covered in glitter and have thin cord to they can be hung from the tree.  The plate they are on was a gift from hubby this Christmas.  It is a little hard to see in the photo, but it has a mother-of-pearl finish to it.

I got this little jug at the thrift store before Christmas and put some pussy willows I had around the house in it.  Did you know that you can keep pussy willows for years if you take them out of water when they are fully open.

I used the silver serving dish, that was given to my parents as a wedding present years and years ago and they gave to us, to hold a candle and some pine cones.  The candle holder in the background is Kate's from her graduation from Grade Eight.  The tables were all decorate with these candles in bowls with sea shells in them and all the students got to take one home.

And this is our view of the sideboard when we are standing at the kitchen sink.  It is well worth decorataing the sideboard as it is such a prominent piece of furniture in our home.

I'm guessing that maybe, just maybe, I was inspired by what was happening outside at the same time that I was decorating inside.  What do you think?

Linked to Show Off Your Cottage Monday at The House in the Roses
White Wednesday at Faded Charm
Boring to Better Party at Savvy Southern Style
Strut Your Stuff Thursday at Somewhat Simple

Decorating with Dead Things!

I mentioned to my son that I was going to decorate the sideboard in November with natural things like sticks and grass and the monkey fist nautical knots I won in a giveaway from Suzanne at Meridian Road.  My 16 year old son replied "Oh so you're going to decorate with dead things".  Hmmm - I guess you could summarize it that way.  

So here it is, finally, our sideboard decorated with dead things!

I've wanted to do an African theme on our sideboard for ages and have just never got around to it, so I combined the natural elements with some of our treasures from Africa.

Let me give you a tour from right to left - 

The baskets and little elephant are from Botswana and were brought back by our eldest son Malcolm and my parents when they each visited my brother and family who lived there for several years.

I loved using the vintage mason jar in my fall sideboard arrangement and had to find a way to incorporate it into the November display, so I put some dried up, thoroughly dead, two year old high bush cranberry berries in it.  Who wouldn't want desiccated berries on their sideboard?  I guess these are the dead things!

I put the white pumpkins out in the long wooden bowl that Kate gave me last Christmas.  I love that dish - it is so useful and so pretty.

The giraffe was brought back from Zambia by my Grandmother when she taught there in the 1970s and the little ceramic jug is from Nigeria from when I lived there as a child.

And finally I stacked the monkey fist nautical knots at the lefthand end of the sideboard to add some visual weight.  Aren't they gorgeous? 

There you go - a sideboard decorated with dead things!


Linked to Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch
Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

I've Officially Decorated for Fall

It has taken awhile, but I have finally decorated our sideboard for fall.  I have a bit of a problem with fall decorations as the colours don't go terribly well with the pastels that we have in our dining room and living room.  I know some people's solution is to only use creamy white and gray pumpkins so it all coordinates, but my solution is to just shut my eyes to the clashing colours and dive right in.  At the beginning of September I assembled our dining room table centrepiece, but that's as far as I got in decorating for fall.  Yesterday we were having friends over for dinner, so I was inspired to get the sideboard decorated as well.

I put my thrift store cake stand in the middle and piled it with the leftovers from my recent wreath-making project.  My daughter thought it looked like I had made a campfire out of the chili peppers in the middle.  I'm sure that's what I did - every sideboard needs a chili pepper firepit.

I put out lots of acorn hats, chili peppers, dried apple slices, and corn husks.  I told William the peppers weren't edible so he won't eat up the display - I wonder how long he will fall for it?

I decided I would use natural objects along with white, black, and orange - not too original for a fall display really.  

We were given this candle holder many years ago and fortunately it is orange so I used it, along with the bird which gets to stay because I like it.  If it was up to hubby it would be outta there.

I love the little Japanese Lanterns that we grow in the garden.  I put some on our front-door wreath and in the middle of our table (which you can see here and here) and since we still have plenty more, I put some in an old canning jar.

The sideboard really needed a third orange object to make it look a little more aesthetically pleasing, so I put the ceramic pumpkin out as well.

I searched through the cupboards for a black dish and found this bowl I bought at a thrift store last year.

To add a bit more texture I added some raffia I had kicking around, some dried grasses my friend gave me, along with a driftwood twig.

There you have it - our fall sideboard arrangement - well for October anyway. I like to get rid of the orange decorations right after Hallowe'en, but I don't like to put out anything Christmasy until December, which leaves November as a holiday-less month (we're Canadian and have Thanksgiving in October).  Not to worry, though, I have something else up my sleeve for November - stay tuned.

Linked to Just Something I Whipped Up at The Girl Creative
Link Party at My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Sideboard Summer Style

I recently changed things around on our sideboard in the dining room.   It was time for some summer-fication  - in other words adding some shells and driftwood.

I asked my youngest son if he had any shells I could use and this is what he came up with.  I had no idea he had so many, given that we live a looooong way from the ocean.

I collected these pieces of driftwood from the cottage on Georgian Bay and the long twisty stick from Yellowstone Park (oops, please don't report me for taking something from a National Park).

I added two suncatchers that we bought years ago in Nova Scotia.

Plus you can see the light green antique jar I got at the Christie Antique Show in the front.

Don't sand dollars just put you in the mood for going to the beach. Which may or may not be a good idea, given that I won't be going to a beach any time soon.

 The roses in the front garden were looking like they wanted in on the action, so I had to put some in the new green jar.  Plus I had to add the sweet little navy jug given to me, recently, by a sweet friend .

And here's one more shot of the roses, covered in raindrops,

And one more shot, with the sun streaming in, making the glass sparkle.

Linked to Make Mine Beautiful at It's a Blog Party!
and Feather Your Nest Thursday at Secret Garden Cottage

Our Dining Room

For years at our family cottage there was a plate that I admired.  I loved the turquoise colour with the fruit painted in the middle, the sweet squared shape, and the rope edging.  

This cottage was bought by my Grandparents about 55 years ago and is now owned by my parents and my Aunt and Uncle.  About 12 years ago, I had mentioned to my mother how much I loved that plate.  My mother had said I should just take it home with me, but I felt that wasn't the thing to do, since it also belonged to my other relatives as well.  That  Christmas my mother and aunts surprised me and gave me the plate. 


Cobi Ladner, the former editor of Canadian House and Home, had her kitchen featured in the October 1998 issue of the magazine.  Fortunately I'm a bit of a pack rat so I was able to take a photo of the magazine picture to show you my original inspiration for the plates.  When I looked at Cobi's dining room it was the first time I knew that the plate that I loved came in a range of coordinating colours.

 See the plates hanging on her wall?  Such a pretty dining room, isn't it.

 Here's a closer look.  
(These photos are used with Cobi's permission.  She told me that she still has her plates but hasn't got them up just now.  She is considering putting them in her daughter's bedroom, but hasn't decided yet.)

Once I knew that there was a whole set, I searched eBay and bought all the rest on-line.  We hung them in our dining room in two columns on either side of a batik that my Grandmother made.

 

See the turquoise one in the middle

My Grandmother was an artist, who painted and made batiks, so I feel honoured to have this lovely batik that she made hanging in our dining room surrounded by the plates that I love.

Linked to the MckLinky party @ The Inspired Room.