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Monday, January 27, 2014

Flow Blue Soup Bowls and Mix of Blue and White China Tablescape

I set 2 tables with blue and white china. I was going to post both but there would be too much of a photo overload so I decided to share the other one next week.
 
Not a single thing is new on this table, just gathered what I already have plus the napkin rings and a crystal hanging thing that I received last Christmas from my dear friend, Noemie.
 
Anyway, allow me to show you the formal dining room setting.
 
I love this room because it can hold a lot of china cabinets in various sizes. There are 2 more on the other side that you cannot see, so all in all, I have 5 cabinets (combination china and buffet cabinets that can hold china)  here plus a tea cart holding more dishes. If you think I am a dishaholic, you are right, lol!
 
The wool rug is hand knotted and it came all the way from Istambul, Turkey. I picked it myself while traveling there, with a little help from sleepy John who was home and I had to call and wake him up, to show pictures on email through the internet while I was shopping. Isn't technology great? The rug arrived home before me.

 I started by moving my Christmas cactus on the table. It is already in a blue and white pot so why not make it into my centerpiece? Besides I don't have any flowers blooming outside except for some pink camellias. This one at least has 2 orange blossoms.
 
 

I love blue and white china, don't you? Looks so classic!



The blue stems are Mikasa and the clear ones are Waterford.
 
 Here is the hanging glitzy thing. I wasn't really sure what it was and I did not want to hang it outside in this lousy weather so I tried hanging it from the chandelier and I like it. And it is blue and white so it matches my dishes. Thanks, Noems, love it!
 
 
 
I bought this pair of Blue Willow oil lamps from an antique shop downtown about a year ago and this is the first time I used them and they work.

 I bought this blue and white egg shaped accessory also from a store downtown that was closing from a year ago, so I got a bargain. I think I bought it for $6, including the wood stand.
 The hen napkin rings also came from my good friend, Noemie last Christmas. I love my friends! They feed my table and dish obsession. Isn't she cute?

The intensity of the light can be adjusted in this oil lamp with this little knob.
 This  rectangular tureen came from Ebay, maybe 3 years ago. The Blue Willow ladle, I have had since I lived in Florida.
 
 I used various dinner plates, 6 from the Spode Blue Room Collection....Woodman, Floral and Girl at Well, 2 of each. 

And for the head chairs, I used blue and white "Churchill" plates. I used 2 different plate chargers also, 6 blue and white ceramic and plain white for the head of the tables.
The quilted table runner came from Williams Sonoma from their clearance table.
 
I placed a flow blue soup bowl on top of each dinner plate. I got them from Ebay, maybe about 4 years ago but they were just stored in my FR china cabinet ever since. I have no info on them but I took pictures of all the markings, which I cannot make anything out of. Please let me know if you have any info and if you know what they mean. The design looks Asian.
 
 
I was just playing with my camera, using a play of colors. Do you see my tiny blue and white salt cellars? I have I think 4 on the table but I forgot to take a close up picture.
 I added  ceramic Asian soup spoons on the soup bowls.
For the tea, I pulled out my Blue Willow Tea set from the dish room in the garage. I asked John to help me take it down cause it was sitting way on the top shelf. I love this pattern and I cannot believe I have never used it since I moved here in Mississippi.
 



 

 
 
Thanks again for stopping by and thanks to the meme hostesses. I appreciate all the time you give us.
Sally's Blue Monday
http://smilingsally.blogspot.com
 Marty's Inspire Me Tuesday
Kathy's A Return To Loveliness
Sandi's Teatime Tues
FriendsSharing Tea
Maria Elena's Tuesdays at Our Home
Share Your Cup Thursday
http://jannolson.blogspot.com/
Paula's What's It Wed
http://ivyandelephants.blogspot.com/
Centerpiece Wed
http://thestylesisters.blogspot.com/
Martha and Terri's Teacup Tues
http://www.marthasfavorites.com/
Tablescape Thursday
http://betweennapsontheporch.net/
Kathryn's Anything Blue Friday
Alison's Fridays Unfolded
Flaunt it Friday
 
 
 

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Friday, January 24, 2014

I Am Satisfied and Can Relax Now, lol

I did very minor changes in our family room and I am very happy with it and am keeping it this way now. Thank you so much to everyone who gave suggestions. I had ideas but I just wanted to pick your brains and I am so glad I did. Vel, your suggestion of adding the other panel above the TV could have worked too but it was easier to take down the existing one above the painting so that won. I think it looks cleaner and less cluttered now. I also replaced one pillow with a lumbar one. Actually it was on the love seat across. I just swapped the pillows. I like this pillow here because it blends with the pottery color that in the painting and it breaks the monotony of the shape of the other pillows.
 
 
Not a big change, but somehow it makes me breath better. Below is a before picture. I had a carved wooden panel above the oil painting.

 
 Now, here is how the room looks now.
 The vignette on the coffee table
 When spring comes, I will take out the rust colored pillows and replace them with something more springy in color.
 I love the crackle candle holder. My friend, Doris, gifted it to me in past years. Thanks, Doris!
 I think the wall looks more refreshed now.
 Don't you think so?
 Sue of I Need Mom suggested I use the panel on a table and I have just the right place for it, on the ottoman, which really works cause now whatever I put there has a harder surface to lay on. Thanks, Sue!
 And it blends so well with the handcarved wood screen room divider, which incidentally, hides John's treadmill.
 Perfect!

 I took a close up of my faux alli set of 3 trunks, which are holding my Christmas Lenox Winter Greetings dinnerware set.
 
I think I bought them from One Kings Lane at a very reasonable price a year or 2 ago.
I hope you like the minor changes as much as I do. I am always happy after I finish projects satisfyingly. Thanks for stopping by.
 
Thanks to the hostesses!
 
Linking with
 
Kathryn's Anything Blue Friday
Alison's Fridays Unfolded
Flaunt it Friday
Susan's Metamorphosis Monday
Kathryn's Make it Pretty Monday
Cindy's Amaze me Monday
Mary's Masterpieces Monday
Marty's Inspire Me Tuesday
Kathryn's Before and After Wed
Kathy's Home and Garden Thursday

 
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Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Decorating with a Global Flair

As my blog name indicates, I am a traveler. My travels influence the way I decorate my home. In every place that I visit, I could always spot something that I want to incorporate into my décor. For this reason, you will see different spots in our home with global flair.
 
If you are like me and are also influenced by accessories and furniture from all over the world, you should check out One Kings Lane's Passport To Style Guide. They made it easy for us by putting together various decorative accents and pieces and we can pick up a lot of ideas from them. I am in no way compensated by One King's Lane but I was contacted by them to do a post to incorporate that department. I checked it out and really liked it so here I am, writing about it.
 
I just recovered from being under the weather but when I woke up this morning, I was full of energy. I decided to switch my frames in the family room. The first 2 pictures below will show you the "Before"
 
You will see the 2 brown frames on either side of the TV. I took those down and I am still deciding where to put them.
 
I have 4 frames of birds with green matting. Do you see the carved wood above the painting? (BTW, for those new to my blog, I painted that oil painting.) I asked our handyman, Mitch to put it up for me. He just found an existing nail and hang it there. It was too high and not centered at all. I have 2 of them and they used to hang on either side of the painting, where the bird frames are in this picture. I took them down when John bought the 4 frames (did I tell you, he likes birds?) before Christmas. I did not have a place to put them so I just placed them there. But I haven't been happy with the way they look. You will see in the next pictures what I did.

I took down 2 of the bird frames and moved them here to replace the brown ones. We have so much brown wood so I like the color that the greens brought.
 
John likes postal frames too. Notice the postage on this frame?
 
I moved this chair from the fireplace area. You will see later what I replaced it with. Do you see the bamboo arms of the chair? That makes it Asian. Just like I said, my décor is global.

The trunk next to the chair has the Eiffel Tower on it plus postage of course! You will notice a lot of Asian and French, some Italian and German accessories in our home. And doesn't the pillow and the upholstery scream"Africa" to you?
The trunks are covered in faux alligator skin, another African theme, in my opinion. They hold my Lenox Winter Greetings Christmas dinnerware set and it is indeed a very big set, complete settings for 16 including all the serving dishes, so it fills all 3 of them.
I left the 2 green bird frames here but moved them towards the center of the oil painting and lowered and centered the carved wood panel.
 
Now, I would like your opinion, please. Do you think I should leave the wood panel up there or should I just take it out? Sometimes, I feel like it is taking away the focus on the painting. I also added a green vase that was just sitting in the garage, on the coffee table.
Here is a view showing the beamed ceiling.
The coffee table has 8 drawers on each side. I store different sets of flatware there. And you would think that is enough storage but no, I have some more in the drawers of the TV cabinet and in the garage.

Do you like the frames where I placed them? I do! I am still not sure about the wood panel. I could put the other one on top of the TV for balance. Remember I mentioned earlier that I have 2 of them.
When I was sick, I would sit on my recliner across the TV, the one on the left and I could see the 4 frames on the same wall. In my head, I was already planning to change them, just as soon as I got well, lol. This is the TV side of the family room.
Now, let's go to the fireplace end of the family room. I switched it all around too but I did it while I was sick.
I moved these 2 antique Chinese wedding chairs from the Qing Dynasty from our home office. We found them in a antique shop downtown, that was moving to New Orleans. The owner was also John's patient so we got a pretty good discount.
I love the patina on the chairs and they are in excellent condition, nothing wobbling at all, so solid.
 
Since the chairs are Asian, I took some Oriental wooden accessories and an orchid from other parts of the house and recreated my table vignette. I also moved this narrow Asian chest and placed it in between the 2 chairs. Inside the chest, I store napkin rings, linen napkins and crocheted doilies.
Notice the wood carved screen behind the lion chair? I think it is from India. I placed it there to hide John's treadmill and it is doing its job very well.
 Now, I hope you don't mind me taking you to the other parts of the house, just to show some of my other favorite furniture. Below is a French provincial cabinet in the formal dining room. It holds a lot of my china sets, at least maybe 16 sets. Did I tell you I have over 100 sets of china? Well, I do, LOL!
Across the wall in the center of the same dining room sits a Louis VI (I think) buffet chest.
You can tell, I store stemware sets behind the glass doors. The middle cabinet contains placemats, plate chargers and oversized oval china trays and servers. The top drawer holds my Siam set of mahogany and brass flatware, another big set for 24 settings.
Across the room from the dining room is the formal living room. I just want to show you another French server.
I am storing a French egg compote under the table. It is a Sevres and it is big and I have no other place to put it.
 
We will go to the farthest room in the house next, one of the guest bedrooms. I love this computer armoire. It is so unusual and it came all the way from China. I found it on Ebay and they even held it in customs for a while. It still smells so good when you open it. I just love the smell of wood, don't you?
Open it and the desk is revealed.
It even has a built in chair that you pull out when needed.

 
Last but not least, I want to share my chest from the Philippines below. This was a wedding gift to my mom and dad when they got married in 1937, from a politician I think, so it is older than me. I had it shipped from the Philippines and it got messed up somewhat but I had it repaired. Believe it or not, it still smells so good. I store beddings in it, which was also used the same way when I was still in the Philippines. I leave it on the foot of this bed, My mom stays in this room when she is here with me.
 

 

This post is already getting long that is why I hardly showed you some accessories. Maybe some other time, or from time to time. I hope you enjoyed browsing through my favorite furniture. As you can see, they are all styled with global influence. Thank you so much for stopping by, I always appreciate you being around.
 
Thanks to the hostesses too. I am linking with

 
Before and After Wednesday
Centerpiece Wed
Kathy's Home and Garden Thursday
Alison's Fridays Unfolded
Sarah's Homemaking Weekend Link Up party
Flaunt it Friday
Kathryn's Make it Pretty Monday
Cindy's Amaze me Monday
Susan's Metamorphosis Monday
Mary's Masterpieces Monday
 
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