Tag Archives: transferware

Our Yard’s Blue + White Theme

It’s starting to look like Fall in our yard,

as some of our + our neighbors’ trees are dropping their leaves

Speaking of  leaves, check out these, on one of our Oak Leaf hydrangeas:

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 If only I’d taken this photo a couple days ago,

when those red leaves were so vivid + gorgeous!

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They already pop nicely against our neighbor’s light wood fence,

so imagine how stunning they will be when all the leaves turn scarlet!

They’ll eventually grow to 8′ – 10′ tall + will provide lots of privacy.

I blogged about them last August when we were planting them.

hydrangeas with chairs

They were only about a foot tall.

hydrangea border new looking ssouth

They’re now almost 4′ tall.

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This first season, we had only about 6 or 7 total blooms,

but fingers crossed they will look more like this next summer:

hydrangea oak leaf

While I was outside this morning,

I decided to snap a few more photos of my groovies.

There’s my very pretty blue gazing ball on an old hollow stump,

 a vintage Dachshund statue,

+ some velvety Pulmonaria (a.k.a. Lungwort) plants:

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That bit of a fern belongs to our large Boston fern (below),

+ those cobalt blue glass stars are from my favorite garden center,

Blumen Gardens in Sycamore, IL.

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Here’s a better look,

with some companion globe thistle plants, in our last house’s yard:

blue glass stars

So pretty!

And wouldn’t you know it — I got the globe thistle plants at Blumen Gardens, too!

Anyway, it’s easy to see that our yard has a bit of a blue + white theme.

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Some pretty blue Endless Summer hydrangeas

are growing just across the yard from our Oak Leaves.

hydrangea endless summer

We even painted our garden shed blue.

That’s our bee garden that we planted this summer.

The pretty white Coneflowers are the stars right now,

+ yes, we attracted bees!

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That bird bath on a stand is also from Blumen Gardens,

+ how much do I love that mosaic blue + white transferware plate!

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Oops.  I should have tidied it up before taking a photo!

Finally — in closing — next spring

we’ll have all sorts of pretty blue + white spring flowers.

We planted lots of bulbs, about which you can read more, here.

That’s really going to be a much-needed morale boost

when everything’s gloomy + muddy in March

+ I’m so cold I can’t feel my toes.


Sink Skirt Search

So.  This morning I spied this photo on Facebook,

from this fab biz in Franklin, TN.

I think I gasped a bit.  Really.

Tell me you do the same thing.

fabric-of-floral-uphostery-chairs-city-farmhouse

City Farmhouse in Nashville, TN

I thought to myself, “That fabric!  How perfect!  How timely!” 

You see, for months, I’ve been searching for fabric,

as our powder room vanity desperately needs a skirt.

See for yourselves:

powder-room-from-agove

Naturally, as one does when one needs inspiration for one’s project,

I headed straight to Pinterest.

skirt-of-sink-brick-wall

Most of the bathroom skirts I saw involved wall-hung sinks or pedestals;

I think this one was particularly epic:

skirt-of-sink-taupe

Since I needed a skirt for my vanity cabinet,

I soon switched my search to kitchen sink skirts:

OOH:

skirt-of-sink-floral

LA:

skirt-of-sink-floral-kitchen

LA:

skirt-of-sink-gignham-kitchen

I really want to make a red check skirt in our kitchen!  Stay tuned!

+ + + + +

So.

Even though I’d given my powder room skirt the green light,

I couldn’t decide what fabric to use!

dunce cap cat

So many mind-boggling choices!!

Then, luckily, this happened:

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Recently, I bought 6 of these pretty blue + white transferware plates,

from this antiques shop, in my southern Illinois girlhood homeland:

The Loose Caboose

IL  Rt. 127 in Donnelson, Illinois.

1.217.537.3735

+ + + +

Once I arrived home with said plates,

it only took a day or two to decide to hang them in our powder room,

on the panel to the mirror’s right, above the toilet:

powder-room-from-agove

(I’d already been toying with that idea for a while.)

But Kay!”  you are no doubt saying.

“Didn’t you already hang some vintage plates in your main bathroom?”

Yes, I did, + here they are:

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Naturally, self doubt ensued.

Would it be wrong to hang plates in both our bathrooms???

dunce cap cat

No, it is not, + here’s why:

I am creating a “theme” for our bathrooms,  + “themes” are good!

Thank you.

+ + + + +

Meanwhile, back to my sink skirt dilemma!

Which pattern fabric to choose?!?

I had a light bulb moment earlier this morning!

Remember the beautiful chairs that I spied?

fabric-of-floral-uphostery-chairs-city-farmhouse

That’s it!  BLUE AND WHITE FLORAL, please!

 So.  In my world, when one needs to buy just the right fabric,

I head over to my favorite online fabric store,

Fabric.com!!

Anyway, here are my finalists.

Tell me what you think!

First, the florals:

If I can’t commit to floral (slightly out of my comfort zone),

another contender is my all-time favorite, the check:

Another fave, the stripes:

fabric-stripe-try-two

Magnolia Home stripe

Or, if I really want to have FUN, this:

I KNOW!!!???  Insanely FUN!  Right?

The proverbial jury is still out, + I’ve not yet made up my mind.

I might persuade G.O. to help me hang the plates, later today.

Stay tuned!


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