This and That: Summer Bedding

Recently I made the switch from our winter bedding to summer bedding. I never used to be one of those people who did that, but when I found some great deals on sheets and a pretty, lightweight quilt, I decided that I will be one of those people!

This is our "regular" bedding. It was made by Croscill Home and the pattern was called "Wisteria". It's very fancy, with lots of cord braid,  passementerie,embroidery and tassels....all my favorite things. The comforter is very thick and very heavy, so even with the "light" colors, it's very rich looking.

I switched out the heavy comforter for a lighter weight quilted coverlet that I found for $40.

It's so pretty!  My hubby is one of those men who are always hot, even in the middle of winter ( and I'm always cold!). He will really like this lighter cover this summer. We have central A/C, but he still complains often about being too warm at night.

These sheets I found a few months ago at TJMaxx for $20.

I still want to find some different pillow shams. I have four, two regular and two European that go with my regular bedding. I was thinking something in white eyelet. I might have to sew some!

I don't think I've ever posted pictures of the other things in our room. This table I use for my bedside table. It's actually an antique Singer sewing machine. The top opens up and the sewing machine comes out. I bought this many years ago at an auction...for $2.00 !

On my dresser I have a pretty cut glass hair receiver. It has a pretty celluloid/bakelite top. (The woman in the photo is my mom; her high school graduation picture in 1964) I'm still looking for a pretty vintage mirror and brush set to put on this dresser.

I use this vintage handkerchief as a dresser scarf to hide a gouge in the top of this antique dresser that I bought at an estate sale years ago.

Thanks for stopping by and visiting me!

Show & Tell Friday: Advertising Tins & Ephemera

Hello! Welcome to my post for this week's Show & Tell Friday, hosted by Cindy, at  My Romantic Home!

One of the first things I started collecting in my early days of "antiquing" were vintage tins.
In the 19th century, the kitchen was part of the house visitors never saw and often times, the family hardly ever saw either. Depending on the area, the type of house and the time period, the kitchen could be in a lower level, like a basement, or in an entirely separate building altogether, connected to the main house by a hall or even a walkway lined with privet hedges!

The kitchen was not a family gathering place, like it is today. It was a place for work; often very menial and tedious work! In some wealthier homes, it was a place for servants and servants only; the lady of the house would only be seen in the kitchen when she came to speak to her cook or head housekeeper.

As a result of this, to try to make a reproduction of a Victorian-era kitchen is sort of a challenge, because they were not very glamorous and certainly, they did not have the modern conveniences that we have today. To make a kitchen that looks "period-accurate" we would be missing many of the necessities that we would require to actually be able to use our kitchens!
There are things that can be done, however; vintage ranges and other appliances that are restored and coverted for use in today's modern world, or reproductions of vintage appliances, like the ranges that are made by Elmira Stove Works.
I really liked the look of an old general store; if you ever see vintage pictures of general stores and shops, they are just filled with fabulous things and are  visually beautiful with their pressed tin ceilings and elaborate woodwork counters and display cases.
I decided a long time ago that someday when I got my Victorian house, I would make my kitchen  have that "Victorian general store" feeling, by using vintage tins, vintage advertising signs and anything else that I could find which would give it that "look".

Our kitchen is a long way from being ideal; it needs complete renovation, but I thought I'd show some of my vintage (and reproduction!) tins and signs.

This is the window above our sink in the kitchen, where most of my tin signs are displayed. These four are all reproduction. I love to have original whenever I can, but vintage advertising signs are VERY expensive and a hot commodity. If you've ever watched the cable series American Pickers on the History Channel, you have probably seen the prices that they go for!
P.S. Don't you just love the light fixture above the sink?? LOL! It, at least, is totally vintage!

There's the light fixture again......it's groovy (not!). It will be replaced when we renovate, of course!

The Titanic tin sign was a gift from a friend after seeing the exhibit at the Chicago History Museum some years ago.

As you can see, there is a huge amount of wasted space above the cabinets, which is why I have my tins displayed there. When we can afford to renovate the kitchen, we will be using this space for extra tall cabinets, so that I will have plenty of room for my dishes and glassware ( Right now our cabinet space is very, very limited!)

On either side of the window are these built-in shelves that are part of the cabinets. These are painted steel cabinets, c. 1930s! Can you believe it??  Steel cabinets! I know that someone out there would probably be jonesing to have these, for a total 1930s/1940s kitchen and when we renovate I will gladly part with them!
In the meantime they are perfect to display my vintage and not-so-vintage tins.  The George Washington  Tobacco tin, the Clabber Girl tin and the two smaller tobacco tins are all vintage.

I just love the colors and graphics they used on tobacco tins. The Bugler tin was given to me by my father-in-law. The Velvet tin I bought many years ago.

The other side. The Cracker Jack tin and another George Washington tobacco tin are vintage. As are the White Rock Club Soda bottles. The White Rock Bottling Co was established in 1871 right here in Waukesha, WI. Many people believed that the spring waters here had medicinal powers and there was a long period of the town's history that was dominated by the "spa trade". There were over 50 natural springs operating at one time. White Rock was the largest bottler of spring water by 1923. It is still in operation today, but has long ago moved it's headquarters to Whitestone, NY. (You can see my vintage pie birds here too!)

The vintage Granger tobacco tin and the George Washington tins were all in one box that I got at an auction. There were two tins in the box that I later sold. One, I recall, was for some type of peanut brittle.

I got these three vintage magazine ads awhile ago. I intend to frame them to hang in the kitchen.

I love this graphic of the little Dutch girls scrubbing the mosaic tile floor! I have a mosaic tile floor almost exactly like this in our upstairs bathroom!  I look for 3 things when I buy tins or old ephemera; the color, the graphics and the subject matter.

I've used Calumet baking powder my whole life ( my mom does too), so I had to get this one. Plus, I love the colors on the canister and the big steaming waffle and syrup jug. Mmmm!

Thanks for stopping by!

Tea, Coffee and Dessert.......

Last week for Tablescape Thursday, I posted a tablescape I put together for a Birthday Lunch, using a pink and green color palette. To see this post, click HERE.

The birthday tablescape was in honor of my mother's birthday (which is today) and my youngest sister, whose birthday was last week. Since we weren't able to get together then (and not for dinner either) I kept some of the elements from that tablescape to use tonight for a little tea party at my house. Well, a tea and coffee and dessert party, actually!

I put two of my green plates on this 3-tiered server and then set out place mats, silver flatware, cups and saucers and small dessert plates.

I used my small dessert plates that I bought at an antique mall 2 for $1.00 (so I got twelve of them for $6.00!). I have since learned that these were made by a company called Royal York and were made in Japan. The pattern name is simply called RY01. I haven't been able to find out much else, such as when they were made. I also used the pink paper napkins I stamped with 'Happy Birthday'.

I was going to make some cupcakes, but when I visited a local bake shop called Sweet Perfections near my house to get some fancy cookies (the same bake shop that did our wedding cake), I saw all their pretty filled cupcakes and decided I had to get them instead of making some myself!  They were delicious. I love the frosting this bakery makes; it's light and creamy, not too sweet, but sweet enough to satisfy. I got Raspberry Rose (the one with the pink flower on top) which is a butter cake filled with raspberry preserves and a raspberry mousse, Chocolate Eclair (self-explanatory!) and the one in the back is a Red Velvet (red velvet cake filled with cream cheese, with a cream cheese frosting).

This picture was taken in my drawing room, but I used my vintage silver coffee/tea service to serve beverages on the sideboard. I heated water in my whistling tea kettle on the stove and then poured the hot water into the teapot and made coffee in my automatic coffee maker but then transfered the hot coffee to the coffee pot. It worked out very nice; it's really the first time I used both the teapot and coffee pot at the same time. I like my tea with milk and sugar, so half-and-half cream went into the creamer and sugar cubes into the sugar bowl. I just love sugar cubes....I think they are so cute. When I was a very young girl, I used to sneak a sugar cube from the sugar bowl that was always sitting on the dining room table at my grandparent's farm house whenever I would visit there.
  (Note: I've done some looking around to find out more about my vintage tea/coffee service and it's made by Community Silver( (Oneida) and it's called Ascot, which is a reproduction of a Sheffield design. I was unable to find an exact date about when these were made/sold, but one site said this pattern was introduced in 1940. I was also surprised to find a few auction sites and antique stores selling complete sets for $200 to $300. Another place was selling the pieces separately and the coffee pot alone was going for $175.00. We bought ours at a shop that sells items from estate sales. It was priced at about $60 if I recall and was sitting on a bottom shelf, completely black with tarnish. Looking at pictures of this set on an auction site, I noticed that the sugar bowl is supposed to have a lid; my sugar bowl is missing it's lid.)
Thanks for stopping by!

Tablescape Thursday: True Blood Tribute Table

It's that time of the week again.....yes, you guessed it! Tablescape Thursday, hosted once again by Susan at Between Naps on the Porch ! I can't wait to see all the wonderful tables that are in store for us dish lovers!

This week I had some fun putting together a tablescape that was sort of inspired by my love  obsession with the HBO TV Series, True Blood. The original shows that they air on HBO are my secret vice; there are too many that I have watched religiously than I care to admit!

(If you're not a fanatic  fan of the show, or don't have cable, it's about vampires )
But that's all you need to know about it to appreciate my True Blood inspired tablescape. The new season premieres June 3, so if I have a "premiere party" I already have this table idea ready to go!

I tried to infuse a little of the "old world" glamor, romance and elegance that someone might associate with "vampire style" into the table. Not that vampires eat, of course. But we eat! And drink wine! And it's fun!

As you would expect, I've used a black, white and red (for blood!) color scheme. I'm using my black transferware plates tonight.

For the cover, I placed a red damask napkin diagonally under my vintage hem-stitch linen place mats.

The matching vintage linen napkins look wonderful paired with red damask napkins. I used a fold called the "monogram" fold, which is typically used for a monogrammed napkin and normally would be a single napkin, but I loved how the red underneath really sets off the hem-stitch edge and highlights the cutwork embroidery.

Of course, my table would not look right without my new silverware! (You'll be seeing this silverware a lot, I'm sure!) "Baroque" by Godinger.

A trio of glassware; for wine, water and whatever else!

Close up of the plates again. $3.99 at TJ Maxx! Click HERE to view the other tablescape I did using my black transferware plates.

My antique cruet castor makes it's appearance on the table once again.

For my centerpiece, I filled a trifle bowl with water and added some floating candles, then placed red (faux) roses around the base. (The skull and crossbones cocktail napkins I added last minute. They are from Hallow'een!)

The white ones are gardenia-scented, so when they are lit, the room smells heavenly!

Sparkly bobeche with crystal pendants on a crystal candlestick adds a touch more elegance to the tablescape.

Bird's-eye view

I just love the contrast of the deep red and the white. The fancy handle of the silver flatware with the red damask makes me think of an old castle with big chandeliers and tapestries on the walls!

This bottle of wine was what actually inspired me to do a True Blood/vampire-inspired table. A friend gave this to me as sort of a joke for a Hallow'een costume party we had, but it's actually real wine. I don't even want to drink it because I like the bottle so much. (And I'm afraid it might be really nasty!)

And since we all know vampires aren't around during the day...this table looks wonderful by night! Let's light some candles....

Thanks for stopping by!