In the Mood

Some fragrant paperwhites, to get me in the mood for Christmas.  Which, frankly, is not happening right now.

Help!

Dining Room Tree

I'm finally beginning to get a little holiday spirit, and I decided to decorate the dining room for Christmas.  With a little inspiration from Cindy, at My Romantic Home, I wired up some teacups and hung them on the tree.

I'll probably add some ribbon today, but I'm liking how it looks so far.  :)

A Colonial Christmas

OK, so I didn't get any Christmas decorations put up this weekend, but we did visit the Jacobus Vanderveer House, which was decorated for the holidays with a beautiful array of natural elements which would have been available to it's original colonial inhabitants.  

Here is the parlor room (above) which dates back to the 1770's.  The room includes original wide plank flooring, beautiful barrel back cabinetry and original window frames and ceiling beams.  The blue Delft tile is similar to what would have been used in that period.  

Several interior designers and floral designers were invited to do the holiday decorations, and the house was filled with beautiful small trees, wreaths and swags.

There were also several period costumes displayed, and some really lovely antique furniture.

My daughter loved this stairway swag, made of greens and pine cones, and ornamented with fruit and berries.

This room, (above)  which is part of an 1813 Federal addition to the Dutch frame colonial, has a charming corner fireplace with a beautiful raised wood paneled mantel.

A small tree in the entry hall was adorned with cinnamon sticks, gingerbread men and dried orange slices.  There were so many beautiful, natural decorations throughout the house, and so much inspiration.  

Here is a link to last year's display.  I think I'm finally getting some holiday spirit.  There will be some Christmas decorations here at our Little Red House any day now.

I promise.  ;)

For more information on the historic Jacobus Vanderveer House, please visit their website here.

Sheesh

Boy, am I a doofus.  I bought this print way back in the spring, and put it in the dining room closet till I got a chance to hang it.  

Then I promptly forgot I had it.  (Don't you love menopause?)

I found it the other day when I was looking for the vacuum cleaner bags.  Duh!  Yesterday, a few of you commented on the apparent lack of dust in my china cabinet.  You can't possibly know how funny it is for me to get a reputation for keeping a spotless house.  Trust me.  After all, it would seem that I have not changed vacuum cleaner bags for months.  So how clean could it possibly be?

Have a great weekend dear bloggers!  Hopefully, I'll have some Christmas decorations to show you next week.  :)

Red, White and Bling

The corner cabinet in our dining room is all decked out in red, white and bling for the holidays.

There are some silver gravy boats from the thrift store (this one is a piece of hotel silver),

and a tiny silver pitcher,

lots of milk glass and red transferware, including this vintage gravy tureen,

and more silver gravy boats (are you sensing a gravy theme here?).

Soon I'll add a small tree between the painted chest and the corner cabinet, and some greenery amid the dishes.  And a more festive holiday centerpiece.  (Click on this picture to enlarge, so you can really see the stuff in the cabinet.)

I'm thinking I need to find some little shades for the chandelier, and a rug would be nice, wouldn't it?

In My New Etsy Shop

Wow, I have a new etsy shop!  Please go and take a look if you get a chance.  At the moment, I have listed some flower portraits, some autumn leaves and berries, some sepia prints and a few misty landscapes.  I'll be adding more in the coming days.  Any of these prints would make a terrific gift, especially matted and framed.  In fact, I have a few of them hanging in our Little Red House right now.  :)

Thrifty, Busy

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We had a very quiet weekend here at our Little Red House, with walks in the park and fires in the fireplace.  My son returns to school in Philadelphia today.  We will miss him, but he'll be back in a couple of weeks for the Christmas holidays.

As I wrote on Friday, no Black Friday shopping for this girl.  My friend, Robin, and I went instead to our favorite thrift shop.  Here's what I brought home.  

I believe these are little salt cellars (above).  At least I think they are.  $1. each.  They only had two.  I guess I need to find tiny spoons now.  

I love this cut glass dish inside it's silver basket.  $9., as you can see.  A relish dish, maybe?  Or candy?  I don't know.  Just know that I love it.  And that's enough for me.

And here is a silver-plated gravy boat and tray.  $7. for this little puppy.  I seem to be collecting these.  Just love the shapes.  I have to show you some pictures of my corner cabinet in the dining room.  Right now it's filled with all my other silver sauce boats, along with some red transferware and some milk glass.  Red and white and bling for Christmas, right?

Right now, I'm trying to get an etsy shop set up with my photos and notecards.  We're also starting to get the Christmas decorations out.  And shopping, of course.  And stripping wallpaper.  Still.

Will the fun never end?