Autumn on the Porch

I've been so late this year getting my chrysanthemums. Some years I buy them as soon as they come out, and other years I don't get any at all. This year I seem to have gotten in just under the wire. Hopefully, we will not get a severe frost for a few more weeks yet, so I can enjoy their color.

I've gathered my mums on our small front porch, which is an area we pass by every day coming into and out of the house. You would think with all that traffic I would pay more attention to making this area look nice, but somehow it always gets overlooked. The bench is always on the porch but I've added most of the other things just for fall.

(Actually, the rather ragged rug came out of our mud room. And I think it ought to go on it's way to the dump!)

I set up a little basket here, with a homemade zucchini muffin from my favorite prepared foods and butcher shop, Perotti's. The basket is from Target, the cup was a thrift store find, and the pitcher belonged to my mother.

The brown transferware plate is by Churchill, from HomeGoods. I used a linen tea towel as a napkin.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, dear bloggers!

Autumn in the Kitchen

I wanted to show you all a few of the odds and ends I've collected in my travels lately, so I thought I would set a fall table in the kitchen. Besides, I love to play with dishes, right? ;)

Yes, those are the same faux flowers I showed you a couple of weeks ago. I did actually get some chrysanthemums to put on the table, but I want to add some little gourds to them and just haven't gotten around to doing that yet.

I set this table with a lot of mismatched china and thrift store/rummage sale finds. The covered casserole (shown above) was a HomeGoods find a few years ago. I bring it out every fall to add color to my table. :)

I bought this handsome canine fellow (above) at the recent Visiting Nurse's Rummage Sale for my dear friend, Robin. He's just visiting my table before I bring him to his new home.

I bought this little black urn (above) at the rummage sale also. I'm not quite sure what I'll do with it yet, but it comes in handy here to hold a little white pumpkin. :)

I set the table with three mismatched thrift store dishes. I only have one of the turkey dishes (above) and two of the country scenes (below). Luckily, there are only three of us eating dinner tonight.

And yes, I placed two more little white pumpkins on top of the wooden candlesticks. They are a recent thrift store find, and an unusual size. All of the pillar candles I've seen so far are just ever so slightly too big to fit them. :(

Woven rattan chargers, cotton damask napkins, mother of pearl napkin rings and Waterford crystal round out the settings. Oh, and my usual array of flatware -- antique bone-handled knives and vintage silverplate forks and spoons.

Happy autumn colors here at Little Red House. The tablecloth is Ralph Lauren. The curtains are Country Curtains. The wallpaper (which I swear I'm going to strip soon!) is Waverley.

So that's autumn in the kitchen here at Little Red House. :)

Mosaic Monday: Adamantine Mantel Clock

I'm showing you something that has been a fixture in my life for many years -- the Seth Thomas Adamantine mantel clock that belonged to my grandfather. I was quite young when my grandfather died, and my mother inherited the clock. It has sat on our mantel ever since.

It does not run now, but I remember it chiming the hours when I was little. It had quite a loud tick-tocking sound, too. I can remember my father winding it every week or so.

Adamantine is a type of celluloid veneer that was used to mimic the marble and onyx of the more expensive French mantel clocks of the late nineteenth century. Seth Thomas began making these adamantine black mantel clocks in 1882 for the American market, which wanted the look of the more expensive clocks but shied at the price. They were very popular from 1882 through 1911. If you are interested in finding one, there are a few on ebay, including one that is exactly the same model, here. If you are interested in a short history of Seth Thomas clocks, you can find it here.

Now let's have some mosaic fun! Here are the instructions:
1. Publish your Mosaic Monday post.
2. Once it is published, click on the title of the post. This will lead you to the static link for your post. The static link is the page with only that post on it. Copy the url from your browser at the top of the page.
3. Paste the url into the appropriate inlinkz box in this post.
4. Type your name in the appropriate inlinkz box in this post.
5. Click on "Enter."
6. Please link back to this Mosaic Monday post so that your readers can find other wonderful mosaics.

That's all there is to it! It's always a good idea to then check and see if your link is working. If you have any questions, feel free to email me: mrcarroll(at)optonline.

Saturday Morning

It's Saturday morning, the kids are still asleep, my husband is at the office, and I'm sitting here dreaming up decorating projects for the winter. Like stripping the wallpaper in the kitchen and painting. Moving the hutch from the dining room into the kitchen and painting the island. Carving a laundry room out of the downstairs bathroom. Painting my dresser. Painting my aunt's old breakfront that sits in the garage right now, and putting it in the dining room...

If wishes were horses... :)

*********

I'm still making the rounds of all your posts from last week, but I hope you will join me for Mosaic Monday this week. Mr. Linky will be up by 8:30pm Sunday Eastern time, USA.

I Love My Plate Rack

When we had our kitchen remodeled a few years ago, the designer asked me for a list of the features I most desired in my new kitchen. At the top of the list was a plate rack.

Duh! I'm a dishaholic, remember?

I wanted it because of the way it looked, but I love it now because of the way it functions. It is so much easier to grab a few plates without having to open a cabinet door. That sounds like such a little thing, but it's true. And because our dishwasher is located immediately below the rack, it makes emptying the dishwasher easy, too. And finally, there is something just so very satisfying about slotting the dishes into the rack -- a place for everything, and everything in it's place.

I'm linking this post to Cindy's Show and Tell Friday. If you have the time, go check out all the links. You will be so glad you did. :)

I'm also linking Shelia's Heart of the Home Party. What could be more fun than taking some time to visit each other's kitchens, and maybe stop in for a little refreshment? :)

My name is Mary, and I'm a milk-glass-a-holic

This is my semi-annual post where I show you all the milk glass I bought for a song at the Visiting Nurse's Rummage Sale in Far Hills, New Jersey. ;)

I went there this year, saying to myself that I was not going to buy any more milk glass. I have way too much already.

But that resolve went right out the window when I saw these two beautiful pieces by Westmoreland (above and below).

One was $3. and the other was $2. The covered candy dish (above) is currently selling for around $25-$38 on ebay and bonanza. Score!

The beautiful goblet (below) was made by Napco. I love the simple shape and the almost translucent quality of the glass. I think this one cost me $2. -- a real bargain for something that gives me so much pleasure to look at. :)

I love the basketweave pattern on the plate shown below, too. It doesn't have a maker's mark, but I think it may be another piece of Westmoreland because it is so heavy. I'll have to look out for a few more so that I can set a small table with them. ;)

The hobnail, fluted-edge compote (below) has no maker's mark either, but it has the most beautiful opalescent glass. This makes me wonder if it is made by Fenton, which is famous for it's lovely fluting and mother-of-pearl glass. I've ordered a reference book on milk glass from Amazon. Can't wait to see if it helps with identification. :)

The little leaf-shaped candy dish (below) is definitely Fenton -- the daisy and button pattern. I just thought it was so cute, and for $1. it was another no brainer.

And the very first piece of milk glass I ever bought was an urn similar to the one shown below. I think I just responded to the classic shape. Now I have several of them. This one is by the E.O. Brody Co. I'm thinking of placing one of them on either end of the mantel in the library with some fall branches.

If you are a fan of Eddie Ross, you will know that he often includes milk glass pieces in his tablescapes. Early last week he wrote on his blog that he was shooting

a makeover story for Women's Day at the Visiting Nurse's Rummage Sale. I can't wait to see it, and see if it includes any milk glass! :)

Mosaic Monday: Autumn Postcards

Remember when we talked about the lost art of letter writing last week? I thought that I would add some new autumn postcards to my etsy shop, for those of you who still like to send a handwritten note. :)

So that is what my mosaic is made of this week -- six images of autumn, the "season of mists and mellow fruitfulness" as Keats described it it.

After the color and abundance of summer blooms, autumn has it's own spare beauty. I love the misty mornings, the muted golds and browns, the ripened berries and the call of geese flying overhead. I love the brilliant foliage and the softer light and the dew-drenched grass. And most of all, I love the bittersweet feeling that comes with this fleeting season. Soon enough the frost and the snow will come. Carpe diem.

Now let's have some mosaic fun! Here are the instructions:
1. Publish your Mosaic Monday post.
2. Once it is published, click on the title of the post. This will lead you to the static link for your post. The static link is the page with only that post on it. Copy the url from your browser at the top of the page.
3. Paste the url into the appropriate inlinkz box in this post.
4. Type your name in the appropriate inlinkz box in this post.
5. Click on "Enter."
6. Please link back to this Mosaic Monday post so that your readers can find other wonderful mosaics.

That's all there is to it! It's always a good idea to then check and see if your link is working. If you have any questions, feel free to email me: mrcarroll(at)optonline.