A French Provincial Love Story

I've always had a thing for French Provincial furniture.

But our house is quite full, and I swear I really wasn't looking for more.

But then something happened and I had to rethink my full house situation. 

Take a peek at the far end of our dining room.

I wasn't looking for a little writing desk....

But it seems she must have been looking for me.

 When I happened upon her at an antique market, she instantly turned my head.

We both felt the same way about each other, and I told this little desk I would find a way. 

After all, she's got little drawers lined in pretty paper.  

And the cutest little drawer pulls with the wavy french shape 

that is a hallmark of French Provincial style.

 She's got the criss cross wire grill inserts on the center cubby doors 

just in case I needed more to make me fall in love with her.

The finish is that perfect shade of old enough brown.

And the writing desk surface lined with leather and gilt design slides out

about a foot to make writing a bit easier.

Her matching carved chair had extra carvings that I couldn't resist, 

from the back splat to the chair stretcher.  The rush seat was still tight and tidy 

and not a loose joint could be found.

 So yes, my little desk, I will take you home with me. 

 If you don't mind living in the dining room I think we could all be quite happy. 

And so thats what we did with our new little darling.

And we plan to live happily ever after.

A Rustic Classical Thanksgiving Table

It's a pleasure to be joining a talented group of design bloggers 
with table settings for Thanksgiving.  
How many times do you do the same thing, every year?
Well this group may give you some ideas about switching it up!
My Thanksgiving table came together quite naturally this year.

It centered on one big beautiful thing.

My inspiration point for the table setting was a classical urn that I found 

recently at the wonderful SOWA Antique Market in Boston.

You can make your own table centerpiece using a 
beautiful soup tureen or a large vessel like a planter or an urn.

To dress this table up, I could have started with a white tablecloth, 

but I loved the look of the fancy urn against the rustic wood table planks. 

A bunch of wheat (that is actually in a self contained pot) was plunked inside the urn,

and then I filled in the edges with cuttings from one of the mums I had outside.

You can see the beginnings of my table above.  The urn without the mums yet,

and the table with just white baby boos and no individual flowers for the settings.

It's nice, but lacking somehow....so keep layering until its pretty but not cluttered.

 Each place setting got a special touch with individual antique purple
 glass vessels, holding one sprig.  It is simple and pretty. 

As you may know, I always shop my yard or my home to create special looks.

The sparkle of silver and gold, and farm stand pumpkins and flowers

 create the perfect mix of refined and rustic decor that I prefer.

 Ignore traditional thinking and set your table 

with what appeals to your own personal style.

Use your favorite heirloom pieces to create a table all your own.

This could be my most favorite Thanksgiving table ever!

Don't forget to visit my blogger friends homes to see what

kind of tables they have come up with.  

You will be sure to be inspired.

Shabbyfufu

 

StoneGable

Savvy Southern Style

Maison Decor

 

On Sutton Place

The Enchanted Home

 

Monday's posts:

Designthusiasm | French Country Cottage | Cedar Hill Farmhouse Kelley Nan | Bless'er House | Maison de Pax

Tuesday's posts:

Town and Country Living | CitrineLiving | Sand and Sisal Zevy Joy | Life on Virginia Street | Design, Dining and Diapers

Wednesday's posts:

Decor Gold Designs | ZDesign At Home | Randi Garrett Design Ella Claire | So Much Better With Age | My Soulful Home

Thursday's posts:

Shabbyfufu | StoneGable | Savvy Southern Style Maison Decor | On Sutton Place | The Enchanted Home

Friday's Posts:

Sunny Side Up | Finding Home Farms | The Wood Grain Cottage Setting for Four | Becky Cunningham

A Pretty French desk!

Before I get to the latest french furniture acquisition, I want to 

give you a heads up on a terrific holiday tour, Style and Set, that I am in

along with a host of other design bloggers all this week.

My table will be shared on Thursday, and each day there are five 

or so tables being featured by the talented bloggers.

So if you are looking for ideas, or just love beautiful interiors and

tablescapes, don't miss this one! Link at end of post.

 Now to my exciting find....

It started off when I met a fellow blogger from North Carolina,

Shirley from Housepitality Designs.  Shirley and I have been blogging friends

for five years now, and she was in town with her hubby on a conference so we

met for a day of brunch and antique shopping! No perfect camera shots here,

just off the cuff shots taken by my hubs and myself. 

By the way, on her New England trip,

she happened to stay at the Charlotte Inn on Martha's Vineyard,

the prettiest and most elegant Inn in New England! 

( A personal fave!)

Check out her blog post about the Inn at the end of this post.

*********

"Shirley, lets go antique shopping!" 

And into the fab Sowa Vintage Market we went.

 The first vendor had racks of great old coats 

and we went through them one by one while we chatted.

I am still thinking about that fun faux leopard coat that I didn't try on.  

I don't usually look at the clothes, 

but there were so many good vintage clothing vendors at Sowa.  

 At almost the last stall, I spotted this French Provincial writing desk

 with rush chair.  It was covered in large (ugly) statuary.

 I pointed it out to Shirley, and she started inspecting it.

The drawers were all lined in decorative paper and were tongue and groove and solid wood.

 Ok, lets get these things off the desk top to take a better look.  

The writing surface extends so that it is comfortable to sit and write. 

 The seat was solid and in great shape. 

 Pretty carvings on the front of the chair were just another reason to love it even more. 

And how about the wire cabinets and the tiny drawers in the desk caddy?

Where oh where could I find a place to put this in my house?

I walked away....but then I walked back.  We measured the desk.

I knew I could find a spot.  We left without it, me clutching a card with the 

measurements.  Shirley's husband found a vintage architectural desk lamp.

We had a ton of fun shopping and blabbing and connecting in real life 

from our respective blog world vantage points.  Its not often I meet my

blog friends in real life, but when I do, its like I have known them a long time!

Oh. And so I went home....

and measured.....

and called the vendor up.....

He is delivering the desk to me this week!!!

And then I will show you all where I will put it.

Even though I am not really sure yet.

(My mottto: Buy what you love when you see it!!)

Here is the fab holiday entertaining tour I am involved with this week,

starting with the oh so pretty table of organizer, Lory, of Designthusiasm.

Link up to check out the first few blogs, and I will be back on Thursday

with my home, right here!! 

Read about Shirley's stay at The Charlotte Inn here

Potting Up Geraniums

The cold weather has begun in typical hit and miss fashion here in the Boston

area.  I had glorious pink geraniums in a wire planter outdoors, and thought why

not take them inside and see if they will last.  I remember my mom doing this, and she

potted up her outdoor geraniums in a large blue and white ceramic planter.  

She was always one for putting plants in containers, where I was used to putting things

directly into the ground.  And when winter arrived....that was it 'til next year.

Last fall she and dad sold their home on Martha's Vineyard and 

many of the day to day items, like pots and garden things, 

got parceled off to the kids.  

( I love that at my age I can still be called a kid. *wink*)

I ended up with a pair of terra cotta and white ceramic planters so

 I decided to bring in my geraniums like I recall mom doing.  

They are full of blooms and look incredibly pretty.  

However they are also very summery looking, and don't exactly mix with the 

pumpkins and fall garland I have about the house.  

How long can I have them with Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up?

There were so many geraniums I had enough to put some in an old

vintage funeral basket.  I filled the bottoms with some pea stone as there is

no drainage, and I will try not to overwater.  They look so lovely, 

but with the holiday decor about to happen, its times like these 

that I think a green house or a conservatory would be ideal! 

 A modest sized one would be very nice indeed.  

I would be in heaven with something like this!

But I don't , and have no plans to create one.  Yet.

 If I could figure out a way to find an old one on Craigslist that has been disassembled 

and is looking for a new home, then maybe I could have a small conservatory...

In the mean time I have outdoor plants indoors, and I am trying to make them work.

I added little velvet pumpkins I made to this planter.  Pretty cute.

BUT.....

At first sign of lots of dropped leaves or yellowy brown stuff, these will have

to head out to the compost pile.  

Oh, and someone told me to cut my geraniums back to about a third of their growth.

That way they will come back fuller than ever.  

But they look full now and have tons of blooms~so can I wait to cutback?

Just enjoy for now, then toss?

Any of you gardeners have any input for me?

See how full they are?

Oh, yesterday I met a blogger pal and we went antiquing in Boston

at the Vintage Sowa Market.  

Guess what I found...a wonderful piece of french furniture!!! 

I will share all about that and the very fun time I had at

 this blogger meet up on my next post. 

The Perfect Rug

 Searching for the perfect rug?  Does "The Perfect Rug" even exist?

Buying rugs can be so frustrating that often I end up with no rug at all.

Like my dining room....I have had a naked floor in here for over three years now.

 How many times do we just pick out the best of what we see at a local retailer

 that will do the job, because we have to pull the house together for the holidays?

 That has been my situation, and when I was asked if I wanted to try 

out an online rug company to create a custom rug for my home, 

I was thrilled!  Of course I would love to get a new rug,

and if it is custom, then I can get The Perfect Rug!! 

The Perfect Rug is the name of the company

and they have an online rug shopping system that is incredibly easy.   

I checked out the types of carpet I was interested and ordered some samples. 

 Along with the rug samples, The Perfect Rug sent me some rug pad samples 

and some options for how I wanted to finish the border of the rug. Since my home

 has seagrass style carpeting in the living room I decided to focus on natural grasses 

and sisal for my dining room.  However I did include one sample of a synthetic with a 

modern pattern just to check it out and give myself more options.  

The Perfect Rug makes it easy by sending along a tip card that shows what size rugs 

can fit rooms based upon furniture layout and how to measure for the right size rug.

Included are border samples in several options, 

and on the back of the rug sample they advise the best option, 

but you can certainly pick out anything you think will look best.

Rug samples, border samples and padding samples are all included to 
make it easy to see what works best in the room. 
 I debated doing a custom runner for my stair case, 
but then figured since I am hosting Thanksgiving, 
it would be nice to get a new rug for the dining room.  

The other thing I found helpful was that The Perfect Rug rates the carpets according 

to how well they stand up to traffic.  That was a deciding factor for me~what with our dog

 and all the comings and goings through the dining room out to the

 courtyard through our newly added French Doors.  
And now, lets talk price!

The pricing is more than reasonable, which as you know, is always a consideration for my pocketbook when I am decorating.  They show a cost estimate on 
popular sizes like 5x7 and 8x10 for the carpets while you look online based
 upon the sample you are viewing.  That is super helpful.

There were gorgeous wools, sisal and natural seagrass, 
as well as a host of synthetics to choose from. 
You can select samples to view based upon color, style or material 
or all of the above and the online selector will show what there is, based upon your parameters.

My naked floors will be gone in a couple of weeks, and I will be back 

to show you which carpet I decided was the right fit for us!  

Most orders take two weeks to complete, which is simply amazing for a custom rug.  

So if you are in the same predicament, looking for the Perfect Rug, 

check out their website and order a few samples.  

Click here for your trip to The Perfect Rug.

Note: This post is sponsored by The Perfect Rug, however all opinions and thoughts on this company are my own.