Decorating with Antique Delft Tiles and Florentine Pumpkins

Delft tiles have been catching my eye when I have been antiquing this summer.  

They never did before, but this is why.

After receiving this pair of blue and white club chairs from my parents,

with our lake house build looming I thought they would be a good fit for that home.  

And because they are this bright cornflower blue

it has steered my decorating path in that direction as well.  

Our current home has become the test ground for the lake house!

Delft tiles are still made in Holland but I have been collecting some of the older tiles I find in  

antique shops.  As a child my parents took us to Amsterdam and we boarded

 a tour bus to visit a factory in Rotterdam.  This factory and others existed from the 17th century!

My parents bought a few souvenirs from the visit, which I have now and they are over 50 years old. 

The little clog is one of their souvenirs, while the Heineken mug

 and the pitcher are two of my finds while antiquing. 

 I love finding the older pieces and tiles are at the top of my list. 

It is fun to be collecting again, with a new perspective on blue and white.

This is a pretty castle scene, much like Cinderella's home!  

You can see the age of the tile, literally, on the back of the signed tile.

The little holes at the top are for wall hanging.

Delft Pottery, also known as Delft Blue, is a general term now used for Dutch tin-glazed 

earthenware. The city of Delft was the major production center, but it can be made elsewhere,

included England.  In the 17th and 18th century, Delft was in it's heyday, exporting all over Europe.

It is amazing to me to find so many pieces in the antique shops in America, but I see it as a 

result of the popularity of blue and white porcelain that many favor today in home decorating.

On another note, I did a crafting project yesterday.  I was inspired by some fancy pumpkins

a friend of mine posted on her blog, Edith and Evelyn.  It involved making clay molds of 

medallions and painting them. I added some gilded Dresden paper trim to mine as well as

did one with decoupage calling to mind a Cinderella castle with an internet image I printed.

It was a fun and fairly easy project and gave me some 

Florentine style pumpkins that go with my decor.

I am not an orange person, and avoid all the spooky stuff that goes

with Halloween decorating.  These are pretty, and that works for me!

Check out Cindy's blog to see the basics on how 

to do the molds and where to buy the products.

Edith and Evelyn's Fancy DIY pumpkins tutorial 

Happy Decorating!!