Blue Transferware, Reeve Turns Three and the Lake House

 Summer has arrived and with it comes some decorating changes.

This time as I decorate I am imagining the decor in the lake house

 we will build later this summer in New Hampshire.

Blue and white has been creeping into my palette.

It began with this blue and white checked gingham fabric on the Swedish day bed. 

Next came a few pieces of blue and white transfer ware,

including this unusual large pedestal bowl!

Powdery pale blue and white is my preference, and I have been lucky to find

some beautiful platters and bowls. The trio of botanicals framed in a country check

had been sitting in an antique shop for two years.  I've noticed them with every visit

but didn't grab them until I figured out that blue and white would be part of the lake house look.

For now I have hung them in our kitchen where I plan to hang the platters on the wall.

Custom framed for someone else a few decades ago, they will be enjoyed 

by us in our new home.  Shopping for vintage finds always makes it fun,

as you never know what awaits you on the hunt.

 My granddaughter Reeve turned three at the end of June.

She lives in Maine now on a farm, and is having an idyllic childhood.

 She helps her daddy with fixing up the house with her own tool belt...

And of course there are farm chores.  

One job is to drive her tractor to pick up vegetables gone by

for the compost heap. Look at that head of lettuce!!

 We miss her very much, with the imposed isolation that Covid19

brought to our lives and loves.  But hopefully we will have extended

visits soon, because she is going to be a big sister this month

and we are excited to meet him and share in the joy that grandchildren bring.

I stitched up some big floor pillows for her bedroom out of the cutest sheets

sold at The Company Store.  Princesses in every color standing in front of castles

and riding in fairytale coaches!

 Oh and how about these covered dishes? 

They are large, and I found out they are excellent for using in the 

courtyard at cookouts to keep the flies at bay.

I have three of these now, and they are fantastic!!

We have had a few small gatherings outdoors, and my system is that I use

a table set up next to the grill where I put all the plates and flatware, along

with the various (covered) dishes that have the food, and then grill the main

course.  Then I plate and serve my guests, all the while maintaining sanitizing.

Its been easy to keep social distances and enjoy each others company.

And those covered transferware tureens are awesome for holding the food.

 And one more darling blue and white addition, is this needlepoint pillow 

with the blue and white striped background, done in roses and a cute lab!  

I couldn't resist!

Its been a quiet summer so far,

but I am hoping to report on ground breaking for the lake house soon.

The well has been dug and installed and the final house plans are getting printed.

Next up will be the demolition and site work!

I promise to keep you posted~

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Purple Transferware Lamps

Hello hello hello!  

Happy to be back in blog land after a nice respite. A happy holiday season is in the books for 2017.  Unlike many bloggers, I try to blog only when feeling inspired about something I want to write about it.  Bleak weather is certainly uninspiring, and many of us in New England have learned the art of hunkering down for a few months.  Hibernation? Yes, it feels like that, especially in January after the Christmas tree and the twinkling lights are all packed away.  With a stretch of winter ahead of us, I tend to get into cooking, and reading, and more quiet pursuits that don't involve leaving my nest.  Decorating takes a back seat to everything, but recently I got a tip from a friend about a pair of lamps that were up for auction on an online site. Purple transferware lamps to be exact.  While my collection of purple transferware has bordered on an obsession, I have come to a place where I only want to collect the rarer and more special pieces of transferware.  

A pair of lamps in purple transferware?  I had never seen such a thing,

and so I was definitely interested. Bidding  on the Everything But the House website 

was a first for me.  As you can see, I prevailed and the pair of lamps arrived well

packed and in fabulous condition.  They are a pattern match to some of the transferware I 

own, a pattern called Tonquin, by Royal Staffordshire designed by the artist Clarice Cliff.

They set on reticulated brass bases with brass finials.  A pair of lampshades were 

purchased at the local big box store in a silvery grey, to complement my home.

Not sure where they will end up going, but for now I have them in the 

living room on either end table next to the sofa.  Winter is also a good time

to think of what to do for the spring and summer, and its also a good time to

get indoor projects done.  Of course I am babysitting my darling little Reeve several

days a week, so that helps the winter fly by as well.  But as far as projects go,

my darling dog Piper decided to dig her claws into the arm of the sofa slipcover

and so a new slipcover is in order.  Winter is a good time to get a sizable sewing 

project finished before the good weather beckons.

Of course my dogs have dog beds and kennels, but when my back is 

turned they think its great fun to race in circles around the big trunk

coffee table, up onto the sofa, then spring off onto the carpet and round 

again they go.   Hence a torn slipcover.  I made it twelve years ago, and it

has stood the test of time and many launderings....but it couldn't withstand 

a girl dog named Piper. 

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Thanksgiving Inspiration Starts at Home

 If you love to decorate or simply take pleasure in setting a nice table for Thanksgiving,

then you are like me! This year I will be hosting again, and I always look forward to having family come to our home and celebrate Thanksgiving.  I don't run out and buy new decorations, but instead look to use what I already have in a new way.  Taking a look back at last year and the year before at what I did in my home inspires me to tweak and change the bits and pieces in my fall stash. Do you do the same thing over and over? Or do you change it up?  I think we all have our own best ideas, and by looking back in the past, its nice to remember the better ones to guide and inspire.

 Although Fall is the season I decorate least around the house,  a few pumpkins with some wintery looking pillows or throws is how I approach it.  Pillows are magic when it comes to decorating, and just by switching them out, you can change the look and feel in a room.  

The dining room is the most important room for Thanksgiving.

This table was perhaps my most favorite table of all.  

I loved how the colors all felt soft and monochromatic.  

The Cinderella blue pumpkins from Trader Joes were a big part of the table design, 

with a few white pumpkins added here and there.

 A vintage compote urn I found at Boston's Vintage SOWA market was my centerpiece.

You can visit this awesome Vintage Market every Sunday, on Harrison Ave in Boston to find your own special treasures.

 I do think a white table cloth adds a formality you can't replicate for holiday formal dining.  But last year I wanted to have a more rustic casual feeling, mixing fancier items, like sterling silver flatware with gold luster and transferware plates, but without the white cloth. I used my large French napkins under each place setting.

 And it just wouldn't be Thanksgiving at our home without my purple transfer ware dishes!

I'm taking my favorite ideas as inspiration and then seeing what I come up with

for this years Thanksgiving table.  With my new granddaughter Reeve bringing her parents along, its just going to be so much fun!  Of course she won't be eating any turkey or stuffing, but she will bring  joy to the occasion, and thats what Thanksgiving is all about.  And although I don't talk about this very often, many of my readers may remember, it was on Thanksgiving 2015 that Reeve's aunt Taylor suffered her heart failure and was hospitalized.  And then it was around the following Thanksgiving that Taylor got her new heart...

We give thanks for Taylor being healthy, and for having Reeve Taylor Power

 as the youngest member of our growing family making 2017 quite a special year.  

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Purple Transferware Wall Display and Floral Arrangements

The purple transferware collection I have amassed is displayed in our dining room.

The latest bowl was picked up at Matthew Mead's Estate Sale last weekend, and it 

is a piece made by Wedgwood.  Quite old and it bears a few chips, it is lovely nonetheless

and for now it sits in a stand where I can admire it front and center.  It was the only piece I 

spotted and I was surprised to even find it at his sale, as I know he has a fondness for the purple

stuff himself.  His mother has a purple transferware dinner set herself, and Matthew grew up dining 

off of these pretty dishes, as I am doing now with my kids and family.  

 Since the wedding has passed, so have all of the beautiful floral arrangements, and I 

have to say I really missed having the gorgeous bouquets in our rooms.  I think flowers bring

a room to life, and I can tell you they are the number one decorating weapon for magazine and book

photo shoots.  The rooms look lifeless without them.  I found myself in Trader Joes and picked up 

 two separate bouquets that had the color purple in common. One even had a stalk of decorative kale

and pincushion flowers, and you just can't beat the price at Trader Joes.  So treat yourself and your

rooms with a bouquet and get a lift everytime you walk by....I know I do. 

 The floral arrangements for our DIY wedding were not DIY, but I think I could have 

made a good effort if I had needed to do so.  Either way, the table was lifeless without the flowers, and when I saw these pics I snapped the morning of the wedding. They were loaded in my camera

and I haven't seen them since.  I think the tables looked so pretty.  

So don't forget to treat yourself to some flowers, whether its the 

supermarket or a florist or your own backyard.

Heading into the weekend with this "tip".  

Get flowers. Enjoy. Relax. 

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Pink Linen Curtains for my French Dining Room

 Perhaps I have been swayed by the popularity of blush pink in interiors this year.

It is a color that is everywhere these days....

Pink is a color I have always been attracted to, and yet it can be a bit much

in "regular" rooms, often relegated to babies rooms or young girls.  Maybe since 

I have a grand daughter on the way, this desire for more pink in my own house

was too much to ignore.

 Whatever the reason, I ordered a bolt of pink Irish linen to create

a pair of panels for the dining room windows.  I rolled out 3 yard increments

on the dining room table for each of the four panels.  These would not be lined,

yet simply hung with a straight stitched rod pocket and hemline.

 A french console with a pink marble top that used to be in my shop's foyer was installed between the pair of windows, underneath the venetian mirror.  Its a nice narrow display space for flowers, dishes, candles or whatever I want to highlight.  The pink looks pretty with the purple transferware collection.  Harkens back to my seventh grade bedroom, which as done in pink and purple with French provincial canopy bed.  The set was a little girl's dream,

 and I was lucky enough to have one at the age of 12.  

 We eat dinner in this room every night as a family, and most often we dine on placemats instead of a table cloth, as placemats are easier to launder.  I made a set of pink toile placemats about twelve years ago and they have stood up so well over time and repeated washings.  Sewing can really come in handy when you want specific styles in draperies, pillows, placemats, napkins and the like.  Sewing gives me the ability to showoff my personal style, and I won't see it anywhere else.

 A pair of antique gilded candlesticks from my blogging friend Cindy at Edith + Evelyn Vintage's etsy shop grace the French console.  She has many french accessories in her online shop.

I traded the candlesticks for some of my purple transferware with Cindy, which was really fun.

I am looking forward to seeing my old plates gracing her beautiful French home on her blog.

 My centerpiece is an antique garden trug that Matthew Mead gifted me.

I placed a pink gardening shovel in the trug that I found on our trip to Long Island.  

The shovel was about the only pink thing for sale at the White Flower Farmhouse shop.

This room's redecoration is a nod to spring and summer, 

and the lightheartedness these months bring to our daily living.  

Looking forward to the French doors opening to the courtyard, white wine and soft

summer breezes.  Centerpieces will be made up with cuttings from the garden pink roses.  

The pink draperies will get changed back to the grey after Labor Day, 

but until then, we will be in full spring and summer mode, here at Maison Decor.

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Today's French Country Style

The lovely French Country style can work in today's modern homes.

This style has fanciful elements mixed with things to take it down a notch,

making it a nice livable style choice.  Mixing in some rustic pieces is the secret

to getting the right mix for French Country style, so you don't feel like you live

in a museum.  Its a style I have a passion for, and I hope you enjoy this post.

Let's take a look at some rooms that have the perfect mix, in my opinion.

Pamela Pierce Design

Everything about this room has wonderful French Country style for today's living.

Rustic and feminine meet to keep the room welcoming to both sexes.

 This home had the stone walls that set the rustic tone, so softness and femininity was added with fabrics and flowers. Look at the accessories: a pillow with an antique toile remnant, a green metal garden dining table used as a console,  old books, weathered finishes on the chair, lamp and shutters, and crocks and vases of a single type of bloom speak to an easy country life style, which is what French Country style is all about.  Bravo Pamela!

Veranda Magazine

A slice of a view of this room from Veranda magazine shows

a monochromatic scheme in camel and white.  The traditional checked

fabric keeps things approachable and the burlap drapery panel along

with sisal carpeting gives the room it's rustic elements. This room is more

French Country Cottage, as most of the design incorporates simple pieces,

with no gilded or fancy accessories anywhere in sight.

Traditional Home Magazine

A beautiful living room with doors that open out onto an 

inviting courtyard has the ubiquitous checkered

curtains flanking the french doors as well as on the upholstery.  

Lots of rustic elements from the walls to the grass rugs and the

 country style accessories make this room a great example of French Country.

It is decorated simply with well chosen accent pieces.

Pamela Pierce Design

Every thing this Texas designer does, I love!  

Pamela Pierce's trademark look is a feminine french style and she

balances it out with an old rustic ambience.  The stone walls create a nice setting

 for the painted rococo table and the slipcovered sofas in linen.  

Her signature is the ruffled slips that you will

find in many of her rooms on sofas and chairs.

 The lavender fabric makes this room light hearted and fresh.   

Veranda Magazine

Grey is the color of the decade, and here it is used in several shades on the 

wall paneling to great effect.  Black and white transfer ware plates

are hung all around the room, a  great French collectible indeed.

Another set of checkered draperies keep this room in the French Country style, 

as you might imagine fancier silk draperies would set a different tone.

The mix of painted chairs with the wooden table is another way this room keeps

to it's French Country style.  The iron lantern light fixture keeps the formal feel

of the furniture from becoming too precious.  I love the mix in this room.

Source Unknown (Pinterest)

This is such a great little banquette dining nook done in French Country style.

A built in library effect was created with flanking bookcases 

and then the area done in mirror behind the built in to visually increase the space.

What gives this room successful FC style is the use of the tan and white buffalo check on the painted French chairs, and the overall tone on tone color palette.  A painted chandelier hangs above a painted

table, and then a random French chair in dark wood is added to take away from the matched set.

A comfy banquette in checked and solid linen pillows makes it quite a charming spot.  What a nice

way to outfit a less than large eating area in a smaller home, townhouse or condo.

Via The Enchanted Home

French Country style has evolved from this look, where there was tons of color and pattern everywhere you looked.  Toile fabrics, painted furniture and coordinating fabric patterns where once the way to create the "French Country" room.  Now it is a "less is more" kind of look, using some of these elements, but not all of them together.  A more subdued interpretation of this beloved look is a modern way to use French Country style in one's home.  Imagine this room without the curtains, just the shutters.  The table without the cloth, and that the table would be an iron garden table or a simple rustic pine piece.  Painted chair with checkered pad is perfectly fine as is.  Strip the wallpaper and use a neutral white or greige paint on the walls.  Finish it off with an antique French mirror  flanked by some of the transfer ware plates, over the painted blue sideboard, or use a Swedish style plate rack.  Now that would be an easy room makeover with stunning results!  Do you have a French Country room that could use a little updating? 

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