Gorgeous Transferware Giveaway

 In honor of reaching the 1000 followers mark on my blog I am thrilled to be hosting a giveaway at Nancy's Daily Dish who has the most incredible English Transferware Store on Etsy.  The giveaway is a $60 credit towards anything in Nancy's shop! Yup, you heard that right~and the other great thing is all of my followers will be able to shop and get a 15% discount with my secret coupon code of MAISONDECOR.  With Thanksgiving coming up, wouldn't you love to put your turkey on this incredible platter?  Its at Nancy's right now!

Maybe you prefer blue?

I know brown is very popular these days....

 Or maybe you might like to have a romantic platter like this one...

 I would love a set of these plates for Thanksgiving! 

They would match up nicely with

 my purple collection I have started.

Oh yes, I can see mixing those right in with these Clarice Cliff Rural Scenes.

I love decorating with transferware and have plates in my dining room...

And recently created a mini-hutch so I can enjoy my collection every day.

 This beautiful olive green platter is quite handsome
and would be lovely on a wall or a table.

 Did you know Nancy sells "instant collections"

 like this charming set in purple?

Look at how Nancy decorates with purple transferware.
Her home is filled with beautiful vignettes like this~

I bought many of these plates from Nancy.

She has a few instant collections already assembled in her shop, 

or she can put one together for you if you like.
These instant collections are great values.

Nancy uses transferware to hold utensils in her kitchen~
such a pretty way to use pieces of transferware!

Of course you can also find the 

most traditional items like this beautiful brown and white teapot.

Now head over to Nancy's store by clicking the banner above and select something you would love to have.  Then come back here and let me know what it is!  Please make sure you are a follower of both of our blogs, and then just leave one comment letting me know what makes your heart go pitty-pat when you looked at the over
900 pieces of transferware that Nancy has for sale!

For an extra entry chance you can post this giveaway on your sidebar. You will leave an extra comment for that so I know to enter you twice!
Click on collage below to go to Nancy's blog to become a follower!
You can read a fabulous post on how we both decorate with purple~
she with darker jewel tones, and how I use pastels and white.

"photo credit: Yvonne @ StoneGable"

For the secret coupon code 

enter MAISONDECOR to get 15% off any purchase. 

 This code is good for two weeks!

I will announce the winner one week from today~

good luck and thanks for following Maison Decor!

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Reading a blog that comes in your email box

 This blog post is for all of my subscribers that get Maison Decor in their email box.  Maybe you didn't realize that these blog emails are a little different than regular emails.  Sure, you can read what I wrote by just scrolling down the page, however what you should be doing is clicking on the blog title first.

 See where it says "Maison Decor" at the top?

 Put your cursor up there and click on it~

 Voila~! You are magically transported to my blog page with all the pretty pictures and extras!

 Underneath the Title of Maison Decor, there is a collage of pictures that change from time to time.  There is also a navigational bar that lets you click on other things to visit.  These are called "buttons" and if you click on my buttons you can see topics including "Custom Drapes" (my drapery portfolio)  "My sketches" (sketches that I do on consignment)  "Flea Market" (which is my online store).

 The other thing that you get to see by going to the blog page is something called the "sidebar".  The sidebar is an area along the side of my blog that I put a lot of little extras that you might be interested in reading about.

 You will see an introduction about myself...which of course is soooo exciting!!! (yawn)

 And special features like "Tour Our Home" which lets you take a trip through my entire house!  You can find out how I "Wallpapered a Ceiling" or look more closely at "My Kitchen Makeover".  You will get to see pictures of my and my husband, Mr. Maison Decor as well as a few of my three sons.

Lastly, it lets you view all the comments that people leave about the topic that was written about.  This is important for you to know about because tomorrow I am going to be giving away FREE TRANSFERWARE, and you can only win if you leave a comment.  This giveaway is for all of my followers and fellow blogger friends and subscribers!( new commenters who don't have a blog may want to be able to leave a comment. When you scroll to the bottom of the post it will show a box where to leave a comment. Some times it might just show something like "12 comments". Click on the "12 comments" and then it will show all the comments and a box where you are invited to write a comment. It will have a little bar under the comment box that says "post comments as" and you get to click on that to select what category you are. If you have a website you can click on Name/URL and enter the information. If not, you can click on "Anonymous" and then leave your comment, but remember to write at least your first name or a nickname so if I respond to you, you will know I am talking to YOU!) This was added after I read the comments by an anonymous commenter on how to leave a comment!!
You don't have to be a blogger to leave a comment, you can click on "anonymous" and then sign your name at the end of the comment, like "Jeannie from Boston" or "Sara xxx@aol.com or something like that. In case you win I can contact you if you leave an email address.  If you don't want to leave an email address, just leave your first name and last name initial and check back to see if you won the giveaway and then send me a private email letting me know your shipping address so I can send it to you.
I get lots of emails from my subscribers commenting on posts that they have enjoyed, but I wanted you to know that you too can leave a message right on the blog~if you click on Maison Decor when you open up your email!
Thanks for subscribing to my blog~and I hope you enter a chance to win my giveaway as it is in appreciation to all of you who read Maison Decor.

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Urn with Feathers, Glittered Fruit and Flowers

 I saw an advertisement yesterday for some silk floral arrangements.  The look was inspiring, but not the price tag~so I headed to Michael's to find a few things to group together in a favorite old urn. I wanted to create a floral arrangement  to take me through the rest of the fall and one that has the colors in my home.  The purplish green silk hydrangea was just what I was looking for in terms of color, and then I found the rest~

 some feather sprays, a large purple dahlia and sticks of glittered fruit in pale blue and lilac!   You don't need a lot of things to make an arrangement like this~get something tall for the center, and build around it.  Sticks from the garden would work too, but I am on a feather kick right now.

 Trim a piece of floral foam to fit the urn with a big kitchen knife.  I  have had this urn for 20 years and had it professionally filled the first time, however I was kind of disappointed. In its lifetime this urn has held pumpkins on the porch and topiaries in the kitchen.

After sticking the feathers and the fruit pics in the foam, I trimmed the large hydrangea and the dahlia so that I could poke them into the foam so that they sat under the tall feathers.

 I filled in the base with leaves cut from the dahlia and hydrangea to hide the florist foam.

 Glittery things catch my eye~this fall arrangement has a little dazzle to it. 

 One side of the arrangement has the hydrangea, the other side has the dahlia. 

 The glittery fruit pics came with glittered pine cones and leaves.  Purple thistle was also added for more of natural fall look.  I liked how it looked with the feather spray that came with the tall grass. 

 The urn is on my coffee table now, towering above my piles of books and magazines.

 The colors look right in here, making me want to change out the mantel with some more of these colors, eliminating the rust and the oranges.  

I have to straighten out my pile of books~the coffee table was moved to the side and I need to straighten that back out too...why was my coffee table moved?

Because my beaded chandy was taken down this week and sent to it's new home.  Once I get a new one in place, I'll have the coffee table all straightened out and the books looking nice, and maybe even the mantle will get some aqua blue and purple colors to coordinate with the floral arrangement.
linking to 
Feathered Nest Friday

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Silverplate settings

 Thanksgiving is right around the corner.  

Are you hosting dinner this year?  

I like to set a formal table and this year I have some new additions,

 including a complete set of Roger Bros 

silverplate flatware that I got at auction this summer.
If you want to set a fancier table, 
here is a solution on how to get that look.
First of all, consider silver plate.

 My "new" pattern is  called "First Love". 

Silverplate is an inexpensive way to give your table a fancier look. 

 You can find a complete set on eBay for well under $100. 
My set came from an auction house.

 This group of flatware was all dumped onto a tray 

and I didn't think twice about it until I saw no one was bidding on it.

  So I was able to get it all for $10~

later on at home I counted all the pieces and I was thrilled.

 It had dinner and salad forks, teaspoons and soup spoons, knives, 

butter knife, and about ten serving pieces like a ladle, 2 meat forks,  2 large spoons,  a large pierced spoon, a fish server and sugar spoon.  

It was a complete set of 8 settings, shy one dinner fork, 

so I went looking on eBay and found a pair of 

First Love dinner forks and bought them for $15 to complete the set.

 I'll be setting the table with the Clarice Cliff 

purple transferware in rural scenes set I bought from eBay this summer too.

 Lots of miscellaneous pieces of silver plate 

and purple transferware will be on the table as well.

 I like to pull everything out of the cupboards

 and see what needs to be done~polishing and ironing...

 A large carving board in a reticulated plated tray
 with wooden handles was found antiquing. 

 Tina, from the Enchanted Home posted on some 

gorgeous meat trays almost like this one~

but their price was $650~ 

a far cry from $20 at the antique coop.  
These old fashioned traditional pieces can be found for a song.

 Ebay and antique shops and auctions are

 great resources for finding those serving pieces for your holiday table.

I am still on the hunt for a big turkey platter in purple transferware.

Let me know if you see one anywhere please!

 Let the polishing begin!
linking to

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Black paint updates a traditional dining room

Paint can be used in many ways to change the feeling in a room.  In this case my client had a traditional New England colonial home but wanted this space to feel less formal traditional and more welcoming.  The new furniture has a french country vibe~plank top table and curvy slat back chairs.The sisal carpet replaced a traditional but bossy oriental rug and the linen sheers went a long way along with the black furniture in updating this room.

Like many colonial and cape homes in the Boston area suburbs, homes with dining rooms often had one or two built in china cabinets. I owned two homes that both had a matching pair of corner cabinets with the glass doors, so they aren't uncommon. When I specified black paint for this built in corner cabinet, eyebrows were raised~especially that of the painter.  When all was said and done, it was this piece that we liked best.  Filled with black and white transferware this corner cabinet no longer felt like the standard 1950s built-in.

The area rug is an indoor outdoor sisal style with a fabric binding.  This rug wears incredibly well and is value priced.  The "Cove" rug is sold online through Home Decorators catalogue. This rug is comparable to some of the ones you will see in Ballard Design's catalogue and I have used it many times with great results.

The 2" wooden rods (formerly white) were painted black, then beige sheer linen panels were hung with cream colored wood blinds for additional privacy.  Originally there were pole swags and jabots over the white rods. The walls were hand painted in a green faux finish that was a super popular and expensive look a decade ago~but still works well enough until my clients are ready to ditch the green color in favor of something else, like a coordinated neutral to go with the putnam ivory on the bottom of the room.

The long wine buffet is an Arhaus piece, and is not made by the same company that did the table and chairs.  Mixing pieces is easy to do when matte black is the common connector.

This color palette of cream, beige, green and black works nicely together.  You could easily change the green wall finish out to a neutral color to change the feel of the space again.  So remember the power of  paint  and what it can possibly do for your room.  I wish I had before pictures, but sadly this was done last year before my blogging started~however I thought you might enjoy seeing this project.

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