Searching for Treasure

Happy Monday! In spite of this dreary, drizzly and cold weather, I have a little pep in my step, thanks to a restful weekend that included one of my favorite activities: searching for treasure at a local consignment shop!

John's grandmother introduced me to Consigning Women just after our wedding. We were in dire need of furniture, but on a tight budget. Mimi took us to this little gem, and I immediately fell in love. The store has beautiful and gently used furniture, decor items, artwork and even jewelry and bags.  We were able to get our dining room table here for a steal - $360 for the table, including a leaf extender and six chairs (as seen here and here)!

Ever since we snagged the table I've made a point of frequenting the shop once every couple weeks. A couple weeks ago I saw a beautiful jewelry armoire. I adored it immediately, as I'd been looking for a jewelry box for some time. I saw the original price, and decided I would stalk it, hoping it would still be around once the price went down. When a piece comes in, it has a set price. However, there are two additional prices on each piece. After one month the cost goes down, and after two months it goes down even further. It can be a gamble to walk away from a piece, as someone might snag it before the price drops.

First time seeing it!

Winter Decor: Table Spread

Me again, with more decor ideas! After publishing my last post, Christmas Decor: Garland and More!, I realized that I wasn't too crazy about the pictures. I may have to try to take a few more tonight and republish them. Unfortunately I'm working with my iPhone camera only because our camera is on the fritz.

This time I wanted to share our dining room table spread, to maybe give you some ideas as to how to decorate your own dining room/kitchen tables! I'm going to preface this by saying that all the very nice pieces are wedding gifts. All the non-expensive pieces were bought by me. I stick to my decorating budget! Wal-mart, Target, CVS, HomeGoods, Crate and Barrel...all some of my best friends when it comes to decorating for less.

I've included links to the items I could find online, or at least told you where you can buy these, in case you are interested. Happy holidays!

Layout for Dining Room Table, Winter Season!

What I used:
*Waterford Lismore Crystal 8" Candlestick Pair (Bed, Bath & Beyond)
*Tiffany Curved Candlestick in Crystal (Tiffany)
*Tiffany Vase (Tiffany, could not find it online)
*All fillings mentioned in this post for this floral arrangement
*Antique Glass Small Gold Candle holder (Crate and Barrel)
*Waterford Lismore Crystal Salt and Pepper Shakers (Bed, Bath & Beyond)
*Waterford Lismore Crystal Covered Butter Dish (Bed, Bath & Beyond)
*Red Taper Candles (Wal-mart, not available online)
*Gold Taper Candles (Crate and Barrel, no longer available online)

 

Christmas Decor: Garland and More!

The other day I was looking at the heading of my blog. You know how it says my favorite recipes, dishes and decor ideas? Well I realized I don't actually include decor ideas too often. In fact I've had floral centerpiece posts white, yellow, red and festive...and that's about it.

Cue need for some decor ideas! I've decided to share a few of the decorations and spreads I've done in our house, and I tried to say where I got each item, how much it was, and include the website link if applicable.

If I'm feeling extra festive I'll even post a few more posts about this. Better late than never, right?

Festive Garland for Media Console, Stand or Other Similar Space

What I used:
*1 14-foot garland, with lights (CVS, not available online, less than $10 when I purchased)
*Several individual three-berry holly leaves (HomeGoods, not available online, $5 pack of 20)
*2 Metallic Gold Ball Candles (Crate and Barrel, $8.95 each)
*1 Snowflake Ball Candle (Crate and Barrel, $8.95)
*2 Tree Candles (Crate and Barrel, Set of Four, $8.95)
*1 Lenox Wedding Promises First Dance Cake Topper (Bed, Bath & Beyond, $79.99)
*1 Personalized Name frame (Not sure, it was a wedding gift!)

How I put it all together:
I started by laying out the garland on the media console. We always have the personalized frame and cake topper out, so those just stayed where they were. Next I put the gold candles in place, symmetrical of course (I am such a spaz about this). I added the snowflake candle in the middle, since I only bought one. I then put the little pine trees between the gold candles and snowflake candle, again, for symmetry! Finally I used the red holly to festive it up a bit more and add some warmth and color.

Photo with flash...note The Grinch is on in the background!

Photo without flash...look at the nice lighting it gives :)

Metallic Gold Ball Candles, Decorative Holly pieces, Lenox Wedding Promises First Dance Cake Topper

Holly, Tree Candles

Snowflake Ball Candle

Holly, Metallic Gold Ball Candles, Personalized frame

Yellow Floral Spring Centerpiece

Since I was updating my window centerpiece I knew I had to update the floral centerpiece on the dining room table. I opted for yellow. I was never a huge yellow person, but when it came time to pick colors for my summer wedding last year, I knew I wanted a bright, happy color.  And, once I came up with the color scheme "lemon and linen" (aka yellow and white - I'm a sucker for alliteration) I became slightly obsessed with all things yellow. 

For this arrangement, I combined a yellow hydrangea, rose and daisy piece with a yellow rose piece. (Both were $3 again!) As I did with the white arrangement, I thought roses were a great filler and added some sophistication to the mix. I manipulated the wires and thanks to the thinner vase, I didn't need to use a rubber band. 

I still really liked the jewels, but I wanted something more. I saw these lemons, and knew that was it. The brightness they add to the vase is just beautiful. The shade is more vibrant than the soft yellow of the flowers, and I liked how they complimented each other. I started with the lemons and alternated layers with the jewels. I chose only 3 layers total, but you could mix it up to suit your style preference.

To take it a step further, I updated the candles in the candlesticks. I love these candlesticks because the Lismore set was used in our wedding and the Tiffany set was a Christmas gift from John. I looked for yellow candlesticks, but I'm pleased I was unable to find any. Instead I chose a green set and a cream set, and I love how it just screams spring. Whatever you choose to do - have fun!

A glance of our whole table

The vase, alternating layers

A view from the top of our centerpiece. Such great quality. Thanks, Wal-Mart!

White Floral Spring Centerpiece

It has been a LONG time since I've been blogging! I've been so busy the past few weeks getting ready for report cards and parent teacher conferences that I haven't had the energy and extra time to blog about it. Well, now that I am on spring break (yay!) I've had lots of time to catch up around the house, and on my blog! :)

Spring is officially here - woo hoo! I decided to celebrate by updating the floral centerpieces around the apartment. While I love the beautiful red flowers and hints of pine, I am SO ready for spring. I went to Wal-Mart after my last successful centerpiece shopping trip and I was not disappointed.

For my white floral centerpiece I combined two $3 floral arrangements. The first had hydrangeas and daisies and green accents. The second was simple white-cream roses. I bent the wire around so that it would be mixed up, and I used a rubber band to secure the arrangements together.

I knew my red, gold and green potpourri would no longer look appropriate with the new flowers. Instead of making a separate trip to Target, as I did for the last centerpieces, I poked around Wal-Mart some more and found some great little jewel fillers for another $3. In all, my spring/summer centerpiece cost my $9 plus tax, which is less than real flowers which would only stay beautiful for about a week. I think it was a good deal. :)

A closer look at the vase and "jewels"

Table Centerpieces

The hubby and I received two beautiful vases as wedding/shower gifts. The first was a Lismore Waterford vase and the second was a Tiffany vase.  As a one-income household - and teacher nonetheless - we're not in a position to be buying fresh flowers for our vases each week.  It used to make me sad to see my gorgeous vases without anything in them, so I decided to use them for centerpieces. I found spice-scented potpourri from Target for about $6 and found fake, yet good quality flowers from Wal-Mart for $3 each!

I found the flowers on my first trip to Wal-Mart since I lived in southern Illinois. I'm not going to lie, I'm a bit of a Target snob, finding clothing, electronics, food and decor there, but shunning Wal-Mart. Well, I was wrong to do that. Wal-Mart had a much bigger selection of fake flowers, and they were way cheaper than Target AND HomeGoods, which is another of my favorite stores. If you are in need of nice looking, inexpensive picture frames, HomeGoods is the place to go. It's even great for holiday decor.  I bumped into my friend Jourdan there so she can vouch for it. :)

Anyway...my Target/Wal-Mart centerpieces brighten up my dining room and living/family room so much. I am so happy to have them and I smile each time I see my vases filled with flowers. :)

Tiffany Vase with potpourri and flowers on our dining room table

Lismore Waterford vase with potpourri and flowers, next to an engraved wedding frame and an embroidered wedding handkerchief