Farmers Market Celebration

Today I'm celebrating the 10th anniversary of our

local farmers market with a farmers market theme

table setting out on the porch.

Let's celebrate with a giveaway of a

set of two Mary Lake Thompson flour sack towels as

seen below featuring all the

bounty of your garden or local farmers market.

I was fortunate to be a part of the

formation of the farmers market,

and it makes me so happy to see

that they are still going strong after

10 years time!



For this setting I used vegetables from

our cousin's garden. I nestled grape tomatoes

into the sherbet glasses of

this four piece vintage set

of Indiana Glass in the King's Crown pattern.

I was so delighted to obtain these as a service for 8 recently!

A straw placemat, green majolica charger and blue and green

plaid plate are layered up in style.

My sweet friend "this littler piggy", welcomes you to the table.

On either side of him I placed a bouquet assortment

in large mason jars, which match the mason

jar flour sack towels.

I also used these vintage embroidered

orange napkins placed in

asparagus bundle napkin rings.

With all this juicy vegies we will need extra napkins!

Peppers, potatoes, tomatoes fill a ceramic basket

for the center of the table.

I used my bee flatware, which was inspired by the little

bee on the flour sack towels.

A long shot of the table shows the red accent

table on the background, which

ties nicely to the reds in the peppers, tomatoes and flowers.

If you are interested in entering the giveaway for this week's towels,

please leave a comment. 

For an additional entry, please follow me and then

let me know in a comment.

I will be drawing the winner of the nest guest towels tonight,

and will post the name tomorrow.

I'm Joining:

Kathleen at http://www.cuisinekathleen.com/2013/08/summer-fun-challenge-lets-dish-76.html

Style Sisters at http://thestylesisters.blogspot.com/

Susan at http://betweennapsontheporch.net/carved-watermelon-centerpiece-create-a-garden/

White Summer & Winners!

I have been spending my late summer evenings with the White Rose family.

You know the War of the Roses-not

the Kathleen Turner movie, but the one

you studied in school between

the Tudors and the Lancasters?

 I have been a great fan of Ms. Philippa Gregory's work

since I first read The Other Boleyn Girl

and her newest gift is 

The White Princess

which chronicles Elizabeth of York and Henry of Lancaster's

marriage which united the two houses.

 I am also watching "The White Queen" on Starz,

which began last Saturday night.

This miniseries is the combination of three

of Gregory's books:

The White Queen

The Red Queen

The Kingmakers Daughter

If you enjoyed the movie "Elizabeth" or the 

series "The Tudors" I think you will enjoy this series.
My winners from the Bee Breakfast on the Porch are:
Tote bag for Kitty at  http://kittyskozykitchen.blogspot.com/
&
Flour Sack Towels for Christine at  http://christineshomeandtraveladventures.blogspot.com/

Empty Nest Giveway

We took our son to Purdue this past weekend to move

in as a Freshman, which makes

my husband and I empty nesters, hence the table set for 2.

 In honor of that status I did a tablescape

reflecting a bird and nest theme.

I was inspired by all the brown & white

tables I saw recently at Kathleen's

Let There be White Challenge

http://www.cuisinekathleen.com/2013/07/let-there-be-white-3-challengelets-dish.html

 

 I used my Japanese Dripware set with

pale blue, white and brown paisley chargers.

 Popular blue mason jars are filled with white roses

and an iron baby bird bath holds a candle.

 For my napkins I layered cream with brown & white

polka dots and a "nest" ceramic napkin ring.

Cream flatware and a set of tablerunners finish the table.

 Aqua tumblers from Target join the coffee cup & saucer.

 I placed a vintage white & blue napkin

under the coffee cups to protect the table.

 For fun I put these iron bird letter holders

in the center of each plate for all of

those letters we will be receiving from college -not!

 Here is a closer detail of the lunch napkin with scallop edge

which echoes the scallop along the dripware edge.

 Salt and pepper shakers Mr. B brought home

from Washingon State are a nice match to the charger.

One end has a pair of birds and the other eggs in a nest.

 This vintage dripware set came with a small plate

not a saucer but really to small for a salad plate

so I used them under the flower arrangements.

 I am already missing Ben it sure is quiet around the house!

Being in school full time & working full time

has helped fill the void~not much time to dwell!

Here is the giveaway for this week's tablescape.

I set of two Mary Lake Thompson

Flour Sack Towels with birds and dogwood.

To enter please leave a comment here by August 22nd.

I'm joining Kathleen at Let's Dish

http://www.cuisinekathleen.com/2013/08/lets-dish-75-lime-polka-dots-with-twist.html

and Susan at Between Naps on the Porch

 

http://betweennapsontheporch.net/dining-in-an-english-country-house-a-visit-to-chatsworth-house/

Summer Southern Shopping Tour

I have really enjoyed my sea shell full of tea cups this summer on my buffet 

See more of that post here

http://beeutifulbydesign.blogspot.com/2013/07/summer-buffet.html

Don't forget Wednesday is the last day to enter the drawing for the 

Bee tote bag or 2 flour sack towels by leaving a comment here

http://beeutifulbydesign.blogspot.com/2013/07/bee-breakfast-on-porch.html

Please give me your store suggestions for the following cities:
Knoxville
Asheville
Charleston
Atlanta
Nashville
By leaving a comment and You will be entered into the drawing too!

I'm joining Susan at metamorphosis Monday
http://betweennapsontheporch.net/adding-some-color-and-whimsy-to-the-garden/

Black and White Porch

Today I'm sharing the update of our back porch, 

which runs the length of our house with access

from the dining room and the master bedroom.

 Here it is "before" in desperate need of painting

and new flooring.  

The existing floor was tan indoor/outdoor carpet.

We talked about wrapping it with siding, but decided

to have it painted along with

the rest of the outside of the house last summer.

 The flooring was a difficult decision.

No carpet for sure!  Tile? Wood? 

 I love the black and white check floors, and thought the outdoor "room" 

could support such a bold floor, plus it was a good 

place to experiment without having to look at it everyday

if it was a terrible decision (believe me I've made some of those!)

 Here's the process we (meaning my husband) followed:

After the porch was painted we laid new plywood flooring

Then we painted the entire floor white

Next we taped off squares (you can see above) with Frog tape

Filled in the squares with black enamel paint

And let it all dry really well.

 Here's the finished product. You can see Miss Madison was the

first one out on the porch LOL!

 Here it is furnished again with our rockers and table.

 Down by the master bedroom we have the rockers 

where we sit and visit lots of evenings.

 Here is the floor by the wicker rockers, which I repainted black

from the white they were to match the floor.

 I hung a battery operated chandelier over the dining table.

 We repainted the rod iron table and chairs white

and my sweet mother in law made the cushions for 

both the dining and wicker chairs.

I used Waverly outdoor fabric.

This picture is from this past week.  The others are from one year ago.

I wanted you to be able to see how it's "wearing".

Sometimes I see projects and think "that looks great now, 

wonder how it will look in a few months"

Since it is an outdoor porch, even though it is protected by the overhang,

it gets wet when it storms, dirty from bugs, etc.

The floor does look less crisp than when we first finished it,

but I like that look of a little worn, so I am happy.

If you wanted perfection forever, you could put a coat of poly to seal

but I didn't want my white squares to tinge yellow, so we skipped that step.
*Don't forget to visit Bee Breakfast at
http://beeutifulbydesign.blogspot.com/2013/07/bee-breakfast-on-porch.html
for a chance to enter my giveaways!*

I'm joining:

Metamorphosis Monday http://betweennapsontheporch.net/a-sweet-bird-girl-in-the-garden/

Inspire me Tuesday at http://www.astrollthrulife.net/

Wow us Wednesday at http://www.savvysouthernstyle.net/

Tutorial Tips and Tidbits at http://www.stonegableblog.com/

Outdoor Wednesday http://asoutherndaydreamer.blogspot.com/
Furniture Feature Friday http://missmustardseed.com/2013/08/furniture-feature-friday-favorites-a-link-party-25/

Bee Breakfast on the Porch

I hope you will join me for a cool summer morning breakfast on the porch.

We have enjoyed this rod iron table for several years.

I like how you can see the chair cushions thru the table.

 I've been waiting for the perfect occasion to debut my "bee" Mother's Day gift(s).

This week we have been unusually cool here so I seized the opportunity

to setup this tablescape to share with you.

 The amber glasses were a gift from my husband, found

at a local antique store.  They match amber plates I already have almost perfectly.

 I was trying to stick to the rules of Kathleen's White Table challenge and use only one color.

I deemed black was not a color, so yellow was my designated color to go with white :)

 The honeycomb pattern on the rim of the plates and coffee mug is echoed 

in the bee pitcher.

 Beeutiful white roses arranged in bee glasses for the center of the table.

 And bee fruit bowls to match the clear bee juice glasses.

 It is a lot of bee theme going on here, but I think the understatement

of the patterns don't scream bee at you too much.

 I love the cream and sugar set with the silver tray and little baby bee on the top!

 Mary Lake Thompson bee tea cup napkins with yellow,
which pickup on the glasses and plates.

This is a nice shot overhead, where you can see the table, the chair detail and the porch floor.

I will post how we DIY the floor in an upcoming post.

I think it turned out really great and still looks great one year later.

So here's the scoop on the give away details:

For every comment and follow you will be entered into 

the chance to win the bee tote bag OR the bee towels below.

If you already follow me please let me know in your comment.

PLUS If you visit this page:

http://beeutifulbydesign.blogspot.com/2013/07/vintage-sea-shell-invitations.html

and comment a suggested store to visit in one of the cities listed 

you will get one more entry!

I'm really looking for cute shops to visit

in my Summer Southern Shopping Tour.

Stores that sell tabletop items we love

in addition to home decor and seasonal favorites.

Here is a close up of the Mary Lake Thompson flour sack set of 2 towels.

Here is a close up of the bee tote bag, which is made of canvas.
I'm not getting any kind of free products from Mary Lake Thompson,
I just bought these and wanted to share them with you as
a thank you for reading the blog and give me your store suggestions.
I'm joining:
Outdoor Wednesday http://asoutherndaydreamer.blogspot.com/
Let's Dish http://www.cuisinekathleen.com/
Tablescape Thursday http://betweennapsontheporch.net/
Furniture Feature Friday http://missmustardseed.com/