Fall Tablescape! Welcome to the 58th Tablescape Thursday!

It's just starting to feel a bit like fall here in the deep south. So let's celebrate with a simple tablescape brimming with all the rich colors of autumn. After you visit all the wonderful tablescapes posted for this Tablescape Thursday, be sure to scroll on down to Met Monday's Give-a-Way.

To Autumn
by John Keats




Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness!
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;


Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;


To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;


To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,


And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,


For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.


Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?


Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,


Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,


Drowsed with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twinèd flowers;


And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;


Or by a cider-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.


Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—


While barrèd clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;


Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;


And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;


Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The redbreast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.






Lantern: by Colonial Candle , available HERE . Colonial Candle offers free shipping on all orders over $50 for BNOTP readers...just use the code NAPFREE at checkout.
Leaf Placemats: Big Lots, recently
China: Pier 1, last summer; Salad plates: Lenox, Butler's Pantry, Gourmet
Flatware: Big Lots, last summer
Glasses: Dollar Tree, recently
Salt & Pepper: Pier 1, a couple of months ago and only $5 for the pair :-)
Napkins & Napkin Rings: Kohl's, two years ago
Acorn Candle from my dear friend, Lynne (Lynne's Gifts from the Heart)
Flowers: Sedum, 'Autumn Joy' from my garden


Looking forward to seeing your beautiful tablescapes!



If you are participating in Tablescape Thursday, please be sure to add your permalink below, and not your general blog address. If you aren't sure how to obtain your permalink or have any questions about using Mr. Linky for this post, just click HERE for detailed instructions.

Please copy and paste the Tablescape Thursday logo button to your computer. Then you can upload it to your side bar and use it in your tablescape post so your visitors will know you are participating.

Please link back to the host blog, Between Naps on the Porch. This is important because it helps those who are visiting your blog, find the other wonderful tablescapes posted for this Tablescape Thursday.

Please do not add your link below, until your tablescape post is actually published to your blog.

The following blogs have lovely tablescapes awaiting your visit:

Tablescaping with Villeroy & Boch, Melina! Welcome to the 57th Tablescape Thursday!

A few days ago when the tree guy was here to take down the Leyland Cypress that had succumbed to our recent torrential downpours, I asked him to take a look at a tree in my backyard that is perilously close to the house. I let him in through the front door and guided him passed the 2/3 finished "formal" tablescape in the dining room. Ummm. On through the kitchen we walked, past the 2/3 completed "Halloween" tablescape in the breakfast room. Un, huh. I opened the door to the screened-in porch and out we walked, just pass the 2/3 done "Fall" tablescape out on the porch. Yeaaah. Now, this is not the norm...usually I am only working on one tablescape at the time. But lately I've had a million tablescaping ideas floating through my head...I'm blaming it on the change of the seasons.

I'm not sure why, but by this point I found myself thinking I owed him some sort of explanation. Uh, Mr. Tree Guy, I really don't have a dining or food obsession...really! You see, it's more like a "china" obsession! No, no, no...that explanation will never work. Instead, I found myself mumbling something about "just putting together some tablescapes," which I soon gave up, realizing it would take more than a sentence or two to explain about blogging and this thing called "Tablescape Thursday." Can you just imagine the conversation he must have had with his wife over dinner that night...you know, the one about this crazy woman who had her breakfast table decked out for Halloween in mid September. :-) :-) :-)

Sooo, sometime, very soon...I hope to dazzle you with some new tablescapes. :-) In the meantime, I hope you'll enjoy a "rerun" from last January. I promise to return next week (just like Desperate Housewives) with a whole new "episode" for your viewing pleasure. :-)

Scene from a French Cafe...

Speaking in a heavy french accent, you are greeted by your waiter, Jean Claude...who with a grand wave of his right arm, says, "Right this way Madame and Mademoiselle...I have your breakfast all ready and waiting for you. Please excuse this napkin...I mean scarf, the boss is making me wear. She insist I coordinate with the tablescape...silliest thing I've ever heard. Quel désastre!"



Breakfast for two...Quelle bonne idée !




Creamware is Butler's Pantry, Gourmet by Lenox; Fruit-patterned china is Melina by Villeroy & Boch.



Que c'est délicieux!




Ahhh, yes...I would like to introduce my tablescape consultant, extraordinaire...Monsieur Ecureuil. The shutters in this little french cafe' were wide open as I prepared this tablescape. Mr. Squirrel...uh...I mean Monsieur Ecureuil, sat and watched my every move to make sure I was doing a good job.



Jean Claude looks quite pleased with his table setting.




Found these Frenchy juice glasses at Williams-Sonoma many years ago...Parfait!



Love how the fruit design works with the Melina china.









"All happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast." John Gunther





Lace chargers are from Horchow, online...purchased around a year ago.




This was the first time I've ever used egg cups. I followed the instructions at this SITE to learn how to "open" the tops of the eggs. It was really easy and que c'est délicieux!







Bon appétit!




Comme il est beau! Mais je te jure que c'est vrai!
(Translation: He is so handsome! But I swear, it's true!)






Looking forward to seeing your beautiful tablescapes!

If you are participating in Tablescape Thursday, please be sure to add your permalink below, and not your general blog address. If you aren't sure how to obtain your permalink or have any questions about using Mr. Linky for this post, just click HERE for detailed instructions.

Please copy and paste the Tablescape Thursday logo button to your computer. Then you can upload it to your side bar and use it in your tablescape post so your visitors will know you are participating.

Please link back to the host blog, Between Naps on the Porch. This is important because it helps those who are visiting your blog, find the other wonderful tablescapes posted for this Tablescape Thursday.

Please do not add your link below, until your tablescape post is actually published to your blog.

The following blogs have lovely tablescapes awaiting your visit:

Atlanta Like You've Never Seen It!

Have you heard about the flooding around Metro Atlanta?




Clarkdale Elementary School:



Another subdivision:




I've ridden this roller coaster at Six Flags over Georgia many times. I don't think I could hold my breath long enough to ride it today.




I was lucky...here's my only casualty...



To see more views of the flooding around Metro Atlanta, click HERE and HERE.

If you wish to help somehow, the only organization I know to contact is the Red Cross. They are trying to assist flood victims right now.

Decorating English Country Style... Welcome to the 36th Metamorphosis Monday!

(If pictures appear cut off on the right side, please try adjusting the screen resolution of your computer to a higher setting.)



To start this Met Monday off, I just want to say thank-you to everyone who left a comment yesterday. And, thanks so much for all the fabulous suggestions on how to fix my poor champagne bucket. I can't wait to try some of your suggestions...keep your fingers crossed!

When I was looking for furniture for my family room many, many years ago, I just bought what I liked and what I thought would work for the room. Then, years later after my decorating book obsession took hold, I begin to realize that my family room, according to those books, had a bit of an "English Country" feel to it. It's true, I do love the English Country look...drawn to it like a moth to a flame. Over the years, this room has gradually taken on a bit of a hunt theme, as well...mostly due to accents pieces like...


this...


and this.


I've tried to not go overboard, but this room has sort of decorated itself. It kept "making" me put English Country and hunt themed stuff in here. :-) And it was definitely "going to the dogs" as you can see by the painting above the sofa...


and this lamp....


and the Staffordshire doggies on the mantel...


and this...


and the little lamp I had made for a small table by one of the chairs. Click HERE and HERE to read more about making your own lamp.


So, what in the world does this all have to do with Met Monday? :-) Well, I thought I'd show you a little "Before and After" that involves a half bath located off a short hallway close to the family room. The hallway is also paneled with judges paneling and the paneled hallway, as well as the location of this half bath, greatly influenced how I decorated this room. I couldn't see walking from the warm, cozy, paneled family room and out of the paneled hallway into an ultra modern bathroom.

If you've been reading BNOTP for a while, you've taken a few trips in my time machine before. We videotaped rooms as we walked through this house, prior to actually buying it, so I have some more old "footage" to share that will give you an idea of the "Before."

As you can see in the pic below, the walls in the half bath were covered in sort of a salmon pink wall paper that had little, white polka-dots all over it. There was an oval, gold toned, plastic mirror above the sink. Gold tone I can live with...plastic, not so much.


The sink had a dark green "cultured" marble top...popular for the time frame during which the home was built. Unfortunately, I haven't replaced that, yet. :-( Not sure what I'm going to use...probably something that looks like (or is) furniture.


The window had this dark green fabric thingy in it...don't know how else to describe it.


I didn't want to just paint the walls in this half bath, so I ultimately decided to re-wallpaper it. I've recently read that wallpaper is making a bit of a comeback. I redid this bath several years ago...long before I read that. I have a tendency to do my own thing and don't really follow the trends...as you've probably already noticed. (LOL) No one ever accused me of being on the cutting age in decorating. :-)

I'm usually reluctant to use wallpaper in most rooms because it's just so much trouble to remove when you are ready for a change. Yet, having said that...some of my favorite rooms are wallpapered. Check out some of these awesome rooms below...all covered in GORGEOUS Thibaut wallpaper. Thibaut has some really beautiful wallpapers and fabrics. Hint...the wallpaper I used in my half bath is a Thibaut paper and is one of the following...can you guess which one?

All wallpaper images below are from Thibaut.






























Well, did you see a paper in that grouping that just might work in my half bath? One that has a bit of hunt theme/English Country feel? Remember, the entrance to the half bath is surrounded by judges paneling and is in a hallway right off the family room. :-) How about this one? It's from Thibaut's Far Hills Collection and the pattern is Brandy Wine.


So here's how it came out. It's a bit hard to take pics in such a small space, plus, it's a dreary, raining, un-sunshiny day outside...so it may appear a bit blah.




I love wreaths and this one just seemed to fit the wallpaper with it's natural, woodsy feel.


Remember the old light fixture? It was a bit too frilly for this wall paper...and it was stark white...not good.


So, I replaced it with this fixture I installed all by myself. :-) Yea, for girl power! :-) I plugged a radio into the electrical outlet and went downstairs to the basement where all the switches are located. I flipped each one until I heard the radio go off. Then I came back up and tried the light switch and guess what...the light still came on! GASP! So, don't ever think that just because you turned off the electricity to the outlet in a room, that you've also killed the power to the light fixture in the same room. It doesn't always work that way...sometimes they are on different circuits.

So, I had to do it the hard way...flip a switch, run upstairs, check to see if the light was off, nope, back downstairs, flip the next one, run back upstairs, check to see if the light is still on...yes, back downstairs....you get the picture. I got my exercise that day...but it beats being electrocuted! Once I got the power shut off to the light, I just removed the old one and wired in the new one, following the way the old one was done...matching the colors of the wires...very easy. Light fixture came from The Home Depot and was on sale for around $40, as I recall.


When I have a party or friends over, I turn off the overhead light and just use the lamp along with candles. Yes, I have a lamp in the bathroom...by now, you know I'm lamp crazy. :-) (Found the mirror at Old Time Pottery for only $35.)


Close-up of paper...I was told by the wallpaper store staff...that this paper is very popular for dining rooms. I could definitely see it in a man's study or a library. The green in it works well with my counter/sink top that I'm stuck with for the time being.


I love it when a bathroom is large enough to hold a piece of furniture....makes it feel a little less like a bathroom and more like a real room.


The pheasant plate is vintage and just says "Germany" on the back.


I believe this piece was an old music/record cabinet in it's day.


Sheet music may have been stored on these shelves. I use them to hold monogrammed hand towels and paper hand towels. I often put both cloth and paper ones out when guests are here...that way they may use which ever they prefer. The red monogrammed towel is for Christmas time. :-)


And I think this is where the records would have been stored...great place to store more hand towels. Does anyone know if this was indeed an old music cabinet?


Hope you enjoyed this mini-redo of my half bath. :-)

Let's go see what everyone else has been working on...lots of wonderful "Before and Afters" await! :-)

If you are participating in Metamorphosis Monday, please be sure to add your permalink below, and not your general blog address. If you aren't sure how to obtain your permalink or have any questions about using Mr. Linky for this post, just click on the Metamorphosis Monday logo in my sidebar for detailed instructions.

Don't forget to copy and paste the Met Monday logo button to your computer so you can add it to your side bar and your Met Monday post. That way visitors will know that your are participating in Metamorphosis Monday.

Please be sure to link back to the host blog, Between Naps on the Porch, so your fellow bloggers who are participating today, will get lots of visits, as well.

Please do not add your link below until your Met Monday post is actually published to your blog.

The following blogs are participating in this Metamorphosis Monday: