table

(Holiday) Guest Amenities

December 18, 2015 by Cynthia Leave a Comment

The holiday bed.

I am always looking for simple ways to make guest feel special, but simplicity is a must. In my holiday guest room this year, I have a quilt fold that yields a special surprise and an amenities kit using a simple lunch sack. Both can be easily done on the fly, without too much effort.

I hope you find inspiration.

All the best,

Cindy

Holiday greens, dressed bed and some special surprises…

A gift on the bed side table.

A simple lunch sack folded over, left plain or using holiday stamps and embellishments as I have done.

Bottled water, simple snacks and personal care items.

Travel sizes all wrapped in a muslin bag decorated with simple holiday stamps.

Simple folds create a place to tuck in a little gift.

A special gift for guests. Nothing fancy. It could be a favorite candy bar, event tickets or even a lottery scratcher. Anything to bring a smile to the face of visitors.

The holiday bed.

Filed Under: Holiday and Seasonal, My Home, Uncategorized Tagged With: amenities, antique, bedroom, bedside, christmas, cottage, gift, guest, holiday, surprises, table

A House into a Home…

August 4, 2015 by Cynthia 4 Comments

This has been a busy two months. Moving into an unfinished house with construction dust was not what I envisioned at the end of the renovation, even though it’s still not done yet.

To say it has been stressful would be an understatement. Slowly but surely, I am digging out of it. Sometimes with the help of family and friends and sometimes going it alone, each weekend I accomplish something that helps me feel better about all the trouble. Washing and vacuuming every surface, setting up proper bedrooms so sleep can be peaceful, editing collections, figuring what I can do without, working hard not to fill every square inch of storage so there is room to grow, cleaning the outside of the house, removing construction debris that wasn’t removed, having a pop up antique sale, arranging furniture, hanging pictures and just generally setting up house that will be the place I call home.

This weekend, I had the help of one of my most special friends, Vince Maggio. He is the truly undiscovered master of arrangement. He worked on my living/dining area and what a great job he did.

These are iphone pictures, not using my Canon camera, so take that into consideration. These two pictures are just snippets, I’ll do a more comprehensive article when I am closer to finishing with setting up the house.

I hope you find some inspiration.

All the Best,

Cindy

A $65 Craigslist table that was partially stripped. I like it just the way it is. $25 One King’s Lane bamboo directors chairs that match the tone of the table and the linen press. A grouping of vintage nautical print from The Round Top Antique Show placed in floating frames and a variety of other collected pieces.

Antique linen press full of curated items, a comfy couch across from the fireplace (pics of that later, it isn’t finished) and inexpensive IKEA pillow, along with a French ticking stripe pillow from Home Goods all come together to make a beautiful, comfortable place to set a spell and take a load off.

Filed Under: Before 'n After, My Home, Projects, Uncategorized Tagged With: antiques, bamboo directors chairs, comfy, cottag, cottage, cozy, craigslist, ironstone, mckinney, renovation, Round Top, table, texas, white

Harvest Design

December 28, 2014 by Cynthia 2 Comments

Back of the restaurant. I love the large table with the rope light installation.

Went to a new restaurant in Downtown McKinney named Harvest. It is a farm-to-table restaurant owned by Rick Wells of Rick’s Chophouse, also in Downtown McKinney.

I am deeply enamored with its design. It is one of my favorite styles, pairing the rustic with the refined. Old, original exposed brick, barn wood, industrial light fixtures, filament bulbs, burlap and teal velvet. They use simple cotton, waffle pattern dish rags for napkins. They present your check to you rolled up in a wood cube along with a card that can be ripped in half and planted to yield flowers. A lot of really unique and earthy touches that are in keeping with it’s concept. You’ll feel warm and toasty the minute you walk in the door.

This may give me some ideas for my own renovation. Hmmm…we’ll see.

I hope you find some inspiration.

Always,

Cindy

Barn wood, industrial light fixture, filament bulbs along with these really fabulous teal velvet tufted wing chairs.

Scaffolding planks, cast iron piping and mason jars with vegetables artfully displayed greet you at the door.

All the finishes work together to create a really warm vibe.

A light fixture that is stunningly simple.

The front porch has these terrific swinging settees with the teal velvet cushions (although it now has tables, great for nice weather dining or drinks)

The front porch has these terrific swinging settees with the teal velvet cushions (although they have added tables, great for nice weather dining or drinks outside)

Great little drift wood lamps adorn the 4 top booths.

Filed Under: Discoveries, Uncategorized Tagged With: barn, bulbs, farm, filament, fixtures, harvest, industrial, mckinney, organic, restaurant, table, texas, to, wood

It’s the little touches at Christmas…

December 23, 2012 by Cynthia Leave a Comment

My wonderful friend, Pat, sent me these pictures of her amazing Christmas creations. Two things inspired me when I looked at the pictures. The first thing would be the utter simplicity of each arrangement. There isn’t an item she used that most of us can’t reach into a holiday storage box or cabinet and grab: a tray or flea market vase; random ornaments, candles, decorative candle holders, etc. The addition of simple greens fills in the negative spaces and completes the look. The greens can be boxwood cut from a common yard hedge or a quick grab from the floral stand at any grocery store.

The second thing I love is the “V” tag. It is such a personal and easy touch and can be designed and printed from any computer program.

With only a day or two before the holiday, here is a simple way to beautify any table top in your home.

Thanks, Pat!

I hope you find some inspiration.

Cindy

A simple decoration.

Holiday Splendor.

Filed Under: Holiday and Seasonal, Projects, Uncategorized Tagged With: arrangements, christmas, finds, flea, fresh, greens, holiday, market, ornaments, table, tag, tags, top

Fall-i-de-scope.

July 30, 2012 by Cynthia 4 Comments

Hand made jute tassel against the vibrant orange velvet.

Oranges, greens, browns and purples. All the colors of fall emerge and act as a signal to a great time of year full of fun and frolic and the holidays. As part two of my three part series on seasonal tables, I have created a table that celebrates the wonderful, vibrant colors of the fall season.

I challenged myself to create a table that references the fall season through color and texture, rather than using established icons like pumpkins, leaves and gourds. There is a certain balance between the rustic and the refined in this table scape. The birch bark that sheaths the zinc pots to the toile that was used for the napkins and window seat pillow covers. The chippy white painted columns used as centerpiece bases to the DIY mercury glass candle holders. The beautiful vintage amethyst cut glass plates against the home made jute tassels. The elegant orange velvet bands as a counterpoint to the vintage grain sacks used as chair slipcovers. All in all, a sweet way to welcome family and friends.

Credit where it is due, thank you to Vince at Good Look, Inc for collaborating with me on this table design…you continue to be a great resource to find the items for all my zany ideas, along with your great ideas and suggestions!

Here is what you will see:

Old porch post cut down in sections for the centerpiece, holding candles and flower arrangements
Zinc pot covered with birch bark for the flower arrangements
Chair caning used for a table runner
Hand made jute tassels
Hand made coasters using chipboard with embossed pattern
DIY Mercury glass candle holders using a pattern transfer method (how-to Click Here)
Fall inspired pillow and cushion slipcovers
Updated vintage napkins
Vintage grain sacks used as a dining chair slip cover for a quick and simple update
Simple grocery store flowers and fruits for affordable centerpieces

Pictures below. I hope you find some inspiration!

Always,

Cindy

Remember to click twice to bigify!

: The Finished Table.

: Zinc pots covered with birch bark for flower arrangements.

: Birch Bark.

: Beautiful patterned linen slipcovers used for window seat cushions.

: Beautiful toile linen for napkins and pillows.

: Chair caning for table runner; a great textural element.

: Toile used as a pillow slipcover with wonderfule sage silver velvet ribbon.

: Place Setting.

: Chip board coasters die cut and embossed with same embossing pattern on glass candle holder.

: DIY mercury glass holder with transfer pattern.

: Vintage napkin update by adding linen toile to other side.

: Vintage wood column cut into sections as a base for centerpiece.

: Hand made jute tassel agains the vibrant orange velvet.

: Simple vintage grain sack as a chair slipcover.

: Kalidescope of vibrant fall colors.

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Filed Under: Holiday and Seasonal, Projects, Uncategorized Tagged With: bark, birch, cottage, country, decorating, fall, halloween, holiday, jute, table, tassel, vintage

The Simple Summer Table

July 19, 2012 by Cynthia 2 Comments

Simple.

Summer is a time when I prefer a simpler routine so I strive to find ways to create beauty and comfort with very little effort.

This is the first in a three part series on seasonal tables for summer, fall and winter. And for those followers that have been asking, the dining room reveal will be my first blog article next week.

I used very simple ideas to create this easy, yet beautiful table setting. Here some of the ideas (sources to the right):

Simple white (neutral) table cloth
Contrasting neutral runner
Old architectural column riser as a centerpiece base (Good Look, Inc.)
Vintage jar as a vase with simple white field flowers (Good Look, Inc.)
107 year old pages from a music publication for place mats
Mixed vintage silverware
Mixed vintage silver napkin rings
Vintage Mini Cruets (Fringe)
Antique ironstone butter pats used for individual salt & pepper
Simple white votive candles
Vintage (newly made) milk bottle for decanting ice water (Glass Milk Bottles -new)
New cotton towels for napkins (IKEA, .79 cents)
Vintage aluminum salt shaker for a toothpick holder