Wanted to tell you about a cool site that was featured in the Minneapolis Star Tribune today.
http://www.oneyearofbeauty.com/Check it out - there are some very, very cool photos and some lovely writing. Her post for today links to the article in the Strib in case you're interested in the story behind the blog.
Below are some of the dishes and serving pieces I've been picking up over the last year or so. I love estate sales!!
I found these this summer - 8 dinner plates, 6 salad/dessert plates, and 8 mugs - in four very pretty colors - all for $10.00. They're really heavy, and the mugs keep drinks either hot or cold. They're my favorite everyday dinnerware right now.
I found these 8 dinner plates and 8 matching dessert/salad plates for $2.00. They had gunk all over them, but cleaned right up in the dishwasher.
This is the sweetest serving bowl. I just love the colors and the cut-out edge.
This is a beautiful bowl - hand-painted - made in Italy. It's like a piece of art - I have it sitting on top of my fridge in the kitchen. It's over 18 inches wide and about 4 inches deep. I LOVE it! I bought it with a ton of other items at an estate sale - got the whole pile for $15. Not sure how I sleep at night.
I love this pottery colander.
And this pottery platter is very cool.
Found this totally tarnished silver tray this summer - again, I love the cut-out edging. I have no plans to polish it - although Mark keeps offering to do it for me. Not gonna happen.
Mark came home with this plastic divided dish/tray. I haven't used it yet, but I think it will be cute next summer...for something... :)
I do love this plastic tray. I bought the dishes many years ago at Target and use them on the boat. We sometimes load up a big salad or subs or take-out and anchor somewhere on the lake to eat. It's nice to have plastic plates instead of paper - especially when a big wake hits. Plus I can just throw them in the dishwasher instead of the garbage. The tray is perfect with them.
This is Tess trying a new diet. She doesn't seem to care too much for the veggies - lol. Kobie has been battling ear infections for close to a year now. My sweet boy is very stoic, and I usually don't realize that he even has ear problems until they're full-blown - which is perhaps a big part of the problem. But since the first of the year he has been under the care of a doggie dermatologist, and a week ago we decided we need to do allergy testing to see if we can get this under control. The good news would be if the special diet works - the bad news is the food costs $52.00 for an 18-lb bag (the largest size they package). Both dogs have to eat the same food for the testing to be valid. My two lovelies eat about 18 lbs a week - easily. I'm hoping I don't have to go out and find a full-time job to pay for their food and vet bills!!! Yesterday the vet told me I could add certain veggies to increase the fiber content - hopefully that would mean they'd be eating less of the expensive food. Both dogs meticulously picked out each and every piece of vegetable and spit it on the floor. It was pretty funny to see. If I offered them each a bowl of chicken pot pie with vegetables, they'd inhale it, of course. I'll keep you posted.
Look at my growing collection of gently-used knives. When we were married - oh so many years ago! - we bought the best knives we could afford - Chicago Cutlery. But recently Mark started buying Wustof at sales and on eBay. We have a couple more on our list to try and find - but I am loving the ones we have so far.
Last weekend we hit an estate sale and found two treasures for me. The first was this herb cutting knife and bowl. We cleaned and oiled them, and I think they're going to work really well. Now I can't wait for summer and fresh herbs from my garden!
The second find was a new foutain for the gardens. The auction listing said "garden sculptures" - Mark was unimpressed with what he saw sitting in the snow. But I noticed these cattails and thought they might look pretty cool with my grasses. When we went out and started digging a little, we discovered that the cattails were part of a small fountain. Even better!! The entire group is copper and has a beautiful patina. The cattail pieces are sitting on rods stuck in the cement base - and all of that sits in the basin. I think I'll probably add some rocks to hide the cement. The pump attaches to one cattail stem. I can't wait to see it hooked up and working - after we're finally done with freezing cold weather, of course! The top photo is so cluttered, I'm not sure you can see the cattails - but I'll be showing you more photos when it's sitting in my garden.
Tomorrow marks my one year blogiversary. I can't believe I've been doing this for a whole year. I'm planning to put up a post that tells you how it all began...
Every Wednesday, the Minneapolis Star Tribune does a special Home & Garden section. About a month ago they did some Autumn tablescapes that were beautiful. One thing they suggested was buying curtain panels to use for layering. I had just been at an estate sale and passed on a beautiful panel when I realized that it was a curtain and not a tablecloth. Talk about lack of vision! So, when I saw these at the Mart, I decided to reprieve myself. The first photo is of two sheer panels - one is a brown-rust and green - the other is a gorgeous dark red. The photo below is another panel that's sheer but has a velvet-like design on it - it's a beautiful dark wine color.
These are salad or dessert size plates. Aren't they totally cool? I have 8 of them and paid $5.
I bought 25 pieces of pottery - 11 bowls and 14 small plates. About half of the plates have the blue trim and the others are just brown. I love pottery and these are nice sizes. Price: $10.
This green/white checked tablecloth is kind of shabby-chic - it's definitely been used. But I think for an everyday cloth, it will be perfect. The napkins are beautiful - they each have lace trim in one corner. I paid $3 for 12 napkins, and $1.50 for the tablecloth.
Here's a close-up of the lace on the napkins. I think 8 of them have been gently used, but 4 of them looked brand new.
Two litre-size carafes. They could be fun with beverages or flowers in them. $1 for both.
I found these cool bottles - 2 vinegar cruets and an oil bottle - at an estate sale a year ago. The people had run a catering business and had some very fun things on the sale. I bought a bunch of stuff at this one!!
Here's another cool bottle I found this summer. I thought it looked kind of neat in front of my kitchen window. (please ignore the waterspots on the window - washing windows is on my list, but haven't done it yet!)
This was at the caterers' estate sale - I bought it thinking I would use it for a vase. But last winter I was going through kitchen idea books, and they showed the same container with fresh squeezed orange juice in it. I've used it as a pitcher all summer.
I found these Ball jars (nice big 2-qt size) at an estate sale last spring. They had tons of them - a box full for $3.00. I was thinking they might make fun flower vases, so I picked through and bought 5 jars for $3 - it wasn't even a full box! When I got home I realized all of the other things that I could use these jars for and have been kicking myself ever since!! Right now, they are being used as dry goods cannisters in the cupboard and for puppy treats. The pooches love the sound of that metal cap being unscrewed!
