Getting Cozy with Little Lamps

 I'm hoping this post is finding everyone safe and sound during the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.  My thoughts are with all of those affected by this devastating force of nature. 

Happy Tuesday!

I have this addiction to little lamps.  

They follow me home from Estate Sales and then I have to find homes for them.  I don't mind though, especially this time of year when it is getting darker much earlier.  They make me feel cozy and warm when I see just a bit of light brightening up a corner or a small nook.  Come along through the house and I will show you my little lamp collection.

 This little lamps sits in the kitchen on our built in buffet hutch.  I picked it up at an Estate Sale in the most gorgeous house.  It looks like a ceramic covered dish doesn't it?

It's in good company with my other Estate sale finds on display.

 This itty bitty is in the Powder Room.  The butterflies caught my eye when I first saw it and it beckoned me to bring it home.  Our Powder Room can be quite dark so this little lamp comes in handy.  I like to have them all on timers so they come on at dusk.

 

 Another tiny lamp sits on my Wine cabinet in the Living room. 

The timers really work well in this room.  I often forget to turn on the lights and the so this little lamp just gives off a soft glow in the room.

  This little guy found his way into my Library/Office area.  I love the vintage green glass on the shade.  I could probably polish it up some but I like the old patina of the brass.

 

And here is my latest find!  

It's not that little but I do love this Bouillotte lamp that I found this weekend.  I love that you can put real candles in the bottom.  I can cozy up to that!  It's sitting on my Entry table waiting for the rest of the table to get a vignette going...

It's almost Halloween!

For last minute decorating tips,

see my Halloween Table post

HERE  

Until Next Time,

Beaux R'eves,

XO Cindy

  Kim at SavvySouthern Style for Wow Us Wednesdays  

 Judy at DIY by Design

Festive Fall Pumpkin Floral

I took a break today from my basement remodeling project 

to do something fun for myself.  

You ALL know how much I love fresh flowers in my home.  

It is so difficult to walk by the flowers at Costco 

and not pick up a bunch for the house.  

So, I did!  

Can I tell you first how much I hate 

going to Costco on the weekend?  

Huge traffic jams...enough said.  

I loved the fantastic fall colors that they had in their bouquets 

this week.  Pretty yellows, golds, and pinks.  

I Had to find a container that would say Fall too.  

So,I snagged one of my carve-able pumpkins 

from my Halloween table to use.

Now I know that I didn't invent the 

"Pumpkin as a floral vase" 

idea but it sure is a good one.  

And, since carving out pumpkins 

is my least favorite thing to do.  

(I leave that up to Mr. Beaux every year)  

I loved the idea of using the carve-able pumpkin.  

I just Sharpied a design around the top.

And carved it out.  Ewwwwww, look at the inside!  

Floral wet foam in a small plastic bowl.  

I still call it Tupperware.  

Do you do that?  

When is the last time you went to a Tupperware party?  

And arrange your flowers.  

There is no right or wrong way to arrange them.  

Arranging flowers is therapeutic for me, 

kind of like cooking without the calories.  

And like cooking you just add and step back and look and then add some more...

I placed the pumpkin top to the side and didn't even wire it in or anything.  I like the fact that it's not perfect.  And I really like the fact that it took me just a few minutes to get a custom looking arrangement for my entry way table.

Until Next Time,

Beaux R'eves

XO Cindy

 Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday

  Marty at A Stroll Thru Life for Tabletop Tuesday

Remodeling a Groovy 70's Basement

Help!  I've been held captive all week in this 70's Basement!  

Well, I guess it was consensual captivation since I did willingly sign up for the job of renovating my clients basement back in June.  Things are all happening at once which is both exciting and exhausting at the same time.   Painting, cabinetry, tile, granite, oh MY!!!  I haven't shared any of this with you so I guess I had better start at the beginning.  

This is the same house that I just finished remodeling the Master Bath.  The basement hadn't been touched since the 70's I'm guessing. This is what it looked like when it was up for sale.

Here it is all cleared out on move-in day.  Should we start with the obvious?  70's carpet, Mirrored columns, and can someone PLEASE tell me WHY in the world anyone would build a mile long bar butting up to the Fireplace????  

This is the view from behind the bar.  Squint real hard and look at the tiny little windows up there.  They don't let much natural light into the room.  The three doors lead to (starting from right to left) A storage room, a bathroom and the sump pump room. 

 We spent a lot of time kicking ideas around for this space. 

pinterest

 Things that the clients knew they wanted included a new bar,

pinterest

  a media space, 

google

 a place to play poker, 

pinterest

 and to turn the storage room into a craft room,

google

All on a budget!  

Whew!  

That's a tall order! 

As much as we pondered and planned 

the budget always won out.  

Doesn't that always happen?  

That's reality!  

What was great is that it forced us to get creative and re-purpose and narrow down exactly what it was that the clients wanted out of the space.  

Here is a little peak at the progress.  

See the new windows?  

That just by itself is the best improvement that could have been made!  Brick is being applied to the columns and lots of other good things are happening.  But you will have to wait a little longer for the full reveal.  

I'll continue to update you as progress is being made but for now I have to get back to my command post.

Until Next Time,

Beaux R'eves

XO Cindy

 Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday

  Marty at A Stroll Thru Life for Tabletop Tuesday

Over the Top Decorating

No, I'm not talking about decor dripping 

with over the top gilt and embellishment.  

I'm simply talking about decorating the tops of my cabinets.  
It's a neglected area that I sometimes forget about 

but I tackled it this weekend and wanted to share the results with all of you.  

What prompted the redecorating frenzy was the purchase of these two new covered vegetable bowls at an Estate Sale.  

I wanted to display them in my hutch and 

started moving things around.  

Well, you know how that goes...

Everything came out and onto the island and the 

redecorating began!  

I love to tackle these projects first thing in the morning while the caffeine is still buzzing around in my system.  

Everyone is still asleep and they wake up to total chaos.  

When I took my Rooster down to display on top of my dish cupboard there was a bare spot. 
It was a great opportunity for a total makeover. 

And here it is After.  

I decided to carry the All White theme over 

to this side of the kitchen.  

I am kind of pre-planning for the holidays.

I mixed a variety of white dishes, old and new, along with ironstone pitchers and gravy boats.  

On the other side I mixed plates and platters with teacups, pitchers and my white rooster.  

A galvanized bucket filled with the last of my hydrangeas from the garden rests in the corner.

I had to raise the space over the cabinets a bit so I found a couple of shelves from the office that I had taken out and propped them up with some scrap wood.  A shoe box sits under the large pitcher and if you look really really close you can see some red peeking out.  

I repeated the same thing on the other side.  

Boy was I tired of climbing up and down 

to get everything just right!  

Changing the decor above the cabinets 

meant changing up the counter tops!  

I hung some ironstone plates in the bay window on both sides.  I love the soft yellow wall color against the white plates.

And I brought in my lavender plant and 

planted it in this large white bowl. 

  Let's see how long before I kill this plant!

This is one of my new favorite finds while Estate Sale-ing.  I'm happy that I have a prominent place to display it.  It has the initials NH on it.  I started thinking, wouldn't it be funny if it was just a decorative piece from Nell Hill's?  Kinda like the Friends episode where Rachel tells Phoebe that all of her new Pottery Barn pieces are antiques! 

A pretty floral and embossed platter adds subtle pattern to the all white dishes.

And a tiny cutwork dish (another vintage find) holds my rings and jewelry when I do dishes.

Won't this area be a perfect canvas for Christmas decorating?
Next up on my to do list is 
 to make a balloon shade for this window.  
I have had the fabric for over a year!

And for those of you who were wondering.... 
I asked for advice in my last post 
See HERE
I went with the majority vote and removed the new rug from under the kitchen table.  I loved all of your input and ideas!  Thanks!  
The rug will be finding a new home somewhere else.

Until Next Time,

Beaux R'eves,

XO Cindy

Linking to:
Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday

  Marty at A Stroll Thru Life for Tabletop Tuesday

  Kim at SavvySouthern Style for Wow Us Wednesdays  

 Judy at DIY by Design

 Cuisine Kathleen's-Let's Dish

   No Minimalist Here Open House Party 
Gina at The Shabby Creek Cottage for Transformation Thursdays
 From My Front Porch To Yours for Treasure Hunt Thursday
Poutpourri Friday at 2805
Courtney at French Country Cottage for Feathered Nest Friday
Heather and Vanessa at At the Picket Fence for Inspiration Friday
Debra at Common Ground for Vintage Inspiration Friday
Sherry at The Charm of Home for Home Sweet Home Friday
Jen at Tatertots and Jello for the Weekend Wrap-up Party

                                     Donna at Funky Junk Interiors for Saturday Nite Special
 Roeshel  at DIY Showoff

   

It's NOT Political but I'm Taking a Poll (about my new rug)

TGIF!  

Miss Beaux has the day off 

and we are just lounging around (yeah right!) 

I've gots lots of projects working and one of them 

arrived in the mail yesterday.  

I ordered this rug from Decor Steals~formerly WUSLU. 

  I love their site, and if you haven't checked it out run over there 

and sign up now.  

It's ONE deal a day and then it's gone.  

I'm crying right now because I missed out on the boxwood wreaths, 

Oh Well!

This rug was one of Miss Mustard Seed's Picks.  

And it was Love at First Sight! 

Here it is under the Kitchen table.  

I just snapped this photo quickly so don't judge.  

My question is: 

What do you think?  

Yay?  or Nay?  

I am totally undecided 

which is unusual for me because I usually have an opinion.  

Must be hormonal...

So if you would... 

Please leave a comment and let me know what you think,

Until Next Time,

Beaux R'eves

XO Cindy

Birthday Flowers in Transferware

Hello Everyone and Happy Wednesday!  

Tomorrow is my sweet friend's Birthday and I have a special gift for her.  We both like the same things so I knew when I found this awesome Transferware Tureen 

that she would love it too.  

And who doesn't love flowers?  

So I combined the two and came up with this!

The tureen is white with a pretty green pattern.  

I know it looks blue in some of the photos.

 The lid has a raised pattern on it that I adore.  

And, there are no chips in it at all.

So let's start this tutorial!  

Here's what you'll need:  Flowers (mine are from Costco), apples, floral foam, picks or skewers, ribbon, extra greenery if needed, 

   I put some wet floral foam in the bottom and taped it down.

I wanted to use apples because they always remind me of fall.  I put them on skewers and placed them in the bowl.

Now here comes the tricky part.  

I wanted to incorporate the lid also, since it is part of the gift.  I set it sideways on top of the handle and the apples and wired it tightly.

Don't worry, by the time we are done the wires won't show.  Promise!

I like to separate my flowers so that I know what I have to work with.  I usually start with the largest and work my way down.

The large gold spider Mums go in first.  

I like to work with threes for the larger impact flowers.

 Then the pretty red roses are added.  

I placed the large cattails in next and then started filling in with the smaller flowers.  The greenery will fill in any holes.  

So, I filled in all of the spaces and arranged a large bunch of what looks like wheat over the handle.  I made a bow with some sparkly ribbon and put it on top of the handle but I didn't like it.  It was too much.  

So I tied some raffia on with a maroon ribbon.  

Nope!  

Still don't like it.

I ended up just tying a simple ribbon around the wheat.  

I think it's perfect.

Very Fall!

I hope she likes it!  

By The Way, Today is my beautiful Mother's Birthday!  

She lives too far away to give these to but I sent her some!  

I Love You Mom!  

You are the BEST! 

Until Next Time,

Beaux R'eves,

XO Cindy 



Sharing at:
  No Minimalist Here Open House Party 
Stone Gable  Tutorials, Tips, and Tidbits 
Cuisine Kathleen's-Let's Dish
Style Sisters- Centerpiece Wednesday
Susan's Tablescape Thursday   
Gina at The Shabby Creek Cottage for Transformation Thursdays
 From My Front Porch To Yours for Treasure Hunt Thursday
Poutpourri Friday at 2805
 Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday
Courtney at French Country Cottage for Feathered Nest Friday
Heather and Vanessa at At the Picket Fence for Inspiration Friday
Debra at Common Ground for Vintage Inspiration Friday
Sherry at The Charm of Home for Home Sweet Home Friday
Jen at Tatertots and Jello for the Weekend Wrap-up Party

Donna at Funky Junk Interiors for Saturday Nite Special

 Roeshel  at DIY Showoff