Category Archives: Home Decor

Floral Fantasy Tablescape

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I don’t want to jinx it, but my garden has never looked better! Even with the plant loss from our crazy winter, this rainy June has rejuvenated all of my sad plants. It seemed a perfect week to feature a flowery tablescape.

GotMyReservations Floral Fantasy Intro

It all started with my inspiration piece –a Nippon Rose pattern vase. I traced its history here. The greens of the piece combined with the yellow and red roses reminded me of English country gardens, overflowing with colorful flowers. The base of the centerpiece is a distressed green wooden tray found on the sale rack at Joann Fabrics. I created a floral centerpiece with faux flowers picking up the yellow, red, lavender, and greens in the vase and the linens. Continue reading →

Nippon Rose Vase Tablescape Inspiration

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It’s that time of the week again, when I start looking around my house for inspiration for this week’s tablescape. Although I only have a small hoard cache of items to choose from compared with some of the tablescaping queens, there’s still lots of things to share with you. I wish I had a storage room in my house like the one at Biltmore, where I could store all my pretties in one place.

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The Flower Room at Biltmore Estate, where the servants would create fresh floral arrangements for the house. Click into photo for source.

I’m just not in the mood to do a fake Fourth of July tablescape, so I’m waiting until next week when I’ll actually use the table setting to entertain friends. It’s still June, and summer has barely gotten rolling here in Chicagoland! Continue reading →

Inspiration: Gold, Green and White Tablescape

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I love to visit stores with beautiful tablescapes for inspiration. This spring, Macy’s sponsored a flower show at many of its locations and along with the amazing floral displays, there also were beautiful tablescapes. I was a bad girl and didn’t source out any of these items in the photos, but they speak for themselves. Gorgeous!

GotMyReservations Macys Tablescape 1 Continue reading →

Wonderful World of Disney Tablescape

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This week’s tablescape was inspired by my vintage Ferris wheel (I talked about its history here), and seemed the perfect week to showcase it in Cuisine Kathleen’s “summer whimsey” tablescape party.

GotMyReservations Chein Disney Ferris Wheel

J. Chein Disney Ferris Wheel

Growing up, we traveled in the summer since my father was a teacher. Every June, we packed up the trailer and headed off on a long car trip. The longest — and my brother says the most interminable — trip we ever took was from Ohio to California. It was on that vacation in about 1965 that I first went to Disneyland and was enchanted by Walt Disney’s vision. Continue reading →

Vintage Ferris Wheel Tablescape Inspiration

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When Cuisine Kathleen posted her “summer whimsey” challenge, I knew that the time had come to bring out my vintage Ferris wheel and feature it in a vacation tablescape.

GotMyReservations Chein Disney Ferris Wheel

J. Chein Disney Ferris Wheel

I grew up with this toy and played with it whenever we visited my great-grandmother’s house. I was named after her, and the toy was passed down to me eventually. I had it evaluated at one of those appraisal parties and they said at the time that it was worth about $100, but to me it’s priceless and will be one of the last items to pass on to family members when it’s my turn. The Ferris wheel brings back good memories of playing at Grandma Jennie’s house. Continue reading →

The Biggest Dish Room in the United States? — Biltmore Part 1

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The original photo of the two-story butler's pantry at Biltmore is courtesy of The Biltmore Estate.

The original photo of the two-story butler’s pantry at Biltmore is courtesy of The Biltmore Estate.

Dish rooms are my joy, my thrill, my raison d’être. Well, maybe not quite that much, but y’all know how much I love dishes.

When we began to plan our visit to the largest private home in the United States, I hoped to see lots and lots of dishes. Gobs of dishes.

Located in Asheville, North Carolina, Biltmore House and its surrounding estate was imagined and created between 1889 and 1895 by George W. Vanderbilt and his all-star team of Richard Morris Hunt and Frederick Law Olmsted. It is still held privately by descendants of George and Edith Vanderbilt and is open to the public. There is a general tour of the house with an available audio guide that takes about two hours. There are also auxiliary guided tours of areas that are not on the main tour. We spent two glorious days exploring this beautiful estate.

In addition to the regular tour of the house, we also signed up for the Butler’s Tour, which took us “downstairs” into kitchen and mechanicals areas not seen on the other tours. This two-story butler’s pantry just took my breath away.

I’ll share lots more about our trip to the glorious Biltmore Estate, but today I’m going to start with a visit to the gift shops on the grounds of the Estate. After all, it’s dishes that we are interested in — right? Continue reading →

Wedding China Tablescape

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When Cuisine Kathleen posed her wedding china challenge, I thought that I didn’t have much to contribute. We have wedding pink Depression glass, but I gave away all my first wedding china years ago.

While Noritake Savannah’s floral pattern is timeless, I needed to move on from the choices I made at age twenty. My best friend from college also selected this pattern when she married, and since she hosted Thanksgivings for the masses, she now had 24 matching place settings. It was a win-win for both of us.

Since then, I’ve inherited three full sets of someone else’s china, which you have seen here many times. I own my mother-in-law’s Noritake Aberdeen, my mother’s Four Crown Claridge, and my neighbor’s Noritake Stanwyk. Yes — the Claridge looks a lot like the Savannah, because my mom loved the pattern and chose a similar one.

GotMyReservations Wedding China Collage

So that brings us to 2014 and the newest bride in our family. My niece is getting married in just three weeks and has asked me to help with her tablescaping. I am honored to be included, and was excited that she has chosen to have mixed-pattern vintage china for her tables. Her tableware will come from the caterer, but my tribute to her comes from my own vaults. Once again, a family story drives this week’s tablescape. I LOVE my family stories and hope that you do, too! Continue reading →

Chalking It Up

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I know I’m late to the party, but I’ve recently discovered the joy of chalk paint.

GotMyReservations Lucky Junk Painting Workshop

I’ve been reading people’s DIY posts about using chalk paint and I was intrigued, but never quite enough to try it myself. Then I went to a workshop at a local shop called Lucky Junk, where I took a class with Janet (the owner) and Anne (from White Lace Cottage). Eight of us learned how to use Vintage Market & Design Furniture Paint. We tried out our techniques on old frames and it was a lot of fun. Here’s the link if you are in the Chicagoland area and want to come to Arlington Heights for a class.

GotMy Reservations Lucky Junk Project Bag

When I saw this display at a local nursery — Knuppers in Palatine, Illinois — I knew that I had not only sipped the “chippy chalk paint” koolaid, I had become drunk on it. This display made me melt in my unpainted jeans. So cute — I guess I’m a convert! And now I know how to create these pretty items.

GotMyReservations-White-and-Purple-for-Mom.jpg

I’ve already got a list of items to paint — my childhood Windsor chair, a pine planter box, a rummage sale wall shelf, a pink step stool I plucked from a neighbor’s trash, and my broken-but-patched cupid outdoor sculpture. All of these would benefit from a little TLC with chalk paint and wax.

I can’t wait to start! I am definitely a chalk paint convert.

Kentucky Derby Tribute Tablescape

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I am royalty — twice removed.

You were thinking kings and queens, right? Well, there are all kinds of royalty, and I know a prince, which makes me twice removed from the king. To be exact, one of my best friends is the son of a jockey who had an extraordinary career in horse racing — Ted was truly racing royalty. Ironically for today’s tablescape,Ted did not win the Kentucky Derby, but went on to win both the Preakness and the Belmont races in 1949. It’s just that whenever I think of racing, I think of Ted Atkinson. This Saturday, May 3, the 140th Kentucky Derby will be run at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. The race will be televised on NBC, with coverage starting at 4:00 pm ET.

GotMyReservations Kentucky Derby Tribute Button Continue reading →

Springtime in Vienna Tablescape

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It was pretty wet and chilly, that March spring break in Austria eleven years ago — my first trip to Europe. That doesn’t keep me from thinking about Vienna and Salzburg when I think spring. The pansies were profusely blooming and there were flowers and trees making their homage to spring everywhere, despite the weather. Nature is like that.

GotMyReservations Mirabell Gardens

Mirabell Palace and Gardens in Salzburg was one of the shooting locations for the Sound of Music.

Those pansies kept coming back to tantalize me when I started planning this week’s tablescape. I knew I wanted to incorporate the beautiful faux pansies I had seen at Joann’s, since it has still been too cold to have plants outside. I remembered the intricate embroidered cloths that I bought in Austria and voila! I had my inspiration for the week. Continue reading →

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