Tag Archives: Home Decor

Walking the Decked Halls

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I’ve been determined to finish the 30 minute activity ring on my watch, and during these dark and busy days leading up to Christmas, sometimes all I can do is walk the stairs and halls in my nine-story condo building. Today I did the walk in my plastic clogs!

It’s actually more fun than you might expect. I see how each floor decorates their lobby table, and it’s especially fun during the holidays.

I did our floor, trying to make it a little more snowflakes and less Santa and Jesus. Our floor and our building is a United Nations of ethnicities, so I tried to be festive but somewhat sensitive to our friends of other cultures that are not Christian. The Music Hall and the frame were thrifted, and I put the front of an old sweatshirt in the frame.

One of the floors is simple but effective.

Some are cute and more complex.

Some are just elegant. I actually checked out the houses on this one and they are just painted plastic.

The display that wins my heart will always be the ceramic village houses, though. In my book, they are the perfect decoration.

I’m always amazed at the creativity and individuality of our holiday decor in the building. I hope you are finding joy in whatever makes your creativity blossom this season.

GotMyReservations Coffee Thank You Sign Off

Still Living with Martha Stewart

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Last night I watched the Martha Stewart biography — or unauthorized tell all?— streaming on CNN/MAX/HULU. It reminded me of why I loved Martha then and why I still admire her. Back in the day, I recorded her TV show and watched it religiously. I saved episodes until I no longer had the ability to watch them because technology moved on. I’ve hung on to one final stack of magazines long past their expiration dates and through our recent move. Her books are still in my treasured library that came with us to the condo.

As pointed out in the show, The Many Lives of Martha Stewart, she has been a pioneer in business throughout her long career. She’s also got the heart of a lion. When confronted with adversity, she just takes a deep breath and gets on with moving forward the best way she can.

I’m not sure she was like that in the beginning, but I love that now she is so totally comfortable in her shoes (Skechers and Easy Spirits, of course) that she can laugh at herself, all the while figuring out a way to make money while she laughs.

I’ve been pondering how to share my pondering, since Facebook is now determined to show me ads and a few posts from friends and family. I’ve held on to my blog for years while not writing in it very often. Perhaps an old-school medium is where this writer needs to get back to these days. I can barely remember how to use WordPress — I should probably go to the library and check out a recent copy of WordPress for Dummies. In the meantime, perhaps you will leave a note to let me know that you and I are both alive and waiting for Martha’s next act.

Treasured copies of Martha Stewart Living

Looking for the light revisited

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Hey, friends! It’s nice to see you again. Thanks for sticking with me. I’ve been busy taking photos!

GotMyReservations Reflection

In photography class we are working on using natural light to illuminate our photos — to “see the light” is the hallmark of a good photographer. As bloggers, we know that a striking photo is important to our work. It’s also easy to use simple items to boost the light in your photos — try using a piece of white posterboard as a reflector. In this photo of a crystal punchbowl, I had a white foam core board over on the right, and the mirror also gave more reflected light. You may remember this mirror from a previous post about creating vignettes. I also posted another photo the last time I took a photography class. I’m very consistent. 🙂 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 →

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 →

Easter Tablescape — Bunnies, Fruit, and Flowers

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This Easter represents a milestone for our family. My daughter is hosting Easter dinner.

I’ll be helping her to create a beautiful table for her party, but since we have vastly different styles, I just HAD to set my own table with our traditional Easter decorations — my collection of Easter bunnies and fruit plates.

GotMyReservations Easter Tablescape Intro Continue reading →



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