A Dollar and a Holiday Place Setting

Hello dear friends! I hope that you had a wonderful Christmas and are taking some time to relax now.

I am a Target shopper by nature. I love many of their selections at reasonable prices, and though I only go there about once a month, I do usually come home with something for either Plum Tree or The Nest. After I finished my actual Christmas shopping and wrapping, I went over there to pick up some bagged kale salad mix (they carry the one that's my favorite), and stopped in to browse the bargain section. If you shop there you may have noticed that right at the entrance, where you pick up your cart, there is usually a small section of items on sale, mostly seasonal. I couldn't help but notice that some of the Christmas doo-dads were things that had not previously been in the main Christmas department, so they must ship the inventory in from other stores.

I couldn't resist buying 

two packages of these...

...seasonal greetings printed 

on burlap-style fabric...

...and at four for a buck

who could resist?...

Of course, the red string did not do it 

for me,

so...

...a bit of a quick-change act

to black and jute twine...

...tied with some faux rusty bells

with silverware 

and taupe linen napkins

(also from Target)

and we have a place setting

for not-so-much-money-or-work...

For the first time I actually found chargers

that suited my dishes.

They were from Kirkland's for $3.99 each,

and believe it or not,

they are a nice grade of plastic

and won't scratch the table!

No place mats or table cloth necessary!

Love it.

If you're wondering where the wine glasses were,

we were already drinking out of them,

as these photos were taken just prior to

our Christmas Eve dinner!

********************************

Did you incorporate any budget items into

your holiday decor this year?

Christmas 2015

May your Christmas

be filled with JOY,

and your New Year be

filled with HOPE.

Some Little Touches: The Last of Our Christmas Decor!

Hello to all!

I just thought I'd share a few of my little holiday touches, though certainly they are nothing spectacular!

This is our entryway.

Kept pretty minimal because 

hubby likes red and we

don't have a lot of it throughout the

rest of the house. 

He picked out the picture last year

when we were in the mountains

(it actually has some very cute twinkle

lights that we can turn on),

so I tried to work around it.

This is the area that I usually play

around with using stuff that I normally 

wouldn't put elsewhere.

The sign was done by a sign painter

on Etsy.

You can find all kinds of signage

there if you like it as much as I do!

The shelf is from an old fireplace

surround that I bought years ago when

I lived in Florida.

It originally came from an old house 

in NC, so I guess that you could say

it found its way back home!...

This is a pretty little apron that I bought 

in Walmart and matches the little 

deer plates that I featured a few days

ago...

Thanks for coming by.

What little things have you decorated with this year?

Our Great Room at Christmas

Good morning. I hope that your week has gotten off to a good start! Continuing with my previous post, here are some shots of our great room.

This beautiful 1800's glider horse sits on top of our 

entertainment center.

Shortly before Christmas last year,

I frivolously took the plunge on eBay winning the bid for it.

I never showed it on my blog because I could not get a 

decent photo of it, and still can't, 

as you see here. 

But it is such a beautiful antique that I am sharing it anyway.

She sits up there all year round,

with different seasonal pieces surrounding her...

This year we decided to go with a small,

4-foot country Christmas tree

which I decorated very minimally.

I purchased it on-line through Walmart.

On it there are tiny star lights 

(LED, and battery-operated) 

strung on beautiful bendable silver wire.

I purchased them on-line from the

baby division of Restoration Hardware...

...and lightly larger ones drape down over

the gifts,

antique galvanized milk box

(remember the days of the milkman?)

and bench.

We bought the milk box in Hendersonville

and I love it because the front of it says

"Willow Brook Farms".

The bench,

which I painted with Annie Sloan 

Chalk Paint (Olde White)

and finished with her clear wax, is one

that you may remember

from this post when it was 

an ugly shade of yellow...

To the left of the milk box is a basket 

filled with birch logs (from Michael's),

greenery, and a twig star

(which was originally a Walmart

tree topper from which we cut off

the red berries).

The basket is actually one that you

would use for serving utensils...

On the tree I put just 12 small mercury glass

ornaments, all different.

They were purchased on-line at Luna Bazaar

found here 

A lovely company to deal with!...

...and some hand-felted small acorns

through Etsy,

and found here...

...and then added about twelve crystal 

ornies. 

Can't remember where I got them, but

I think it was Target...

The best part about trimming this little tree

was that I could sit down and do it,

and then was able to move it to the bench.

This was a real bonus to my back,

which has been aching considerably

lately!!

*******************************

And now, for our big accomplishment of 

the season.

You may recall that a few years ago we 

bought an old black china hutch top 

and installed it over the fireplace.

You can see a post about that here.

It was nice for a time, 

but truthfully I got tired of figuring 

out how to decorate it seasonally

without it looking like it was always 

filled with "chotchkees".

So, Mr. Perch and I, who are

avid fans of HGTV's "Fixer Upper"

decided to rip out the shelving,

take off the top layer of the mantel,

which he had put on to support the hutch,

and add a beautiful piece of wood as

the top part.

He went to about five stores in search 

of the wood, since we knew that

we didn't want something typically found

at a big box store.

There is a wood-workers' store in Raleigh

called Klingspor's Woodworking Shop,

and there he found a beautiful piece of

butternut wood (not the squash!), 

which is also known as

white walnut, and more rare than

black walnut.

He cut it to fit,

sanded it smooth,

and I applied three coats of a wood 

finisher product that they recommended

(not a stain).

And of course, above it he planked the 

wall for a ship-lap look,

adding crown molding at the top.

As with the farm table 

and all of our diy projects, 

DH does the woodworking and building,

and I do the painting and staining.

Fair deal!...

We kept the rest of it simple by adding some

 glittered pine cone branches (bought at Michael's)

 to the mantel (the glitter looks like rock candy)...

...and swagged a glittery star and jute

 garland underneath it...

And since I couldn't find any decent

candle holders, I used, of all things,

two antique wooden bobbins

that I had upstairs in my studio!...

In this photo you can also see that we 

added greenery to 

the tops of the windows

(now minus curtains!)

which flank the fireplace...

There you have it!

Not quite what you would see on those 

beautiful, but heavily sponsored 

and advertised decor blogs,

but home just the same.

Home is where the (humble) heart is!

As ever, thanks for spending this time with me!

Our Dining Space at Christmas

Hello, and how are you?

I had some fun shaking things up a bit with my holiday decorating this year. We were a little slow due to finishing the table and something else, which I'll share in my next post. I thought I'd start with our dining area. Since we have no formal dining room this space opens up into our great room, so I try to decorate it in such a way that it all flows together, and use a lot of (fake) greenery throughout. We wanted to keep it casual, so here goes!

Now you see where those old rakes went.

And in between them is the ladder

that I featured in this post...

Over the sideboard I put up the old frame

that usually sits in our entryway,

and added a wreath that I have had for a 

few years...

I had some fun with the glittery deer garland,

recently purchased on Etsy...

Since we took down all of our 

way-too-formal curtains,

and have not yet decided what will 

replace them, 

we added a garland around the

sliding glass door...

Some greenery on the table,

along with the same candles I used

during the Thanksgiving season...

When I saw the little burlap-covered snowflake ornaments,

I couldn't resist hanging them on the backs of the new

(old) chairs.

The thin burlap ribbon found at Michael's was great...

Do you remember the rakes,

also seen above,

 that I featured here?

They were way too beautiful

to stay outside.

Only normal people use rakes

for their intended purpose!...

Thanks so much for visiting me today!

How are you coming along with your 

seasonal decorating?

Oh, Dear! (I mean, oh deer!)

Good morning deer dear friends! In case you are wondering whether or not I am having some issues with the English language today, read on!

As we were completing our farm table, I started to shop around a little for some Christmas and seasonal decor that would better suit our farmhouse look. I wanted to keep it simple this year and give our spaces a more rustic and casual feel. Before I knew it, and with no real intent on doing so, I found myself leaning towards one particular design element. I guess I don't have to tell you what that element is!

They are on the dresser...

and on wall art...

on a  garland...

on pillows...

on gift tags...

on snack plates...

and even on sweaters...

...and you should have seen the look on

Mr. Perch's face when I jokingly told him 

that I bought this one for him

because it looks like Ollie 

wearing bells and antlers...

Oh, dear, even my cards ended up with

well, you know what!...

We usually have real live deer running around in this neck of the woods

at this time of the year,

but for some strange reason there is not one to be seen.

H-m-m-m...

A Season of Promise: The Christmas Cactus

The promise of Christmas is always signaled by the early December blooming of my beautiful Christmas Cactus. She is so happy in our downstairs guest room, which seems to receive exactly the right amount of light to suit her. She started off as a wee little plant purchased five or six years ago for pennies. She is now so huge that she takes up about one third of the dresser, where she proudly resides asking for not much more than a drink every so often and to be turned slightly now and then. She is my "miracle baby" because though I am an avid gardener, I don't have much luck with indoor plants, probably due to the lack of good light that we receive in this house.

Oh!

That all of God's creations

would be so content,

and expect so little.