Happy New Year!

May you have a very Happy New Year!

 I am loving this old clock.  It is one of my favorite things.

 I will link to:
Vintage Inspiration Friday  at Common Ground

Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

Feather Your Nest Friday at French Country Cottage
My Favorite Things at Bargain Hunting and Chatting with Laurie
Seasonal Sunday at The Tablescaper
Shutter Love Tuesday  at Trendy Treehouse

Go and visit these blogs for more great images.

Photographing Tablescapes

I decided instead of recapping my favorite tablescapes I would show you a few things I have learned about photographing tables for Tablescape Thursday.   This was the table that I started to notice when people commented on the photography.  The key to this was the natural light.  No overhead light and no flash, shot taken by the window.  The day was probably cloudy too, bright sunshine isn't as good for photos.

 The evening I took this photo it was sunny, but the sun was setting.  This was with a tabletop tripod.  I use a tripod a lot to prevent blurry images.

 In this shot I used a tripod and the image is interesting because of the perspective (images in the foreground being larger and background smaller, defines the space even though the image is flat).

Playing with the lighting has become one of my favorite things to try.  This vase of flowers is almost washed out by the strong light coming in the window behind them, but it gives a nice effect.

The wonderful blue hour of twilight makes for some dramatic images in your photos.  

 I even noticed that if you take a picture at the blue hour of something white it will reflect the blue twilight sky.

 Playing with light again by catching the rays of sunshine as the sun goes down.

 Focusing through a bird cage on the candle makes for an interesting photograph.

Here I captured a spider on a Halloween tablescape and got a bokeh effect ( the way the lens blurs an out of focus point of light).  

 I am by no means a photographer, but I continue to challenge myself and try new things so I can get better at it.  I am very appreciative of a blog with nice photography.  I am trying to get my blog to that level with more of the photos, so this is just some of the things I have learned this year.

I will link to Tablescape Thursday at Between Naps on the Porch, go and visit for many more beautiful blogs sharing their wonderful tables.

Top Projects of 2010

I am joining Rhoda at Southern Hospitality  for her Top Projects 2010 post.  I didn't do a lot of furniture makeovers.  I hope to do more of them in 2011 but, I did a few and I will highlight them here.

The biggest changes I have made to my house has been the makeover of furniture I already owned, to fit the space I had gained, after a major remodel.  I took this little white chest and stripped it to make it look more grown up in my "new to me " dining room.

Here it is in it's natural pine.

 Next, I had a little tile top cottage style table that was out-of-date.  

 I removed the tile top and added two pine planks from Lowes.

 Then, I stained it and finished it with boiled linseed oil (same thing Boos Block uses on their cutting boards).  It has been waterproof and holds up well to the activity in our house.

 

Last, I blogged at this desk and it had seen better days.

I printed some images off of Vintage Printable and Mod Podged them to the top of my desk after I sanded it.  It has made a durable surface for a desk top and saved my desk from being so homely.

I completed the work space with a new bulletin board, desk organizer, and pillow.

I will also join:

Boring to Better Party at Savvy Southern Style.

Hop over and check it out.

TCOH Recap 2010

It is so often customary to review the passing year in some form or another.  I wasn't  going to do a review but, then I decided to do a recap and show how much the blog has been growing creatively for the people who have just recently started to drop by. 

This Shabby Chic Spring Tablescape was the first post that I felt was starting to look like I had envisioned the blog looking.  

 Children's Easter table.

Mother's Day gift basket.

 Mad Tea Party.

 Anne of Green Gables tea.

Sleepy Hollow table.

Arachnaphobia

Hogwarts Halloween Feast

Vintage Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving

Woodland Mantel

Christmas Tea

 It has been a wonderful year and I appreciate every one who stops by and views my blog.  I have some exciting plans for 2011.  I can't wait to see you there.

Sherry

Show Off Your Cottage Monday at The House in the Roses.

Tabletop Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life.

Christmas Present

I'm so sorry if I'm totally driving you crazy with our Better Homes & Gardens article but I've been meaning to share the article on here for readers who weren't able to get a copy.  (And, it really was the hi-light of our year; I'm not gonna lie.)  If you click on the pics (photos by Helen Norman), you should be able to see them larger. 

{Stockings by Handmade Pretties on etsy...  I loved the title of the article because "Christmas present" applies to living in the present moment which we really try to do and also to our baby Justin who was born on December 22nd just 3 days before Christmas... Go Joanna! }

{I'm always walking into the house carrying beautiful flowers with my cutie sitting there waiting on the stairs for me;) ;)  .. hee hee I wish.  I've gotten lots of emails/ calls about my bag & boots.  The bag is by UGG and the boots I'm wearing are MUDD... both from a few years ago.}

{You might notice they brought in a new coffee table by Wisteria to replace our lucite one & my cow hide rug wasn't in the shot.  We filled one of my glass lamps with glass ornaments. } 

Here's a photo to compare: 

{A year later at our house means changes...  Obviously I've rearranged the floorplan since then.  (This happens a lot.)  I've also replaced the Arteriors glass table lamp with the Arteriors glass floor lamp.  (It actually took over 4 months to get to me and was once of the first things I ordered for our living room but wasn't here in time for the shoot.)  I've also moved our cow hide into our bedroom and reaplaced it with an antiqued wool rug.}

{I love how beautifully these gifts were wrapped and I love that they were able to use so many of our own things in the shoot.}

{Isn't it funny to read your own quotes???   hahaha  I think I meant that nothing's really set in stone around here, that we're picking thigns up and adding traditions as we go each year.  I took the photo of Dave & Christian making the showman last January during one of the snowstorms before the photo shoot in February.  }

{looooooove this pic...  On the shelves, they brought in some copper to add to my white ware which was so pretty & warm.  Of course now I want some.  We borrowed the ironstone platters & cakestand from my friend Donna at On a Whim Antiques in Lucketts, VA for the shoot. The rest of the pieces are mine and I found the ceiling medallion I propped up on the shelves for only $1 at Goodwill five or so years ago.}

{and they were able to sneak an extra little page in at the end which I love...  Christian had such a blast opening the bulldozer toy over & over.  what a champ.  The food was beautiful and we used a milk glass urn turned upside down with a plate above & below for a makeshift cakestand.}

And here's a close-up of the beautiful table Jessica Thomas did:

She used my silverware & china over my Pottery Barn plates and little polar bear Christmas ornaments for name tags.  - my handwriting on them- yay! ha    The vintage fabric draped over the parsons chairs really added something.  I found it at Goodwill years ago as a set of curtains and it's gotten a lot of use.  I even made a blanket out of some of it for Justin's room. 

And, I was also picked as the blogger of the month which was such a nice surprise:

The funniest thing is that I was at an antique store this Fall & almost bought that exact little squirrel nutcracker (old, not new of course)  for Christian.  He was $32 and I didn't buy him- what is wrong with me?- and had regretted it since.  When I saw it on the page I wanted to kick myself! :)

Thank you so much again to the team at Better Homes & Gardens: editor & writer Joanna Linberg, stylist/producer Jessica Thomas, and photographer Helen Norman  & her assistant F.J. Hughes. and all of the in-house people like Shelley Caldwell who put the story together and to field scout Bonnie Broten...  You guys are truly the BEST.  Thank you, thank you. 




ps- I'm really trying to take a break & stay off of the computer this week so you won't see much of me until Monday!! :)

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

*The caged lantern in our entryway is by Minka Lavery...  I have gotten tons of phonecalls & emails about it and I think may have been discontinued.  The wallpaper in our breakfast nook is also discontinued.  Our front door is "maple leaf" by Behr and our kitchen cabinets are "witch hazel" by Behr.  I used the book Leonardo's Notebooks for the sketches in the entry.