Spindle Love and Wedding Love

 

I needed to add a little color to a  table vignette in the great room and knew I had just the right items do it.  I found these colorful spindles at the Springfield Flea Market Extravaganza earlier in the month for a mere 75¢ apiece. woo hoo- that was a bargain, don’t you think?  They simply got placed into my silver ice/champagne bucket and added to the existing side table vignette.

 

A cut glass wine decanter, a small bowl of shells, and a potted plant fit nicely on the footed silver tray. I’ve found all of my silver/silverplate trays at estate sales and have never had to pay very much for them.  The ice/champagne bucket was an estate sale find, as well. I’m glad I like the tarnished look- it takes forever to polish these items into a gleaming state!

 

I like the play of colors against each other. I’m thinking I’ll buy a few more colors when I go back to the fall extravaganza sale; the vendor is always there.  A green one would be  nice, but in keeping with the odd number rule, I’ll have to find another color, as well.   I’m also hoping that the he’ll have more ceramic glove molds at the show in September. I found one in his booth this last show, but let my SIL buy it, since she’d been looking for one ever since she saw the one I bought at the French Hen Farm sale last year.

 

 

 

 

I have a ginormous collection of glass decanters. Occasionally, I’ll fill them with some “spirits” when we’re entertaining, but for the most part, they’re scattered throughout the house in various displays.

 

This wooden box hold three decorative “dumbells”- basically just double orbs.

 

 

 

 

This shot of the table was taken just as the sun was setting. The light in the room is at its best at this time- for most of the day, the sunshine streams in through the double height windows and causes a lot of glare. We opted for no window treatments on these windows since they face the woods and we have a lot of privacy; but since we’re contemplating putting a large screen television in here, we’ll need shades of some kind.  I think draperies are out of the question- the ceiling is 18 feet high.  That would be a lot of fabric!

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I don’t think I mentioned that we had planned on being in Indiana over the weekend. We celebrated our niece’s wedding at the University of Notre Dame, the bride and groom’s alma mater. The wedding ceremony took place in the Basilica, the reception was held at a hotel on campus, and the entire event was first-class all the way! 

This is the interior of the basilica.

 

The golden dome on top of the main building on campus can be seen from many vantage points.  The bride and groom wanted a photo of all of their guests, so after the ceremony, all 200+ family and friends had a group picture taken on the steps of this building. What a fun way to see everyone!

 

This is the interior shot of the rotunda under the dome.

 

 

 

                                                                     photo by Shannon Farrell Santella

 

Congratulations to Kasey and Mike Scully!!

 

 

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Garden Accessories Fun

 

I found some fun garden accessories while thrifting last week- we all know that garden ornaments really add a lot of pizazz to landscaping beds. I hit the jackpot at a yard sale I never even planned on attending. I had just come from a bust of a sale and was on my way out of the neighborhood when I saw a directional sign for a sale I hadn’t seen advertised. Now, I don’t usually wander off my planned route, so I was pleasantly surprised as I turned down the court, walked up the driveway, and was greeted by an entire sale of vintage items- a lot of them garden ornamentals.

I wandered around and kept finding things I just had to have.   I hit it off almost with the seller almost immediately. She knew  that I “got” the entire vintage thing, unlike many of her sale-goers who were just looking for the usual bargain garage sale items. After over an hour of shopping and chatting with Karen, I ended up with a new friend and some cool garden accessories, all perfect for my summer garden.

 

I actually think this little sculpture was originally part of a fountain. The little boy is sitting on a fish with a mouth that certainly looks as if he spouted water in a previous life.  I plopped him in the middle of the bed right under the window.  I think he’s been stored away for quite some time- he smells a bit old and musty. Maybe that scent will wear off as he gets pelted with the steady rains we’ve been having all weekend.

 

I’m calling this wall ornament my Greek god. He looks a bit like Poseidon, don’t you think? He’s hanging on the wall in the main bed off the front walkway.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The husband didn’t quite know what to think of my purchase of  this rusty old coal grate. I knew it would be a perfect planter once I placed a cocoa liner in it.

 

I had planned on planting some perennials in it yesterday-but just as I was headed out the door, the rain started falling.  So this morning, while out in my robe, I plopped these babies into the grate. Good thing I was in the side yard so no one could see me. Who plants in their PJ’s ? Good thing I did, though, because it’s been raining ever since.

 

This dianthus flower looks almost like a little rose.

 

Here’s the grate tucked in among the hostas and the pine trees. It should fill in soon- I’ve become an avid fan of Miracle Gro.

 

This is the view of my secret garden path looking the opposite direction that I showed you in the last post.  I put down about a dozen sprigs of ivy- hope it starts spreading soon.  I used some creeping Jenny and some Irish moss for additional variety.

 

 

This hypertufa bee skep wasn’t really a thrifty yard sale find- it came from the garden and antique show we attended up in Troy last week, but it really wasn’t all that expensive.

 

This mushroom also came from the garden show, but from a different vendor than the bee skep.

 

 

 

I placed him in the same bed as Poseidon, by the front doorway. I’m so thrilled that my oak leaf hydrangea bush is blooming! I’ve never had these before. There are six more plants in the side yard bed, but they are a different variety than this one. Don’t ask me what kind those are- I’m  still new at all this.

This concrete snail was a frugal find from a few years ago. He’s nestled underneath the mushroom.

 

                                                                                                                  

 

Won’t you please stop by to visit these hostesses on their appropriate party days :

Mary’s Mosaic Monday

Rhoda’s Today’s Thrifty Treasures  - Monday

Linda’s Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

Mary’s Share the Love Wednesday

Susan’s Outdoor Wednesday

Rhonda’s Treasure Hunt Thursday

Allison’s Stuff and Nonsense Summer Sales-Thrifting, Flea Markets, and Yard Sales on Friday

Inspiration Friday at The Picket Fence

Courtney’s French Country Cottage-A Shabby Cottage Summer on Friday

Sherry’s Home Sweet Home on Friday,

Debra’s Vintage Inspiration Friday    

Jenna’s SAS Interiors  Summer Spaces

      

                     

 

     

Can a brown thumb change color?

 

I don’t think my brown thumb is as dark as before~  so far, I’m keeping all the plants and flowers alive in my newly landscaped front yard!!!   Plus, the yard’s looking good with the addition of a few thrifty items.

This is my favorite color of geranium.  I used them in the two urns outside my front door.

 

I opted not to have plantings directly outside the doorway. Instead, I’m using urns that can be filled with seasonal flowers. In the winter, I have plans to set my grapevine trees into them.   The two large pots under the Welcome sign are actually clay pottery candle holders that the husband gave me as a Christmas gift.  They were originally slated for a back patio, but I like the way they fill the area here.

 

Last summer I was admiring a bed of hens and chicks while at someone’s yard sale.  The sweet lady actually went over and dug some up and gave them to me. Ya gotta love “free.”  I used them to accent this hypertufa planter.  They actually made it through the winter in this container- I simply left it in the garage and gave them an occasional drink of water. 

 

Even the transplanted hostas are thriving!  At first, they were looking really droopy. But they’ve come back!  One humongous plant was divided into about 20 pieces and placed along the pathway leading to the backyard.

 

I showed the bluestone pathway leading to the backyard in a previous post. The hostas are nestled  in the shady area beneath the pine trees and on the other side of the fence.

 

I dug this old birdbath out from storage and plopped a Dollar Tree birdie into it. It needs a good scrubbing with bleach- there’s way too much algae and dirt inside the bowl.  I actually did see a few birds drinking from it, though. They’ve never been back- I sure hope they didn’t get sick!  

This variety of lilacs doesn’t produce the vivid purple blooms I remember seeing as a child, but their light hue is still pretty.

 

There was a low area directly in front of the boxwoods that had to filled in with topsoil and then seeded. I covered it with landscape fabric to hold in the seed. If you look closely, you can actually see the sprouts of grass coming through the burlap. the area’s all filled in now and you’d never know it wasn’t the original sod. But if I would not have covered it, I think all of the seed would have been washed away- it rained for two full weeks after the planting was completed.  Although having two weeks of rain was pretty gloomy, it certainly saved me some watering chores for a while!  Then it got hot, dry, and humid and the sprinkler system croaked.  aagghhh….

 

 

I like the detail of this hypertufa leaf that I found last Friday at a garden and antique show. I bought if for the very fair price of $12.  It’s good-sized- about 18 inches long. One of these days, I’d like to try my hand at mixing up a batch of this concrete solution and creating some containers.  They take a long time to cure, so maybe I should think about getting them started before the fall!  Gotta find me some ginormous leaves like this somewhere, too.

 

I bought this 32-inch tall concrete pineapple garden ornament at a yard sale last spring.  When I was at the garden show, I priced these things- there wasn’t an  ornament to be had for under $70. Want to know what I paid?   Are you ready?    A whopping three dollars!

 

This basket sits between the garage doors and is filled with lots of color.  I didn’t put it together- I found it at the garden show.   It wasn’t inexpensive, but at least the dealer offered  me a bundled price on this and a smaller display in an old tin Quaker Oats can.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These little guys are really starting to grow and to bloom out.    I am so happy that no critters have been munching on them or digging underneath them. The moles didn’t make their appearance in this bed this spring. I think I should knock on some wood, because they just love my yard. We have the lawn company apply the bait, Talprid,  in order to control them.  Nothing else works- and I’ve tried a lot of “cures” that never helped.  I even tried smoking them out! Now that was a funny sight. Can you imagine mole holes with smoke wafting out of all of them? I think those little creatures just laughed at me while down in their tunnels….    I think they finally moved back out into the woods.  Or into the neighbors’ yards.   Whoops…..

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I had planned on taking a few more pictures, but it’s starting to cloud up and will probably be raining soon.  Of course it would rain- the irrigation system ran this morning for the first time since I had repairs done on it.  For a week and a half, I’ve been having to drag out the hoses and the old timey sprinkler head to get the watering done.  That was a job! I had to set a timer and then run out to change the sprinkler location every half hour.  I’m still waiting on the bill for the part that had to be replaced and I know I am going to have sticker shock. The part that went bad looked like the little plastic piece that holds the top of the box away from the pizza. You know what that looks like, right? Well, I laughingly said that it was a 49 cent part that would cost me an arm and a leg.  I wasn’t wrong. The repair guy estimated the part to be about $30. Yikes!  Then, I still have to pay the labor charge.  Well, it took him all of five minutes to replace the part, but who knows what I’ll be charged.  Too bad the Pizza Hut pizza thingee wouldn’t have worked!    Oh well, I’m just glad the system is back up and running. My brown thumb needs all of the help it can get, even if it IS getting lighter!

I’m meeting with someone to discuss working on the backyard tomorrow. It’s a sloping yard that is practically unusable.  We’re talking lots of fill dirt here. And brick patios. And no more grass!  Well, maybe just a little, but mowing the yard isn’t high on my list of time-savers. I usually spend several hours on the front yard. I always double cut the lawn in different directions, edge the sidewalks and driveway, and then trim the beds.  The husband is in charge of the back yard. He needs football cleats for that.  We cut every three days or so, if it isn’t raining.   Now you know why we don’t want to keep all that grass!

 

                                                                                                           I’m joining the following parties this week:

                                

                                                                Please pay these hostesses a visit on their appropriate party days and see a lot of inspiration.