So I've Started in the Living Room

I'm rather fond of pine cones. Oh, and white vases and pitchers. And don't forget to note the four chamber pots on the wire shelf. Of course my 'new' ironstone pitcher has been worked in.

The ribbon on the lamps came from a small shop in Sutton's Bay. Such a pretty hand dyed color! And now there are two matching McCoy swans. The second one was found at my favorite antique mall in Elk Rapids. Even while on vacation in June I see "Christmas" in my minds eye. The swans have seam binding tied around their necks.

The mirror, the pair of lamps, just about everything on the mantle came from thrift stores. The wreath was $3.50. When I saw it in October I was already envisioning how it would look over the fireplace. The vase in the middle is a McCoy vase that used to belong to THGGM's grandmother.

Someday the lighting in this room might agree with taking a good picture, but for now just use your imagination. Oh, and imagine a fire. It looks sooo nice with a fire!

Green

Thought it was time to bring in some more green. Even the fake kind springs it up a bit in here. And really, can one EVER have too many chamber pots displayed in one's living room? I think not.

Wasn't It Just Friday Last Week?

My dear friend Bonnie stopped by today.

We've been trying to get together for months it seems.

Bonnie is a REAL photographer with a REAL camera.

She does impressive work.

Today she took pictures of some of my Christmas decor, before I switched it over to Valentine's Day decor. Then she took pictures of that, too!

So did I.

I hope her pictures came out better than mine. The sun was NOT cooperative.

I did manage to get a few shots that I like.

Thrift store swans forming a heart with their necks. ALWAYS charming.

A vintage postcard Valentine stuck in my 'new' flower frog.

All I had to do to switch things over from Christmas to Valentine's Day was to add a few red books and some heart ornaments.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to make a paper chain out of an old French/English dictionary. Normally it's hard for me to destroy books, but this is for a good cause. I'm NEVER going to learn French. Anyway, I'm hoping it will drape happily over the existing swag, loose and like it doesn't care...

The Bird Tree

Last night when I went to bed it looked like this.

I spent a little bit of time today trying to get better pictures.

The birds are all things I've found at thrift stores or on clearance at Michael's.

It's fun to put trees in front of mirrors. More light, and it looks like more birds.

Can you tell where the reflection begins?

It is still in need of A LOT of tweaking. This year I'm trying to make things simpler. We shall see how that goes. For now I just piled up some of my 'bird' books under the tree. Not easy to get a picture of the whole thing, as it's situated in a narrow spot.

And, here is Zeke.