I went another whole year in 2012 without really doing anything to "vintage up" my living room - I've been content (though not blissfully happy) with the rather contemporary stuff that's in there, which we bought lock-stock-and-barrel out of a furniture store display area when we first moved into this house in 2008. (Sort of the Garanimals approach to furniture shopping...)
It's not awful, but it's not shabby, it's not romantic, and it's not vintage.
In fact, the only vintage piece in the room is also the focus of today's post: it's my grandmother Verdie's side table, which I love and which has actually worked well with its contempo room-mates because of the dark wood finish. After I put away all the Christmas things, I decided to go for a blue-and-white theme with this table. Here's a picture of the table from another post. Isn't she gorgeous?
And here is the overall view of the new blue-and-white tabletop vignette:
First item to note: I switched out the lamp for a recent thrifty find - I found the tall crystal base for a dollar, and the shade (already beaded) for $3.99.
Here are a couple shots of the beautiful tablecloth, with hand-stitching done by my great-grandmother Metta - she was Verdie's mother. It does need to be ironed, but, I skipped that step ;)
I continue to enjoy using my collection of past issues of Victoria and Romantic Homes as decorating pieces - they always seem to come through with just the right color scheme!
Perched atop the magazine stack is Mr. Duck - I don't know how old he is, but he has wonderful patina and he will even hold a few tiny treasures. We got him for a dollar at an auction - no one else was bidding on him but he sure caught hubby's eye!
A few other notable birds: a pair of Blue Jay figurines - the smaller one is from the Whitehall Society, and the larger one is from HOMCO - and, their funny little cannon-firing friend, a gift from the Graphics Fairy, in a matte-finish painted frame.
Finally, for just a little pop of pink, I'm using some silk carnations in the hand-turn bud vase made some time ago by Mr. Piglet.
I find it really amusing that I haven't heard a peep yet from Mr. Piglet about this revamped tabletop... I know he's aware I put the Christmas stuff away, but he hasn't even noticed that I'm using an entirely different lamp! That gives me the giggles for sure - I wonder how much more "vintage" I can sneak into this room before he finally says something!
I'm sharing my blue-and-white/bird-themed tabletop at Tabletop Tuesday. Be sure to click through to Marty's lovely blog for lots more on display!
