Two Sisters, One Minivan, a GPS, and a Blue Table ReRun

On this gray and drizzly Thursday, my sister Peggy
and I are saddling up the minivan and
venturing into the uncharted wilds of New Jersey.

Also known as Morris, Hunterdon, and Somerset Counties.

Dangerous turf, my friends. . .

populated by the Horsey Set, Wall Streeters, BMW drivers,

and people who probably spent more than $1.89 on their coffee tables.

We may have to go in disguise so as not to be spotted as aliens,

although once they catch sight of my red Chrysler minivan, the jig's probably up.

:-)

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We'll be seeking out consignment shops, including at least one where I am pretty sure

I won't be able to afford anything; yes, it's that high end.  I hope they'll let me take pictures.

We'll have lunch at my new favorite dive, just for the excellent cole slaw, and also visit
a thrift shop or two, so I've got at least a chance of toting home something for my tank of gas.

But before I leave to meet Peggy, I'm re-posting a

table setting from almost exactly two years ago.

It's blue.  Very blue.

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(First Posted 2/11/2010)

Welcome to Thursday at That Old House! 

Supper for two.

Don't forget to check out the links to today's blog parties,
at the end of this post!

Some months back, I was in HomeGoods and I spotted a package of four placemats.
Blue and white always catches my eye.

But the fabric pattern reminded me of something:
a set of (cheap) ironstone dishes I bought 30 years ago when we were first married, and have rarely used.

So today, I finally put them together, with my old
plated flatware -- Georgian pattern, some monogrammed and some not.

The dishes have several shades of blue, including a gray tint and an almost-aqua tint.
The placemats also have these shades.  Kismet!

At Dollar Tree last summer, these plump little tea light holders jumped into my shopping cart.

Two designs, in classic blue and white.

On the table, an older Bombay Company china pot, blue and white, with fake flowers in it.

From a church thrift shop, bubbly blue wine glasses.

I like the shape of the coffee cups, so I'm adding them to the table setting.

Vintage Irish linen napkins.  Old, but in like-new condition.  Ebay, some years back.

The backstamp for the china.
I do not speak Spanish, but it looks like it's claiming to be resistant to acid.
And something else.

All put together, I like how this table setting turned out -- and it was fun to see those old dishes again!

And the placemats are reversible.  On the other side, just the print, no border.  I hope they won't need much ironing; I haven't replaced my iron yet.  No fool, I. -- Cass

Visit Suzanne at Colorado Lady for Vintage Thingies Thursday!

Visit Leigh at Tales from Bloggeritaville for Thrifty Thursday!

And Susan at Between Naps On The Porch for Tablescape Thursday!

Baby Steps

If you read this blog, you already know I am cheap.
If you've read this blog for any length of time,
you probably also know that I am lazy.

So when I find a cheap piece of furniture in need of a miracle, I look first for an easy way to fix it.
In this case, by cheap furniture I mean free.  See yesterday's blog.  

Free washstand or telephone table.  In rough shape but sturdy.
Puts the shabby in chic, that's for sure.

And by in need of a miracle, I mean in really awful condition.

See?  I am not kidding.

Is there any way to handle this without having to do any actual work?


I plan on putting this little guy in my antiques booth and selling him for
hundreds and hundreds of dollars . . . Not.  Maybe tens of dollars.

Howard to the rescue.  No, not my husband Howard, although he rescues me all the time.
This time, it's the Howard Company, which makes wood care products, including this:

Feed-N-Wax.

The Lazy Lady's Best Friend -- a mix of waxes and a bit of orange oil.

Available on Amazon, at Home Depot, and probably at your local hardware store.

Here's what I did while watching the noon news today:  I wiped on the Feed-N-Wax . . . 

. . . a nice generous coat.  Then, I relaxed for about 20 minutes, and followed up with a

good buffing with a clean cotton cloth, to get rid of the oily sheen and bring up the waxy gleam.

There's Dion, sound asleep, behind the table.  I never wax him.  Almost never, anyway.

 It is not perfect, not by a very long shot.  It still is beat up and, ahem, rugged.

But it does look better, and who knows?

Someone may fall in love with this little street kid and want him "as is."

If not, I haul him home again from the antiques booth, and do him up right --

melting his finish and reamalgamating it.  How's that for a 64-cent word?

Or, I paint him.  We'll see.  But my bet is that priced right, he'll sell.

I used Feed-N-Wax on another table in December, wrote about it here.

In 30 minutes, that table went from this, stripped and dull:

to this:

I put it in my booth on a Sunday, late in the day.

It sold the very next day.  Thank you, Feed-N-Wax.  :-)

The only problem is that I really liked this table, and I kind of miss it.  Oh well.

We have to let them grow up and toddle out into the big world, I guess.

Tomorrow -- more on The Mystery Chest from Wednesday's post:

I think we're getting close to consensus on what it is.

No Link Parties today for me -- I can't figure out where to put "ugly furniture badly restored."

Maybe I need to start my own blog party -- Cass

Gobble Gobble Goodwill

Way back on Tuesday, That Old House had a post about my new
Pottery Barn turkey plates, paired with different color dinner plates.  

Curious as to which was the most popular color combination?
If you think it's the red dinner plate pairing, you are right.

Here's how it all turned out:

Robin's Egg Blue -- 4 votes

Red -- 7 votes

Turquoise -- 4 votes

Green -- 4 votes

"All of them" -- 3 votes

And also getting 3 votes . . . the original Pottery Barn display tablesetting plates, which were a golden yellow.

Even though I didn't have any golden yellow plates to use.


This is the tabletop display from the PB outlet on Long Island,
where I got the turkey plates back on Saturday:

Well, guess what?

You just never know what you'll find at our local Goodwill Store.

 And on Tuesday, late afternoon, I found big dinner plates, golden yellow, for 99-cents apiece.

 Pretty slick, huh?

Our Goodwill yielded a few other goodies.
Should that be "a few other goodwillies?"
Maybe not.

Anyway, I found a milk glass pitcher for 99-cents. 

 Silver serving pieces, $1.99 each.  After polishing, they will look fabulous on a buffet table.
They are very heavy, too; they don't feel chintzy.
(Now there's a word you don't hear much nowadays -- chintzy.
Probably because it's not Politcally Correct to offend chintz, or Mario Buatta.)

 And since I'm a sucker for Majolica, and Majolica-type wares . . . a chunky pitcher.

Not old -- from the 1990s I think.  But great color and vintage style.

 What kind of flower do you think this is?  Dogwood?  Magnolia?

 There are buds on the front of the pitcher.  Any clues?

 Well, as that little cream colored, carved Dollar Tree pumpkin
in front of the Giant Mr. Turkey Centerpiece says -- Give Thanks!

For Goodwill, for the fun of playing with dishes, and for friends who understand.

Off  now through the rain, for brunch in New Brunswick with daughter Anne. 

Hmmm . . . there's a Goodwill down there, too.  -- Cass

 Thursday Links

At From My Front Porch To Yours, it is Treasure Hunt Thursday.  Click here and visit!

At Tales From Bloggeritaville, it is Thrifty Thursday.  Click here!

No Minimalist Here hosts Open House Party Thursdays.  Click here!

Between Naps On The Porch -- Tablescape Thursday.  Click here!