Feather The Nest for Christmas

The nest is all feathered for Christmas

and these gorgeous feather placemats

are a DIY versions of the ones I

showed you from ZGallerie

on my Christmas Inspiration post.

After seeing these at their store,

I knew I had

to have some for my table and

I decided to follow their inspiration

of aqua and gold too.

This is ZGallerie's aqua and told

placesetting from their website.

Kathleen is having a table challenge

to find a table on the net and imitate it.

Mine looks more like theirs at the store

but I am happy to join the challenge.

The aqua and gold is beautiful

together and makes an

elegant statement in the

dining room.

I love keeping both the dining room

and kitchen table set for Christmas.

It makes such a great part of the 

holiday decorations to see the table

beautifully set.

These beautiful placemats

truly looks like aqua nests

for the plates and charger.

They are so soft and pretty.

I borrowed this tray from my living

room for the centerpiece today.

It is all sparkly and perfect for the table.

The light gold candlesticks, aqua trees, candles

and ornaments sit in a bejeweled white tray

that I got a few years ago also from ZGallerie.

The new sparkly aqua candles were

from treasure hunting at Home Goods this year.

They always have such a great selection

of holiday candles, but grab them when

you see them, they might not be there

when you go back.  

The aqua glass

trees were also from Home Goods 

last year or the year before.

Here is a closeup on the glittery

border of this white tray.  I love it

for displaying treasures.

I paired one set of my aqua goblets

with my gold ones.

These are fun ones that we picked up

in Guadalajara for about $3 each - 

what a great deal and I love the

twisted stem.

These gorgeous napkin rings

were the ones I told you I got

on sale at ZGallerie this year.

They have this beautiful crystal.

They are just tassles used as

napkin rings.  

The gold and white is stacked

alternately and the base is

a white jeweled charger.

Another ZGallerie find - this table

should be titled ZGallerie Treasures

shouldn't it?!!

Yum!

This table is one of my favorites.

My gold flatware from 

Horchow is featured again.  I got

these last year from Horchow.

They were on sale too so I don't

know if they are available anymore.

I did my placemats differently

than the expensive ones at ZGallerie - 

I only feathered the edge as the plate

stack will cover the middle.

My next post will show you how easy

it is to make your own version.

I hope your nest is all feathered

and that you are enjoying your

Christmas preparations.

Thanks for taking time during this busy

time of year to stop by and visit!

I will be posting this with

Christmas Table Challenge

Tablescapes Thursday

Aqua Bunnies Easter Table

My cutest bunny dishes,

these bunnies sitting atop

a woven basket,

are the star of this

Easter Table.

I bought these a few years

ago in aqua and pink and

they are just so adorable.

They are the perfect for

this aqua Easter Table

set on a pretty aqua 

rosette table topper.

Aqua and white dishes create the

stack and I brought out

the sterling silver to go 

with this elegant table.

The sterling is 

Old Maryland Engraved,

which I received from my parents

when we married,

although I chose to not have it

engraved.  I love the mirror like

surface where the engraving would

have gone.

These fun aqua polka dot chargers

begin the plate stack.

I followed those up with these

beautiful textured white plates

with a spring flower on their border.

These fun aqua and white napkins

will be placed next on the stack.

It is fun to use variety in your

napkin placement.

Finally, another textured white plate

and our aqua bunny finishes off the

stack.  The bunny looks a little

bluer in this photo because he is

filled with Dove Chocolates - Yum.

Textured white or cream plates are my

most versatile plates and can be paired

with almost anything.

A stemmed aqua glass bowl

forms the basis of the centerpiece

and it is filled with mercury glass eggs.

A few more Dove eggs spill out

onto the table topper.

I have plain mercury glass eggs 

and diamond studded ones.  These

were new this year from 

Home Goods.

Two Easter baskets are also

featured in the center of the

table.  One is headed off to our

missionary son in Seoul, Korea

and the other is going to my wonderful

neighbors who are 90 and 95!

I asked our dear neighbor who is 95

the secret to his long life and good 

health and he told me it was

1.  Chocolate Covered Almonds

2.  Chocolate Covered Raisins

3.  M&M's

so their basket is filled with chocolate.

He is a man after my own heart!!

Mercury glass is another one of my

go-to basics!  I just love the sparkle,

shine and elegance it adds to a table.

Here is a shot from the back side of

the centerpiece.  I elevated one on a

small glass cake pedestal.

I brought out another set of

aqua goblets, different from the

ones I used last week.

They were paired with my

favorite clear bubble goblets.

I think these bunnies are sooooo sweet!

They get to stay out all month.

I am so glad you stopped by to see

my Aqua Bunnies Easter Table.

I am glad that Easter is a little

later in the month this year so 

I can play with more Easter dishes.

I will be posting this with

Tablescapes Thursday

Seasonal Sunday

Aqua bunnies dishes - Home Goods

Polka dot dishes - Tai Pan

White Textured plates - Tai Pan

Sterling silver - Kirk-Steiff

Bubble goblets - Tai Pan

Aqua goblets - Tai Pan

Napkins - Home Goods

Aqua bowl - Home Goods

Mercury glass eggs - Home Goods

Aqua plastic buckets - Target

Outdoor Chandelier Makeover

Even though our 

Bravada houseboat is only a year

old, it was time for a makeover of the

outdoor chandelier.  

(Click here for a full tour.)

At the very end of designing the houseboat

I decided I wanted a chandelier over

the second level outdoor table.  It is

covered but exposed on the sides so I

needed to find an outdoor one.

A quick Google search lead me to

a few options and I chose an all-white

chandelier with shell like ornamentation.

Although I had liked the chandelier

for the houseboat, this summer I decided

to remake the all white

chandelier and to add some color punch

to it.  

I started with a Google search for 

aqua chandelier crystals

(isn't the power of a search engine amazing?!!)

and I found a wonderful site

Cristalier

that featured crystals in all kinds of

colors and was very reasonable.

Remaking the chandelier was just like

jewelry making - I took the pieces off

and used the connectors they had on the 

original white chandelier.

This is a picture of the before.

You can see the shell like pieces

and white "crystals".  They were

connected with a coiled wire and

I didn't think that anything hung well.

As I took each piece off, I measured a new

strand of aqua beads with the old strand and 

just replicated it all with colored parts and crystals.

It also seemed to disappear into the white ceiling

and now it pops!

See the difference!  I really like the way

these bead strands hang and 

I love how the beads and crystals capture the lights.

Now it is really a focal point

and so easy to do.

You can watch a portion of the

Destination America

episode on our houseboat.

(Jim, the owner of Bravada Yachts

is featured on this video with his family.

I have to admit some of the prices may be

overinflated in the video.  You know how

these things go, but it is fun to watch.)

I will be posting this on

Metamorphosis Monday

Tutorials Tips and Tidbits

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