Auf Wiedersehen! I’m off with my family to a driving tour of the German and Austrian Alps!
All I can think of is this…
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| The Hills are Alive! |
Check out some of the sights!
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| I hope to see some Alpine cows! they must be wearing bells! |
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| Isn’t this pretty? |
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| We’re staying here! |
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| Yes, we’re going to Schloss Neuschwanstein! |
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| Beautiful lake in Austria! |
I LOVE bed canopies and cornices. I have been looking at inspiration recently to make my own bed cornice. Here’s the deal, my guest bedroom is really boring. I need SOMETHING to make it look better.
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| This looks nice! But not mine! |
Now, here’s a picture of reality:
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| my BORING guest bedroom. No, there’s no bedframe. I can’t afford one right now! So, what else to do?! |
I was thinking, since I can’t afford a bed frame and I *love* cornices, a cheaper alternative would be to make my own!
Here are the different type of bed canopies and cornices.
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| Different type of bed cornice/canopy options. |
Let’s look at some inspiration!
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| Don’t you love this! Love the bed cornice! Also love the bed and the bedding. And the room. |
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| Love this one as well. |
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| While this one is decorated for Christmas, it seems very simple to be able to DIY. |
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| What I love about this one is the sides of the cornice fabric are toile and the backdrop is a check. I would want to do the same thing. Or do one in all white. |
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| Ok I’m noticing a pattern. I’m a sucker for blue and white bedrooms, French furniture, and toile! |
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| This one seems really easy to DIY. |
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| I love this! What a great day bed! |
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| These cornices are something that I could probably easy copy with a DIY cornice idea I found on pinterest! |
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| This was a DIY using curved curtain rods. The sheets of sheer fabric are attached to the curtain rod with ribbon. found on Pinterest. |
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| A DIY cornice for a crib from My Love of Style |
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| This was a DIY cornice. Tutorial here |
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| This is an inverted wall shelf with fabric stapled to it. |
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| a DIY cornice tutorial found here |
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| OR you can buy a cornice. This one is $164 from the Bella Cottage. The Bella Cottage has a lot of cute shabby chic/French furniture too. You should check it out. |
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| Sorry for the poor quality. I like this bed crown, it’s only $86, and it is in two of the above pictures I found up above! It is here. They also sell a few other bed crowns that I like! |
Why do I like bed cornices? Because they make you feel like a King/Queen! If you’re going to be King/Queen of your own Castle, you need to have a bed to prove it!
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| Marie Antoinette’s bed in Versailles |
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| Marie Antoinette’s bed at the Petit Trianon. How CUTE is her room?! Home girl knows how to spend money. |
Whew! That was quite a lot of bed cornices to look at! Which one is your favorite?
Follow Peonies & Orange Blossoms’s board Bedroom on Pinterest.
I’ve linked up with The Scoop! Visit Confessions of a Plate Addict blog, Tablescape Thursday at ‘Between Naps on the Porch’, Wow us Wednesdays! at Savvy Southern Style, Open House Party at no minimalist here, Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage, and life of the party at the grant life!
The front has a little bit of everything, style wise. It looks more like a small city than a house. I had to stand in the walkway and stare to take it all in. I liked all the covered porches. It rains ALOT in Portland, so covered porches are nice.
The floor plan is shown here.
Here you can see a closeup of the sideboard. I like the tufting on the chairs, but then again, I’ve always liked tufting! The tablescape was fun too:
Below, the photograph shows the coffered ceiling, and the pass through cabinets to the kitchen. The little details like the arch make such a difference.
You are looking out onto one of the porches–notice the fireplace echoes the shape of the one in the living room. I like the seating built in–perfect for parties. In the picture above, you get a glimpse of the outdoor chandelier. It looks rusty, which is good in the NW, with 300 days of rain per year.
There’s definitely a trend with the open space under the cabinets. I’d probably put towels stacked, rolled or in baskets.
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| The designer’s dog Stella, checking out the new digs. Isn’t she darling. From Chancellor Designs facebook. |
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Well, the kids are back in school, the days are not as hot, and the stores are decorating for Halloween. Yes, the official start of Fall is just around the corner… and this is what I’m wanting in my shopping bag:
(assuming no budgets, of course!)
Kate Spade “Audrina” Flat here… $238
This beautiful scarf by Ted Baker… it’s listed in Pounds, uhhh. can’t do the math… so it’s free?
This comfy pullover, perfect for cuddling up on the couch… $49
If I lived somewhere cold… this Barbour polarquilt jacket looks very warm! $239
Chuck Taylor tennies by Converse. A classic. Always on my Fall shopping list. Maybe I’ll get them in a color other than black… Buy them here. . $50.
A pair of tall leather boots… I really like these, they are the tall ‘Melissa’ boots by Frye. $350. I already own a pair of tall leather boots… but if those ever… fall apart? (they won’t)… get lost? (lost on purpose maybe)… then I’d get these!
How about a new watch band? I love this purple glitter Michele watch band! Although I think the glitter would scratch my skin!
What do you want for Fall? I wear scrubs every day; that’s why almost everything on my list is shoes and accessories.
Well, it’s not quite officially Fall yet, but doesn’t really feel so much like Summer anymore either. This tablescape I put together features pumpkins (fall!) and peaches (late summer!). This was set for dinner outside on the patio. The weather was perfect… 83 degrees with a slight breeze!
Taking pictures while dinner is cooking on the grill…
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| Quimper placemats and napkins with Williams Sonoma plates. |
A centerpiece straight from the garden
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| Pumpkin harvested early from the garden as the vine had died a little too early. Peaches from the peach tree…. later eaten with home made honey ice cream for dessert! |
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| A spy! |
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| Another look |
Our dinner… homemade from scratch potato pizza (most ingredients including the potatoes from our garden) made on the grill, along with fresh from the garden cantaloupe salad! Potato pizza is my favorite dish… I’ll share the recipe another day!
I liked this centerpiece because it was quick, cheap, and easy! Just went picking in the garden for dinner AND for decoration!
One last look! Thanks for stopping by!
I’ve linked up with The Scoop! Visit Confessions of a Plate Addict blog, Tablescape Thursday at ‘Between Naps on the Porch’, Wow us Wednesdays! at Savvy Southern Style, Open House Party at no minimalist here, Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage, and life of the party at the grant life!
What is a macaron? It is a meringue cookie made with egg white, sugar, and almond powder. The filling is then made with jam, ganache, or buttercream. It is a French cookie that developed in the 1700s. And boy, is it good! This cookie is not to be confused with the macaroon, the coconut based cookie. Since we’re learning about macarons and macaroons, let’s learn how to say them correctly too:
So, let’s let our eyes have a feast!
I’ve linked up with The Scoop! Visit Confessions of a Plate Addict blog, Tablescape Thursday at ‘Between Naps on the Porch’, Wow us Wednesdays! at Savvy Southern Style, Open House Party at no minimalist here, Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage, and life of the party at the grant life!
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| Aren’t they pretty? |
There are two big French macaron houses: Laduree and Pierre Herme!
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| These are the regular flavors at Laduree! |
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| Of course, such a precious cookie needs a pretty box to go into! |
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| Aren’t these boxes pretty?! So that way when you’re sad you ate all of your cookies in 1 day, you still have a pretty box leftover to remind you of them. |
Now onto Pierre Herme… known for their cat boxes!
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| Le Chat |
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| CHacolAT |
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| YUM! |
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| The flavors from Pierre Herme! |
What one do you want to eat??
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| A raspberry one, from Pierre Herme? |
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| What about a pistachio one? |
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| Or a white chocolate orange blossom? |
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| …and a raspberry, and a blackberry, and chocolate, and lemon, and and and! |
Here I am in front of the Laduree store at Harrods in England. Even the store is cute like the cookie!
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| I feel like Marie Antoinette when I eat macarons! You can see above! |
I love them so much, I even had them at my wedding!
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| Can you believe these were at my wedding! The corset in my dress was so restricting, I was only able to enjoy one macaron (a pistachio one!). My 15 year old male cousin however, informed me that he ate 10 of them and did not feel sick at all! For future reference, if you think you’ll feel sick after 3, apparently you can still feel good after eating 10… |
Have you ever had a macaron? On another day I’ll post about how I have attempted at making my own, but this way is much more fun!
I’ve linked up with The Scoop! Visit Confessions of a Plate Addict blog
I’ve also linked up with Wow us Wednesdays! at Savvy Southern Style, Open House Party at no minimalist here, and Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage!
I’m getting ready to fly off to Germany soon and it has me thinking… am I going to ever find that tea cup with the swan handle again? Back in 1999 when I visiting Germany for the first time, I remember seeing a beautiful porcelain tea cup that had a swan head/neck shaped as the handle. I had never seen anything like that before. I swore to myself I would some day purchase said tea cup… except now I can’t remember who makes it!
I can’t remember exactly where I saw it either… there’s only two places. One is either in the fancy porcelain display case at the Neuschwanstein Castle or at a fancy porcelain shop we went to in Munich. At the castle, it would have been a copy of the swan service that King Ludwig II would have used.
There are several German porcelain manufacturers that could have made it:
I know it was not made by Villeroy and Boch or R.S. Prussia. I thought perhaps by Nymphemburg since the palace is associated with swans… but I can’t find a single cup with a swan handle by them.
Here’s what I have found through my search on the internet:
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| Dresden swan |
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| Meissen Swan cup from 1820. |
I don’t think the cup was all gold. I think it kind of looked like the ones below, but I thought there was more blue.
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| From Meissen’s “Swan Service”, pattern from 1737. |
Maybe it was like this one: But, the bottom is purple. I thought it was blue. Plus, I don’t think it is manufactured any more and I think the ones I saw were repro of old patterns.
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Dresden demitasse tea cup from 1895-1918 on a Rosenthal blank with an eagle handle
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I never was on the lookout for them, but antique easels can solve decorating problems. Last week I found a large Victorian brass aesthetic movement easel. It is adjustable, so you can mess with how high you want to display the painting, or in my case, a needlework.
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| Victorian Floor Easel for Display |
The great part about a large easel like this is that you can use the easel in areas where you want some height, but can’t. In my case, I hate the half walls that are around the living room. This gives me the opportunity to display something, the back is pretty as you walk down the hallway.
The one below is a ball and stick Victorian easel.
The one below is almost over the top, but I thought it could be interesting with the rack below.
I liked using antique easels at my daughter’s wedding, and am now recycling them. I have made some great signs using Adobe Illustrator, and printing out poster size at Walmart. They worked really well.
I was at Nordstrom’s last week and ran into a whole display of… Doc Martens boots. Huh?! I thought those went away with the 1990s! Well, they’re back.
Now I am a child of the 90s. I also grew up in the Northwest. Dr. Martens were a staple to have in your wardrobe. It was coincidental that Doc Martens were highly popular during the rise of the Grunge movement out of the Northwest. I assure you as a grade-schooler I did not know about Nirvana and Green Day. They are also very practical shoes to wear in a place where it rains all of the time. No wet socks for me!
Dr. Martens is a British brand, founded by Klaus Martens. He was a German Army doctor who injured his ankle while skiing in the Alps. The regular German army boot hurt his foot, so he designed a new boot with soft soles made from discarded rubber from the Luftwaffe (German air force). The German housewives loved how soft and comfortable his shoes were, and 80% of his boot sales were to women. His company was bought out by a British shoe Manufacturer in 1959. The rest is history.
Let’s take a look at a selection of their shoes:
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| “Brielle” Boot, this is a new look to me. I think this boot would be rather nice to have if you lived somewhere that had a lot of snow. |
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| ‘Mary Jane’. A classic. I had a pair of these once. They were nice. |
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| classic oxfords. I had a pair of these at some point as well. |
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| An original, the ‘Pascal’ boot. I always thought this looked like an army boot… didn’t know it was designed as an actual Army boot until today. Go figure! |
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| ‘8053’. This was the last part of Dr. Marten’s that I owned. When I went off to college and was walking a few miles a day, the weight of the shoe really started to hurt my bad knee. And that was the end of Dr. Marten’s for me. |
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| ‘Hackney’ Boot. I tried these on at Nordstrom. The smaller sole on them is really nice; it makes for a light weight boot. If I were to purchase another pair of Dr. Marten’s, it would be one like this with the thinner sole. I can’t wear heavy shoes anymore! |
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| They don’t make these anymore. This is what I would wear in the Summers. With socks, of course! |
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| Jessica Alba wearing the Dr. Marten’s boots |
While they may be in again, I don’t think I’ll be joining this trend. While the shoes are comfortable, they weigh too much and make my knees hurt. Sucks getting old.
Here are some of my favorites:
I love Mackenzie-Childs. But my budget does not. So, I came up with an idea to get the look for less. I have been wanting these napkin rings below for a while:
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| Mackenzie-Childs Courtly Check Napkin Ring |
But at $16 each they are a little out of my price range right now. So I came up with the idea of making my own.
Materials
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| 1″ Courtly Check ribbon |
STEP 1:
Wrap the ribbon around another napking ring for proper sizing.
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| step 1. |
STEP 2: Give yourself extra overlap so the ribbon will not unravel. Then bend back the ribbon ends so a nice seam is left.
STEP 3:
Sew the overlapping edges over each other with a simple running stitch by hand. Then VOILA! done!
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| Finished product next to the old napkin ring for size. Notice how the ribbon edge on the inside of the napkin ring is folded over so the ribbon will not unravel. |
Coincidentally, the Courtly Check napkin rings match my old Mary Engelbreit pin cushion!
The finished product! Not too shabby!
While the normal napkin rings would be nicer, the project cost was $28 (I made only eight of the napkin rings, but you could make a whole bunch more) vs at least $128 for eight real napkin rings. I get the look, for 80% off the price, which is what I wanted. Plus I have at least 9 yards of Mackenzie Childs ribbon to play with! Now what to do with the extra ribbon… I’m sure I’ll think of something!
I’ve linked up with The Scoop! Visit Confessions of a Plate Addict blog, it’s a good one!
I’ve also linked up with Wow us Wednesdays! at Savvy Southern Style, Open House Party at no minimalist here, and Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage!
I have on my hanging on my wall a series of 16 reproduction prints of antique German landscapes. Below I have them arranged around my tv. In my previous apartment I had a nice big wall where I had them lined up 4 by 4. It looked fantastic. (And of course I can’t find a picture).
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| My repro German prints from the 17th century! |
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| A close up. |
Anyone who comes over always comments on them. They are from Williams-Sonoma Home, from the physical store itself when they were still around. I found them on the clearance table. The prints were stacked up in a little box for less than $100. The frames were purchased on amazon. For the amount of impact I get from them, it was really a good “bang for your buck” deal.
Now for some information about them:
They are from a work entitled Der Fruchtbringenden Gesellschaft Nahmen, Vorhaben Gemaehide und Woerter. It was originally published in Frankfurt, Germany in 1646 as a manual produced from an old German society, Die Fruchtbringende Gesellschaft, that sought to improve human virtues and to purify and improve the German language. Each print contains a flower with a background of a German town, garden, or countryside. They were
Below are some pictures of the original plates, in closer detail. I figured I would show close ups of these prints instead of mine exactly… trying to take a close up picture a picture can prove difficult.
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| Entitled “Red Flower”. I have a copy of this print hanging. |
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| This one is called “Tree” |
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| This is the “walnut tree”. I wish I had this one! |
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| This one the “potato”! I wish I had a copy of this one too, as I am a potato lover! |
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| I have a copy of this one hanging, “blue flower”. |
Have you ever seen anything like these? I’ve yet to run across them anywhere. It actually took me a year to figure out what they were exactly. I found the information on them here
I’ve linked up with The Scoop! Visit Confessions of a Plate Addict blog, it’s a good one!
I’ve also linked up with Wow us Wednesdays! at Savvy Southern Style, Open House Party at no minimalist here, and Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage!
Never would I have thought I would have heard the word Birkenstocks and Vogue used in the same sentence! They featured a piece on their blog not too long about, talking about how Birkenstocks are in fashion. Huh?
Now, I grew up in the Pacific Northwest. This is a staple shoe in the Pacific Northwest. But… this is how us Oregonians/Washingtonians wear this shoe:
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| Sock with sandals shoe offender! Must live in Oregon… |
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| Trying to style socks with sandals… still doesn’t work! |
But… socks with sandals? That’s a huge fashion faux pas! Well, I’ll tell you why. It’s COLD. That’s why. When you live in a place that’s cloudy 300 days a year, socks are a must. Even with sandals.
Well Vogue says they’re cool. So we can all go buy this hippie dippy German shoe. Look! A supermodel is wearing them all over L.A. in July of this year! So they must be cool, right? Yes, Heidi Klum is extremely fashionable. But she’s German! Of course she will wear the German sandal. She probably has wide German feet.. like me! like my whole family!
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| She’s super fashionable, wearing Birkenstocks in LA! |
Did you know Heidi Klum also designs for Birkenstock? Does that also change your opinion of how trendy they are?
I will say though, they *are* comfortable. I may be guilty of owning a pair and wearing them with socks… in the 1990s.
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| The classic Arizona sandal |
Nah. still think they aren’t very cute. But, they ARE comfortable. If I had to go on a trek in sandals, I would buy a pair of them.
Actually though, I do work in a hospital… these ‘Boston’ clogs look pretty comfortable. I actually might consider a pair… my Dansko’s have been causing my old knee injury to hurt recently because of their weight.
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| Boston clogs |
Next time I go to Nordstrom’s… maybe I’ll try a pair on. After all, they’re trendy now. Says who? Says Vogue.
Here are some of my favorites…
EDIT 5/19/15- While I wrote this post 2 years ago, the Wall Street Journal is just *now* posting about how trending this shoe is. Check out the article here: Trendy Birkenstocks
I love scones. I have tried to make them from scratch before. I found a mix at Trader Joe’s, a mixed berry scone mix that was incredibly easy to make…. just add water!
Heat the oven to 375F, bake for 13-17 minutes, and voila! Fresh scones!
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| Fresh mixed berry scones! |
I liked them because I find that a lot of mixes require a lot of oil, butter, eggs. fat. fat. fat. These ones are much lower in fat! And tasty too!
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| No, this Juliska china doesn’t match the place mats. My 7am brain didn’t care. |
Would I buy this again? Yes. Quick. Cheap. Easy. Low-fat.
Only sold at Trader Joe’s!
I’ve linked up for Wow-Us Wednesdays! Click here to see a wonderful collection of other posts!!
I wanted to share with you my new shoes for the Fall! They are right on trend with Fall 2013 flats, smoking slippers, and animal prints!
They are shiny because they are actually calf-hair
They are by VC signature purchased from Nordstrom’s . I *almost* purchased these instead of the leopard print:
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| These are by Cole Haan, can be purchased here |
I will say, I LOVE Nordstrom’s shoe department. They usually have really good service. They are also really good with returns. One time my mom even wore a pair of tennis shoes all day at Disneyland, they hurt her feet, took them to the Nordstrom’s right near Disneyland, they took them back with no questions or dirty looks!
I can’t wait to wear these!
What shoes have you purchased for the fall?
Let’s talk about a wonderful fabric and furniture company called Chelsea Textiles. I was first introduced to them when I was in the Seattle Design Center in the early 2000s when I stumbled into a beautiful wall of fabrics. Love at first sight!
Chelsea textiles produces hand embroidered fabrics. They reproduce designs from the 17th and 18th century in addition to more modern patterns. Let’s enjoy:
Tree of Life collection in faded moss, above. Don’t you like the deer in it? Chelsea Textiles is also known for the check printed fabric, as above on the bench.
The tree of life with birds, above. I love all of the colors!
Exotic tree collection, above. I love the one with the elephant!
These dog needlepoint pillows crack me up.
A close look at the tree of life pattern, upper left and right. A vine pattern bottom left, and an insect pattern bottom right.
And now for some inspiration at home:
All of the pictures above were taken from Chelsea Textiles website.
I would LOVE to have some curtains from their fabric. Someday I also hope to cover some chairs in their beautiful check fabric, like this:
When we were in London last year, we ventured over to the Chelsea Textiles showroom. It is a short walk from the Harrods in Knightsbridge. You walk through a beautiful neighborhood that looks like this:
As a souvenir, I hauled this pillow all the way back home, stuffed into my carry-on. Isn’t it lovely? I think most people in their twenties wouldn’t be hauling back fancy pillows from London.
But this… this is a lifetime pillow. 
Look at the detail on the squirrel! (pictures above are my own)
As you can imagine, hand-embroidered delicate fabric by Chelsea Textiles costs an arm and a leg. For the tree of life curtains: your first born!!
Several years ago I purchased the below bedding set from Pottery Barn. Doesn’t it remind of you of some of the patterns of Chelsea Textiles?
It appears to be hand woven, but I don’t think it is.
The bedding pattern was called “Alissa”. You can still find it on eBay. I did not take a picture of my own bed because right now I have the summer bedding on… no comforters when it is 100 degrees outside!
Wasn’t that fun? Did you choose which cushion you would like? If you ever visit New York or London, visit their showroom! Or you can continue to drool online.
I may earn a small commission if you purchase with these links
