Fall Floral Roundup

While I did throw together a roadside wreath with my preschooler in an hour and a half recently (including the time spent driving down the road and cutting our supplies together), I'm wishing I could invest a little bit more time and money and make something like one of these:

(Jeanne Winters)

(creative living)

(apartment therapy)

(stockczech)

(bugs and fishes)

(Whirly Bird)

(inspiration lounge)

(Judy Yiu) 

(Martha)

(domestically speaking)

(the home executive)

(lots of ideas at Organic Bouquet) 

(this next)

Maybe someday when I have a front door of my own......

Dining Room drama

My husband is out of town picking up a family heirloom dining set for us to restore.  While I wish he was home (I'm going into labor any minute now), I'm really excited about our new furniture, and I've got dining rooms on the brain.

This is not necessarily a good thing.

But instead of actually buying anything I shouldn't - I'll just share where my brain is taking me.

The dining table is large enough to seat 8-10 with leaves in, but only has 4 chairs. The seats are currently covered in century-old black leather that's beginning to show it's age.  I'd like to stick with something easy to clean, maybe a faux ostrich leather?  Maybe in Navy?

  I found this loveseat on KSL classifieds for $75.  I can't tell if it's real leather or not, but I think it'd make a great banquette along one side of the table, and be an easy-to clean surface.  All it appears to need is a few upholstery nailheads where they've gone missing.

Add a long colorful (more coordinated than the one shown below) bolster pillow and it's just about perfect.

I have become completely smitten with this rug on ebay.  $375 is steep for me right now, but for a persian rug this size in this condition, it's a steal.  And the colors are insanely gorgeous.

 Add a Buffet/Server with a limed finish, with white and silver serving ware, plus a spattering of colorful pieces, possibly a collection of mosser cake stands: 

Either side of the buffet will have perfect little lamps trimmed in blue grosgrain instead of the olive green,  and green slag candlesticks with pink tapers: 

Wall Color - a pale blue-gray like Farrow and Ball's Borrowed Light

Art - I've got this floral painting rolled up under my bed, waiting to be stretched and framed:

Plus an image or two (or some ephemera if I can find any) reminiscent of turn-of-the-century dining halls... 

Curtains in a bold navy horizontal stripe, with red or yellow trim on the leading edge.  

(image via Jenny Komenda)

(via etsy)

And someday I need a dining room just so I can start collecting and displaying Aynsley China....

in a hutch like this:

(Jenny Komenda.... again)

And if this dining room is set for guests, I'll need a Saipua-esque centerpiece

in the midst of a toned-down Eddie Ross-esque table setting

Just brainstorming...... and swooning over the rug........

Kiki+ Coco in Paris

Seriously, this video is making me awfully sad that I've neither a daughter nor prospects for a family trip to Europe anytime soon.  Despite that sadness, it still makes me happy.

Doll made by Jess Brown

Festival of....

If you happen to be in Utah, and happen to need something to do, then I'm going to share everything I've found lately.  I'm nice that way.

Sept 2-4 Go Cart Races in Layton
Sept 3-4  Midway Swiss Days
Sept 3-6 Payson Onion Days
Sept 4 - West Point's 75th Anniversary
Sept 4-6 Camp Floyd Days
Sept 9 - Hawaiian Civic Club Party
Sept 9-11 SLC Greekfest
Sept 9 - 19 Utah State Fair
Sept 10-11 Brigham City Peach Days
Sept 11 - Avenues Street Fair
Sept 15 - College Night @ Springville Museum of Art
Sept 18 - India Fest 
Sept 18 - Sandy City Heritage Festival
Sept 18-19 Utah Valley Wood Sculpture Show
Sept 25-26 Crossroads of the West Gun Show

October 10-11 Oktoberfest @ Snowbird
October 23-24 - Kirkin'O'the Tartan - Scottish ceremony 
October 29-30 - Annual Bison Roundup - Antelope Island

December 1-4 Festival of Trees
December 2&7 - Governor's Mansion Tours
December 3-4 Rocky Mountain Christmas Fest


+ the 3rd Friday of each month is the Salt Lake Gallery Stroll
Red Butte Gardens Calendar
Thanksgiving Point Calendar
Hogle Zoo Calendar
Discovery Gateway Calendar
Treehouse Museum Calendar
Clark Planetarium Calendar
Capitol Theatre
Utah Symphony
Pioneer Theatre Company
BYU International Cinema
KSL's Hike of the Week
Draper Mountain Park and Amphitheater
Desert Star Theatre
Pleasant Grove Promenade
Utah Farmers Markets

So, you tell me.  What have I missed?

Thinking Halloween thoughts.... already

I'm really turned off by 80% of all things Halloween.
 However, I do think it'd be cool to decorate a la Miss Havisham and go victorian with the whole thing.

In fact, what I'd really love to do is set a Halloween dinner table with tarnished silver, black amethyst glass, black lace and dark carnival glass......... (maybe a few fake cobwebs?)

(I should mention that my husband neither understands nor supports my pressed glass obsession)

As hostess, I'd have to find something stiff, lacey, and very dark to wear:

Set the table with something that feels awfully old:

Places set with some tarnished silver platters:

tarnished silverware:

Topped with Black Amethyst plates:

and goblets:

Lots of tarnished silver and black candlesticks:

filled with black candles:

And dark vases filled with wilted or dried white roses.

A few pressed glass hands, just for creepiness (draped with pearls?):

Also for creepiness, either taxidermy, silhouettes, or raven prints:

And lots of ornate serving dishes:

All done by candlelight. 

(You'd probably need a few more touches of white on the table in candlelight, for contrast)

Serve either an uber-formal english dinner, or just something seasonal and yum.

Spend the evening listening to some phillip glass, or something equally disconcerting.

End the evening with some ravenous chocolate or red velvet cake atop this beauty:

(No really, someday I shall own a black amethyst hobnail cake stand..... despite the fact they are so rare I can't even locate a decent photo of one)

 It's a Halloween party I could really get excited about.  And that's saying something.

(And I shall probably not think about Halloween again until I am frantically digging costumes out of our storage unit on the 30th.)