Harrington House

Hangin' Out to Dry

So, I took my pretty hydrangeas out of their vase last night and started drying them.  Even though I have read about the "right time to harvest blooms for drying" and have talked to other people who have had trouble drying hydrangeas, I have been fortunate in never having had problems.  Therefore, I guess I really don't have any good advice to give!  :o)  I just cut them and hang them on hangers, using the most handy rubberbands at my house...a hair band.  hehe...  I'm sure there is probably a much finer way to dry flowers, but this has always worked for me!

And I get to use my wooden hotel hangers that I keep in the guest bedroom closet.  Aren't they great?  I love hunting for them.  (There are a couple from fur shops and laundry shops.)

All held together by my trusty hairbands!

These are my limelights, and they are a light lime green now, but the blooms still on the bush turn red in the fall.  So once the ones outside start to turn, I'm going to dry them to preserve red-colored blooms.  This will be my first year to try that.

On a hanger tangent...this is my newest one.  I found it last week, and I, of course, love it since it's from Nashville.  (I grew up around Nashville.)

   

Limelight Love...and A New Table

One of the best performers I have ever had in my yard has been my Limelight hydrangeas.  They are in their second year here.  I bought them at a local nursery, and they were pretty small.  Last year, their first year, they grew considerably and even bloomed!  I was so surprised because I have had the worst luck with hydrangeas!  And they are one of my favorite plants.  I can't wait to see what they do next year if we actually have some rain!  I am wanting to dry some of the blooms for bouquets and wreaths, so I went and cut some this morning.

Before I hang them to dry, I thought I could enjoy them for a little in a vase by my bed.  On my new bedside table... ;o)

I really wanted a BIG bedside table that could hold a stack of books, a lamp, and one gigantic bouquet of flowers.  :o)  I love everything about this table...

...the paint...

...the legs...

...the size...

...and that I got it on clearance at one my favorite antique shoppes in town! 

By the Sea, By the Sea

At the moment, I am holding onto the last shreds of summer.  I am fighting off the urges to put out my fall things.  Every year, I make myself wait till September 1st, and enjoy the month of August as a summer month.  It's not that hard, though, because to me, the months of July and August are beach months.  It's probably just because we always go to the beach during those months.  One of my favorite things to do is walk the beach and collect shells.  I could do it for hours and hours, even by myself.  I walk and think and pray.  I feel the greatest sense of calmness and peace when I am standing on the shoreline, talking to my God.  I always come home with buckets of shells.  So, right now, my shells are enjoying the spotlight in my home, in baskets and silver trays and just about anything that will hold them.   

Sea Joy

When I go down by the sandy shore,
I can think of nothing I want more
Than to live by the booming blue sea
As the seagulls flutter round about me.

I can run around when the tide is out
With the wind and the sand and the sea all about,
And the seagulls are swirling and diving for fish.
Oh, to live by the sea is my only wish.

                             - Jacqueline Bouvier

Doormat

Several of y'all had asked about the entrance mat by our front door.  It's no secret that anything with a monogram is welcome in my home!  :o)  Apparently, my sister-in-law Lisa knows this, because she gave it to us when we got married.  It came from Pottery Barn.  It has held up really well and still looks great.  I love it!

And did y'all notice anything else?  Little Miss Amelia's shoes... hehehe

They didn't come in my size.  I checked.

"Love in Any Language..."

...fluently spoken here." 

That song reminds me of one of my favorite things in my home.  It's an old embroidery of a beautiful Bible scripture.

"Nun aber bleibet Glaube, Hoffnung, Liebe, diese drei; aber die Liebe ist die größte unter ihnen."

"And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three;  but the greatest of these is love."  - I Corinthians 13:13

Now, I have never known a single word of the German language.  However, when I saw this in an antique store, I immediately knew what it said.  That means to me that love in any language is always the same!  And that God's Word in all the world never changes!  I love y'all!  Have a wonderful day!    

Bedside Bouquet

The other day, I decked out the bedside table with some white roses from my two Sombreuil bushes.  The Sombreuil roses I have are tea climbers with the most beautiful white blooms with tons and tons of petals, and they smell fabulous!  Thankfully, there are blooms throughout the summer, and it is very easy to grow.  I use organic methods of pest control on my flowers (or nothing at all!), and these have done just fine!  The blooms look incredible as a bouquet or all alone...like this one sitting in a tiny glass salt shaker in the master bath...

Right now, these two bushes are in the front flower bed, but this fall I am going to move them so that they will be growing on a fence and arbor on the side yard.  I can't wait to see them in all their climbing glory next spring!

Happy Daisies

These are some of the Becky daisies that are growing right off the front porch.  Don't daisies just look so happy?  I love my Becky daisies...they are so tall, and blooms are always in abundance throughout the summer into the fall.  Even though they aren't fragrant, they still look pretty to me.

I found this glass bowl and frog at an antique store in Kentucky.  I have seen a blue million of these floral frogs but have never seen one of these little bowls with them.  Have y'all?

 

Into the yellow guest bathroom they have gone...

Happy weekend, y'all!!

Silverware Affair

One of my favorite things to collect is old silver.  I love it.  LOVE it!  Especially antique silverware.  I love the look of it and the weight of it in my hand.  Here is the silverware that we use here at home...

I keep them out like this instead of in drawers simply because I enjoy looking at them...plus it's super-handy when I need to eat a piece of cake right then and don't have the energy to open a drawer.  :o)

I'm always excited when I find pieces that are monogrammed or engraved with names, dates, and hotels.  Typically, I pay very little for these pieces since I buy them a piece at a time.  Very few of my pieces match each other, and that's just the way I want it.  It's more interesting, I think. 

This is a basket of pieces waiting to be polished.  When I polish them, I always leave a little bit of tarnish in the creases and engravings so they stand out more.  Now, y'all know I wouldn't want anything to look too new! 

This "Hotel De Soto" ladle and the "Mary" spoon are in the to-be-polished basket, but I thought they were pretty to show.

One of my all-time very favorite pieces...my "Rhoda" napkin ring.  These napkin rings made of real silver are so hard to find (or at least for me they have been), so I am always keeping an eye out for them.

If you want to use silver for everyday use...go ahead!  You don't have to polish it near as often because the frequent use keeps the tarnish away.  I never put my pieces in the dishwasher, though.  I just wash them by hand in the sink with a non-citrus dish soap, and then I dry them off before putting them away.

If y'all want to see more people sharing their favorite antique collections, you can visit antiquetherapy.com .   

Yellah

That's how we say "yellow."  It's one of my favorite colors, because it looks so happy and cheerful!  Here are some pictures of it in my home for Angela's latest color challenge.

This is a basket I got the other day.  I may leave it on the porch and put some potted plants in it.

I love these little vintage batiste dresses.  They are so delicate and sweet!

Oh, Ping!  Do y'all know this story?  Mama always used to tell it to me and my sister, Kelly, when we were at the doctor's office.  So now, when I am sitting in the waiting room with Amelia at the pediatrician's office, what do I whisper in her ear as she plays on my lap?  Yup, Ping.  (Oh, and look at that cute pair of vintage glasses for a child...I couldn't resist bringing them home with me!) 

More gold than yellow, I realize, but I still wanted to include my collection of Little Golden Books.  I love them!

While we are talking about books...

Here's another picture of Amelia's bath basket.

How sweet is this vintage card for a new baby?  I have a small collection of them propped in an old glass toast caddy on a table in Amelia's nursery.

This is a doll my Aunt Kathy made for me when I was little.  Isn't she pretty and unique, with her "K" eyes and floweredy cheeks?

Here is the yellow guest bath upstairs.  (more pictures here)

I love this old set of linen handtowels Momma sent me as an early birthday present.  They are the perfect color for the guest bath.  I am always on the hunt for Mr. & Mrs. linens.  Thanks, Momma!

This is some fabric I am going to use for the shower curtain for the guest bath.  I will be finishing it up the week after next.

A good rule to live by...

OH!  And our house, of course!

A Few New Finds

These are some of my most recent finds.  Some I collected on our trip to North Carolina, and some are from local shops. 

The little green fern on the left is one I rescued from a clearance bin.  Why do I feel compelled to bring them home?  Wouldn't it be better if I just paid a couple extra bucks more for the nice, healthy ones, instead of the pitiful, sickly ones?  Maybe it has something to do with me being a nurse.  (?)  Anyway, he's mine now.

After a couple years of looking, I finally found a base to an old oil lamp.  This one is really heavy.  I intended to make an electrical lamp out of it.  But now that it is here, I kinda think it might make a neat vase.  We'll see...

Would you just look at that mountain of enamelware.  Woohoo!  I collect black and white enamelware.  A couple of these pieces are actually blue and white, but the prices were too good to pass.  I have more enamel around the house.  Once I get these into place, I will take more pictures of them and the others.

On top of the enamel mountain is a little wicker lampshade.  It is going on a lamp for the front porch.  It may need repainted first.

In the middle of table is my new apron.  It is turqoise blue with black rings and red flowers, and it's a big one (not one of those wee little tee-tiny ones).  It is beautiful.  I love it.  I told myself "no more aprons."  I sure am glad I don't always listen to myself.

Also in the middle is a tall glass milk bottle.  It has one of those white glass cap lids that buckles on with the metal thingies (like some old jars have).  It has blue lettering that reads:  Le Bon Lait.  I think that translates into:  The Good Milk.  But that is me going on some back-in-the-day high school French classes, so if anyone out there knows what this really says, please let me know.  There is also some other French writing on it that I won't attempt to translate.  :o)

The two white things:  one is an old pillowcase with some lace trim, and the other is an old hand towel with a three-inch lace insert AND a three-letter monogram.  (!!)  The monogram?  It's "FCM."  Not my personal monogram, but very few monogrammed linens in my home are.  I love it!

On top of the hand towel is a lidded silver serving dish.  It is heavy and has beautiful handles and scrolling on top.  I polished some of it yesterday, and it's so pretty.  I paid $4.95 for it.  How can you pass that up, I want to know?

Now, last, but CERTAINLY not least, is my basket.  Not just another basket.  This one is a market basket from England...or so the tag said.  And I choose to believe that.

Some of my other recent finds are...

...another silver serving dish.  This one I hung in the dining room.  It has some etching along the edge so I left some tarnish on it.  I like my silver with a little tarnish.  It also has a monogram on it...a "W."  But I hung it upside down so that it looks like an "M" for Mike.  I don't think he believed me when I told him I bought this for him, though.

...some new shades for the dining room chandelier (sorry for the crummy picture)...

...some dishes and a platter hanging in the master bedroom.  I found them all on three different trips (different shops even!).  The dishes all match, but the platter is a different pattern, but matching in color...

...a pretty framed print for the master bedroom (another crummy picture, sorry!).

  More later!  Off to start dinner...