My "New" Kitchen

I finally have something to link to Metamorphosis Monday at Susan's Between Naps on the Porch -- my "new" kitchen.

We have lived with the original (1985) Formica counters since we moved in almost ten years ago, and in that period, the cost of granite has gone down quite a bit.  We worked with a local granite company, Goldstone, and it took us a while to find slabs we liked.  We had to take a little break for Christmas and our son's wedding, but one cold, rainy Saturday last month we drove to Austin and browsed through a giant warehouse of granite.  We wanted something (A) rather dramatic and (B) that would go well with our existing cabinets.  We took the small cabinet door over the fridge along.. Here's one of the two slabs we selected, called Vesuvio. 

Here's the "Before" of the kitchen, just before the old countertops were removed.  We had removed the drawers and emptied all the lower cabinets in preparation -- quite a job!  I should have thought to take a photo of the dining room, chock full of kitchen stuff!

My husband stayed home while the installers were there, and he took photos throughout the process.  Here's the granite arriving in our driveway.

The demolition begins!

The counters go in. .

.

Notice the seam where the two pieces meet in the photo below.

After they worked their magic -- what seam??

Here's the island, where the installers had to cut out a section for the cooktop.

The next day, the tile backsplash was installed.  They started with the area over the sink.

We decided to keep the backsplash very plain everywhere else, so as not to compete with the granite.

We had to live without a kitchen sink from Monday through Wednesday morning, because the plumber wanted to be sure the undermounted sink's seal was dry.  We were very happy to finally see this!

Here are the "After" views.

We really love the new look!  Thanks for visiting!

Snow Day!

Some of you may remember this photo of our backyard from an outdoor tablescape last June.

Well, here's the same view at 7:15 this morning.

Here's a wider view of that part of the backyard.

Now, this doesn't look like much snow to those of you who've had tons of it already this winter, but here in central Texas, this counts!  We were delighted to get the news that our university is closed today -- also very rare! 

Here are a few more pics, taken from the front dining room window.

 In this one you can see we're on a steep hill (for this area, anyway), so I expect we'll soon have neighborhood kids sliding down our front yard on sheets of cardboard.  Who needs a sled? 

 I love the graceful trees in this one.

Meanwhile, Mr. D&D was busy building a fire, baking a quiche, and opening our emergency bottle of champagne for cranberry mimosas.  I think I'll keep him. . . .

Stay warm, y'all!

Red and White for February

How can it be February already?  This time of year I like to pull out my first set of everyday dishes, Royal Doulton's Fireglow, chosen back in 1972 when we married.  We used them daily for 25 years, so they would definitely be classified as "discounted due to slight imperfections" by Replacements.com, but I still like them!

This table is set in the breakfast area, on our new round table.  Since we've never had a round table before, I haven't had any round tablecloths.  I remedied that situation a couple of weeks ago when we visited a Home Goods in Houston. This one was in the Clearance section, marked down to $7.

I've sandwiched a plain red salad plate between the Fireglow dinner plate and salad plate topped with a ramekin, and I'm using my Georgian-Ruby goblets.

The little ramekins are my favorite pieces in this pattern.

Here you can see the dinner plate alone, as well as my silver, Lunt Belvedere. The red-bordered napkins were originally $18.75 EACH, if you can imagine, but I got them for $1.99 each at the Bloomingdale's Home store in Chicago last summer.  I believe that's my best bargain ever! 

And here's a "rim shot," so you can see the flower at the base of the fork matches one of the posies in the china pattern.

A bird's eye view. . . .

For a centerpiece, I placed white tulips into several bud vases (purchased for tables at my son's rehearsal dinner in December) set atop a white serving plate.  You can also see some of my red and white pieces on the baker's rack in the background.

Thank you for visiting my table this week!  I hope you will leave a comment before you leave to visit all the wonderful tablescapes at Susan's Between Naps on the Porch!

Wedgwood Potpourri

This week's tablescape was inspired by some navy blue linen hemstitched placemats I found on final sale at Pottery Barn recently.  Navy is such a versatile color that I knew I'd find multiple uses for them.  For the placemats' dining room debut, I chose my mother-in-law's Wedgwood Potpourri, a pattern I just love.  Two years after she passed away, my father-in-law moved to an independent living apartment and gave me this beautiful set of dishes.  I've posted two other tables set with this pattern, a breakfast table and a dinner table highlighting the deep reds in the pattern. Here's the dinner plate in this pattern.

The pattern is very detailed, with fruit and flowers and birds. 

For the placesetting, I'm using the dinner plate and the cream soup and saucer, as well as blue water goblets. The flatware is my sterling with silverplate soup spoons from my in-laws' collection.

Here's another angle.

The blue goblets are a recent purchase, and they also go with my everyday dishes.

For the centerpiece, I'm using a silverplate candelabra with cream beeswax candles and silverplate mint julep cups filled with pink and white alstroemeria.

Here are a few more shots of this table.

The details:
China:  Wedgwood Queensware Potpourri
Glassware:  Villeroy & Boch My Garden in blue
Silver:  Lunt Belvedere

Silverplate:  William A Rogers Park Lane
Placemats:  Pottery Barn

Thank you for visiting my table this week!  I hope you will leave a comment before you leave to visit all the wonderful tablescapes at Susan's Between Naps on the Porch!

Sunday Lunch in January

After all the Christmas and wedding excitement was behind us, I was in the mood to set a simple, maybe even austere, table for lunch on a cold, wet Sunday.  The leaf was still in our dining room table from the holidays, so I opted to set four places, two on each long side.

I started with some spring green placemats and some plain white porcelain plates.  I first tried the matching green napkins, but decided the black and white printed ones added interest.

I pulled out some olive green stemmed glasses, added my silver, and the simple placesetting was complete.

For the centerpiece, I brought in some white tulips I'd had on the breakfast room table, then decided to add the preserved boxwood topiaries from the mantel to continue the green and white theme.

A few more photos. . . .

The Details
Green placemats:  Crate and Barrel Outlet
Black and white napkins:  Pottery Barn Outlet
White plates:  Pier 1
Olive green glasses:  The Great Indoors
Silver:  Lunt Belvedere
Preserved boxwood topiaries:  Williamsburg catalog

Thank you for visiting my table this week!  I hope you will leave a comment before you leave to visit Tablescape Thursday at Susan's Between Naps on the Porch!

A Few Wedding Photos

We don't have the official photos yet from my son's wedding, but here are a few I like!  I thought this one my daughter took of my father-in-law and my grandson sharing a laugh on the back pew before the wedding was priceless!  At ages 88 and 4, respectively, I believe they were the oldest and youngest present at the wedding festivities.

Here's a photo of the bride -- my new daughter-in-law, Amanda -- with my grandchildren who served as the flowergirl and ring bearer. 

Here's one of the bride and groom cutting the groom's cake.

The ring bearer got a little impatient, waiting for cake. Here he is, begging them to cut the cake, already!

Here he finally gets a slice!

Busy Time!

Thanks to all my faithful followers who have let me know they've missed me in Blogland!  I have been busy with family events -- Christmas, our son's wedding, our anniversary trip, and a trip to Nashville to help out after my sister's surgery.

I posted a few photos from our Christmas celebrations in a previous post, and then we immediately plunged into the final preparations for the rehearsal dinner and the wedding.  Everything went smoothly, and it was a beautiful and meaningful wedding in our church, followed by a lovely reception.  The newlyweds are back from their honeymoon and enjoying settling into their new apartment.  Here's a photo of the happy couple!

The wedding was held on our 38th wedding anniversary, the 30th, so New Year's Eve was spent taking down Christmas decorations, and on New Year's Day we flew to Las Vegas for a few days of R&R.  The day after we returned, I flew to Nashville to be with my sister and her family following her major surgery.  She is doing very well, and we enjoyed our time together.  It snowed while I was there, so that was fun to see, as we don't get much snow in central Texas!

I hope to get back to tablescaping -- and perhaps writing reviews for some of the tablescaping books I received for Christmas -- very soon!  Thanks for bearing with me during this extra-busy time for my family!