Even though we may still have a larger group for a Valentine’s Day dinner, we are ready to remain flexible this year. So, I wanted to create a pretty, festive Valentine dinner table for two. And today, I am part of a Valentine DIY Blog Hop so please read to the bottom to see other Valentine inspired posts.

The Tablecloth

The tablecloth generally sets the mood and this year, I am looking for something a bit different. Fortunately, I own a few lovely 1950s vintage tablecloths with brightly colored roses. It is hard to believe that the color is still so vibrant after nearly 70 years. For this tablecloth and more, check out my Store.

The Setting

Changing up the dinner table location always add a sense of adventure to the meal. Here I chose the corner of the living room where a game table is always set for play. The square table is perfect for the 51″ square tablecloth.

The Place Setting

Since there is a touch of gray in the pattern, the melanin silver chargers are the perfect choice. As you may recall, I did use them at Christmas time and many of you are surprised that these are not real silver. I found this set of 6 chargers on Amazon and they are very affordable. To see the Christmas tablescape, click here.

The Emma stoneware is a standard item at Pottery Barn and can be found here. Since I do not own plain white dishes with a silver rim, the bead along the edge pairs nicely with the vintage embroidered napkin.

Silverware is Oneida Ballad Country Lane and the rose design seems appropriate!

The Bling

The unique heart shaped silver/glass ornaments are a purchase from my trip to Paris in 2010. My friend, Susan and I came upon a Christmas shop and I fell in love with nearly every ornament. Thankfully I had room in my suitcase to bring a few of them home.

The water glass is from Waterford and I just finally replaced the few broken ones from my collection. It literally took years to find them, but persistence and Replacements, LTD saved the day.

My sweet friend, Louise is the reason I own these incredible wine glasses. Found on eBay, these Rogaska Gallia crystal glasses stand 9 1/4″ tall, and feel so good in your hand. Every time I use them, I feel joy. To see these glasses in another table setting, click here.

The Ambiance

What is a romantic table without candles? These candlesticks are my husband’s favorite as he purchased them directly after we toured the Waterford glass factory in Ireland. All the glassware sparkles in the candlelight.

Generally, I love loading a table up with fresh cut flowers. But this time, a simple small bouquet of roses graces the center of the table.

The barley twist chairs are an old antique store find and are part of a set of four. I love the contrast of the dark wood (which is now in style!) with the crisp white/red/green tablecloth on this Valentine dinner table for two.

The menu is still coming together in my head, but since this is the time of year for acquiring fresh citrus (and our orchard is abundant with fruit), I may make lemon pots de creme for dessert. These are so simple to make, delicious, and just the right size after a good meal. Ingredients are easily obtainable too! To get the recipe, click here.

I hope you enjoy my Valentine Dinner table for two. To see last year’s pink Valentine table for two, click here.

So what are your plans for Valentine’s Day?

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This post shared with Between Naps on the Porch Tablescape Thursday #644 and Sundays on Silverado #26

DIY Valentine Blog Tour

And now onto the Valentine blog hop. Niky from The House on Silverado creates a Farmhouse Valentine Vignette here.

Kirsten from Tribe of Burton has a Boho Valentine decor on her mantel. You can see it here.

Kippi from Kippi at Home makes this sweet Valentine pom pom wreath.

Chas from Chas Crazy Creations makes miraculous things from the Dollar Store. See her Heart Wall Art here.

Sam from Raggedy Bits makes these Stamped Farmhouse Wooden Valentine Block signs here. So cute!

Maria from Simple Nature Decor makes this sweet Valentine tree ~ you can see the tutorial here.

Olivia from OliviaHern.com makes these adorable yarn wrapped hearts.

Leanna from Pretty DIY Home shows how to make this Heart Warming Valentine Craft Heating Pad.

Rebecca from Zucchini Sisters shares a Dollar Tree Valentine’s DIY Puzzle Piece Heart Craft.

Cindy from Cloches and Lavender adds French Valentine decor to her home. See it here.

Thank you for joining us today! As you know, we appreciate all your comments and feedback. Have a safe, healthy and wonderful day!

When we bought this home, I didn’t realize how much I would love having an orchard. Located on the southern part of our parcel, the orchard is about 200 feet long. The rectangular shape is perfect for entertaining, as we host many dinners here in the Orchard.

Historically, I do not know how old the orchard is. The previous owners planted the kumquat tree in celebration of a wedding anniversary. I do know this tree is decades old. Based on the size of some of the adjoining date palms, the orchard has been part of this property for a very long time.

My husband built a support structure for the overhead lights which creates a magical setting at night.

The orchard is abundant with citrus this time of year.  Our tangerine tree is bursting with fruit, so much so that the limbs are drooping from the weight.

In the orchard, we have 7 different types of oranges with one of the best juice orange trees around. The children tell us that if we ever sell the house, we will need to take this orange tree with us!

Four grapefruit trees, both pink and white, two tangerines, limes, lemon, a kumquat and limequat tree round out the citrus selection.

One year I did make kumquat preserves and I must admit, it is challenging. For such tiny fruit, there are many seeds. After de-seeding them, which took hours, this is my first and perhaps my last attempt at this recipe.

We also have stone fruit in the orchard. Both apricot and peach trees will be sharing their beautiful fruit with us in May/June.

Though it seems a bit counterintuitive, we can grow apples here in Phoenix. The only downside is that they are ready to pick in June. My fantasies of apple picking revolve around cold weather, sweaters and autumn colors. But here, in the triple digit temperatures, you will find me picking our Anna apples.

Since we do not have a watering system in the orchard, it gets a deep watering monthly in the winter and twice a month in the summer. Flood irrigation is such an affordable way to water here. For a small annual fee, the Salt River Project provides water through irrigation gates to the property.

The dogs LOVE to run through the water. Fun for them but a bit messy for us.

Now, more than ever, we are getting lots of fresh Vitamin C with our citrus pickings. Last year, we had so much fruit, that we donated several boxes to the neighborhood.

But in the meantime, I hope to make my delicious Meyer Lemon Marmalade (see recipe here) and Preserved Lemons (see recipe here).

Make sure you are getting your dosage of Vitamin C daily and hopefully you are somewhere with an abundance of citrus so you can make these recipes. You will not be disappointed.

Hope you are having a terrific Wednesday!

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Honestly, I have never been in style. Whether it be fashion, interior design, or haircuts, this is an area where I remain classic and traditional, not trendy. But with all the articles coming out about what’s in for 2021, I may just be in sync with the Style Trends in 2021, at least in home decor.

Grandmillenial Style

First of all, who came up with this unfortunate name? I’ve also heard it called Granny Chic? Ugh. Why not Collected Chic? Or Storied Style?

But what is Grandmillenial style? Let’s agree to just call it Collected Chic. According to Better Homes and Garden, it is a combination of traditional style adopts old-school design trends (think: skirted tables, patterned upholstery, floral wallpaper, and richly stained wood furniture) with a fresh spin for the 21st century. By mixing in a few modern elements, the style is nostalgic and comfortable without looking kitschy.

It is a return to old fashioned comforts we grew up with and is strongly trending, especially due to COVID. Dark wood furniture is in, but mixed with some updated pieces. Traditional and classic is rising in popularity. Yay!

Color is In

Warm, welcoming colors (fabrics and wallpaper) are in. White and monochromatic is out. With people spending so much more time at home, it makes sense that we need environments that provide a sense of calm and security. Calming blues are also trending (like my library~to see more about this room, click here).

Natural Materials

Materials like rattan or cane webbing, organic fibers and live plants are continuing to be in style.

Closed Floor Plans

Throughout 2020, many families had to learn how to co-exist under the same roof from morning until night. The appeal of open floor plans, where each room flows seamlessly into the next, has greatly diminished. An article in Better Homes and Gardens states: “The pandemic has forced us to recognize how important our space is, and open floor plans aren’t always the best decision when it comes to intentionally using a room. Carving out a designated space for different activities, such as remote work or homeschooling, allows for more privacy and limits distraction.”

To see the post where we discuss Open vs. Closed Floor plan, click here.

Silver and Beautiful Tablescapes

Sadly, silver was also neglected for years, deemed too “high maintenance” and pushed aside for bamboo flatware, goldware, etc. Grandmothers and mothers bemoaned that their heirs didn’t want their silver… and you can still purchase it for a fraction of the original cost on eBay.

But thanks to the Collected Chic generation, we are slowly seeing a return to silver, especially when creating beautiful tablescapes which has become an art form within this group.  And it’s not just the Collected Chic who have taken to the tablecloth: at the time of writing, the hashtag “tablescape” on Instagram yielded over 1.3 million results!

Home Entertaining

Once we are past COVID, the prediction is that there will be a surge in home entertaining. Many people are cooking more and setting tables for their families while being cooped up at home. Starved for socializing, entertaining will increase.

Home Offices

No surprise here as millions of people are now working virtually. And as corporations look to reduce overhead and real-estate costs, working from home is here to stay. There are so many articles on how to make your work space beautiful and personalized in your home. To see my home office, click here.

Collections

This is in keeping with the Collected Chic style. Antique, heirloom, or new collections tell a story and fill our homes with cherished memories. My collections range from rosary beads to sand from different beaches around the world. What do you collect? To see more about my collections, click here.

Charm Bracelets

One article I read also states that charm bracelets are back in style! One of my early childhood memories is sitting on my mother’s lap and playing with her charm bracelet. Since no one seems to know what happened to it, I decided to start one for myself. Janice Mullen @janice.mullin (or @terraceoaksantiques), finds fabulous vintage charms and has been a great resource in helping me create my unique bracelet.

The information in this post is a compilation of trends from Better Homes and Gardens, The Glam Pad, The Insider, The Washington Post, and Real Simple. What other trends do you see emerging this year?

I hope you enjoyed the holiday weekend. Wishing you a merry Tuesday!

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This post shared with Between Naps on the Porch Metamorphosis Monday #626

I hope this blog post finds you having a delicious cup of coffee (or tea) and a relaxing morning. Thanks for joining me for Saturday Meanderings as we chat about all things good this week!

I cannot tell you how much I enjoy hearing about your home projects or trying a recipe I’ve shared. My sweet neighbor, Tevia, got inspiration from the stenciled bathroom tile floor in our pool house. She tackled her guest house bathroom floor. Isn’t this amazing?

And now, she just completed her laundry room floor, using a different stencil but with only one color. It looks completely different! Wow!

Great Customer Service

I love my coffee every morning and two years ago, my family bought a Nespresso Breville Creatista coffee machine for my birthday. Multiple times a day this coffee machine is creating lattes, cappuccinos, you name it. Recently, though, the water tank in the back was leaking intermittently.

So we call Nespresso’s customer service and they conduct a leak test over the phone (took 20 minutes) and quickly sent a replacement tank. However, when it arrived, it was the wrong size. So I call again. Apparently they have discontinued this model and no longer have a replacement tank. So what did they do? They sent me a brand, new machine at no cost! This particular model retails at $599.99! How nice that Nespresso stands by their products.

Pretty Things and Images

Look at this spectacular photo of a chrysanthemum. I’m not sure I’ve ever truly appreciated the beauty of this flower. Wouldn’t this make a spectacular painting?

If you shop at Target, check out these cute rain boots from Smith and Hawkin. Click here for the link.

Cindy Hattersley from Cindy Hattersley Designs recently posted this picture. These are the last of her roses and the way they are captured on her new iPhone 12 is amazing. See her blog post here.

My Painting Aspirations

Last year, I didn’t paint as much as I would have liked. So this year, the plan is to schedule time to each week to paint. I would like to attempt painting animals. Here is some inspiration.

On My Bucket List

Visiting the People’s House during Christmas is on my bucket list. I have been by the White House but never inside. My sweet friend, Effie went this year and shared these pictures. I meant to post them during the holidays, but they are lovely no matter what time of year it is.

The theme is America the Beautiful. So often we forget that living in this country is such a privilege and in spite of its problems and political differences, it is certainly the best nation in the world.

This delectable wonder replicates the West Wing, Executive Residence, East Wing and for the first time, the Rose Garden and the First Ladies’ Garden. Constructed from 275 pounds of gingerbread dough, 110 pounds of pastille dough, 30 pounds of gum paste, 25 pounds of chocolate and 25 pounds of Royal icing, every detail is an exact replica.

She also sent me the accompanying book, illustrated by Carole Biggio, which for a budding artist like me, is a dream to have.

As politicians come and go, the White House staff mostly remains. If you haven’t read this book by Kate Andersen Brower, you will find all the stories interesting. The Residence can be found here.

To close, I have a short, funny video of Cooper. Life with our dogs is a constant adventure!

Have a spectacular weekend!

When reflecting back on 2020, is it possible that we took on TOO many projects? Perhaps for me, keeping extra busy was a way to not focus on all the world’s problems last year. I guess the good news is that several things got done, but it feels like an exhausting year on many fronts. Here is a list of completed projects of 2020 and which ones we hope to tackle in 2021.

Italian Fountain

Our outdoor Italian fountain is transformed from ugly to pretty~the rusty spouts are replaced with new ones! See post here.

Master Closet

After the embarrassing condition of our master closet, it gets good cleaning and goes from a mess to a neat and organized space. See post here.

Dining Room

With a few great yard sale purchases, I am able to upgrade the dining room with these fabulous upholstered parsons chairs. A new coat of paint helps brighten the room, too! See post here.

Windows and Screens

Being confined to home gave us the opportunity to personally wash each and every window in our home, as well as the out buildings. Not only did we clean, but repair screens, touch up paint chips and make sure our windows are in good working order.

Back Terrace

Many new upgrades are added to the back terrace. Since we entertain a lot in this space during our better weather months, it is time and money well spent. A new tile backsplash, so desperately needed, is now pretty and easy to clean. All the upholstered furniture and rugs are thoroughly cleaned; the concrete/slate floor is treated with a sealant. Broken slate is repaired at the fireplace. See post here.

Family Room

Another room benefitting from the great yard sale scores is the family room. New upholstered wing chairs and a round table is added; a gorgeous decorative chest becomes the bar storage. To see more about our family room, click here.

Potting Shed/Well Tower

In the spring, the potting shed in the well tower gets attention. Filled with dust and spider webs, it needs organizing and cleaning. See post here. Plus I finally create a storage system for most of my wreaths. See can see that story here.

Front Porch

A lot of focus is on the front porch last year. New front door color, polished hardware, updated wreath, fresh paint on the rocking chairs and a new door mat. What a welcoming difference! See post here.

Guest Cottage

While sprucing up the front of the main house, it is time to also tend to the guest cottage. Using spray paint, the light fixtures are brought back to life (see post here). With your help and suggestions, the vintage mailbox is updated too! (another post here).

Back Staircase

Yesterday’s post is a summary on the back staircase. Though this project starts in 2019 and is completed just a few days ago, much of the work is done in 2020.

Flooding and Ghosts

2020 is a year to remember, not only for the pandemic but the series of unfortunate events we had with flooding. First a broken water heater in the basement and then the dishwasher in the kitchen. No pictures of either mess, just a blog post about Old Houses and Ghost Stories here.

Pool House Bathroom

Perhaps one of the most difficult new projects is stenciling the tile bathroom floor in the pool house. But the end result is stunning. See post here.

Closet and Storage Organization

Thanks to being part of a blog hop, the front hall closet gets completely re-organized. Nearly all of my table linens reside in this odd shaped space. See more here.

Another storage organization project includes the hidden space under the front staircase. Slipcovers and decorative pillows are organized into bins and kept here.

Painting Furniture

Transforming an old piece of furniture into a Scandinavian style dresser at our cabin is a creative leap but with good results. To see this DIY project, click here.

Building New Things

My husband’s creativity and handiness produces a chick-nic table for our sweet hens. A fun and easy DIY project here.

Property Maintenance

With the help of our professional painter, John Cruz, the well tower, barn and hen house get some sprucing up. To see more before and after photos, click here.

New Projects for 2021

Our master bathroom is looking a bit tired. The tile floor is the same as the pool house, bland and dated. Debating whether to try and stencil it or just demolish and put in new tile. The countertops are marble squares ~again a dated look. It might be time for a complete renovation. To see more on our master bathroom, click here.

Create a Cutting Garden

I am just receiving my seeds from Floret Farm and am looking forward to making space for an actual cutting garden. Not sure how well this will do in our climate, but it will be a learning experience.

Update our Kitchen

Since I haven’t thought this through, I’m not sure how or to what I want to do with our kitchen. It will all depend on the budget, but it would be nice to fix a few things and update others. More to come on this.

Organize the Entire House

I want to start at one corner and make sure each and every room is the best it can be. Is that even possible? I dream about a place for everything and everything in its place.

Do you have any projects for 2021? I can assure you that there will be less projects for me this year. Instead, I want to fill my year with more fulfilling and meaningful experiences~like art, friends, family and travel. Let’s hope the world will begin to open up once again.

Happy Wednesday! Stay safe and healthy!

This back staircase renovation is finally finished. What a bear. Truly, this project took so many twists and turns and over a year to complete. Thanks for visiting today to see the good, the bad and the ugly of the back staircase renovation. To see the original post back in August 2019, click here.

Deteriorated Rug

This all started when the quality of the sisal rug runner was deteriorating. With an active family, the life span of sisal on steps is about 8 years. This is the second installation of the same runner and quite frankly, even though I love the look, I am tired of replacing it every 8 years.

For some reason, Cooper loves laying on the top landing. With determination, he used his paws to release the rug from its glue and then folds it up underneath him. Go figure.

As you can see, it is quite the mess.

Rug Removal

The first task is removal of this rug only to reveal 2 layers of gross glue and hundreds of carpet staples underneath. Between the dust and fibers, it is a dirty job. However, the rug did hide several problems and imperfections, that are revealed for the first time.

Unforeseen Problems

Cracked stair treads, jury-rigged risers, some odd looking leveling material~all extremely unsightly. The walls adjacent to the stairs are plaster and the area where the wall meets the step is full of holes.

The original stairs have layers of old paint and stain. We did consider sanding them down to bare wood to stain them, but it appears some of the treads may be different woods. They would never take the stain evenly.

What Can be Done?

Since I believe in fixing problems, not hiding them, we realize we need a contractor to repair all of this. It took weeks to find someone (anyone) who wants to work on this. We finally get one bid and it is over $5,000. Sigh.

So the project sat for a few months while we debate what to do. I really do not want to glue down another rug. And the thought of seeing another carpet staple was unimaginable. Finally, determination is born out of frustration.

I will learn to plaster. How hard can it be? Like frosting a cake, so I think. The recommendation from the hardware store is to use Fixall. This spackling compound is a dry powder mixed with water. It works fine, however, I didn’t realize that when it dries, it really DRIES, hard and immovable. Very difficult to sand down but for the most part, my initial application is somewhat smooth. I only find out later that the better material would have been MH Ready Patch (and easier to sand down).

We remove the creepy glue with a heat gun; sand down the stairs; reinforce the broken treads with a hardwood overlay; replace the broken risers and sand down the weird leveling compound.

New Solutions?

Initially, our plan is to paint the stairs and then add a carpet runner. However, when I posted about that in July, a trusted friend questioned my choice in stair runner. This gave me pause. The last thing I want to do is add another runner that will need replacing in a few years.

Bad Lighting

We change plans again and the decision is made to just paint the treads and see where that leads us. While working for months in this space, I realize the lighting is just horrible. There is only one can light in the ceiling that is 16 feet high.

I call our electrician and ask if I can easily put a pendant light in place of a can light. He gives me the thumbs up and I purchase this one from Wayfair. We are scheduled to have the light put in by a professional and he cancels due to a last minute conflict.

So I google how to switch out a can light to a pendant and we do it ourselves. In retrospect it is very challenging because of the height of the ceiling and not having a flat plane to put a ladder. My husband gets extra points for this difficult installation. Hanging on a 6′ long chain, the light is now lower and illuminates the space so much better.

We hire our favorite painter, John Cruz to paint the walls a high reflective white Sherwin Williams SuperPaint~what a difference this makes!

Now it Echoes?

In the past, the staircase displayed a gallery of the children’s artwork. But they are no longer children and as sad as it is, the artwork is taken down to paint the walls. Interestingly, once the sisal runner is gone and all the children’s artwork is removed, this space sounds hollow and echoes. I realize now the role the rug and art played in absorbing noise.

After the steps are properly sanded and cleaned and walls taped off, I paint the treads a dark navy blue and the risers a bright white (same as the wall color). The navy paint is a premium exterior latex enamel in semi-gloss.

Taping a Runner

The space looks so crisp and clean, but the navy edges against the plaster walls do not look are sharp as I would like. We live with this for a few weeks, but I am still longing for the look of a runner.

So I make the decision to turn the navy paint into the “runner”. By painting the outer edges of the steps and risers in white, I am also hoping that solves the step to wall transition. What a complete pain this is! The steps are varying widths and different angles. Making sure the runner is in the middle involved a lot more math than I am used to doing. Quite a nightmare.

More Problems

Of course it takes 2 coats of white paint to cover the navy and I hold my breath while I am doing it (as my husband isn’t quite enthralled yet). Naturally, nothing goes smoothly and while I am painting the white, our cat, Donovan decides it is time to run up the stairs!

I suppose this is a good excuse to do another coat of navy paint on the steps as I need to paint the risers navy as part of the visual runner.

When I finish the painting, I am happily walking down the steps with my supplies. And then the paint lid drops and navy paint sprays onto the freshly painted white edge. Arggg! Thankfully it wipes up easily. This project has really tested my mettle!

Finally….it is done.

So what do you think? I love how fresh and cheerful it looks. I MAY do a center stripe or add side stripes to the runner down the road. But right now, I feel like I need to leave it alone.

Once a dull and poorly lit space, the back staircase is bright and cheerful. To make the change even more impactful, I decide to use this space to hang my artwork. So I pull out some of my favorite ones and hang them.

As I continue to hang more art, the canvases will absorb the sound and reduce the echoes.

For right now, I decide to leave a few of the cat’s paw prints, just because it makes for a good story!

Here is a longer shot with my iPhone to give you an idea on how the back staircase renovation looks overall.

Before and After:

What a project! I am so grateful it is finished (for now). This staircase feels like my own personal art gallery with the white walls and better lighting. Since it took so long, it’s hard to imagine what it did look like before.

With many unexpected twists and turns, decisions and indecisions and multiple delays, this staircase renovation project was a challenging one. Fortunately it is located in a place in our house that is not highly visible. This project took about 1 year longer than I would have like take. Quite honestly, I am glad it is over.

Happy Tuesday!

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This post shared with Between Naps on the Porch Metamorphosis Monday #625.