The Great Plate Rack Project

I've had a vague hankering for a plate rack filled with creamy white platters for a while. But it wasn't until I stumbled over this photo of a simple plate rack that it finally crystallized into a full-blown D-I-M project (you know: "do-it-myself") - I knew I could accomplish this pretty handily.  Well, maybe with a little help from Mr. Official...

Google image = inspiration

I roughed out a sketch and drew up a materials list for a rack 36 inches wide and 48 inches tall (that allows 16 inches for each shelf - something to keep in mind when you're considering loading it up with platters, most of which are 12 inches and up these days), then gathered the materials. Here's my shopping list, in case you're suddenly struck by the same longing:

Materials for 36x48 plate rack:
3 each 1x4x6 pine boards for the shelves, cut in half
1 each 1x4x8 pine board for the sides, cut in half
1 each 1x6x6 pine board for the top and bottom, cut in half
3 each 3-foot dowels (I used a squared-off screening or lattice wood instead)
36 wood screws (I used #6 x 1 1/4-inch)
1 small can of stain (I chose dark walnut)
1 can of water-based polyurethane (alternatively, you could paint it)
1 pair of heavy-duty picture hangers (capable of holding at least 50 pounds)


So I had the supplies, the creative spark, and the mental image of the finished piece. But right about then, the annual holiday tsunami hit, and my project stayed high and dry in the garage, until just a few days ago.

The tools needed are your standard fare: router, a saw to cut the boards in half, and a drill to make pilot holes and screw in the screws. Once I (ahem, we) got started, it really was a very easy project.

Steps:
1. Route grooves down the middle of one of the 1x4x6 boards and the same distance from one edge of the 1x6x6.
2. Cut all the boards in half.
3. Make sure everything was either 3 feet or 4 feet long.
4. Lay it out and assemble.
5. Sand, stain, seal.
6. Wait for everything to dry.  Tap, tap, tap.
6. Add hangers and hang.
7. Acquire platters to fill it up; the most time-consuming and expensive part!

The total investment was about $50 in cash and around 4 or 5 hours of actual effort.  There was most definitely a good cost-benefit ratio. Here's the rack before staining, and the finished rack, hung fairly level, all by myself (to my husband's barely concealed astonishment.)

Here's the dining room, ready for some Sunday dinners, all decked out in winter white and silver:

And the Edwardian hutch. The Christmas village is gone, but in its place is a mix of traditional and contemporary white pieces including an elephant for luck.

Happy project-ing!

What goes up, must come down

Just like the old Blood Sweat & Tears song and Newton's law of gravity, the Christmas decorations that go up must eventually come down.

When do you take yours down?  I have friends who have them down in the twinkling of an eye, pretty much as soon as Christmas dinner is finished. 

As for me, I let mine linger a bit.  We start our decorating later than most, and I'm just not ready to put it all away on December 26.  But I do make sure it's down shortly after we've ushered in the new year.

Every year for several years, I have vowed to go through all the Christmas bins and straighten them out.  This year, I made good on that promise.  No excuses - the walk-in attic is adjacent to our bonus room, so I had the perfect staging area to spread out all my tubs and really organize them.  I also did a little "Santa's Workshop" repair on a few items that needed re-gluing.

Today marks the 12th day of Christmas (see note), and I'm happy to say my decorations are down and tucked away, and I've even made a little headway on decorating the dining room for the winter months.  Den and foyer are next.

There were two distinct approaches I could take to stowing away my Christmas decorations:

1. Room-by-room (kitchen, dining room, UT stuff for the bonus room....)
2. Like-goes-with-like (garlands, ornaments, lights, nutcrackers, Christmas village...)

I chose...both.

For example, the kitchen tub contains everything I need to set up my kitchen for Christmas:  tree decorations, Christmas mugs and linens, even my party paper goods (of which I have enough to last the next 30 years.  Okay, maybe just the next two or three, but it seems like a lot.)  Next to it is the box with next year's gift mugs for my 3rd graders.  I picked them up on clearance, and it's one less thing to worry about.

Yes, the caroler's book is upside down

On the other hand, my nutcracker collection stays together (albeit in one large tub and two wine boxes - they are the perfect size for storing them.)  I store them as a group even though some go to the sunroom, some to the kitchen, some to the den and some to the foyer.  I always shuffle them up, so each year I can pull them out and decide who-goes-where.  Ditto for the garlands and wreaths.  But the light strands and ornaments are separated in tubs for specific trees: dining room, big tree, UT tree.

I also tucked in some reminders for next year to make decorating easier - you know, those things you tell yourself, "next year, I'll do it this way instead" and next year, you remember it too late?  Yeah, me too.  Maybe my notes will help next year - we'll see.)

Of the stuff I didn't use this year, I designated one tub for Santa Claus decorations, and another for snowmen and the cream/gold ornaments. When I get the urge to switch from silver to gold, or do a Santa or snowman theme, I can "shop" from my own inventory first.

After everything was in tubs and I had tossed all the irreparable, melted, discolored or otherwise unusable stuff, there remained two large bags of "haven't-used-in-forever" (or maybe never) stuff.  I'll take pity on the Goodwill folks who are dealing with the year-end glut, and keep them until early next fall to drop off. They're set aside in one corner, visibly marked for their final destination.

The only remaining to-do is to get some shelving up in the attic so when I need the tub on the bottom of the stack (isn't that always the one you need?) I don't have to offload all the other tubs to fetch it. But that's a task that can wait for a warm Saturday so we don't get frostbite in the process.

Even though Christmas is officially over and the decorations are down, I think I'm going to be vacuuming up glitter and pine needles for a very long time....

Happy cleaning,



P.S.   A big thank-you to Mr. Kurek for setting me straight on how to count the twelve days of Christmas. I'm just glad I was a day ahead, instead of a day behind!

Swinging from the chandelier

Not me, of course.  But some dangly, pretty, glass gewgaws to daintily swing and sway and cast rainbows on the walls with every twirl and move.

Yes, I'm speaking of a crystal-bedecked chandelier.

Before you yawn, I haven't mentioned the location of this new light fixture.  It's not in the usual  dining room or foyer.  It's the master bathroom.

I've been intrigued by the fantasy of a bathroom chandelier since the mid-90s when a forward-thinking friend mentioned her interior decorator suggested one for her powder room. That was almost two decades ago - she (and her decorator) were way ahead of their time.  And for those of you who are thinking that electricity and water don't mix, you're right. I already checked it out:

National Electric Code 410.4(D) Bathtub and Shower Areas. No parts of cord-connected luminaires (fixtures), hanging luminaires (fixtures), lighting track, pendants, or ceiling-suspended (paddle) fans shall be located within a zone measured 900 mm (3 ft) horizontally and 2.5 m (8 ft) vertically from the top of the bathtub rim or shower stall threshold. This zone is all encompassing and includes the zone directly over the tub or shower stall.

Fortunately, the perfect spot in our new bathroom is already wired in a spot outside said range.  I can hang it just as soon as I take down the ceiling fan that's there now.  (Which seems a tad more dangerous than a chandelier, if you ask me.  I think stories of flying fans and crashing chandeliers are mostly urban legends, concocted by ultra-cautious engineers and lawsuit-phobic lawyers. Seriously - has it ever happened to you or anyone you personally know?  Me neither.  Anyhoo.)

Oooh!  Did I mention the price? That's truly the best part!

My inspiration for this project was this Pottery Barn chandelier.  (Sidenote: they have the coolest, most copy-able stuff.  I'm so glad we don't have a PB store in town, because that might prove too much temptation for me. As it is, I only let myself venture into their stores only for inspiration.)

As much as I drooled over this photo, I knew there was no way I was spending $300 on a light, especially a (trendy) bathroom light.  Not when there were curtains and paint and other needs and wants to fulfill as we settle into our new digs.

They call it "Bellora" which I'm pretty sure is Italian for "beautiful and expensive"

I scoured our local Craigslist regularly, hoping someone might be ready to discard their PB or PB-esque chandelier, and I could snag their cast-off for half-price or so.  Instead, I found an ad for a chandelier, at the unbelievable price of $25. And the amber glass covers perfectly match the existing vanity lights.  But it was too tall.  Back on Craigslist it goes.

However, thanks to eBay, I snagged my knockoff for $150 including shipping - back in June.  It has hung out in my closet for six months; thanks to my awesome dad and middle son playing electrician over the Christmas holiday, winter bubble baths under the soft glow of a chandelier, here I come!

Of course, now that the chandelier is hung, I'm scheming 2012 projects, starting with revving up the decorating in the bathroom. First step is painting the walls. Then I hope to install some trim around the two vanity mirrors and trick out the tub alcove with some shelving and some window treatment.  It is more than a little bland, as you can see from the picture above.  I may - or may not - get our closets re-done this year (the wire racks are functional, but they don't really inspire good organization or a desire to tackle the day when we open our closet doors each morning.)  But for today - just for today - I'm happy to look up and see this pretty new light in place.

Happy lighting,

My Christmas Open House, Virtually Speaking

Thanks for all the encouraging comments from family and friends as I plowed through the holiday decorating and baking. Several of you have asked for pics of all my Christmas projects I've been gushing about, so I thought I'd share them today, even though when this post goes live, I'll be somewhere in Atlanta's airport changing planes.  (I'll think of all of you as we soak up some Florida sun (we hope we get sunshine, anyway!)

First stop is the front entry - I keep it pretty simple, but I have always loved seeing nutcrackers nestled on stairs in other people's homes, so I was happy to be able to try it out in my own home this year:

Next up is the dining room.  I was so excited, I posted pictures of it earlier, but here's how it looked for the dinner party we held a few nights ago:

And here's my putz-y village scene:

Through the doorway is the kitchen, where my Fiesta Christmas tree takes center stage:

And here's the table as it looked last Saturday night:

On the counter is the towering stack of Christmas tins filled with sweet treats.  As much as I love these tins, I am thinking that I may need to switch to rectangular-shaped modular plastic bins to maximize the freezer space.  Or make fewer treats.  What?  No way!  We'll just need to clear out two shelves in the freezer next year.

When I snapped these pictures, I was also in the middle of filling Christmas boxes for Mr. Official's staff and my third grade Sunday Schoolers bags (they get their own Christmas mug, hot cocoa, homemade marshmallows, and some treats.) There's never a dull (or totally clean and organized) moment around here this time of year.

In the den is the "big" tree (see the wrapped packages?  Yay me!)  

I tucked the rest of my nutcracker collection in the bookshelves:

If the mantel looks a lot like last year's, well, it should. I spent three days trying to perfect that mantel in 2010, so I used most of the same pieces and had this year's mantel up in about 20 minutes.  Next year I may be back to the drawing board for something different.  I did use an idea I found on Pinterest for the stockings - a curtain rod is suspended by three stocking holders.  The true test will come Christmas Eve when we'll see if it holds up when the stockings are full.

Here's the view from above.  The time I saved on the mantel was spent getting this simple decoration in place.  Pre-lit garland is much easier, but I wanted to use what I already had:  nice thick garlands and lots of strings of white lights.  Five strings later, I finally had two that would stay lit when they hooked together and wrapped around the garland. Gah.

The sunroom got wreathed, which was a nice way to use some plain wreaths I already had from years past.

And finally, the bonus room has the UT tree. Which Mr. Official says we should cover with a black shroud this year, to mourn that horrific football season we endured.  I say buck up and carry on.  There's always next year, boys.

So there you have it - a quick virtual tour of our house as it looks for the season.  Friends nearby have a standing invite to pop in for a real tour.  Wherever you are, I hope your days are merry and bright, too!

Happy Christmas decorating,

Putzing around

Several holidays ago, a miniature Christmas greenhouse caught my gardener's eye.  It was under $10 so I bought it.  Next year, I found another one, so I did the same thing.  And again, a year later.  Then I realized I couldn't buy a miniature greenhouse every year for the rest of my life, so I stopped.  But I did buy a few extra pieces: a gazebo, an outhouse (I do have a particular fondness for them),  and some snow shovels.

For a few years, I displayed them every holiday in our dining room.

Then one year, I forgot to get them out.  (Actually I stowed them in the bottom of my Edwardian china hutch - a decorating travesty - where they stayed for a few years, and then last year I finally packed them away in their boxes when I revamped the hutch. )

New house, new resolve to get cracking on my Christmas decorating made me think of those greenhouses, and I made a mental note to get them out and display them.

Over Thanksgiving, I got a wild hair to see if there were any new (or newer) greenhouses or something else outdoorsy - like a miniature Christmas tree lot or frozen pond.  So I went on eBay to find out.  The next thing I knew I had fallen down a virtual rabbit hole and was ogling and coveting entire miniature villages.

What the what???

I am SO not a miniature village person.  I have friends who do this, and I love admiring their intricate setups, but it is so. not. me.  Or so I thought, before I learned these two interesting tidbits:

Tidbit #1.  Miniature Christmas villages started out made of paper, originating in Germany, then later imported from Japan; they were called "putz" back in their heyday (mainly between the two world wars), and they were all the rage.  Now those dimestore novelties are extremely rare and expensive.  (And nowadays, the word "putz" doesn't mean what it used to mean, so be careful if you try it out in a crowd - you may get some odd looks.)

Tidbit #2. In the last decade, there were entire Christmas villages created around two of my all-time favorite holiday movies, "It's a Wonderful Life" and "The Christmas Story." Everything from Higbee's department store in Cleveland to Gower's Drugstore in Bedford Falls, replete with figures of George and Mary Bailey and their friends and family, and of course Ralphie and his brother Randy and the infamous leg lamp.  Most of those pieces are readily available on eBay. For collector's prices, of course.

I am going to be picky.  I am not going to be a putz. Or a putz collector/hoarder.

The only pieces I really, REALLY want are Ralphie's house and school (Grover Cleveland Elementary) and the frozen flagpole from "The Christmas Story;" and the Granville house (remember the scene when Mary winds up in the hydrangea bush?) from "It's a Wonderful Life."  And maybe a country house with a porch like ours.  And that's it, I promise.  Not even another greenhouse, because I know my limitations.

Okay, maybe a mailbox or a birdhouse or a frozen pond, too. 

And I'm even willing to bide my time until I get what I want at the price I am willing to pay. Even if it means not having it all in place for a few more Christmases.

I think so, anyway.  I'm not a putz and I'm not going to putz around with Christmas putz too much. After all, there are cards to mail, cookies to bake, lights to untangle, carols to sing....

Happy collecting,

O Fiesta tree, how lovely are thy branches...

I don't know about you, but I'm neck-deep in my annual Christmas tree trim-a-thon, with four trees getting all decked out.  If you stop by for a visit, be prepared:  this week my house looks like Hobby Lobby exploded, with tubs and bags and boxes strewn around.  It was clean last week and it'll be clean next week but there's just no way to put up Christmas decorations without making a mess.  If there is, please let me know - I haven't found it yet.

The first one to go up was my kitchen tree.  For years I gave up precious kitchen counter space to a small kitchen tree, decorated with vintage cookie cutters from my childhood, cinnamon "gingerbread" ornaments and other kitchen items.

This year brought us to a new house with a bigger kitchen. That could only mean only one thing, right?  Bring on a bigger kitchen tree!  I spied a 5-foot alpine-type tree on sale before Thanksgiving, and I dragged it home.

But long before I "felled" the new tree, I was hunting down Fiesta ornaments.  I snagged some off eBay and a few more at the October Nashville Flea Market - an even dozen Fiesta disks and  miniature pitchers.   It's not enough to fill the entire tree, but it gave it a theme.  Then I tucked in old and reproduction kitchen utensils and hung my Christmas cookie cutters and used ric-rac in Fiesta turquoise, red, orange, yellow and chartreuse to hang everything.

As I began writing this post, I assumed I would find countless other Fiesta collectors' Christmas trees on parade in blogs and websites. In fact, I had high hopes of finding some inspiring ideas to copy - after all, Fiesta has been making and licensing ornaments for quite some time.  But I found nary a mention of a Fiesta Christmas tree.  C'mon, fellow pottery lovers - surely there are other collectors who do a Christmas homage to your favorite dishes, too!

Without further ado, here's my new kitchen tree, next to the hutch filled with my vintage Fiesta pieces:

And here's the "big picture" view, with my new eBay bargains: a Fiesta Riviera platter and Kitchen Kraft cake plate (plus my existing Kitchen Kraft red and green bowls) perched merrily on top of the hutch.  The vintage tins in the apple basket beneath the tree are on standby - next week they'll start filling up with homemade candies and cookies, then stored in the freezer until time to serve or make up plates of sweet treats to give away.

And here's Luci, who has decided this is HER favorite tree - at least until the others are up and she can check each of them for napping spots.

So how many trees do YOU decorate?  I try not to play favorites, but I really do heart this tree and I smile every time I pass by it.  (Don't tell the other trees, please? They are special, too!)

Happy Christmas decorating,

 

Saving Christmas: Decorating Dilettante-Style

We're back from our Thanksgiving trek.  On the trip home, we were briefly serenaded by Christmas music, just to put us all in the holiday spirit.  And now begins the countdown to Christmas.  So how does a dilettante do Christmas?  Here's this week's list of my must-do's:
 
Monday: Laundry and cleaning the house are at the top of my to-do's for this evening; it's also  a chance to snag the last of the fall decor from around the house.  If there's time, I'll print off Christmas card address labels, even though we won't have cards ready to mail just yet.
Tuesday:  Up goes a new (bigger) kitchen tree, bedecked with Fiesta ornaments and assorted kitchen-related accoutrements I've collected over the years.  A few weeks ago, I snagged several packages of bright-colored rick-rack to hang the ornaments this year, for a truly Fiesta feel.  The kitchen table and china hutch will also get a quick green/red makeover.
Wednesday: The dining room gets shifted from fall to wintery white and shimmery blue and silver; it's the easiest room to switch up, so I scheduled it for the night I have the least free time.  The off-white Christmas dishes will be washed and stacked on the buffet for easy use.
Thursday: The bonus room tree goes up, displaying our true colors, loud and proud:  it's orange and white all the way, baby.
Friday: Mr. Official is working the Tennessee 5A championship game tonight, so I may or may not have time to Christmas-tize the den and sunroom, or just prepare the spot for the big tree.
Saturday:  Fun, old-fashioned family breakfast followed by outdoor decorating and indoor tree-trimming activities.  I debated on the cut tree vs. artificial tree, and decided to go back to my artificial tree for this year since I have room for it.   Weather permitting, we'll also get the outdoor porch decorating done, then spend the afternoon and evening putting ornaments on the tree in the den, and get a family Christmas photo in the process.
Sunday:  As soon as the family shot has been uploaded and photo cards ordered, it's time for some rest and relaxation so we're prepared to launch into the next week full-throttle. Unless I get the urge to put up another tree or two in the bedrooms.  But if not, it's no big deal.

Bottom line:  This week's list is daunting for sure.  But keep in mind we travel cross-country for Thanksgiving and the typical weekend-after-Thanksgiving tree-trimming activities are on hold until we get back. However, it's feasible to squeeze these tasks into evening and weekend hours because my decorations are fairly well organized and accessible from the walk-in attic.  (I've said it before, but really - God bless the person who first thought of giving over some second-floor room to attic storage.  You have my undying gratitude.)

Next Monday, I'll post pictures of the to-do's that have turned into "done's" along with a rundown of the second list of must-do's, so we can get to the fun stuff.

Happy holidays!
 

Day of rest week 10: my big, fat crazy-busy, crafty Sunday

Yesterday, a day of rest?  Well, yes and no.

No lunch out and no shopping.  So I gave our local merchants a break.

But rest for our family?  Hardly.

It all started Friday night.  Mr. Official and Swimmer Girl were each at different football games. Big dog and I were home alone and a little bored.  So I washed, dried and spraypainted eight old chargers, taking them from 1990s gold leaf:

to a "hammererd" pewter finish:

That was quick and easy - a can of Krylon Fusion spray paint was all it took.

Then on Saturday, I stenciled a monogram on them - a set of the entire alphabet in 3-inch stencils was available at Hobby Lobby for about $5, which was way cheaper and - just as importantly - faster than ordering a larger letters.   In retrospect, I maybe coulda/shoulda/woulda done a more elaborate background design, but I think I like the elegant simplicity of just the single monogram.  Plus there's a little more saving grace if I'm not precisely centered, although I did make a concerted stab at measuring and marking the center of each plate:

 After mentally weighing the paint options, I went with a blue that is somewhere between wedgewood blue and turquoise, playing off the colors in the dining room and my china. As expected, the stencil's edges were a little rough, so after lunch yesterday, I carefully re-outlined them in the same color.  

The only thing left to do now is spray them with sealer so I can rinse or handwash them as needed.  Unless I decide to crackle them or outline them, or something else.

These were so easy to do, I don't know why I didn't think to do this a long time ago.   And if you don't yet have chargers, check places like Old Time Pottery, Hobby Lobby and Target. They have them in old and silver, plus glossy white, black and lacquered reds - whatever fits your style.  And as you can see, a few squirts of acrylic paint is all it takes to personalize them.

As soon as the monogram touchups were done, swimmer girl and I did a little domestic work (she, vacuuming; I, laundry folding), then dashed out the door to a baby shower for a dear friend.   That's what happens when you overschedule yourself on your day of rest.  Rest does not enter the picture.

We wrapped up the day with an early Thanksgiving dinner with our church family.  All in all, it was a very full, good good day of rest, but definitely not restful.

Happy Monday,