Today I’m featuring the items I’ve got on the smaller sideboard in my dining room. This one sits between the entrance to the kitchen and one of the walls in my living room. I love the wallpaper even though it’s almost 25 years old. When I had the remodeling done on my condo it’s the one thing I wouldn’t part with. It was freshened up with crown moulding and some white paneling and a chair rail.

The handpainted items (tray, enamelware bowl, candleholders) were done by my friend Debi Coules – a very talent artist and you’ll see lots of her work in my home. I purchased the antique linen from eBay.

This weekend I went to one of my favorite antique stores. They moved from their location downtown to a wonderful place up on the north side. Their new shop is located in a previous furniture store and they have about five times as much space. So many more “pretties” to chose from.

When I saw this glass vase I just knew I couldn’t pass it up. I think it’s Fenton, but I’m not sure. I’ll keep doing some searching and see if I can find out. It really doesn’t matter, though, since I like it and it’s my perfect colors. I’ve got another vase packed away that I hope to come across soon and I’ll see how close the colors are. This round vase will be placed on the top of my curio cabinet with the vase I know is Fenton. As soon as I get the curio cabinet stuff out of the garage (was there while the condo was remodeled) I’ll take some pictures – lot of pictures.

Hope you have a wonderful Blue Monday!

Last weekend my son was in Florida to visit with my parents. One of his favorite things to do is go to the beach and take lots and lots of pictures. I’ve chosen a few to feature here. Needless to say I’m a bit biased, but I do think he’s a good photographer. He’s had a “natural eye” ever since he was a kid of about eight and I lent him my Canon SLR while we were on vacation in Door County. One of these days I’ll have to scan those and then post them.

One of these pictures was taken on his way to the beach and the rest were taken when he was at the beach just about sunset. There’s one photo with a little boy in it who saw Dave with his camera and just had to do a “fancy” dance for him.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

For years I’ve been a fan of Kim Jacobs artwork. I’ve purchased her yearly calendar for well over 12 years and have often purchased her daily calendar and other things she’s produced. I buy the calendars directly through her – which means I get them personally autographed to me.

The current month’s painting is of a beautiful nursery. I love the colors – a pale blue and yellow. My studio is yellow and I’m going to use her color pallet for designing the rest of the room.

Kim has just come out with a new book. It’s a must for any cat lover.

CLICK HERE to see a page from the book.

And here are some samples of artwork from past calendars:

I often take a bit of time to look through Kim’s artwork and dream of living in one of her beautiful cottages.

CLICK HERE if you are interested in more of Kim Jacob’s work available at her website.

Enjoy your day and set aside some time to dream.

When I was in grade school, our class always had a field trip to the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry once a year. For me, one of the highlights was being able to see Colleen Moore’s Dollhouse. It was an enchanting few minutes to be able to see this fantasy wonder. I could have stood there for hours just looking at it, but sadly, there were others who wanted to see it as well, as the group had to keep moving – though at a snail’s pace. Some years we would be lucky and there would be few people around and we could take out time.

One of the things I remember the most was walking in and seeing the garden of the Fairy Castle all in blue light to signify night. In the garden were many treasures of fairytales and nursery ryhmns, one of them being a weeping willow tree that shed real tears and held the “Rock-a-bye baby” in a cradle within its branches.

Here’s a video that I found on You Tube:

CLICK HERE to see the feature that the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry has on the Colleen Moore Dollhouse.

A link to a book about the Dollhouse on Amazon:

Within the Fairy Castle: Colleen Moore’s Doll House at the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago

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Tags: Blue Monday, colleen moore, fairytales