CHRISTMAS DECORATING BEGINS

I apologize for neglecting the postings  last week.  With a trip to Chicago to spend Thanksgiving with my family, the blog was forgotten.  In order to step up my game, I began decorating today.  I always want to decorate around a Christmas theme.

 

 The theme for this year is all things Nativity.  I have multiple Nativity scenes and the house will be full of them this season.

This pearl-like Nativity came from my parents house.  Instead of placing the Nativity on a tray, I pulled out one of my Christmas collages from Christmas past and set the Nativity on top of it.  Simple and serene.

In the days to come, I hope to pass on some of my ideas for this season.



PAINTING THE GUEST BEDROOM

I was anxious to start repainting the bedrooms since we had the 'contractor' paint on the walls in the majority of the house. Mr. Thrifty has already painted the parlor bath, the foyer, dining room and great room.

This is the first bedroom painted in the house.  I was hoping to give the room a very relaxing feel.

At first, I picked the pictures and mirrors that I wanted to incorporate into this room.

I thought it would be a great idea to place the upcycled luggage rack with the woven tray.

The round drum table with matching chairs was a great addition to have guests sit and have morning coffee.

Hinting Blue from Sherwin Williams was the color I picked for the walls.  I try to wait until they have a 30% sale before I purchase paint.  Their sales usually come around Memorial Day and Labor Day.  I actually purchased this paint in May just awaiting some time before Mr. Thrifty could paint.

I wanted to keep the dresser in the room, but after the stain bled through, I knew that I would eventually have to refinish it.  This time I think I will try to change out the handles.

I can't quite decide if I am going to keep the mdf bookcase in the room or not.  Reading material for guests would be nice but the room isn't that large, so I might for go this piece.

I bought this cross years ago and the soft coloring would go well in the room.

This bedside table that Mr. Thrifty made for our daughter for Christmas many moons ago would be a great accent piece.

I find it interesting that over all the years, I tend to paint or refinish my pieces in stark white and light blue.  All the pieces are finally coming together.

So here is the room stripped, ready to be taped.

Holes are filled and sanded.

The newly painted room looks perfect.  The color dried darker than expected, but just wait and see.

I bought a nice matelassé bedspread and pillow covers.

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Doesn't this look relaxing and soothing?

Even Biscotti, our dog blends well in the room.

He also happens to be the guard dog that regularly sleeps outside the room to protect our borders.

When all the painting projects are done, I will show you.  Hopefully, it won't be too long.  I promise, it will be done by Thanksgiving.



ACCENT TOILE PILLOW FOR GUEST ROOM

I have always been found of toile fabrics, but only the ones that had color in the background.  This beautiful Fragonard print was used in the girls' room when they were younger.

This second toile was a beautiful pattern that I upholstered onto two small chairs that I bought at the Hanscom thrift shop back in 2001.

I love the soft blue-grey subtly cool color.  However, when I purchased the fabric, it had small white bleach spots.  I'm sure this is a defect in the fabric so I just work around it.  Today, I would have sent it back and requested more material.  Live and let learn. 

I just eyeballed this cutting.  I wanted to make an envelope pillow, so I just went for it.  Laying the pillow form on the material, avoiding the white spots and proceeded to sew.

In order to add a bit of pizzazz, I pulled a beautiful white satin accordion ribbon that I had in safekeeping upstairs. 

After turning the material over, I sewed the trim to the underside of the flap.

My rectangular piece now had all the sides turned under and sewn with a top seam.

Next, I folded right sides together to all for the flap and sewed the edges.

Finally, I turned the fabric inside out and inserted the pillow form.

This accent pulls gives a bit of color to the white matelassé bedspread and pillow forms.

Just a few more finishing touches. I moved the lamp from the bedside table to the dresser.

I purchased a  lamp from Target. I really like the quality of the lamp and shade.

I moved the side table from the Great Room into the room for the other side of the bed.

And the room is complete with no time to spare.  Our college girl is arriving home tomorrow.  I hope she likes the new take on her bedroom!

 You might not have noticed, but one of the paintings hanging on the right wall hung in our dining room growing up.  The picture on the right is of the  Impressionist era and shows a table with a chair just like the table and chairs placed in front of the bed.  I think Mom would have liked to spend time in this guest room.

A calm and peaceful retreat. 

FALL OUTSIDE PLANTINGS 2017

I love planting the winter pansies and purple cabbages in the fall.  The best part about it is that when planting in October is that they will last until next May.

The beds were cleared of the summer flowers and readied for the new plantings.  This year I picked purple and maroon pansies.

 

I had enough to place into a basket sitting in the vintage iron ice cream chair on the porch.

Now, we can just enjoy the plantings.

With Thanksgiving upon us, the flowers are spreading and filling in.  They are my favorites!



ITALIAN SAUSAGE POLENTA CASSEROLE

While at the store, I spied a roll of polenta.  Recalling while growing up, Mom used to slice the rolled grits, or polenta into slices, fry in a pan and serve with butter and syrup for breakfast.

Transitioning to today, my husband of Italian descent loves Italian sweet sausage with peppers.  So today I'm going to show you how to make an Italian Sausage Polenta Casserole.  Here are the ingredients:

The first step was to slice the  polenta and place the slices in a greased casserole dish.

 

I then cooked up the sliced Italian sausage after I removed the casings.  Remove the meat from the pan and keep warm.

Then cook the sweet onions, fresh red and green peppers and then when they are almost wilted, add a jar of drained roasted red peppers.  Once they are almost cooked, add 1 cup of chicken broth.

Add the cooked Italian sausage back in and pour over the sliced polenta in the casserole dish.

Spread grated Parmesan over the mixture.

Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.  Remove from the oven and enjoy.  This is a lovely autumn meal for the chilly weather.