Fall Buffet

Seeing as how Christmas is upon us, I thought it was time to show you the only decorating I have done in my house in the last 3 months. I actually have the Christmas boxes in the house and I plan to change this up this afternoon, so I will show you what it’s looked like for the last couple of months.

Excuse the cell phone picture. This was actually taken with one of those little wide-angle lenses you can attach to an iPhone. I’m hoping Santa will bring me a wide-angle lens for Christmas this year for my Canon. That little triangle of blue you see in the bottom right of the picture is a closet that makes taking a full on shot of this area next to impossible. Please, Santa, bring me a wide-angle lens. I’ve been a good girl this year!

I actually bought that buffet, and a matching hutch, back in late February this year. They are still on my To Do list and if look closely at the bottom, you can see that there are some dings that I will need to fix. Wait, here’s a better close up.

I’m actually glad I never got around to doing this at the old house because I have come to realize that my old dining room plan will not work in this new house and so I’m patiently waiting for inspiration to strike. In the meantime, I’m not hating the wood.

There are a few things on the buffet that I really love. For one, even though I’m sure the bird craze has long since been declared dead, I still love all my birds.

I bought these two birds with the idea that I was going to do a metallic finish on them. I put them out the first year I got them and I liked their colors, so I decided to keep them “as is.” They haven’t held up over the last two years, though, so I’m thinking I may spruce them up for next year. I can’t remember the exact cost, but I’m sure these birds didn’t cost more than a buck or two.

The same is true for these funky little ceramic birds. I bought them from a craft store that was going out of business for about $1. I intended to repaint them, but I keep these out all year and tuck them into my plants. The pop of color is a fun surprise in the plants.

The moss covered bird and the doorknob plate birdhouse I picked up at a local antique store. I think I paid about $15 for the two of them.

If you missed the story of the lanterns and how I discovered my husband was obsessed with them, you can read about it in my “Color Me Shocked” post. Still, the lanterns are adorbs and I love to use them in my decorating when I can.

I love my little glass lovebirds. I told the story of my scary trip into an estate sale to score these little birds in my Thrift Finds #1 post. Don’t bother looking for any other Thrifty Finds posts. It was an idea I thought I would run with, but never did. But, I do tell you about the coffee urn in that post. That’s the handle of the urn in this next picture.

I like to fill the coffee urn with different flower arrangements. I put together this arrangement last year and really loved it. I found the burgundy flowers at a thrift store for $1 and added them this year.

Maybe the name of this post should be “Things Suesan Buys for $1.” It’s true, but I hate spending a lot of money for things and I’ve been very lucky to find things I like for just a few bucks. Such as this cardinal, which is also in my Thrifty Finds post and also, $1! At least I’m consistent.

The little metal box is one of the things we got from Hubs parents when we were cleaning out their house. I keep the plants and the birds in it year-round. The galvanized birds are ones that were on some wire cloches I also picked up from the going-out-of-business craft store. They just screwed off the cloche and I use them in different places from time to time.

The shutters were some we found in the barn loft when we moved in. I liked them and thought they made a good backdrop on this shelf. Nearly every room in our house has one of these weird shelves in it. I plan to pull them all out, but since it acts a bit like a mantle for me above the buffet, I’m leaving it alone for now.

Both the tin and this weird little do-dad were found at garage sales for, you guessed it, $1. Does anyone have any idea what that metal thing is? I just thought it was cool and I call it a Liahona, which is a Mormon thing, but I’m pretty sure that’s not what it actually is.

I have several of these Paint-By-The-Number pieces that Hubs’ grandmother painted in her later years. I love them, but they confuse the heck out of me. His grandmother was actually an amazing artist and I have two beautiful water colors that she painted. It seems weird that she would go from that to paint-by-numbers, but I’m glad I have them.

The mirror and the yellow bowl are also family heirloom pieces. The mirror used to hang above the piano and it got cracked in our move to Ohio. I took it to a glass shop and had them cut it down and I use it on top of my buffet.

So, there you have it. My one shot at decorating for the last 3 months. I am getting the Christmas stuff out today and hopefully it won’t take me another 3 months to show you what I’m doing for Christmas.

Our Thanksgiving was a quiet one this year, which I really didn’t mind. I’m still feeling sick, which is going on a month with the world’s longest cold. I will feel better for a couple of days and then have a bit of a relapse. I do feel like I’m on the upswing and I’m hoping that December is a healthy month for me and mine.

While I know I have been saying this for awhile now, I’m still finishing up the piano and hope to have that show to you next week. Once that is done, I will break out more of my decorations and make an effort to start making this house feel like our home.

Suesan