It is rare, and I mean rare with a capital R, that I find good glassware at my local Goodwill. Most of what I usually see are those clear uninteresting florist vases or mismatched glasses of mixed variety and low quality. Yesterday was different. Very different. It was like Macy’s unloaded their stock that day. I was delighted bring home a few lovely little gems to add to my collection.

I am a complete sucker for colored glass. My eyes are always drawn to it right away, so when I saw the selections available, I made a bee line for the glassware section.

Check out these foot tall tea light candle holders I picked up for $2 each. They are perfect for adding height to a dining table, and will come in very handy during the holidays when I put candles on just about every surface in my house.

Ooooh, I just love that sparkle.  

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I have a dozen cabinet doors leftover from the old kitchen before our remodel, and I couldn’t bring myself to take them to the salvage yard just yet.  I’m glad I waited, because after I gave it some thought, I came up with a few ideas for repurposing them.  The first idea was to transform two of them into memo boards for my office.

Here’s the Before and After:

I think great fabric makes stylish wall art.  These two memo boards also add practicality, and a place for displaying inspirational images or mementos.  Here they are (unadorned) on my office wall. 

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One of my absolute favorite ways to decorate is setting a table before a party.  Saturday night I was hosting the summer meeting for our Martini Book Club.  There is so much pink in bloom right now, so I decided on a grown up table for my ladies, in various shades of this vibrant color.  

Here’s a look at my final tablescape before my guests arrived:

I collected much of what you see over the years,

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Last year, I purchased a long iron sofa and matching outdoor chair from our local antique fair.  I love the look of those iron outdoor sofas from Restoration Hardware, but was completely unprepared to pay those prices. 

I bargained the vendor down to $300 for my set – she didn’t want to have to load it back up on her truck, so it came home with me.  My next mission was to have custom cushions made with Sunbrella fabric, but I had sticker shock at the amount the local upholstery shops wanted to charge me for foam, batting, fabric and sewing.  So I decided to make them myself. 

Last year, I found an online retailer to custom cut high density foam and wrap it in Dacron. 

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My sister Amelie has finally been bitten by the bug.  She sent me some photos of her most recent transformation.  Rock on, sis.

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