pink roses in the dish room

💐"If I had a flower for every time I thought of you, I could walk through my garden forever." — Alfred Tennyson

 

The beautiful winter light that’s reflected by the sky brings out the very best of white decor and is just right to brighten up those slightly gloomy February days. And these roses make me soooo happy!

 

Here’s a little peek at the new area in the house that I'm calling the “dish room”. In December I decided to take an unused bedroom and use it as the main hub for a lot of my styling props, extra dishware and my collection of colored glassware.

 

Not only was the space ideal, but the morning light was also so perfect for those early morning photo shoots. 

With that in mind, I set up a cottage farmhouse display wall with furniture that was already in the room.

 

A dark brown-black Ikea desk and two shelves were transformed with a few coats of white chalk paint. I papered the wall with a fun beadboard textured wallpaper which saved me quite a bit of money on using actual beadboard.

All I bought, besides the wallpaper, was a custom-made peg rack to fit right under the bottom shelf and a cute gingham curtain for the desk opening.

What I thrifted and how I styled it…

Lastly I found the most adorable vintage chandelier to finish off the room! The space is almost complete. This is now a great spot for my early morning photo shoots and also fulfills my organizational tendencies! 😜

The cute little thrifted chandelier transforms my new "dish room" into a cozy little space. My good friend Laura and I were checking out a few of our favorite thrift and consignment stores last week, when we spotted this adorable little chandelier.

 

It was marked $75, but when I asked the salesperson if that was the final price, she said it was actually 60% off! So, this little darling came home with me for only $30! Yay!!

 

This is a vintage inspired look I put together for fall. I used lots of white ironstone and hints of brown transferware and natural elements like wicker to create a soft autumn vibe.

I will be sharing lots more on the dish room soon, including a very unexpected surprise!!

ciao fabiana

 

 

For lots of fun extras, follow me on Instagram!

 

 

 

You can check out some of my favorites here at “Tablescaping Essentials” 

 

 

 

Please note that this post may contain affiliate links.

a winter white tablescape

Hints of a winter wonderland are one of my favorite ways to honor the season we’re in right now. 

Evergreen trees, a neutral palette and just a hint of holiday sparkle is my favorite look for January.

 

Welcome to the breakfast room where today I’m featuring lots of thrifted treasures and some of my favorite simple holiday decor items.

I recently put up these cozy curtains right before Thanksgiving to warm up the space during the colder months. I found these toile-like drapes on Amazon and I just have them on simple and easy to use swing-arm curtain rods.

 

They’re so easy to install and you have so much versatility with how much of the curtains you want to show, and curtains are easily changed out without removing any hardware.

 

I loved this pattern so much that I recently bought a pretty blue colorway of this same print for my living room. I'll share those soon! 

 

The botanical print on these curtains features a pretty vining pattern with pomegranates, birds and even a few adorable hummingbirds!

 

And the fabric is perfect. It’s linen-like blend that has great texture and just the right amount of sheerness.

  

White eyelet placemats and napkins may feel like summer, but I love the little lacy quality they bring to this winter white table and give it a fun shabby chic look!

I found these two white cottage-shaped candles recently while out thrifting and I love how they glow in the center.

The chairs have a lovely, warm sheepskin throw on each seat adding to the coziness of this room and they do make you feel warmer on a cold January day like today. 

White poinsettias are the flower of the day, and I love the nostalgic feel they bring to the room.

 

And even though Christmas is over, the white poinsettias still look good here nestled in their plain paper bags.

Do you spot the pretty clear goblets with the etched Christmas tree design? I found a set of 6 of those at my favorite thrift store just before the holidays and fell in love with them!

 

It wasn’t until I got home that I realized they were from Neiman-Marcus! They are truly soooo elegant, and I just love the statement they make here with the small evergreen trees in the room and the muted bottlebrush trees on the table.  

 

The little sprigs of greenery on my chandelier are actually little evergreen wreaths that are sold as napkin rings. They’re the perfect size for the individual candlesticks of the chandelier.

 

The chunky chargers, also shown here, are from Antique Farmhouse. I added the dainty round eyelet placemats on top to soften the look.

 

The eyelet placemats and matching napkins are from Shabby Chic, and I found them both at Marshall’s!

 

Here’s the same room and table with a few little changes but still maintaining the beauty of winter white.

 

Here’s a tip for showcasing the poinsettias with a fun farmhouse cottage look… It's as simple as just popping them in a paper bag, cutting the bag to size, and tying with a pretty ribbon. No pots or baskets needed!! 

 

Armstrong Garden always has the best selection of poinsettias in the most unusual colors!

 

In case you haven’t heard, I started a new Instagram page in October and named it Claudia Fabiana Home. My former page is still up, but after getting a new phone, I was no longer able to log into this account, so the new profile was born!

 

I hope you’ll follow along with me on Instagram for all the latest projects and décor I will be sharing in 2025.

 

 

 

ciao fabiana

 

For lots of fun extras, follow me on Instagram!

 

 

 

You can check out some of my favorites here at “Tablescaping Essentials” 

 

 

 

Please note that this post may contain affiliate links.

 

vintage finds from antiques cottage

 

Don’t you love discovering new little shops right in your own neighborhood? There’s a sweet little antiques shop called Antiques Cottage right here on 17th Street here in Costa Mesa that I never knew about before.

 

I found some really fun little finds last week when I stopped in, and it just so happened that they were having a sale, so the prices were really reasonable. What more could you ask for?!

Just a few little fun things to add to my collection, and some of them make really cute additions to my tablescapes too.

 

I’ll show you some of these fun finds individually… first up is this darling depression glass double-handled sugar bowl in just the most perfect shade of green.

 

This type of glass is also known as Uranium glass because it has minute traces of this element, and it actually glows brightly under a black light. So cool!

It's just the right size for a little impromptu bouquet of flowers from the garden.

 

I also found this amazing zester with vintage green wooden handle. These vintage kitchen utensils still work great, and I’ve gathered a useful little collection over the years.

 

After a thorough scrubbing, this little beauty is set to create beautiful ribbons of citrus peel for a my next yummy recipe or cocktail.

 

Now how about these cute little piggy napkin rings? I found a larger set, and I’m keeping half and selling the second set of 4 on my eBay store. You can check them out here.   

 

These little guys are so charming, they’d be a fabulous addition to any tablescape, from country to farmhouse to grandmother chic.

I paired them with this bright and festive blue and white check napkin for my 4th of July table. They just add such a fun whimsical touch, don't they? 

One of my favorite finds that day was this beautiful embossed antique creamware pitcher. I listed it on eBay last week, and it sold immediately.

 

Pitchers are one of my favorite ways to display flowers. I don’t know what it is, but flowers always looks so good in a pretty pitcher.

 

These soft purple Downton Abbey rose grows like mad in my garden, and I just love it in this creamware pitcher.

 

Here are some other ones, both large and small, that I have listed on the blog shop. 

This McCoy striped mixing bowl is my absolute favorite find of the day. It’s the perfect size for my big salad. This one has bacon, egg, tomato and is topped with a home-made ranch dressing… super yummy!

 

Here are some similar McCoy bowls for you to check out and if you're interested, here’s a link to my ranch dressing recipe. It whips up in minutes and it's dairy-free, paleo, and full of delicious herbs. 

 

The two matching polychrome transferware bowls I found at Antiques Cottage are just the perfect vessels for going out to the garden, picking fresh veggies like these peas and tomatoes, and bringing them right into the kitchen for a fun and tasty display.

 

These beauties went right into our salad for dinner, and now the bowls are ready for more fresh garden produce. 

What I love most about bowls like this is that they can go straight from the garden to the table, and always look beautiful.

Here’s a pretty eye-spy of vintage kitchen utensils. This is the green handled part of my collection. Can you spy my new little zester?

 

These fun and colorful kitchen gadgets are sometimes spotted at garage sales, thrift stores and on eBay, and best of all, they usually work better that their modern versions.

 

So far I've gathered mostly red and green handled ones utensils, with only a few blue ones to be found in the wild. And of course, blue would be my favorite color.

They add such country charm to the kitchen for a timeless nostalgic look. 

 

I’m telling you this zester works better than any I’ve tried, and the citrus peel becomes very fragrant after being sliced so neatly.

 

My husband also loves vintage kitchen gadgets, and since we both love to cook, it’s one of the things we’re always on the lookout for when we go thrifting together.

 

Here’s my little stash of treasures again. The pudding mold in the back will be used during the holidays to make an old-fashioned Christmas pudding full of spices and fruit that we all love.

The wicker coffee cups are just sooo cute, and I got two sets of 4 that are in the original boxes. 

They're from the1970's just as I suspected. (You can just see Mary Richards and Rhoda using these while gossiping at Mary's kitchen table on the Mary Tyler Moore Show.) 

They'll make adorable options for coffee at brunch or they'd even work great for a hot toddy during the winter months, topped off by a fragrant cinnamon stick, and maybe a twist of orange peel from my new little handy-dandy zester. 

All in all, I'm really pleased with these fun little treasures. What are you collecting these days?

ciao! fabiana

 

 

For lots of fun extras, follow me on instagram!

 

 

 

You can check out some of my favorites here at “Tablescaping Essentials”*. 

 

 

 

 

Please note that this post may contain affiliate links.

 

cute farmhouse style for the 4th

How about some red, white and blue inspiration today? I was feeling a little bit country while setting the table for dinner last night. 

Sometimes feeling nostalgic feels so good.

 

I like surrounding myself with sentimental things that remind me of childhood summers, like big bold daisies, little flags that are meant to be waved and vivid blue glasses that  used to hold Kool-Aid and Hawaiian Punch on those hot summer days.

 

That’s one of the reasons why I love setting tables that have specially selected elements that bring back fond memories from the past.

 

How fun are these vintage napkin rings?

I found these funny little piggy napkin rings last week at Antiques Cottage in Costa Mesa and thought they deserved some farmhouse style to make them feel right at home, and nothing does that better than gingham.

Big, bold gingham is perfect for that nostalgic look that I love so much. And to even the playing field, red transferware plates are used at each place setting.

 

 

I also found a few pieces of this pretty silverplate flatware at another favorite vintage shop for only 40¢ apiece. They shined up pretty nicely, don't you think?

In fact, there’s an extra set of these adorable farmhouse style piggies available here at my Ebay Store.

The rest of the tableware is mostly vintage stuff I've collected and loved over the years. I use the white plates and raffia placemats all the time, and they look timeless with just about any style at the table.

I recently found this cute stars and stripe pitcher on Ebay, and the tall blue Fostoria Whitehall glasses are from my collection of vintage colored glassware that I couldn't set tables without.  

The blue gingham check napkins were bought in 2019 on Amazon, and they've washed beautifully and still look new, even though I use them all the time. You can check them out here.

 

Well, the 4^th is just around the corner. Do you have anything fun planned for the holiday weekend?

 

 

ciao! fabiana

 

 

For lots of fun extras, follow me on instagram!

 

 

 

You can check out some of my favorites here at “Tablescaping Essentials”*. 

 

Please note that this post may contain affiliate links.