the blue & white room at roger's gardens

Did you know that Roger’s Garden has a whole room devoted to blue and white décor? Oftentimes we’re drawn to the outdoor allure of Roger’s, which is understandable, but many of their indoor rooms are quite beautiful.

Here’s a look at some of my favorite blue and white accessories in the “Blue Room”. So much of it is chinoiserie inspired, isn’t it?

And speaking of chinoiserie, look at this amazing daybed in the next room over. And at the top, would you expect a giant crown? Probably not!

Outside, sunflowers are already making their debut, and you can see that fabulous greenhouse in the distance.

Artichoke season is peaking and these beauties are on sale!

Rosemary, sage and thyme.

And I’m always ready to plant some fresh herbs. These pretty ones in galvanized buckets make wonderful gifts.

ciao! fabiana

💕

While I’m here today, I wanted to share some of my "Tablescaping Essentials" with you. I have a whole page on the Amazon website with my favorite picks for setting a beautiful table.

Quite often time is of the essence, and I have last minute projects or events to work on, so I turn to Amazon for one or two day delivery. You’d be surprised at how many amazing items they have to offer! And I'm constantly updating this page with my new favorites. 

You can check it out here, at “Tablescaping Essentials”.

P.S. I’m on a mini-summer vacation for August, so you’ll be reading condensed versions of summer-inspired blog posts this month.

chinoiserie in the powder room

Using the powder room at Marion's 

can be quite a visual adventure, lol!

It contains a fun collection of chinoiserie 

and other sentimental treasures.

The fleur de lys sconces are from

 her childhood home in Cologne, Germany. 

Marion’s husband proposed to her 

in the living room 

of her parents' home 

where these sconces originally hung. 

 The adventure continues, 

when Marion and I go antiquing next week!

ciao! fabiana 

collections: august plate finds

Happy Monday! I can hardly believe it’s the last week in August already. We have one last week to enjoy the true feeling of summer!

Whatever the season may be, it doesn’t stop me from visiting my favorite thrift stores, both here locally and while I’m away.

In fact while I was in Savannah, I spent a few hours treasure hunting and found just a couple of adorable additions for my table.  

two plates from Savannah

A lovely salad plate and 8 little bread and butter plates were found at different shops, but somehow go together beautifully. They both feature hand-painted details and depictions of birds.

The smaller plate on top was found with a larger group of 8 plates and 4 matching cups and saucers. The blue transferware pattern is amazing, and so southern! It’s called “Plantation Colonial” by Mason’s.

What I really love about these kinds of transferware plates is that after the transfer pattern is applied, the plates are all hand-colored, in this case with pink, yellow and green.

It’s been a month of finding hand-painted transferware, because just last week I found these little Myott “Forget-Me-Not” plates. I kind of like the unexpected paring of them with the bolder blue chinoiserie plate underneath.

Myott “Forget-Me-Not” plates

And Forget-Me-Nots are one of my favorite old-fashioned flowers. Their color is so vibrant and blue that you can’t help but love them. They’re also rumored to be Princess Diana’s favorite flower. 💙

Forget-Me-Nots

You know mixing and matching plates is one of my favorite pastimes, and here's a bit of an unexpected look. 

Again I took the small “Plantation Colonial” plates I found in Savannah and set in on a French breakfast plate from Williams-Sonoma (see below).

To further enhance this look, I placed a Wellsbridge stoneware dinner plate in Aqua from Target (found while thrifting) and used it as base as a charger would be.

Blue and white is absolutely my favorite look to work with. I just love how all different tones of blue work together.

The artistry of hand-painted transferware is right up there on my top-five list of favorite plates.

Staffordshire fine bone china

Here are a few more bread & butter plates recently found. I’m loving this mini size more and more lately.

They’re just so perfect for stacking and mixing!

Hand-painted Johnson Bros "Harvest Time"

And it’s kind of funny that I’ve been finding so much of this hand-painted porcelain lately, but another common thread with these finds is that many of them feature birds.

I do love birds and guess what? I looked up their symbolism on My Dream Symbolism and here’s what it says:

Birds in dreams are usually good signs. They might be symbols of your goals, desires and hopes. They are also a sign of peace, freedom, harmony, balance, ideas, joy and love.

Birds can symbolize freedom of thinking, our hopes and fears. They can also symbolize some situations in our life.

Flying birds signify prosperity and abundance. They might be a symbol of your career. They also might symbolize your social life. 

For women, dreams about birds might indicate happy relationships or meeting their soul mates soon.

Interesting! 

ciao! fabiana

home tour: a little bit of chinoiserie

Being on the committee for the Newport Harbor Home and Garden Tour for the last three years has been so much fun for me.  I think my favorite part of being involved with this group is getting to know all the fabulous women who each have a special talent that they share with us in putting together the home tour.  

This year we have three fabulous women heading up the tour, Karen, Marion and Pam.  I have been to Karen’s home a few times, and am always so impressed with her sense of style, especially in décor.  

I love that Karen’s living room is an evolved space.  It came together over time, as she collected some of her favorite things over the years.  Her blue and white ceramics collection has been building for over thirty years.  

The gorgeous zebra rug was found on consignment.  It’s a great anchor to this eclectic room with its strong black and white pattern. 

Karen spotted this gorgeous French shield at an antique store in Laguna Beach, and fell in love with it.  I have to admit, it’s one of my favorite pieces in this room!   

Every treasure holds a story in Karen’s living room.  The woman in the beautiful portrait is Kitty Keller, a dear friend of Karen’s who also helped her dog-sit her beloved Jack Russell terriers.  

The pair of red leather ottomans was found at our church rummage sale. St. Andrew’s has the best rummage sale in May, right around the time of the home tour.

Blue and white pottery dominates the dining room.

 

One of Karen’s favorite vignettes is in the kitchen.  All her favorite dog collectables are displayed here. 

I couldn’t help but peek into her family room and spy a few more dear dog references, and of course the beautiful turquoise accessories caught my eye! 

As Karen’s visitors come and go, they pass this by a pretty iron bench in her front entry...

with a humorous warning!

{chien lunatique = crazy dog}

Thanks for coming along with me on a tour of Karen’s home.  And, if you are in the area, please join us on May 14, 2015 for the Newport Harbor Home and Garden Tour.  We are featuring 8 homes this year! 

Karen and friends

ciao! fabiana

animal print in the bedroom

Show us how you really feel and bring out your inner animal magnetism with a little animal print in the bedroom. A modest bit goes a long way. Whether it’s leopard, cheetah or tiger, animal print surprisingly acts as a neutral, but also adds vibrancy to a room. Just one pillow can complete the look you're after.

Imagine this room without the leopard cushion. What do you see? A cutsey, plain-jane room… but with the addition of this wild pillow, wow!  

Here the leopard print really makes the black closet doors pop and brings the whole room together. Reupholster a couple of small matching ottomans, and you're all set. 

Most animal prints play off nicely with bold colors too!

But, they’re perfectly at home with a neutral palette too.

Mix and match to your heart content until you come up with an amazing mix of pillows and textures. Even though this tiger print has orange in it, it coordinates nicely with traditional fabrics. That little bit of orange in the chinoiserie pillow connects the whole look.

ciao! fabiana

photo credit:

Veranda

Randi Garrett Design

pinterest

Bliss at Home

Dwellings by Devore

BH&G

my favorite thrift finds for 2020

It’s only day nine of 2020, and as expected, I’ve been busy thrifting! After the holidays, don’t you feel like it’s the perfect time to be getting rid of stuff? And along with that idea, I have to say “out with the old, and in with the new!”  (Kinda new, that is.)

You see, once I drive to the thrift store to make my donations, I just can’t help myself, and I have to check out what new treasures I may find awaiting me inside. 

This year I have a few new things I keep my eye out for. I’m totally into white, especially useful ironstone pieces like platters and pitchers.   

Here are a few I found this week, and although my roses aren’t blooming yet, I’m thankful that Trader Joe’s has a pretty selection to choose from. The pitcher on the far right is a Williams-Sonoma find from a thrift store that I couldn’t resist, since it’s a nice large size.

Not only are these pitchers beautiful for holding flowers, they can still serve their original purpose for pouring beverages, as well. Check out the article I wrote for Cottages and Bungalows HERE on collecting pitchers.

Flowers are now a way of life here at Casa Ciao with my garden providing more roses and hydrangeas than ever during the warmer months, so I'm always on the lookout for interesting vases.  

The four you see above are recent acquisitions, and although they may not be very vintage, they fit the bill perfectly for having interesting shapes and neutral colors. I also like the variety of genres they cover, from chinoiserie to farmhouse. 

It's easier to arrange flowers in vases that aren't glass, don't you think? That way you don't have to worry about how the stems look. Everything underwater is hidden, and the beauty of the flowers and vase are all we need to focus on.

This striped ceramic vase is hand made, and I love how the rim is all pinched together like a pie crust. It’s so cute! A big bunch of lavender wax flowers compliment the rustic quality of this one. 

This look is so perfect for an informal lunch or dinner. (Those navy blue napkins are also a thrift find and found in new condition.)  I also love that this vase crosses over to my next category, crocks. 

In addition to vases and pitchers, crocks are perfect for flowers, all kinds of plants and even your favorite cactus. Of course, they’re great for holding myriad of other things, like wooden utensils, cutlery and other collectables.  

It's nice to see a grouping of crocks on a kitchen shelf that inspire interesting stories of how they were acquired. There's always a favorite in the group. I happen to love the Blackberry Jam one you see above. I used it in my photo shoot for Country Sampler Farmhouse style HERE as part of a red, white and blue summer tablescape.

The crock on the far left has an added bonus...  

It’s perfect for holding spoons! This would be nice for a gathering where a "chili bar" is featured. I love making a big pot of homemade chili and then offering our guests tons of toppings to choose from like different shredded cheeses, Fritos, cilantro, avocado and even diced sweet potatoes, my favorite!    

Next on my list of things to look for while thrifting are vintage brass candlesticks. You can never have too many in my book!  

The large wood and brass lantern you see is also a recent find. It was marked “discard” by Target and ended up at the Goodwill Store nearby. There's a slight crack in the frame underneath where you’ll never see it. 

Picture this during the holidays with a collection of bottlebrush trees inside and brought together with a layer of snow scattered inside? 

  

Vintage wooden bowls are also on my radar this year. I actually bought the smaller French one from Trouvé, and found the larger Munising dough bowl for only a dollar at my favorite thrift store. 

  

Rectangular wicker and willow baskets are easy to find, and I love them for holding fruit and vegetables freshly picked from the garden. They’re also useful for carrying cut flowers indoors and corralling napkins and utensils at your next gathering.

I also love to use them as a container for potted herbs during the summer months.

Flat, round baskets are also one of my favorite finds. They’re so versatile as trays or wall ornaments. I’ve found some amazing ones lately at estate sales. This larger one was found a few days ago at a sale in Laguna and is a vintage rice sorter from Asia. It’s got a really nice herringbone pattern to it.  

I’m always on the lookout for interesting paintings that just “speak to me”. I walk away, come back and make a decision with my gut. So far, I’ve been pretty happy with the outcome! 

So, I've covered just a few of the goodies I look for while thrifting. The thrill of the hunt is never knowing what you’ll find, right? So for now, here’s this week’s list of treasures to look for: 

• ironstone pieces
• pitchers
• interesting vases
• vintage crocks
• brass candlesticks
• vintage wooden bowls
• rectangular wicker and willow baskets
• flat, round baskets
• beautiful paintings

ciao! fabiana

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