Centerpiece Change in the Kitchen and my Pig Takes Center Stage

It was time for a new look for our centerpiece in the kitchen, time for new trim and time to my let my country pig take center stage!

She was a "piggy pink" when my honey bought her for me almost twenty years ago. I painted her to make her fit in with our decor....I don't do pink!

The centerpiece started out like this. Then I made the little changes and swapped the rattan place mat for the pair of green ones to add more green to the vignette

Here I added some fresh cut basil, from our window, to fill the vase some more.

Same exact photo? NOT!

A little secret of mine, that I use a lot is the cloning tool in Pic Monkey. It's the photo editing program that I use for every single pic that I share. 

I hate imperfections and blemishes and since I had no more perfect flowers or basil on hand I just cloned them.

I use it to hide wires and dust and cracks....anything that I didn't notice when taking my shots!

 You can see that I added a checkerboard trim to the lazy susan, to change it up again, and match the stool that I painstakingly painted. I shared it's "how to" in this post.

I shared how I, recently, re-painted it white and added Italian and English words all the way around. It was very apropo for our Italian themed dinner party that we had a few weeks back.

Then came the 4th of July. An American flag band disguised the words and made the perfect patriotic accent.

It's so easy to add any trim...I just stick it on with some "poster putty" which makes it really easy to remove.

"Emma" almost always wears her pearls!

A chicken wire wrapped jar holds some fresh cut summer flowers.....note: petals not cloned...oops!

I think she's happy being center stage, so I'll keep her happy for a while!

And now I'm itching to re-do the bay window, again, with a summer theme. I'm just holding off because I'm still in love with the herb garden look. Nothing beats the handiness of having herbs right at hand in the kitchen!

 Love, Hugs and Kisses,
JP

and Gucci, too!

Can you see him? He's playing "peek-a-boo!"

 
 
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My Checkerboard Stool was NOT an Easy Project!

Last summer I bought two, bright red, stools at a consignment shop for $5 ea....good deal!

I planned on painting them to sell in my space. Well, it didn't take long before I scapped them up, from the garage, to try them at the counter in our kitchen.

Guess what? They were a perfect fit!!! 

I'd been longing to add some black and white checkerboard to our kitchen ever since we were in our old house. 

My plan was to create a checkerboard floor cloth, but with our move other priorities came first.

So, for now, I decided to paint the pattern on the stools.

 This was the way it started...well, actually, the way the 2nd one is still. I haven't found the time to tackle the task for a second time!
 

Now, I'm not gonna lie, or even sugar coat this project....it was a real pain in the "you know what"!

After sanding down the glossy, red paint I applied two coats of black paint to the legs and two more, in white, to the seat.

Then came a lot of measuring and taping to make the perfect squares.

taping it in both directions

Then I painted these squares black and attempted to remove the tape too soon!!! Ugh...don't do that! Wait...wait...wait!!!

Then remove the tape and re-tape to expose where you still need to paint more black squares that the tape covered in between!

And....then you need to tape and paint the pattern on the edge all the way around!

I am really happy with the way it finally turned out.

It's the perfect checkered "pop of pattern" for our country kitchen.

Now, here's a closer look at my breakfast vignette.
I found four matching place mats at a local consignment store for just $1!

Pfaltzgraff and ironstone created my breakfast setting

complete with souvenir salt and pepper shakers and "grandma's" rooster egg cup

with some ironstone and toleware, too.

This is my vintage, shaving mug... it's now my sugar server with the perfect holder for some stirrers.
I did another post on the mug here, too.

This is my new coffee pot. It was a gift from my sweet friend, DeeAnn, from my trip home for Mother's Day.

It's an 1800's ironstone piece that I will forever treasure!

 Love, Hugs and Kisses,

JP

and Gucci, too!

Visiting Southport,  N.C? be sure to stop by my booth @ the Northrop Antiques Mall and see what I may have there for you!


A very special, ''thank you" to Linda from craftsalamode for featuring this post on her blog!
   
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