0 Following My Own Advise!

Following my own advise from my previous post, I created a January centerpiece vignette for the dining room table. The runner is stenciled burlap from Bella Inspirations.

Dressing up the paperwhites are birch "sleeves" from Pottery Barn, last year. Birch pillar candles keep with the theme.

Mercury glass hurricanes and candleholders add a little glamour to the rustic centerpiece.

My favorite mercury glass candleholder though is this one, a gift from my special friend and fellow blogger Netierose at After Glo Vintage Baubles.

I am glad to put away the Christmas greens and flowers. I've been waiting a while to use the burlap runner, and no doubt it will show up again in a future tablescape!

The hutch got a January makeover too. Gone is the red transferware, replaced by neutral brown tranferware and white ironstone. More mercury glass, this time as mini vases holding white flowers, leftovers from the Christmas arrangements.

In the living room, the mantel is a work in progress. I got rid of the dried up cedar garland, but kept the burlap for now.

A few family photos are a nice transition from the Christmas mantel decorations.

Later, I'll put away the burlap and photos and simplify the mantel for Spring.

I'm not even thinking of Spring yet, but learning to love the simple beauty of Winter in January.

I'm joining Marty for her 46th Tabletop Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life.

I'm also joining Kim at Savvy Southern Style for her BTB Party for the first time.

Be sure and check out both blogs for lots of ideas and inspiration.

0 What I Didn't Buy At the Antique Show

This booth at the Hillsborough Antique Show was filled to the brim with linen, grain sacks, mangle cloths and pillows. It made my heart skip a beat!

I passed up this lovely yardage. Now I regret it! It's unusual to find flax linen like this with the caramel brown stripe. It would have been a wonderful runner for the Thanksgiving table!

There were other colors too. Red stripe, purple stripe, blue and black striped runners. Why didn't I at least get a couple of yards?

I thought these Christmas stockings were adorable! They would have been perfect for my #1 daughter's family. Passed them up....

As well as these monogrammed sachets filled with lavender. They would make great little gifts, but no, I left them there!

There were many monogrammed grain sacks too. My BFF, Maureen found a mangle cloth with her initials. Perfect as a tablecloth. I made her buy it! But again, I didn't buy a thing. What was wrong with me?

As much as I love this look, there is just so much that one can have before it becomes too much of a good thing.

For instance, I had slipcovers made for these two captain's chairs out of grain sacks. If I added a similar runner for the table, it would be too much.

I even upholstered my four French chairs out of coffee sacks!

Which went great with the linen and burlap tablescape I did back in May.

The living room is a study in linen!

I even had a French grain sack framed!

As much as I regret passing up all the great European linens at the antique show, I think it was probably the right thing to do. For once, I listened to my gut and told myself, "you have enough of this already!"

I found it interesting that this was the only grain sack I found in Italy!

Seriously, I did not see one bit of burlap or linen there.

Which also confirmed to me that I shouldn't invest anymore in this look!

I did get the dealer's card though, just in case!

That caramel stripe runner is calling my name!