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Friday, March 30, 2018

Bunny Love, Spring and Easter Joy Link Party

It's a good thing bunnies were created to be so endearing in appearance because Mr. McGregor was right - they wreak havoc in a garden. So, in trying not to be the villain that Mr. McGregor was to the bunny folk in the Beatrix Potter series, it appears I'm embracing some bunny love in my home. I'm also inviting you to join in a link party to share your spring and Easter joy at the end of this post, so I hope you'll stay with me!

Allow me to share my bunny love at home with you...
A sweet Easter greeting on a vintage postcard sits alongside a little ceramic basket with bunny, and a couple of marble eggs, basking in the early evening sun.
A flower arrangement in the sunroom has one bunny very curious, while the other tries to not look guilty of partaking of the greens!
"Bunnies on a Picnic" vintage children's tote is part of my antique purse collection, and takes up company among a stack of plates with napkins in the bunny fold.
Even though the MacKenzie-Childs bunnies (above) were bought last year, they didn't come out to play until this year. They're hanging out in my dining room.
The little guy pictured above is my role model of bunnies welcome in the garden. For many years I've embraced his presence, but it could be he's the culprit for attracting the real deal in recent years. Hmmm.....
And then there was this guy. Some bunny had to love him. I simply had to take him in, off the curbside, where even the trash collectors wouldn't bother taking him, he was so heavy. He's my Bunny Van Gogh, and resides year round, among my lavender in the courtyard.
In my tablescape post a couple days ago, all the guys above used my dining room table as their playground.

One might conclude I have a collection of bunnies, but I swear, this one was totally accidental. I only realized my number as I've been working through my inventory, continuously organizing, and changing winter decor to spring. Admittedly, there may be one or two still stowed away. The fact that I'm not ready to take any of these to the booth spaces yet, though, is a pretty good indicator they're a collection. I think I'm pretty safe in keeping a lid on the size of the colony. Now, keeping the real thing out of the garden, that's another story!

How about you? Have you fallen into the rabbit hole of bunny collections? How big is your colony? Are there other springtime decor themes that you cannot resist, that seem to multiply the way bunnies do? Well, you can share those collections, along with any other springtime decor themes now!
Welcome to the Spring and Easter Joys link party hosted by:
This is the place for celebrating the beauty of spring and Easter with old and new friends!
From March 30- April 2nd, 2018 we invite you to link up your inspiring spring or Easter themed home decor, crafts or spring garden style posts (No more than five please).

Party Etiquette:

-You may share old or new posts.

-Have fun and be social! Visit other bloggers and leave comments. This is a great place to make new friends!

-Please include a courtesy link back to the host's blog where you have linked up.

-Several of the hosts will be sharing features from the party next week on their respective blogs, so be sure to be watching for updates.


We can't wait to see what you have to share...link Away!





Best wishes for a beautiful Easter holiday to all!
Rita C. at Panoply

Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Bunnies, Bounty, and Bouquets Spring Tablescape

Welcome to Panoply! Today I'm participating with a fabulous group of gals in an Easter Joys blog hop organized by Amber of the blog, Follow the Yellow Brick Home. This is day two, but if you're just now coming over from Kristin's blog, White Arrows Home, I can bet you've already seen some inspiring displays of creativity. For the occasion of spreading Easter Joy, I've created a tablescape of Bunnies, Bounty and Bouquets!
This tablescape began with a moss runner on my dining room table, which I had rolled out a few weeks earlier to help usher in spring through the house.
Anchoring each end of the table are mixed bouquets of grocery blooms and vintage bunnies.
At the head of the table is a vintage concrete garden bunny, standing guard over the bounty down the table's center.
Each plate stack rests on a twig placemat, (previously used side by side as a runner here). A spring green dinner plate is the base for a vintage Staffordshire Ridgway "Old English Bouquet" salad plate.
Napkins are a simple pink linen, and napkin rings are ruffled ponytail elastics (!). Purple stemmed glassware is paired with green tumblers. A vintage frosted glass tidbit tray, which belonged to my mother, is used for serving, along with a spring green Blenko decanter. My bird salt and pepper shakers are perched on the table, and twig flatware completes the service.
The centerpiece of this table is a vintage chicken feeder, but this time it's serving veggies for a bunny buffet. There's a bounty of cauliflower, artichokes, carrots and radishes, mixed with eggs of various kinds: Blenko glass eggs made in a workshop last year, estate marble finds, and plastic ones, both speckled and with various decorated trims. A berry garland and tiny lights are woven through the feeder.
The bunnies at play in the center are concrete (on the swing) and metal (sniffing a daisy). My first inclination was to hang the swinging bunny from the chandelier, but my better judgment won out, and he's hanging from a wrought iron plant stand centered on the feeder. I vaguely recall another blogger recently describing how her chandelier came crashing down in an attempt to decorate it. 😲
The food is both faux and fresh. Can you tell which is which? 😊
At the other end of the table runner are another pair of snuggle bunnies, one napping and the other apparently ready to do the same.

Each setting is marked with a tiny, pewter bunny holding a place card.
When not holding place cards, the bunnies huddle together on a shelf in the sunroom. I'm not sure, but they may be practicing their multiplication tables. 😉
Bunnies, Bounty, Bouquets Source List
Salad plates, bunnies, chicken feeder, napkins, plastic trimmed eggs - vintage finds
Moss runner - Michael's
Twig placemats - Foxglove Antiques, Abingdon, VA
Twig flatware, purple stemware - Pier 1
Green tumblers, dinner plates - Dollar Tree
Glass eggs, decanter - Blenko
Bunny place card holders - Pottery Barn
I hope this tablescape has given you a little Easter joy, and inspired a little creativity of your own. For even more inspiration, I hope you'll go next and see Laura's spin on this joyous season at Decor to Adore, as well as the list of other bloggers below.

Tuesday






Wednesday

Panoply (you are here!)






As if all of this Easter Joy is not enough, our group will also be hosting a Spring and Easter Joy link party starting this Friday, March 30, and going through Monday, April 2. You can join in the fun and link your favorite posts of the season when that post goes live on March 30 at 8am Eastern time. Your posts will be shared among a wide range of readers, increasing the potential for your audience readership greatly. It's like bunnies, multiplying! We hope you'll join us!
Thank you for your visit today, and I hope you'll return if you find my topics of interest to you. You can see more of my topics on my main menu (if on a handheld, go to bottom of page and click on web version to see menu), as well as my labels on my sidebar. Or, you can do a subject search, such as tablescape, vintage finds, etc.  Feel free to leave your comments and let me know you were here. I love engaging in the conversation!

Rita C. at Panoply

Sharing: One More TimePieced Pastimes, Best of the Weekend, Amaze Me, DIDIBNOTP, Show & ShareInspire MeMake it PrettyThe ScoopDagmar's HomeCelebrate Your Story,SYS, SYCDelightsome Life H&GGrace at Home, Vintage Charm, Spring & Easter Joy Link Party

Thursday, March 22, 2018

Majolica Spring Tablescape

Spring is finally here, and I'm thrilled at the prospects of days getting longer, birds and bunnies nesting, landscape flowers growing, and a general feeling of brightness everywhere. Spring is my favorite season, and I'm celebrating with a table full of bright colors of majolica, all of which make me happy in this season I so love.
I couldn't wait to set a table with the recent additions of majolica I added to my dish collection. I shared about it all (and more) in this post.
All the things I mentioned in the intro are here on the table - birds, bunnies (well, if you consider the napkins 😉), flowers, and plenty of bright and cheery color. My plate stack began with a new (old) majolica basket weave green dinner plate, trimmed with a rim of leaves.
I then layered on salad plates, two of which are the same bird motif, and two others in various leaf and floral designs.
My Tiffany 'Blackberry' majolica tea set was sourced in 2016, and was styled in my sunroom last summer, along with other majolica plates in my varied collection. My majolica is not all one pattern (other than the matching basket weave dinner plates and two bird salads), nor is it all from any one country. That's the beauty in collecting - just go where your eye leads you, and soon you'll find you have similar color or themes that coordinate for a nice variety. Majolica can be very expensive, but a big part of my thrill is in finding a good deal.
The center bowl is also part of my latest majolica, and it's being used as the vessel for my centerpiece flowers.
The cold beverage service is vintage Blenko - a light aqua, classic decanter and coordinating, crackle glass tumblers. The aqua, two-piece butter server is Depression-era glass (seen pictured with dinner plate in earlier photo). Another majolica serving piece is used on the table, which has a three-dimensional cherry blossom branch over leaf design. The napkins are a simple duck cloth, folded in the shape of bunnies (see instructional video below, under the source list).
Salt and peppers in the shape of birds find their way to many a tablescape of mine in the spring/summer seasons.
The tablecloth is a fabulous vintage cotton with intricate cutwork and crocheted lace. Ivory flatware enhances the fresh and clean appearance, as do the cups and saucers from another china set.
I hope this table has inspired you, and given you ideas on how to mix vintage with new, found with purchased items, intended uses with repurposed ones.
Majolica Spring Tablescape Source List
Tablecloth, Napkins, Blenko Glassware, Majolica, Mikasa 'Magnolia' China, bird salt & peppers (silverplate) - all vintage finds
'Sophia' Flatware - Horchow
Flowers - Kroger's
Bunny napkin fold instructional video:
To see more spring table inspiration, look no further than the list of other bloggers below. Chloe Crabtree of Celebrate and Decorate is once again graciously serving as the host of this group and this week of table inspiration. It pleases me greatly to participate with this group of talented ladies and sharing of our ideas with you, all of our readers. The links will take you directly to each blogger's table for various spring ideas.
Monday
Red Cottage Chronicles | Everyday Living | Belle Blue Interiors  | Home is Where The Boat Is | |From My Carolina Home
Tuesday
Life and Linda | Our Crafty Mom | Corner of Plaid and Paisley | The Little Yellow Corner Store
Wednesday
Bluesky at Home | A casa di Bianca | The Painted Apron | At Home with Jemma | Knock it Off Kim
Thursday
Panoply (you are here!) | My French Twist | Around my Table | Loveland Lodge
 Friday
Rustic & Refined | Celebrate & Decorate | Living With Thanksgiving |  Me and My Captain
Thank you for joining me today. Leave your comment and let me know you were here - I love engaging in the conversation!  I hope you'll return and visit again, and perhaps subscribe to my posts if you find my topics are of interest to you.
Rita C. at Panoply

Sharing: One More TimePieced Pastimes, Best of the Weekend, Amaze Me, DIDIBNOTP, Show & ShareInspire MeMake it PrettyThe ScoopDagmar's HomeCelebrate Your Story,SYS, SYCDelightsome Life H&GGrace at Home, Vintage CharmSpring & Easter Joy Link Party

Friday, March 16, 2018

Panoply New Booth Vignettes Early 2018

As with my Panoply shopping for early 2018, I haven't posted any updates to our antique mall booths for 2018 until now. The last time I updated was with our holiday styling last November! A lot has happened since then, but I won't bore you with all the in betweens. I'll just share how we're currently set for spring 2018.

Our farmhouse corner space has a new look with some not-so-spring chickens that have come to roost in the cabinet.
There's also a smattering of farm animals on the four-square cubby against the wall, along with some stools and wooden containers (crates, cart, and tool box).

Okay, maybe there is some evidence of a spring chick or two in a cabinet curio nearby.
Segueing into our adjacent space, we're keeping with a crossover of farm, utilitarian, and soon-to-be more garden things in the coming week. This garden hutch will likely be tricked out with lots of garden items, but we try to 'expose' new items when just arriving, and this hutch came in just last week.
Pictured below is how the aisle appears, stretching as the boundary across two of our spaces. You can see between the photo shoot below and above, we'd already started adding things to the once 'exposed' garden hutch.
The green wicker cart on the aisle is home to our selection of old hardware right now. This stuff is popular with many shoppers, whether they're refurbishing old furniture and need replacement parts, or for those who like to repurpose old hardware into other things.
Rounding the corner, from the garden hutch, enter if you dare. It gets a little cluttered.
This.is.organized.clutter. Together with the garden hutch on the aisle, our shutter and shelf divider sort of reigns in the various things found in here. It's hard to tell what you might find in here: old tools, sewing items, kitchen utensils, stools, and containers. It's a crap shoot, and it's the most likely place where 'leftovers' go whenever we're styling vignettes. 
Seen below, this wall is to the left of the shutters and shelves, and restores a bit of order to things in this space with our casual linen rack and more.
Primitive utilitarian baskets and tools, along with a little Easter vignette on the wicker shelf.
Canning and other kitchen smalls are styled below the wicker shelf, with a hint of a gardening vignette to come.
Across the aisle from the garden hutch and casual linens is our mantiques section. 
The curio cabinet against the wall (directly across from the casual linens) has been there for a few years, with optimal visibility from the mall's front entry aisle. It houses various smalls, not just mantiques. Here's a glimpse of what's currently available in the curio.
The corner of the mantiques aisle (directly across from the garden hutch) has our 2018 Derby vignette(s). Derby and hunt, the lines are blurred, and we typically take springtime (near the annual Derby) as an opportunity to showcase all things equestrian.
The equestrian items we garnered this year seemed to spill over to the wall behind the washstand surface where we started our styling.

This old Barnum litho found its way from auction, just as the circus was winding down its 146 year history with its final tour in 2017.
The corner cabinet in the mantiques booth....
Our last space to show is always what we refer to as our main booth. We moved the low, curio floor showcase over to the farmhouse corner (shown near beginning of this post), opening this space up for a change.
The antique rocking chair in this space was taken completely apart and reupholstered by my sister, M.
Here's a before and after shot. The rocker's no longer musty, dirty and old; it's now clean, fresh and new-old.
During the first quarter 2018, we've sold several pieces of furniture that were previously in our main space alone: a chandelier, an antique dresser with mirror, a diminutive console table, a bookcase, and an end table. A couple other pieces of furniture sold in our other spaces, including a desk and industrial cart. All are pictured in the collage below.
Several smalls are also selling, including those pictured below, along with our vintage linens, a staple in our inventory.
We're off to a good start for 2018. We hope you'll plan a visit to our antique mall soon. Panoply is located in the South Charleston Antique Mall at 617 D Street, South Charleston, WV.  It is an easy on/off from I-64 at Exit 56.

Thanks for coming along for a virtual tour of our latest offerings. Feel free to leave your comments. I'll be happy to answer any questions you have.

Rita C. at Panoply

Sharing: One More TimePieced Pastimes, Best of the Weekend, Amaze Me, DIDIBNOTP, Show & ShareInspire MeMake it PrettyThe ScoopDagmar's HomeCelebrate Your Story,SYS, SYCDelightsome Life H&GGrace at Home, Vintage Charm