True blue thrifty patio

I'm still on my patio kick. Since I haven't had time to work on my current patio re-do project, here's a little look I put together four years ago in Ottawa - along the Rideau River - using thrift store and dollar store finds.

The tablecloth was $14 at a dollar store and I ended up giving it to the person who owned the house and let me do the photo shoot there.

The rest of the items you can see listed in the article I wrote for the Ottawa Citizen newspaper; simply click on the image to the left to make it larger.






Some of my fave things:
I turned this wrought iron telephone table - picked up for $5 at a garage sale! - into a serving nook.

I threw tiny carnations into old glass sugar containers.



I think these dollar store wine flutes look perfectly elegant on an old silver tray.







Speaking of old silver I love putting flowers in old silver water jugs - the look would just get better as the silver tarnished over time.


I cheated a bit by putting old pillowcases over the bright purple vinyl seatcovers on the wrought iron chairs bought at the Sally Ann - that's the grunge-queen way: fake it!




Here's the look from afar, overlooking the river. It was the end of May and not quite full-on green-ess.


Hopefully this will inspire you in your weekend entertaining!
Have a good one!!

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Tea party patio a la cheap

My patio project (see post below) has gotten me thinking of past patio projects - which have been few given I've lived in apartments for my time in Toronto.

Three summers ago when I was just getting in to freelance writing and junking in a big way, I wrote a piece on having a tea party in your outside space - from there I created a romantic tea party look on my ugly fire escape so I could have a pretty photo accompanying the article.

I hung up dollar store sheers to cover the icky white brick, plopped my fave piece of Ralph Lauren floral fabric over a ratty fold-up table I had painted red (same table will be part of this year's patio project!), and threw together some pretty tea cups and a silver tea set I found at the thrift shops. The gold-tone shawl hanging on the silver chair is still a fave for draping over chairs and such - I found that at Value Village for $6.99 or so.

Some creative touches: an old watch as a napkin holder; spray painting the wrought iron chairs silver and recovering them with fabric from a dollar store tablecloth!

I even made the crustless sandwiches for my photo shoot, which I styled myself (and broke my sister's borrowed camera in the process - talk about spending money to make money!).

Here's the article I wrote about putting it all together along with some tea trivia; just double click on it to get a better view:

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Japanese ironstone

I've developed an eye for Japanese ironstone, a type of earthenware made of clay with iron in it. Japanese ironstone always seems to have a certain look to it: clean and crisp lines with artsy shades.

In Value Village the other day I found a whack of it. A set of four retro cups, with "Primastone genuine ironstone oven detergent craze proof bronze Japan" on the bottom, were only $1.99.

This lone square dish by Mikasa, was $2.99. I plan on using it as a spoon rest.

I agonized a bit more over these contemporary purple plates called Sasaki by Vignelli Designs, Japan.

I loved the purple but had to go away and think on the price, $2.99 for the large plates (4 in the set) and $1.99 each for the 3 bowls and one lone side plate.

But I've been living with avocado green dishes, which believe me make most meals look grotesque. So I went back and bought the lot and got 30 percent off EACH individual plate - please let me digress as this is a post-script to my Sally Ann vs. Value Village post where I mentioned you can get 30 percent off your purchase if you fill up a stamp card. I made the assumption I'd get 30 percent off all the dishes added up us a subtotal. But no, I got 30 percent off each individual plate, which means I didn't get the deal I thought I'd get. If you have the stamp card and want to take advantage of the 30 percent off, you'll get a better bang for your buck if you save it for a higher ticket item!

Still, I love them, and look how great food looks on them! I'll still keep the green ones as I paid a fair amount of cash for them a few years ago. I can even try mixing the green with the purple for the rare dinner party where I have 12 people ...

TIPS: If you like the look of of this type of tableware, troll the thrift shops and always take a peep at the bottom of the item as it should have a "Japan" mark on it.

Crazing - what look like a network of little cracks - indicates the item is probably retro. To my knowledge crazing isn't dangerous and in fact I love the look of it.

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