A Splendid Surprise

I was surprised last evening by a
belated birthday gift from
my loving wife Samantha.

This was on the porch
when I got home from work.

This was inside the box

This was under the wrapping!

Pretty cool huh?

It is a stretched canvas

reproduction of a vintage travel poster

get one here

"See India - Amber"

Isn't it captivating?

Here is a snippet of info I found about the poster...

(Designed for) Indian State Railways,

'See India, Amber', by Austin Cooper, about 1930.

Coloured lithograph depicting a gigantic caparisoned elephant

with a howdah on its back.

Alongside are onlookers, and guards carrying long spears.

High on a hill in the background are the city walls of

Amber (Amer) in Rajasthan.

 Artist's name at bottom right of illustration.

Information source Sience Museum Group

Sam had seen it on my Indian design idea board,

 and knew I'd been looking at it

on Allposters.com. and Art.com

However the price of framing was a tad prohibitive,

so it was just a pipe dream.

Till Sam discovered a canvas reproduction of it

on Overstock.com! 

Best of all, it was on SALE for $51.29. 

Still above $50, so shipping was FREE!!!

The size is an impressive 24''W X 32''H

So she snapped it up for my Birthday.

I just love the subject matter and

did a little research on the inspiration of the poster.

This is Amber Fort in the city of Jaipur.

image source 

It's featured in the background of the poster.

A classic romantic rajasthani fort palace.
Its construction was started by Man Singh I

in 1592.

A long time tourist attraction where still,

to this day, they have elephant taxi rides
up to and through the fort.

image source

The only modern pics I couldn't find are of

guards with the long spears.

image by foxypar4
Indian State Railways sure did commision
a lot of beautiful posters...

many reproductions are available online

just look under vintage India travel posters.

My canvas poster came
stretched on a wooden frame,

with a bracket for a single nail on back.
I had just the place for it.

In the hallway leading from the India inspired
 living room, on wall space above the towel cabinet.
I had another picture there that Sam didn't like
and didn't fit the theme.
This one is perfect!

Pretty nifty if I do say so myself.
  

What a wonderful wife I have.

 Hope you all are having a great week!

Thanks for visiting and
Happy Hunting!

Reindeers for Next Year

Look what I just ordered!

get one here

It's Pottery Barn's

Galloping Reindeer Salt and Pepper Shaker Set.

 Pottery Barn's image

I saw them at Christmas time in the store

and thought how cool they would look with my

PB Reindeer Cookie Jar.

Pottery Barn's image 

 

But at $30 a set, I didn't figure I needed them.

Till last night, I was on potterybarn.com

looking at "What's new"

and I clicked into their clearance area...

Pottery Barn's image

and there they were for $6.99!!!!!

I immediately got out the charge card

asked Sam if I could buy them.

 

image source

She asked what the total was going to be.

They did charge $4.95 shipping and tax, but

she was happy with the price and said yes! 

I just know they'll look terrific

on next year's Christmas tablescape!

UPDATE: Soon after I ordered my S&P set
I noticed the price online was adjusted up to
$16.99 and stayed at that price till they sold out.
I must have gotten a "mistake" deal At $6.99
How cool is that?

 

Anyway, while I was in the "What's New" area

I found EASTER ENTERTAINING!!!

Pottery Barn's image

 

Pottery Barn's image

They've got a few new things this year and

some returning collectibles.

I was hoping a certain item would return and

I'm delighted to say I'm now the proud owner

of four bunny cupcake stands...

get one here

They sold out so fast last year that

Sam and I headed down to the store that night

to see the Easter display. 

However nothing was out...!?!

A clerk asked if he could help

find something for us.

I asked about the Easter stuff,

and he said it won't be out till Wednesday but,

he would be happy to pull something out

for us "early birds".

I said "Four bunny cupcake stands please"

Pottery Barn's image

And out they came!

Maybe a little early to be buying Easter

but "better safe then sorry" is my

hard learned motto.

 

Thanks for stopping by,

and happy hunting!

A Spicy Little Round Accent Table

We bought a new table last night!
An accent table.
A table with a "Spice" finish.

Exotic, isn't it?

Ever since the new floors were installed,
in a post HERE.

Sam and I have been on the lookout 
for new furniture to freshen up 
our living space.
Back in October we were walking 
through RC Willey ,

just seeing what they had that inspired us, 
and I came across this....

A Howard Miller Round Accent Table
With Spice Finish. 
(RC Willey's SKU# 2908425)
It instantly spoke to me.

It would surely blend in perfectly
 to our "India" inspired living room.
Sam liked it too.
(But she was a little concerned that 
I could hear furniture speaking.)

The price was a bit steep, 
but if we saved our pennies, 
it was doable.  
We snapped a few pictures for reference
and went on our way.
We did this at a lot of places,

a rug at Tuesday Morning,
a chair at Cost Plus World Market.

Our penny saving idea 
was morphing into
a penny and nickel saving idea.

I even whipped up an India inspired design board

of things we already owned, and things that

would be nice to have...

See the table right at the top?
Over the months I kept an eye on the accent table 
on the RC Willey website, checking for 
sales or markdowns. 
Then one day it was GONE! Off the website.
"Page Not Found"!!!
I called RC Willey, they had a display but no stock.
In a panic I started to research the table, 
and discovered it was designed by 
(or for) Ty Pennington from 
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition fame,

image source
for the Howard Miller Total Home collection.
Here is a layout of "Bedroom 12"

There's my table!!!
I guess the line is called "Ty Togethers".
They also have a silver leaf version.

get one here

See the silver leaf table as night stands

in "Bedroom 11" below?

image source

I still like the spice table for my room.

This is a video link explaining the furniture.

"Living Room 3" features

my accent table as a side table.

image source

Next is "Living Room 11".
See it in the back center picture?

image source
That little table is very versatile.

It seemed to be disappearing all over the web.
Howard Miller doesn't even list it
on their site. 
It's production run had come to an end.
Our penny and nickle collection 
hadn't come anywhere near were
it needed to be to buy it.

I was ready to cross it off my design list,
till just the other day, 
some money was deposited into my account?!?

It was FARM MONEY, I'd forgotten all about it.
Money from a farm I inherited from my grandfather.
My dad and cousins each got a farm too.

from google maps

Dad's farm is bigger

Every year we each get a small check from
the government as compensation for tobacco
not grown on our land by a local farmer.

Here's a picture of tobacco growing next
to the Ohio river

image source
The money comes in once a year for 12 years
then stops. It shows up on my birthday!
I think it's close to my last check ever.

When I saw that deposit I called our
RC Willey showroom just to ask
if they might have any tables left.
Our showroom still had the display!!!
They were, at first, reluctant to sell it,
till they researched their files 
and showed no more on order.
That's when Sam and I hightailed it over there
to grab the last one.
Sam is a master at haggling and pointed out
that it's a display model and so on. 
She got the sales manager to 
approve a half off markdown!!!  
  
Now this little accent table 
resides in our living room.

"How long do I hafta sit here?" 
It's just waiting to be decked out for the holidays!

I have some Pier 1 elephant candle holders and a frame

on it now, and the colors compliment it perfectly.

I am beyond happy with my new accent table.

All thanks to my grandfather, 

I called him PapPap!
And 
Sam, for some GREAT haggling!
Can I get A WHOOP WHOOP!!!

Thanks for stopping in,
and 
Happy Hunting!

Today I'm Linking with Nita's
 Mod Mix Monday.

When Life Gives You Lemons....

 Go out and pick some!

This is our 12 year old Eureka lemon tree,

and it's lemon harvest time!

Well, at least, lemon picking time.

Last year we had an early freeze and all the leaves
fell off the tree, it didn't produce any lemons.
We were lucky to get fruit this year.

Cher the papillon/chihuahua is out to help.

"I'm too short to even reach the first branch!"

The tree is enormous and produces too many lemons 
for just two people.

"And it's very tall!"

We can't even reach the lemons 
on the tallest branches.

Elvis comes out to watch.

"What's all the hub-bub, Bub?"

It's a very full tree with lemons all through it this year.

"How many lemons are you going to pick?"

"How many pictures are you going to take?"

Just one lemon today.

I'm going to drop slices in the disposal

to give it a lemon scent and kill some germs.

Thanks for visiting and

Have a great weekend!