Home Updates, Accessories & Tours

New Painting in my Office

 

Hello!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! It finally cooled off here in Indy. Sunday was a beautiful day! During the day I did a few house chores, wished my niece Happy Birthday, work on the blog, and took Lauren and her bestie to Harvest Night at Newfields. It was a wonderful evening. 

 

I have been wanting to share my new piece of artwork for my office. I found this beautiful painting at Manor House Antiques.

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

I learned from the antique store owner that this is the Chicago Water Tower. I thought it was a church but it’s the Water Tower. When looking at the back I found some more information. 

 

 

So on the back, there is a gold sticker that says, “Artistic Impressions Inc., Oil Certified, and a serial number”. There is also a stamp that says, “Genuine Lithograph Oil Canvas, Chicago, Illinois”.  I am assuming that this is an oil painting. There is also a handwritten date of 2-17-1994. This painting was completed by Eve Turner. I did find it online. Here is the link

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

Now from the website link, there was an appraisal of $295! I don’t know when that was but that made me smile. I don’t think mine is the same. The frame is different but does that happen often? Does an artist paint more than one of the same painting? I certainly hope so. I only paid $34 for mine. The original price at the antique store was $100. Then it dropped twice in price.

 

 

I am loving it in my office downtown. I received tons of compliments on it. One of my co-workers mentioned getting it cleaned and said that it would be “spit cleaned”. I had never heard of that before but she said that a lot of people who restore antique paintings use that method. 

What do you all think? Have you ever heard of that method before?

 

 

I also added this glass pumpkin to my office. It is the cutest thing! The color is perfect and feels as though it is handblown. I hope to have my painting looked at by an appraiser. I do hope that the Antiques Roadshow returns to Indiana soon! I will be taking this and a few other things if I can. Have a great Monday!

 

 

A Chinoiserie Tissue Holder

 

Good Morning Everyone,

We are back into the swing of things. Lauren is still on fall break and my step-son Ely came down from college for a few days. It was nice seeing him. Lauren had a wonderful boat trip with her bestie. They sent me all kinds of photos of her being in the outdoors. Not my kind of thing but I do love the scenery. 

It is nice being back in the office but I still hate our traffic. We have construction everywhere and I do mean everywhere! Even in front of my office where I work there is construction. It’s such a pain in the rear. 

Anywho, let’s move on to this beautiful new porcelain find!

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

I saw this beautiful porcelain tissue holder on Instagram a few months ago. Each time they ran a sale I kept missing it!  Well, I finally caught it in September before Lauren’s last golf match and was so happy that I finally got one! 

 

 

This is a gorgeous porcelain piece. I ordered it from Tortoise and Hare Vintage on Etsy. I love it so much!

 

 

Now this porcelain tissue holder is much more user-friendly than my other one. With this holder, you can place the entire tissue box in it and with my other one, I have to remove the tissue from the box and fold them in half and place them in the holder. Not a big deal but a little less difficult. 

It is such a gorgeous and timeless item to have. I know that I will have these for years to come. This one is in my office at work. I have two in my home right now that are blue and white and I could not love them more. If you want to purchase this particular pattern I would suggest that you follow the shop on Instagram. They announce all the time when a new shipment comes in and you have to make a decision quickly if you want one. I knew that I wanted this design so as soon as they announced that these were available I went right to Etsy and ordered one. 

I hope you all enjoyed this beautiful find and happy hunting!

 

 

This post is not sponsored. 

 

HomeGoods Success

 

Good Morning Everyone!

I had a really good weekend. On Friday I left the office early and stopped by Hobby Lobby, HomeGoods, and the grocery store. I found some wonderful things at HomeGoods so I was very pleased with that visit. On Saturday we attended Lauren’s last golf tournament. She did very well and they played 18 holes which took us about 5 hours to finish! It was a long and hot day. Afterward, we went and had an early dinner at one of our favorite restaurants and came home to rest.

On Sunday I stayed home and got a lot of chores done, planned out my week, and started planning my vacation time. I will share that in a later post. In today’s post, I wanted to share my lovely finds from HomeGoods.

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

I spotted these lovely flowers as soon as I walked into the store. I rushed right over to take a look!

 

 

I could not leave these in the store. They were way too pretty for that! I purchased about four bunches and I could not be happier with this arrangement. It looks stunning in the green ginger jar that I picked up in Boca Raton about 3 years ago. 

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley

Similar peonies here. 

 

 

 

I picked up this soft jeweled pumpkin from HomeGoods as well. I think it has a little bit of glamour and belongs on my dresser. 

 

 

When I was walking around the store I also spotted these. Now you guys know I am a true fan of blue and white but I found these to be quite hideous! I don’t know why but I think these are very ugly. 

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

I did find this lovely teacup and saucer. I loved the pink rose color and the rose gold trim that it had. I will be taking this to the office for my morning tea. It looks small in the photo but it is quite big!

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

And I finally found my brown and white plates!! I am so excited. Now I mentioned in Friday’s post that I did not like the ones that had ducks on it. The pattern that I saw in the other HomeGoods was not this pattern. The other pattern that I saw I did not like. These are lovely! I managed to find six which I was happy with but I could not find any salad plates which made me sad. The quest continues. 

I hope everyone enjoyed this post and let me know in the comments section below what your favorite dish autumn pattern is. I would love to know some names of other patterns. Have a great Monday everyone!

 

 

 

Favorite Home Items at H&M

 

 

Happy August Everyone!

We are off to an okay start with the golf season. There are so many changes this year because of Covid. Sometimes I just wish this nightmare would be over but anyway moving on. So in today’s post, I wanted to share a few of my favorite online finds from H&M.

We all know H&M. They have some of the best feminine clothing pieces at really reasonable prices. I recently discovered their new arrivals for their home decor section. 

 

photo credit: H&M.com

 

This captured my eye first. A blue and white pitcher, oh yes please! This was only $17.99! I have ordered it already and I am waiting for it to arrive. I will share it once it gets here. I plan on using it as a vase for my flower arrangements. 

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

The second was this extremely chic leopard teacup! I only wish there was a saucer to go with it. I thought this one was but I had to send it back. It was a trinket tray instead. I do love my new teacup and will be using it for my morning teas. 

 

 

 

Third is this gorgeous colored tasseled rug. It is only $24.99. It does come in a bigger size. I have a few more favorites, but these were my absolute favorites out of all of them. I hope you all enjoyed this post. I can’t wait to see what this blue and white pitcher looks like. 

 

Have a great Wednesday!

 

 

Please note: some links are affiliate links and if you make a purchase through this link, I will receive a small commission for referring you to the product. Thank you so much in advance if you decide to make a purchase through my link.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Antiquing on Saturday

 

 

Good Morning Everyone,

I actually had a really good weekend! On Saturday I ran my normal errands, took Lauren to the hair salon, did some antique shopping, and had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. I will share my beautiful and soooo delicious dinner on Wednesday for my monthly favorites post. I tried a new dish. I tried the herb-crusted lemon salmon. Oh my word!!!! So good! I will share a photo tomorrow. 

In today’s post, I wanted to share my recent antique finds! You guys know me I love going to antique stores. I went to my normal one in Beech Grove but then discovered that two more antique stores were right next door! Yay! Below is what I purchased….

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley

 

Here is my antique shopping loot so far! The first item was this beautiful gold and marble corner stand. I saw this in the first antique store and it was called Y Shop Vintage and More. I really liked the staff. The original price was $175 but he let me buy it for $110. I was so happy that he dropped the price for me. 

 

 

 

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

The top of it is real marble and that stand is vintage. He told me the year but I have since forgotten it. I think it was around the 80s or 70s but I love it! I will be going to my downtown office today. 

Now let’s talk about my goodies on top…

 

 

I purchased the blue and white tureen bowl and the white and gold small Lenox vase as well. Both came from the same location. The bowl is made by Johnson and Brothers and was a whopping $4.95! Can you believe that? The white Lenox vase was only $8! Steals!

The blue and white ginger jar was from a third antique store that we found and this lady had shelves and shelves of blue and white! I wanted to take a picture but I didn’t want to disturb her. She was working as I was walking around. I only paid $18 for that and it is real porcleain. 

 

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

 

 

I wanted to share an upclose photo of the legs of the stand. I do love this. It’s unique and no one will have one like it. I did purchase some vintage earrings from the store that had the blue and white porcelain. 

 

 

Aren’t they lovely? They were only a few dollars each. I love all of them! I have already pictured them with some of my dresses and cardigans this upcoming season. I hope you all enjoyed this post. Maybe one day I will get up enough courage and do a vlog. I am still on the fence about doing one but we will see. Have a great Monday!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do You Own…

 

Good Morning,

It is Friday and it has been a very productive week for me at the office. I got my file organizational project done and I now feel like I can finally move forward with other things. Yay! Lauren starts school next week. The horror…. I am not even ready for this upcoming school year. There will be some changes for her. She now can leave school grounds for lunch and she will be driving. So exciting for her. 

I have my normal errands this weekend. I just want to sit. I feel like I need to but will that happen? Probably not but anyway I wanted to share this item with you all that I received from a friend years ago. I think I may have shared these on here before but does anyone own a set of these?

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley 

 

I think they are called Hospitality Snack Sets. Sometimes when I open my entertaining cabinet I pull these out and imagine what I would use them for. I think of a day in my sitting room with a friend just chatting away while we each have one of these in our laps or on the table eating sugar cookies and drinking tea.

 

 

They are beautiful pieces and I always feel bad for not using them when we have guests. But there have been moments when I want to pull them out but then I always have that “oh these might be too fancy” feeling. 

 

 

What do you guys think? Do you think these are too fancy?  Would you use them? I’ve got to find a way to use these this year. I hope I can figure something out soon. Let me know your thoughts below. Have a great weekend everyone! 

 

 

Easy Decor: Mary Kay Cup

 

Good Morning Everyone,

I just wanted to quickly share this Goodwill find from some years ago. 

 

photo credit: Mrs. Shockley

 

I don’t know when I purchased this but I have had it for some time now. It is a beautiful Mary Kay cup that I found and could not leave it in the store. 

 

 

At the moment right now I am using it as a pen holder and it sits on my desk but isn’t it the chicest thing you have ever seen? I LOVE it! I have found a few on eBay for some great prices. I found this one, this one, and this one actually has the original box

You could use it for your morning tea, coffee or use it as a desk decoration as I did. I hope you all like this “vintage” find.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

Please note: some links are affiliate links and if you make a purchase through this link, I will receive a small commission for referring you to the product. Thank you so much in advance if you decide to make a purchase through my link.