Saturday, March 1, 2025

TALES OF THE TRAVELING TOTE, A GIVEAWAY AND MY PANTRY REVEAL

Tales of the Traveling Tote and giveaway

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 Welcome to another adventure of The Tales of the Traveling Tote. This is where my fellow Tales of the Traveling Tote friends and I share our latest travels, projects and our most current events. You will have an opportunity to visit other members at the end of this post and learn about our giveaway. 



Food Pantry to Dish Nook
 Reveal 

With no travels here other than weekend visits with family and a few day trips for shopping, we've been on an ongoing "staycation" which has allowed us to finish up the "dish nook" and finally unpack most of our dishes.  The nook is a small space, only 9'1" X 4'5" overall.

Everyone knows I love dishes, and I've collected a few! Some are from friends and family, some from travels brought back as souvenirs. My dream was to have space to store and display my special pieces and collections and make it easy to collect what I need to use. I 
wanted shelves from ceiling to floor. I put pen to paper and drew up my custom design plans along with ideas to give to my cabinet man. He is in high demand so it's been a long wait, but definitely worth it. He custom built all cabinets in our previous home, did the kitchen renovations there and built all the cabinets in this house. He's the only craftsman I trust to do the work. Another trusted helper for me was Miss Courtney. Here she is ready with the first of many dishes we unpacked to store in our new nook!


Miss Courtney brings dishes from storage to place in new Dish Nook

Pantry Before


Jim removed the wire shelving to use in storage. Next, we called the electrician to wire for lighting. I haven't decided if I will use the chandelier I purchased, we measured and now what was once centered, it is now not! The cabinets are different in size so it threw the center off. 



A little bit of a tight squeeze!




Dwayne in pic above and below, our cabinet man. He is so gifted, he can do anything with wood! His employee top pic above


After the stained solid oak countertop was installed, we hired the same man who did the tile in our last house and all the tile work in this house to do the ceramic tile backsplash. This is the same tile used in the kitchen, keeping a uniform flow throughout. 

Food Pantry to "Dish Nook"
~~~~~
Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace for walls and shelves and Sherwin Williams Tobacco stain for oak counter top

Tile is Roca-Flow White 3"X 12"


Miss Courtney back with another collection for the Dish Nook


Benjamin Moore Blue Hydrangea
for a pop of my favorite French Blue





Miss Courtney helped with a decision, which runner to add to the Dish Nook. I loved her suggestion...














This was one of those projects that just seemed to never end. Just little things holding up work, ordering materials that took forever to come in. I am very pleased with how it turned out. I would have liked to have a little more space but not possible with this footprint. Now, I would imagine you are asking, where is she storing her food!  I'll share that with you next time. 

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Now for the Giveaway


As always, The Traveling Tote girls want to thank you for following along with our adventures. For a chance to win this fabulous MacKenzie-Childs eyeglass case just leave a comment with 

Patti @ Pandora's box

~~~~~

 I hope you will visit my Tale of the Traveling Tote friends for more fun adventures!


Debbie with Miss Aurora @ Mountain Breaths 

Emily with Miss Courtney Childs@ The French Hutch   

Linda P with Miss Lola @ Life and Linda

Patti with Miss Kenzie @ Pandora's Box  

Rita with Miss Luna C @ Panoply 

Sarah with Miss Merri Mac @ Hyacinths for the Soul

Jackie and Miss Madi K @ Purple Chocolat Home

Ricki Jill and Countess De Monet @ The Bookish Dilettante  



 ~~~

Please join us for our next 

Tales of the Traveling Tote post and giveaway

Coming
June 1, 2025

 


Thanks so much for your visit. If you have any questions I'm happy to answer them, just leave your question in comments.  



The French Hutch 

Dish Nook


 

 



 



 

Sunday, December 1, 2024

TALES OF THE TRAVELING TOTE AND A GIVEAWAY


Tales of the Traveling Tote and giveaway

````````````

 Welcome to another adventure of The Tales of the Traveling Tote. This is where my fellow Tales of the Traveling Tote friends and I share our latest travels, projects and our most current events. You will have an opportunity to visit other members at the end of this post and learn about our giveaway. 




The Pantry
Finally Finished, Almost!

With so many small projects dragging on from summer we haven't found time for any trips.  
I thought we would be finished with the pantry project but it was a small job and you know how that goes, last to finish. I truly understand, my cabinet man is really the best, so, I not so patiently had to wait my turn! I can say now my project is completed and just a few more boxes to unpack and I will soon be able to share.

~~~~~~~

Autumn Glory



We enjoy decorating for the holidays, so early October through December we are always busy.
Our weather has been almost perfect, cool crisp mornings and nice warm afternoons. Since we have a lot of children in the neighborhood they enjoy a night of Trick or Treat. We enjoy getting ready for Halloween and handing out candy. We always have a lot of help from Miss Courtney. She was filled with baby boos and small pumpkins.



And, of course my two favorite bears like to get in the action


I am hosting for Thanksgiving
Using my John Derian tray from Target, last years collection



My table set using a tablecloth from TJ Max,  Anthropologie place settings with leaf plates from Pottery Barn.  



I used my velvet pumpkin collection to create a pumpkin patch down the center of the table and mushroom salt and peppers.
I always fill the house with fresh flowers in seasonal color. 





And I love to add color at the entrance





So how was your autumn and thanksgiving? Mine was perfect with a house full.
I hope you will leave a comment, it's the only way I know you stopped by.



~~~~~


Now for the Giveaway


As always, The Traveling Tote girls want to thank you for following along with our adventures. For a chance to win this darling MacKenzie-Childs Tote just leave a comment with 

Linda @ Life and Linda

~~~~~

 I hope you will visit my Tale of the Traveling Tote friends for more fun adventures.


Debbie with Miss Aurora @ Mountain Breaths
 Ricki Jill and Countess De Monet, Miss Square Peggy @ The Bookish Delettante
Jenna with Miss Coquille @ The Painted Apron
Emily with Miss Courtney Childs@ The French Hutch
Linda P with Miss Lola @ Life and Linda
 Patti with Miss Kenzie @ Pandora's Box
Rita with Miss Luna C @ Panoply 
Sarah with Miss Merri Mac @ Hyacinths for the Soul
Jackie and Miss Madi K @ Purple Chocolat Home


 ~~~

Please join us for our next 

Tales of the Traveling Tote post and giveaway

Coming
March 1, 2025 


 




 

Thursday, November 14, 2024

JOHN DERIAN THANKSGIVING TURKEY

Let's Talk Turkey



Turkey has always been a tradition in our home for Thanksgiving. Growing up and watching my mom and dad in the kitchen prepping the day before the big day makes it a family tradition in our home to this day. Even if I am not hosting and baking turkey for the big day, I love to share my love of all things turkey on Thanksgiving. 

This year for my dining room table centerpiece I decided to use my turkey shaped pillow, along with a chicken, pear and acorn. Yes, pillows, from John Derian for Target! These were an early gift from my dear sweet and very thoughtful sister. The pillows are beautiful and I must say the turkey is exquisite!


Turkey pillow 
by John Derian for Target


Juliska Country Estate Flint is a go to for autumn with its taupe color. Using a natural woven placemat, charger, dinner and salad plates for the stack


Juliska Forest Walk leaf plates makes a perfect addition to the place setting. Since I have only four leaf plates and my table is set for six I used two Country Estate salad plates to top the remaining settings






The acorn pillow is in lovely hues of blue/gray


pumpkins, candles and mushrooms fill in the setting





I was delighted to find these copper colored poinsettias at my supermarket








After enjoying these novelty pillows in my centerpiece they will be enjoyed throughout my home for the holidays. If you are still here thank you for your visit. 











 

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