A Preview of our Cozy Cabin

This is our family’s tiny, old, and rustic cabin in the High Sierras of east central California. It is only 525 square feet and it was probably built in the 1930’s or 1940’s, maybe even earlier. It started as a rental cabin at a local resort and then was moved to its current location and remodeled a bit in the 1950’s. It is difficult to get a good photo of the entire cabin because of the fence, it keeps wild animals at bay for the most part. The cabin is definitely a work in progress but we want to keep it rustic and simple. (I wrote another blog post about some of the furnishings previously.)

We can drive to it year round even when the snow comes.

This photo shows the tips of the six foot fence this winter, we had a lot of snow!

This is what the front porch looked like before we bought it.

This is what it looks like right now, a work in progess still but much better than it was! Definitely need a new door mat! And the door will be replaced as well. Eventually the entire cabin will be repainted.

This is the view from just above the cabin, there are large falls at the top center of the photo.

In the spring there are several seasonal falls that appear when the snow run off is heavy and the large falls become even larger. We can hear the water’s roar sometimes.

This is what the kitchen area looked like when we walked through before we bought the cabin. A young man lived there with two very large dogs and a giant aquarium. We still can’t figure out why he had that large refrigerator but he left it behind so we are using it for now even though it takes up a lot of space. The kitchen floor was ancient linoleum. He was painting the cupboards so all the cupboard doors were off. That fish wallpaper border on the soffit was a question as well!

The kitchen space as it looks right now. We replaced the linoleum with engineered wood and redid the soffit, no more wallpaper. There isn’t an oven but we brought in a microwave and toaster oven. Hubby added lighting under the cabinets which really makes a difference. He probably will add some under the microwave shelf as well. We will get around to painting the cabinets eventually. At some point we may put the water heater (enclosed on the left) outside and relocate things so that the sink is in front of the window. The kitchen area is tiny, simple, and rustic but that’s the way we like it.

There wasn’t any space for eating so we found a small table that just fits on the wall in the kitchen area. It has two leaves that open up to seat four if we move it out into the living room area so that solved that problem. The chairs fold up as well so the extra two can be stored when not in use. The table can be used for food prep as well which adds counter space.

There was an old wood stove against a crumbling wall and dirty shag carpeting in the living area.

We added a new stone wall.

And replaced the wood stove with a more efficient gas stove so we wouldn’t have to worry about buying wood every winter. You can see the new flooring in the living area in this photo.

When we bought the cabin there was dirty paneling in poor condition on the walls and the ceiling was acoustical tiles.

Once we removed the paneling on some of the walls we found this, original half logs with daylight showing through between them in some areas.

We filled the holes, added new paneling on the walls, removed the acoustical ceiling tiles, and left the original wood ceiling. It looks rustic now, as it should. (Yes, under the nasty carpeting in the living area was more linoleum!)

That corner as it is now with new wall paneling and new flooring. My brother donated his old furniture and the lamp table and lamp came from a Habitat for Humanity ReStore. I bought the curtains at J.C. Penneys.

I found a 1958 topographical map of the local area on Ebay that actually has a small square showing where the cabin is located. I had it framed and it is a real conversation starter. People love to see what was in the area in 1958 and what was not built yet.

At some point a front porch area was added onto the cabin. When we bought it there was weird carpeting on the floor out there and a washer and dryer blocked a door that was in bad shape.

We put the new flooring out there as well and we are in the process of turning the door into a new window because we already have the front door on the other side of the porch. Hubby added electrical outlets in every room and replaced the ceiling lights in most of the rooms.

We replaced the carpeting with new carpeting in the two bedrooms. It can get really cold up there in the wintertime, we wanted the warmth! We left the wood paneling in the front bedroom and just added bunk beds with a trundle to sleep more people.

The back bedroom had dark paneling on one wall and thin wall board on the other. I was going to replace the ceiling light fixture in there but it is so funky I decided to leave it.

We replaced the wall paneling and carpeting in the back bedroom. We bought a new queen bed and the bedside tables came from a Habitat for Humanity ReStore. We bought the lamps at Lamps Plus I think.

The bathroom is tiny. We replaced the accordion door (crazy!), painted the walls, bought a new toilet, added shelving above the toilet, and replaced the flooring.

Not much space in the bathroom so we added hooks and towel racks behind the door for towels.

At the moment, we are having a deck built onto the cabin. It will be so nice to sit out there, maybe even have a fire pit and barbeque.

There will always be something that needs to be done but for now, the cabin is perfect.

Read more about how I furnished the cabin at https://www.whispersoftheheart.com/blog/2018/6/7/pine-cones-and-pine-cones-1

A Stars and Stripes Forever Tablescape

This is a 4th of July Tablescape that I did several years ago that has been pinned more than any others on my Pinterest Tablescapes board. I decided to post it again because it is one of my favorites. The patriotic tablecloth and napkins came from Sur la Table several years ago. They are soft and heavy, really good quality, and I love the simple design.

I have always loved a red, white, and blue color design. For many years the family room was decorated in that color scheme and there are still a few of those design elements left in that room. I have a weakness for patriotic tableware. These salad and dinner plates are melamine and they came from Sur la Table several years ago. They sometimes have cute holiday designs and I wait for the after season sales and buy online.

The red place mats came from Pier 1 many years ago. I have several colors of this placemat.

My phone camera changes the red tone a bit, it is actually more of a burgundy red.

The chargers are plastic, I can’t remember where I bought them. I have had them for several years.

I bought the frosted white flatware on sale online at Wayfair a few years ago, it is made by Cambridge. It is 18/0 instead of 18/10 so the fork tines are a bit sharper than I would like but I really liked the frosted color. Wayfair has really good sales on flatware sometimes. You can read my blog post about what to consider when you are buying flatware here.

I am using my Waterford Marquis Brookside goblets on this tablescape and I added the matching iced teas too. I think if I were starting a tablescaping hobby, a set of red goblets would be one of my first purchases. They can be used several times a year. I bought a set because I love the fact that they are a bit taller than other goblets and the design goes with everything. You can read my blog post about what to consider when you are buying goblets (including the colors I use the most) for your tablescaping collection here.

I bought the napkin rings at Pottery Barn several years ago. The napkins and tablecloth came from Sur la Table several years ago. They are soft and heavy, really good quality, and I love the simple design.

I can’t remember where I bought the metal star place card holders. I have had them for years. The set came with three navy, three red, three turquoise, and three white stars in the set.

I can’t remember where I bought the salt and pepper shakers. My family jokes because sometimes I put special salt and pepper shakers on the table and I forget to fill them!

This set of creamers or small pitchers makes me laugh. We are a two party household so when I saw them I had to have them. They are from Fitz and Floyd, I can’t remember where I bought them. I have had them for a long time.

I have had this Uncle Sam Nutcracker for many many years. He is much loved but he needs some paint touch ups. I never remember that until I see him again. Maybe this year I will do it! I don’t have any idea where I bought him.

I collected Uncle Sams for a while when the family room was decorated with red, white, and blue and I bought this Uncle Sam pitcher several years ago, I can’t remember where. It was made by Department 56. I have always loved pitchers, I think because with a large family we always had one on the table while I was growing up. My mother never allowed a milk carton on the table! One of my four brothers tried to sneak one on a few times but it never worked. Then they would sometimes put it on the floor next to their chair! I love this pitcher, it is one of my favorites.

Three cheers for the red, white, and blue!

To see 200 other tablescapes that I have created including 13 other 4th of July tablescapes, please click here. If you are on Facebook, join my Tablescape Ideas group! Just click on the Facebook Search box at the top of the page and type in Tablescape Ideas. (Please note that if I don’t see any Facebook activity on your Facebook profile page, I won’t add you because of fear of someone having taken over your Facebook account.) Don’t miss my Tablescaping How-To section at the top of this blog post for more tablescaping tips and tricks.

I put a new tablescape on my blog every week so please check back!

Family Heirlooms provide Ancestor Clues

When I taught genealogy classes I often spoke about the clues that our family heirlooms can provide us about our ancestors if we take the time to look. If we are lucky, the item is labeled with the maker’s name which helps identify, date, and place the item but if it isn’t labeled, there are other ways to identify it. This cake stand was handed down from my Great-Grandmother to my Grandmother to my Mother to me. It has what the television show Antiques Roadshow calls provenance, a chronology of ownership. But I really wanted to prove that it had belonged to my Great-Grandmother because family stories can change as they are passed down through the family. I knew the pattern of the glass might give a clue as to how old it was. My Great-Grandmother, Emma, was born in 1856 in southern Indiana and was married in 1874 in the same area. After researching a bit I found out that this glass pattern is called Dewdrop with Star. The pattern has small pointed hobnails known as dewdrops and the points of a star are formed on the base with these hobnails. I discovered that the pattern was introduced by Campbell, Jones & Company in 1877. This company was in business from 1865-1886 so the time period was correct for it to have been in the household of my Great-Grandmother Emma. To add icing on the cake, Emma’s husband, Joseph, died in 1880 and when I was looking at his 1880 probate file, I found his Estate Inventory and lo and behold, there was a cake stand mentioned!

In the left column, the last line on this page lists a cake stand.

Joseph and Emma Pruitt about 1875.

So by identifying the age of the cake stand and the property that was in Emma’s household, I have two strong pieces of circumstantial evidence that the story is correct. The cake stand probably did belong to my Great-Grandmother, Emma Pruitt.

This is an antique silver spoon known as coin silver (needs a bit more polishing). The term is used to describe American silver flatware and hollowware made before 1870 that is not sterling. Coin silver is about 90% silver, the silver content is about 2.5% less than sterling. Coin silver is about 10% copper. This spoon was handed down in my family, I received it from my mother. I was told that it belonged to my Great-Great-Great-Grandmother, Phebe Putnam and the engraved initials are P. P. so that matches but I wanted to find additional information that might help prove that it belonged to Phebe. Phebe was born in 1789 in New York State and lived most of her life near Batavia in Genesee County, New York where she died in 1862. She was married about 1805.

Phebe Burroughs Putnam’s tombstone in the Putnam Settlement Cemetery, Genesee County, New York.

Fortunately, the back of the coin silver spoon is engraved with a maker’s name and mark. I searched for some time for information about this silversmith but was unsuccessful. I decided to search old newspapers online from the place and time period of Phebe’s life. (I use old newspapers frequently when doing genealogical research, they have a wealth of information.) I found the following advertisement in an 1830 Batavia, New York newspaper.

So on May 27, 1830, S. McCain was advertising his products including “Silver spoons , made and kept constantly for sale” in the Batavia newspaper near where Phebe lived. Strong circumstantial evidence that he made Phebe’s spoon and it did belong to her.

This is called a Ruby Stained Souvenir cup, they were popular from about 1880-1910. It belonged to my grandmother, Joanna, and for years I did research to try to determine what club or group she belonged to in San Bernardino in 1909 that used the initials A. Y. P.. I knew she married Willis Leonard in December 1909 but I assumed it was a club or group of some kind. I wasn’t having any luck so recently I decided to do a google search and lo and behold, it is not a club or group, it stands for Alaska Yukon Pacific. The Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition took place in Seattle, Washington from June 1 to September 16, 1909. It’s possible that Joanna or someone she knew bought the cup there. After their wedding, Joanna and Willis left on a 6 weeks wedding trip through the Eastern and Southern U. S.. A 1909 San Bernardino newspaper article mentioned their wedding and trip.

I am wondering if they also went to Seattle and bought the cup there. I inherited a collection of several sterling silver souvenir spoons that Joanna bought on their wedding trip. While writing this I checked that collection and found the following spoon.

This is a souvenir spoon also from the Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition.

So I don’t know for sure but I suspect Willis and Joanna may have also visited Seattle during their travels and bought the cup and spoon there after the Exposition had ended.

This is an autograph album that belonged to my grandmother Joanna Pruitt Leonard before her marriage. Autograph albums were popular during the Civil War and their popularity lasted until the early 20th century. These albums can provide many clues for genealogists depending on who signed the album and what they wrote.

Joanna Pruitt Leonard

This is the first page of the album. Joanna’s name is in it with the date and where she was at the time. So we know she was in Kelly, New Mexico on that date although we don’t know for sure that she was living there. This may have been a birthday present because it was her 6th birthday.

This page provides a clue as to members of Joanna’s extended family, her cousin Matie Clark signed the album.

Another cousin signed this page with the same surname, Vivian V. Clark, still in Kelly, New Mexico but a year later. So Joanna may have been living there during those years.

To do genealogical research all you need is a name, a date, and a place. Autograph albums and family heirlooms can provide that information in many different ways to help with your search.

Anyone for a Game of Cards? Have a seat at my Card Tablescape!

I did this playing cards tablescape several years ago and then posted it again two years ago. It has always been one of my favorites so I decided to post it again for new readers.

This is a tablescape that I did several years ago but I wasn’t blogging then and didn’t take very many photos so I decided to recreate it. I changed out the centerpiece but the rest is the same as the original version. It is one of my favorites. It started with a vintage tablecloth that I am using here as an overlay over a black tablecloth I bought on Amazon. I will show a bit of the smaller card design tablecloth later. I bought it on Ebay several years ago. It has a diamond shaped card design but it’s buried under things!

I have four different place settings with the four different card suits and then I repeated two. For each place setting the salad plate design matches the small bowl, the base of the clear glass, and the place card. For fun, I added the names of some of my female ancestors on the place cards although I suspect a few of them would think card playing was inappropriate!

I had found a different set of card salad plates at a garage sale years ago and that with the tablecloth started the design of the table. Then I found this set somewhere, maybe HomeGoods and I decided to use them instead. They were made by I. Godinger & Co..

I really like the card suit design around the edge of the plates.

For design purposes there are two extra plates in the plate pile on this table. The next plate down is my every day red Fiesta salad plate. When we remodeled the kitchen a couple years ago it became a white kitchen with red accents and I bought new red every day dishes.

The next plate down is a black dinner plate, Fun Factory made by Waechtersbach in Germany. I use this plate often, black plates are very versatile. I think I found it at HomeGoods.

This large dinner/charger plate is from Pottery Barn, pattern is Cambria in red. A charger plate needs to be about 11”-12” in diameter and this plate is about 11 3/4”. I keep looking at the other colors because it is a great plate and can be used as both a dinner plate and a charger. It is microwave and dishwasher safe too. It would be a great plate to start a charger collection. (This pattern is currently on clearance at Pottery Barn, 3/12/21.)

The final plate down is my Antique Beaded charger from William Sonoma that I bought several years ago. This is a photo from a different tablescape. I realized I hadn’t posted a photo of the charger in this post.

The flatware is made by D & D Inox in Italy. I bought it at Neiman Marcus or Bloomingdales during a major sale a few years ago. There are similar patterns available online now. This set pops up quite a bit in my table settings.

The red goblets are Waterford Marquis, I use them frequently in tablescapes. I found the same goblet in clear at HomeGoods and snapped them up! These goblets are a bit taller than most and I like that. I bought these black goblets on Ebay and they were one of the first sets that I bought several years ago. They are Lenox Midnight Mood black glass water goblets and they were made between 1974 and 1982. They are 7 1/4 inches tall. When I started buying goblets I didn’t pay attention to the height but now I like to buy goblets that are at least about 8 inches tall because my table is large and I think they show better. I found the drinking glass at a garage sale.

Can’t remember where I found the clear card glasses but it was in the middle of planning the first card setting I did and they were perfect! Each one has a different card suit on the bottom. They are really fun!

I bought the small card suit bowls on Ebay several years ago.

Can’t remember where I bought the napkin rings but it was probably Crate and Barrel or Pottery Barn on sale. They were some of the first ones I bought. I had someone on Etsy make the napkins for me. I love the way they look on this tablescape.

I love this vintage tablecloth. It is small but I can use it as an overlay.

I think I bought the place card holders at Oriental Trading online. They are a good source for small inexpensive table theme items.

Found this salt and pepper set and the following one at garage sales.

I found the large red dice at a garage sale, it has a top that opens and it actually swivels on the base. It is sitting on the box that some of the salad plates came in. I had to rescue that box from my husband trying to throw it away several times over the past couple of years. I knew it would come in handy someday! Can’t remember where I bought the card theme glass garlands but it was online somewhere.

Ready for dinner and a game of cards!

To see 120+ other tablescapes that I have created please click here. If you are on Facebook, join my Tablescape Ideas group! Just click on the Facebook Search box at the top of the page and type in Tablescape Ideas. Don’t miss my Tablescaping How-To section at the top of this blog post for more tablescaping tips and tricks.

Please check out the March 2022 issue of Country Sampler magazine for a photo of one of my Spring tablescapes.

I put a new tablescape on my blog every week so please check back!

This blog post was featured on the blogs, The Answer is Chocolate, http://www.answerischoco.com/, Pieced Pastimes, https://piecedpastimes.blogspot.com/ , and Lou Lou Girls, https://www.loulougirls.com/ Please visit these blogs! You will enjoy them!