Little Country Shelf that could

I found this cute shelf years ago during the clean-out of a foreclosure home. It would have been thrown in the trash had I not taken it home where it spent several years being home to my 4 little soup bowls.
It was originally painted in a dark rusty orange color and I painted it black to match my kitchen in the old house.

When we moved, it was time to give the little country shelf a make over. I started with a sander but the layers of paint were so thick I quickly gave up and got myself a bucket of paint stripper. That, along with a bit more sanding and scrubbing did the trick.

I then applied "Red Mahogany" strain and it turned out really nice.

Dining Table Centerpiece

Most things in my home have to do double duty and this holds especially true for decor. I'm having a hard time justifying the purchase of a decor item that isn't at least a bit functional at the same time.

For my dining table center piece I came up with a list of practical items we use while eating and threw in some "pretty" things in hopes of tying it all together.

1. Napkin Holder

2. Salt & Pepper Grinders

3. Butter Bell

4. Toothpick Holder

5. Stevia Packet Holder

6. Coasters

7. Candle

8. Small Flower Arrangement or Vase

9. Seasonal Decor Item

10. 3 Mason Jars to hold Forks, Knives and Spoons (maybe)

It started out like this:

Then we decided to put the leaf back into the dining table and the centerpiece, which had already been a bit too small for the table to begin with became even smaller and wasn't large enough to hold everything on my list anyway.

Walmart had a wide array of galvanized containers available and I picked a sweet and simply tray to arrange all my goodies. Can't beat the $7 price tag!

...and thanks to One-Eyed Willie, the small woven tray was IMMEDIATELY re-purposed: