Design Studio or Dining.....

Our design studio has taken over numerous spaces in our home and at holiday time our  family needs space to gather over food, so....a simple solution seemed to be to take back a little space.   I added Command Hooks by 3M to the top of the shelving units and hung our hand painted show curtains. 

This simple but quick fix has worked for several holidays now.  A few things that I would love to be able to do, is to hang a chandelier, bring in a vintage heart of pine cupboard instead of the contemporary shelving unit below and paint the walls.  If I find myself home versus on the road for more than a couple of weeks I just may tackle this room in 2013.

Finished off the decorating with the burlap table runner from our fall decorating and a centerpiece in one of our metal display baskets...usually holds surface design supplies, for discharging fabric.

Thank you for stopping by our home during this holiday season.   Enjoy a wonderful season and best wishes for a fantastic New Year.

Where we Gather...

The family room is the room we spend the most time in, it gets the most attention when I decorate each year.  The fireplace wall, with the hearth and bookcases has always been the perfect spot for my Santa collection which somehow grows each year no matter how hard I try not to add to it. This year I actually decorated the whole wall and then decided to make a change, so dear hubby took down the eagle for me.  I really like it with the mirror.

 The tree is in the same spot as last year, but I changed up the look of it by adding the beaded wire garland.  It just sparkles.

Here are some close-ups of the ornaments.  Remember I said I love  handmade things.  Enjoy!

I also love vintage...began collecting as a teenager and haven't stopped yet.

 Here are a couple of close-ups of the mantle and hearth...love the results.

The hearth was so much fun this year, I brought in the concrete garden angel, then I sort of confiscated one of my daughters’ recent flea market finds, an old window.  Love the vignette.  After that I just kept going with other vintage pieces from around the house.  Added some fresh greenery, somehow the smell of pine makes it feel like the holidays.

Please come back for a quick peak at what happens to our design studio during the holidays......



Keeping it Simple is Hard.....

I meant to blog yesterday, but sort of got side tracked making Christmas cards which I think turned out pretty well.  Now I just need to get them into the mail.

Today I'd like to show off the kitchen where I really tried to stay with my decorating plan for keeping it simple, using many everyday items.  This corner is a good example I changed out the usual vintage postcards on the birdcage with holiday ones and hung a vintage wooden measuring ruler which was manipulated into a star.  I did take down a plate and hung the snowman, which is a hand painted slate roof tile....just love it.  Opening up the vintage green picnic tin gave me a spot to add some subtle holiday color with a tree and Granny Smith apples.

  

Over the years we have collected vintage kitchen glass and utensils many of them are red and green.  By adding old fashioned peppermint candy cane chunks to the green glass ware adds a pop of holiday color.  Unused ornaments added here and there also add a bit of holiday cheer.  Even the handles of the utensils displayed on the green table add holiday color yet they are part of my every day decorating.

Next decorating the eating area was quick and easy, red placements, holiday dishes and a simple center piece brightens the corner.

Finally I just had to pull out a couple of my snowmen, and two is not too many considering I have a fairly large collection of them.  I think it's because they bring back wonderful childhood memories.

Come back for a peek at our family room and design studio/dining room.....

Welcome to Our Home.....

Simple, became my word for this year's decorating plan....due to circumstances I found it hard to get into the mood.  We have been traveling for work this year like crazy, when we were home we worked long hours hand dyeing and a week ago we had a death in the family.  I found myself moving very slowly and thoughtfully decided what to put out.

Once the front of the house was done I figured that the foyer would be a bit easier.....I really wanted this house because of the two story foyer, I could imagine it decked out for Christmas immediately.  This year I figured I would simplify, less is more (not my usual motto) so first I tackled the top of the bookcase, removed the vintage hat boxes and hats, replaced them with birdhouses and a cement cardinal from the porch.  A bit of fresh greenery and some cotton bolls, this is the south after all. 

Okay, finally humming along.....well not for long.  It took me 2 1/2 days to finish the stair railings.  Unbelievable!  First problem, the strands of clear mini lights were burned out.  Never think your going to find replacements after December 1st in our area, my dear hubby went to 8 stores before finding any....think I better not complain about his patience level for awhile.  As I wrapped the garlands, I was planning ahead when BAM!.....one strand burned out....he volunteered to exchange them in the morning.  Next day, take three.....third time is a charm....you know all the sayings....actually got all the lights up, went to process online orders, figuring I would do the rest of the work later.  All of a sudden we heard a horrible howl from the first floor, as we ran to check on the source of the noise, we find our newest member of the family sitting, looking a bit off.....it was then that I noticed something was amiss....yup....the lights were burned out.  Guess who had chewed through the strands, guilty party had a bit of electric shock therapy.  She looks pretty innocent, doesn't she?  I went and bought two boxes.

I decided that all I had "patience" for was the addition of some fresh greenery, pine cones, cotton bolls and a couple of bells.  Next year the newel post may get a bow...at least that's my current threat.

                                                       

I love handmade, one of kind things especially in my decorations and collections, you will notice them throughout the house.  Enjoy the remainder of the foyer.

Hope you return to see the other rooms....

Let the Magic Begin.....

 This Christmas elf is just a tad behind, by the first of December our house is normally wearing all it's holiday finery.   The "North Pole" sign, funny enough is pointing directly at the door to "my new favorite room".

Since I have finally wrapped up a bit hand-dyeing for the moment I did use "my new favorite room" to stage all my decorating.  This past summer our garage door spring broke for the second time and we were forced to get a beautiful new garage door, I have spent so much time in the garage this year hand-dyeing fabric that it is jokingly referred to as “my new favorite room”.  I used the dye tables to work on because the extenders made them the perfect height to unpack, stage what was going out to all the rooms and create all the greenery pieces. 

 Somehow we have accumulated quite a few bells.  Our front door wreath has a very cheery ring when the door is opened...welcoming all who stop by for a holiday visit. 

Even the door to "my new favorite room" rings with the seasons sounds.

                                                                                

Santa and his elf not only left their hats, but someone forgot their bells.

Stop back for more peeks into what the elf is doing.

Backing Up a Bit....

Before we get into the Christmas holidays I need to play catch up a bit.  We were on the road vending so much in September, October and November that I didn't get the chance to post about a little redo "we" did accomplish.   About a "zillion" years ago dear hubby came home with this set of 8 chairs.  The seats were a disgrace; however I never found the perfect solution nor the time.

 Well what do you know one day while wandering through the fabric store...looking for something else, I spot this fabric.  Neutral, my favorite theme of the moment "French postal" and since our last names' origins are French...it seemed perfect.  That was a few months before a scheduled surprise birthday party for "the hubby".

Boy do I wish I had photos of the day 3 of us tackled recovering the chairs,  just happened to be the "day" before the big birthday party.  We somehow conned "the hubby" into helping us, thank goodness.  He kept repeating "we are never going to finish these all today", little did he know his wife was repeating under her breath...."you want to make a bet on that".....huh....they did all get finished.   The chairs looked just wonderful and since my birthday was in a couple of days too...I just kept singing "happy birthday to me", he never suspected a thing.

Looks pretty good!

Little Pieces of Sunshine

Sometimes decorating is all about finding pieces that make you smile.  A little piece of artwork in the right place can do just that.  These little framed floral pieces seem light and happy so I picked them up along the way.  Couldn't even bring myself to distress the frames.