Sunday 19 December 2010

Sitting with Christmas

I love being part of the blogging world during the holidays!  So many fun linky parties ... taking a peek into your beautiful homes and seeing your festive decor keeps me in the holiday spirit! 

Here are just a few pics of our sitting room.  This is where our "family-themed" tree is (which has been up since late September)!  It holds pictures of family members (those still with us and those who have passed), along with familial and other thoughtful sayings.  I wish I could keep this tree up all year round!  (As always, feel free to click on the pics to enlarge them.)


When I put it up this Fall, I kept the colors neutral so that people wouldn't laugh that I had a tree up *that* early!  I later added touches of apple green, along with brown and gold ornaments, to make it a bit more "Christmas-y:" 


The topper consists of brown and white snow covered branches, pheasant feather and big ol' bows.  I did add a few apple green sticks, as well, but they aren't pictured:


On the ottoman, a red tray holds a few "faux" musical instruments and fancy candle:


And, our musical Santa stays seated on the wing chair ready to give us a little concert.  (Jax's *Elfie* chose to fly in and stay put by Santa all day):


Last year, our village was on the buffet in our breakfast area.  This year, I thought it'd be fun to scatter just a few houses on the bookshelves ...

Celebrating that school is officially out for Christmas vacation, Mom and kids load up the perfect Christmas tree to go home and decorate, while other kiddos finish up a snowman in the background:


A sweet Nativity will greet those who will soon arrive for Christmas Eve service: 


Friends roast marshmallows before being called inside for hot chocolate:


And, a family gets a bit of last minute Christmas shopping done in this charming village.  Wouldn't you love to spend a day there?


On an accent table stands carolers who are festively singing:


As always, thanks so much for stopping by ... I really appreciate your visits!  Come join me at these wonderful blogs to share Christmas:






Happy Holidays,
Becca

Monday 13 December 2010

Christmas in the Bedroom!

My gosh, the holiday season is cruising by!  Such a busy week last week ... I had the pleasure of hosting my Jr. Women's Club Christmas Party, which was so much fun!  And, we had a couple of parties to attend ... oh, how I love the holidays!

If you're in the mood to see MORE Christmas in our home, please join me for a few pics of our bedroom!  Like my dining room, this is another room that I got to decorate in a totally different direction this holiday season.  Last Christmas, it was decked out in reds, golds and greens galore.

This Spring, I traded out that color scheme for a softer one of blues, golds and whites.  So soothing ... I feel calm when I climb on in bed to watch HGTV or Real Housewives of *Wherever* !!  lol (click on pics to enlarge)


The tree was fun to do, as well.  Thank goodness for Wal-Mart and their boxes of 35 shatterproof ornaments for $15 ... woohoo!  And, the snowflakes were 10 for $3.  Love it!  The gold, sparkly reindeer are from Big Lots.



Everything I used for the topper came from Wal-Mart as well !!


Recenty, I purchased these 3 gorgeous beveled mirrors from Michaels.  I've been spying them since August and, patiently waited ... and waited ... and *waited* for them to go on sale.  They *finally* did ... they were reduced 40% PLUS an extra 20% on top of that.  SCORE!  And, since there are three of them, I thought I'd give them a little bit of Christmas fun by adding the letters "J O Y".  Whaddaya think?



Each nightstand has a little Christmas angel (also from Michaels):


And, at the foot of the bed, I placed two cream colored stockings and added a bit of Christmas greenery in them. 


And, also at the foot of the bed is my most favorite blanket ever. I found it at Pottery Barn a few months ago and, while I normally wouldn't pay what I did for just a throw blanket, I simply had to have this. Can you say YUMMY ?!



To the right of the bed are two parsons chairs and table. 


Like last year, I placed these lit branches into an existing spray of greenery, just adding a touch of Christmas.




And, a simple gold reindeer and gold finials adds a bit of holiday splash to my dresser:


Well, gang, that's about all I did in here this year ... just enough.  I especially love this room, all lit up at night.  So cozy!  I think I'll head there now and dig out my flannel pj's ... it's been a long day! 


Come join the fun at the following wonderful blogs:






Happy Holidays,

Becca

Tuesday 7 December 2010

Spreading Christmas Cheer!

This year, I was extremely flattered when a wonderful family hired me to decorate their home for the holidays!  They have an absolutely gorgeous home, and, of course, I was a bit worried I wouldn't meet their expectations.  They couldn't have been more hospitable or humble in letting me share my ideas and *play* while they were working hard at their awesome Marine Service Center. 

Their bright and beautiful sunroom is painted in a lovely sage green.  It leads out to a gorgeous, deep backyard which hosts a view of their awesome pool, palm trees and golf course off in the distance.  I took my time decorating, simply because I so enjoyed being there. 

I chose to add a simple tree in this room, highlighting the browns and plums in their loveseat, as well as highlighting their wall color.  I kept the decorations to a minimum (as everyone is budget conscious these days, especially this time of year), but look forward to adding lots more to this tree next year ... that's *IF* they ask me back (feel free to click on any pic to enlarge)! 


The topper consists of pheasant feathers, gold sprays and brown sticks that I found at both a local Christmas shop, as well as Wal-Mart!



And, I added pinecones and gold snowflakes as inexpensive fillers (again, found at good ol' Wally-World):


Moving on to their great room ... this tree was done in traditional reds, greens and golds.  I found the super wide red ribbon at Kirklands ... and used it on my own great room tree as well, LOVE IT!


Kayla already had this beautiful plaid ribbon.  So, I selected two more complimentary ribbons and had two *gigundus* bows made (I'm working on that technique) for the topper.  I found the fun and wild apple green spray at a local Christmas shop and scored the gold and red sprays at, you guessed it, Wal-Mart!


I must admit, I was scared to death decorating this tree because of the beautiful collection of Fitz and Floyd ornaments that their children had been given by their Grandmother over the years.  I was *sooo* afraid I was going to drop one onto their tile floor!  Thankfully, no one or thing was injured during the decorating of this tree!  Whew!


I love how Mr. Snowman is swinging around the tree, socializing:


Onto their dining room ... while we didn't put a tree in there, I did get to play with their table!  I told Kayla I really wanted to add a bit of blue in this room, as there is a rich blue border on their oriental rug.  We found these unique and colorful metal deer at Pier One and simply had to have them.  I knew that they'd be the perfect whimsical, yet elegant, addition to her regal room (especially with that gorgeous shade of blue on them).  I simply scrunched up gold satin fabric in the center of the table and added the reindeer (along with a beautiful amaryllis for height). 


She has the beautiful Lenox "Holiday" china, which pops so well against her gold chargers.  We also spotted these awesome red with gold trim napkins at Pier One and just had to add these in, as well.  I love how "poofy" they are!


And, when I spotted these napkin rings at Pier One, I knew they'd be the perfect pairing to the napkins!  And, hey, they might even be fun worn on one's finger!


Lastly, I'll take you into their "study."  I knew I wanted to add a tree in here, but wasn't sure what theme might work.  After finding out that this room is the "hang out" room, where they watch TV quite a bit (and based on the color scheme of the room), I thought it'd be fun to do a movie-themed tree, which I've never done before!



I spotted big boxes of movie candy at Dollar Tree (even boxes of Christmas JuJy Fruits), so Kayla grabbed up a bunch of those, along with Goobers, Junior Mints and Gumballs.  I then added DVDs (many of them being holiday ones), popcorn garland, ca-ute "admit one" candies (that Kayla found at Hobby Lobby) and finally added red and blue balls to tie in with the color scheme of this room.

As for the topper, while I wanted to add popcorn sprouting out (which I *will* do next year), I simply added the super cute "Elf" movie and, was lucky enough to stumble upon movie film tape (at a party store), which I cut and placed up there, somewhat spilling out of the tree (and, yes, those little popcorn containers will be filled with "faux" popcorn next year, as well). 


Here you can see how I then added the film tape all over the tree, just popping out here and there.


Admittedly, this was such a fun tree to do!  I'm thinking I just might have to add one to our home next year, too!

Well, thanks for stopping by and letting me share how I've invaded someone else's home with my Christmas ADD ... thanks to Kayla and family (and my wonderful friend, Tammy, who referred me)! 
 Mr. Gingerbread Man says "buh-bye" as well.


I'm linking up to these awesome blogs who are hosting fun parties ... come on over:


Savvy Southern Style/BTB

The DIY Showoff/Holiday Highlights

Santa's Gift Shoppe/Blog Hop

TDC/Christmas Tree Party

Southern in My Heart/Inspiration Friday


Happy Holidays,
 
Becca

Sunday 5 December 2010

Christmas Dining!

Happy Sunday!  Okay, I simply canNOT believe that we're already into December!  I hope that all of you have been smarter than me and have started (if not finished) your holiday shopping!  I need to put it into high gear this week and start crossing things off my list!

In the meantime, here are some pics of my Christmas dining room!  Admittedly, I absolutely loved decorating this room this year because I recently redid it.  The walls used to be metallic chocolate brown and reds, golds and greens dominated this space.  I lightened this space up by painting the walls BM Manchester Tan.  I also traded the china hutch for an antique sideboard ... slipcovered some of the chairs ... added a huMONGO mirror and floating shelves (that will probably come crashing down any second), and added gold/satin-y panels, raising them almost to the ceiling.

So, I'll be quiet now and just let you take a peek (feel free to click on any picture to enlarge it):


I placed two manzanita branches, along with a few smaller white filler branches in my mercury glass vase and randomly hung ornaments consisting of red/apple green/silver balls, snowflakes and icicles!  All ornaments (except for the icicles) are from Wal-Mart ... score!


The table is *prettied up* with white and silver snowflake china I found at Target.  I added mercury glass votives to the middle of each plate and dripped silver and clear beads around it. 


I love how it looks lit up at night:


Above the table, I *bling-a-fied* our chandie by adding soft garland ... crystals ... beaded garland and glittery words of "joy," "peace" and "noel."



Glancing over at the sideboard, you'll see I added festive, inexpensive garland (from Big Lots), along with nutcrackers decked out in silver glitter and sequins!  I absolutely love the horsemen nutcrackers I spotted not too long ago at Home Goods!



And, what's an apothecary jar without snow and ornaments tossed in?


Of course, I had to throw a few ornaments in the bowl perched on my tea service:


 Annnnd, I added bows to the cream pillows to jazz them up a tad:


The floating shelves have just a tad of garland from Big Lots, along with more of the snowflake china:


And, I decided to keep my plates wrapped in twine, with family pictures ... I just added a few glittery snowflakes to Christmas them up a bit!


Well, friends, the dinner bell is about to ring !!


After you're done eating, you should hop on over to these fabulous blogs and join the festive parties:










 

Take care,