Country French Winter Decorating

In the weeks before Thanksgiving I start adding what I call "Winter Decor". 

 It sets the mood for the holiday season, but stays away 

from too much of a Christmas feel.

So I like to add lights and some greenery with ribbons.

I switched out the summery white curtains for grey ruffled sheers.

And candles in the windows. Love those candles.

Old silver trays and accents look pretty with the grey and white theme.

Its simple and elegant and rustic.  

Layer silver plates and trays on top of each other.

Sprinkle faux snow or add more greenery or pinecones.

A vintage chicken wire urn gets a simple

treatment with a bunch of faux iced branches with pinecones.

Later on I will switch the centerpiece for something more Christmassy.

 In the living room there is greenery, lights and ribbon on the mantle.

Because I had my granddaughter over I pulled out a tiny tree.  

Undecorated it has a winter woodland effect. 

Later on after Thanksgiving, or close to it, I will embellish things with 

ornaments and make it more, more, more!!  I select ribbon based upon 

fabrics and colors in the room for a serene look.  My father, however,

 would be saying put on some RED ribbon!! He is a traditionalist.

 The small battery operated twinkle lights can give anything a magical feel.

A garden topiary form with grapevine that I found antiquing in Maine with my sister

was scooped up and brought home and put on my petite French desk.  Take a second look

at your garden accessories and bring them indoors and wrap them with lights! 

 There was one exception to the early Christmas, 

and its this tinsel tree with pink pearl garland

that is sitting on my gilded Florentine chest of drawers.  

Little pink velvet pumpkins nestled underneath will hang around 'til Thanksgiving. 

 Pink bottle brush stars with pearls ornament the drawers, 

all in an effort to enchant my little one.

 Reeve is now almost two and a half, and she is obsessed with all things Frozen.

Particularly Elsa!  We both love it, its the cutest movie, and now Frozen 2 is coming

out.  I love the Scandinavian clothes and set designs in the castle, its inspiring!

Hope this inspires you to get decorating your home so that when Thanksgiving is over,

you are ahead of the game and can enjoy decorating at a leisurely pace.

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Grey and White Winter Style

With Christmas 2015 in the books, so went all the decorations.

Our decor went from full on "Christmas Holiday" to "Winter Style". 

At first, I thought I would live with the tree for a bit longer, as in a winter forest tree...

just white lights and no ornaments, but it still felt too Christmassy. So down it came,

the last of our holiday decor to get packed away.

Less feels more right about now.  My desire to pare down and de-clutter is 

pretty strong. My "Winter Style" is all about less stuff and

built around a grey and white color palette with a sprinkle of metallics.    

 Right before the holidays I got these grey and white linen panels from Ballard Designs.

They warmed up the room and since I have always been a fan of Buffalo Check pattern

I knew I would love the grey and white panels.  I bought them for the dining room, but ended

up loving them in the living room instead.  Having the white slipcovered sofa makes it

easy to switch out pillows, and so two jumbo grey linen pillows found their way into the mix.

 Using less accessories also meant using less pillows, 

so I added this simple beaded snowflake pillow.

Faux or real sheepskin fur throws add a magical wintery feeling of Dr. Shivago style.

Our normal stacks of books and candles were taken off of the coffee table trunk, 

where only the vintage silver tray remained to hold my current reading

 supply of decor magazines and a few votives for evening atmosphere.

 As you may know, our family loves dogs. A collection of vintage dogs

 that was in an upstairs room would be just the right accessory for our Winter look, 

with grey and white and metallic.  Moving things around is the perfect way

to shop your house for accessories when changing up the look of a room.

 Vintage silver mixes it up with the gold touches in the room. Our candlestick lamps

 are vintage brass, and don't have that shiny look anymore, which is really nice. 

 Its a soft dull gold that looks warm and pretty. I decorate with lots of vintage, as it gives

a room lots of personality.  No more rules about not mixing silver or gold either.

Another beaded pillow with silver and gold beads,

 sits on the velvet tufted chair next to our piano.

A mix of grey and white with just a handful of metallic accents is

what my Winter Style is all about.  When spring finally arrives

I will be ready for more color and accessories, but for now this feels just right.

Shop your own home and pull together bits from other rooms to give

your space a fresh look for the winter.  Check out how my design blogger

friends have transitioned from their holiday decor to the Winter season.

So many great ideas and there is no one way to do it~after all,

personal style should be just that. 

Shabbyfufu

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