Maison Decor

Friday, December 11, 2015

A Nordic Blue Christmas Tablescape

Its a special treat to be part of this Designer Holiday Table Setting Tour

Sumptuous Tablescapes

A group of us are offering up our inspirational ideas for

holiday dining at home. I can't wait to see what my talented friends

have in store for us all. My table setting inspiration is this~

That idea conjures up icy blues in a wintery mix.

It's fun to come up with a theme when throwing a holiday party

as it gives you a sense of direction when decorating the table.

I love using gold for special occasions and to play down its fanciness

I set the table using a mix of different desert plates at each setting.
An animal hide remnant serves as a runner and created a nice place to lay
a glass garland down the center of the table.

Gold rimmed plates and glassware are all vintage.

The brass cutlery was a gift from my parents and its a huge service

for 12 with everything you can imagine. My mother bought it when we

lived in Thailand and I polished it many many times when my parents were

planning a dinner party. I grew up in a house of entertaining and setting

the table was always a big deal as was planning the menu.

In another Nordic style moment, a sheepskin decks out the host's chair.

For a simple holiday mood I used greenery and white lights as the backdrop
around our new french doors. My french cane back chairs have been painted
with Matthew Mead Studio Metallics in silver. Mixing up the metallics of
gold and silver also create a more relaxed yet upscale table, perfect for a fun
dinner party with family or friends.

Our stately antique mora clock has quintessential Nordic style.

Old gilded reindeer, also from my childhood spent overseas, these nordic style charmers

have little colored mirrors embedded in their craved gilded frames.

They graced many a Christmas mantle over my childhood years,

and I love to use them on my table tops for a whimsical holiday feel.

The biggest design element is just using a lot of white with blue glass balls.

Just a few of these glass ornaments in shades of icy blues pair up with european style

glass garlands to finish the tablescape design. I am all for using what I have

and coming up with different ways to display them. I hope this gives you a few ideas for your holiday dinner table. Think of how different it would look with red or pink glass balls instead?
So easy to change the mood of the table, as long as you keep your main pieces
in basics of white with metallics in gold, silver or both.
Now head over and see what my design blogger friends have up their sleeves for their
ideas of sumptuous tablescapes and get loads of holiday inspiration!

Shabbyfufu

French Country Cottage

New additions to my decor

Getting excited for the holidays this year, so much so that I am already thinking

of how I will set the dining room table. With the new doors in the room, it feels fantastic

in here and I want the room to look amazing! I have enticed my west coast son, Brandon,

to return for Christmas and I couldn't be happier about that. Not my idea, but I saw somewhere

that someone brilliant used old silver trays as chargers for their formal dinner table.

I loved the idea and yesterday while poking around at an antique mill I found a stack of them

for little money so I scooped them up in a pile.

But then I spotted this classic French Bergere and ottoman and it was in darn good

shape, although the fabric isn't exactly perfect, it is in a pink tweed that will do until I recover

it....and its made by Drexel! All mine for a hundred bucks! Woo hoo! But then I realized I didn't have enough cash in my wallet to buy all the trays I wanted so I had to settle for only a few, as I wasn't leaving without the chair. My plan for the dining room doors included creating a sitting area for me and Colby in the corner by the doors. All winter long we will have our sessions in the chair, me with my coffee and he can stare out the doors at the birds and squirrels around the bird feeder in the courtyard. Imagine on a snowy morning how pretty that will be....that is the kind of thinking that will get me through our winter season. He already loves it, and so do I.

A few weeks ago I ordered a set of buffalo check panels in linen and cotton from Ballard Designs. For years now I have enjoyed white cotton panels in the living room and thought it was time for a change. These do feel more wintery and cozy. I switched out the lamps for this vintage pair in brass and I love the look of the room now.
And lest you think life is perfectly beautiful all the time over here, know it is not.

I thought this view into the room with the tree looked so pretty so I snapped a
quick pic with my iPhone for instagram. I saw Mr. Colby on the couch and called
his name~he perked right up for this neat shot. Then I went over to see what the busy bee
was up to....he was demolishing an aluminum beer can that he had picked out of the
recycling bin. He has started the holidays early I guess! He really has settled down
but still needs to chew as he is teething. Last night one of his teeth fell out and it was a
bloody mess all over the slipcovers after a serious chewing session. So into the laundry the
bloodied covers went...and back on to fight another day for beauty around our home, lol.

Decorating continues with anticipation of Christmas and some entertaining....
I will be shopping small and local for the most part for Christmas.
I figure the french chair is shopping local, although the curtains were not.
Sometimes you just have to buy what you love, regardless of where it is sold,
I will admit that. But TRY TRY TRY to shop small for some of your things, ok?

Christmas Garland and more

Decorating for Christmas usually involves a tree and ornaments and wreath for the door.

But I think garland is the most wonderful holiday accessory one can use if you are

looking for that authentic Christmas feeling in a room. My doors are in place, the room

was finally ready to be decked out for Christmas. All I really wanted to do was put

some roping, or garland, around the frame. I found a mix of pine and cedar and cut it so

it touched the floor and had a bit of a swag in the center.

Next I took a strand of white lights on green wire which just happened to be the perfect size,

and I wired it in a few place onto the green garland. The final touch was adding big velvet

ribbons in purple with a gold backing.

I left the tails with plenty of length to balance out the scale of the door.

Simple and beautiful, now this room feels like Christmas.

Here are a few inspirational ways to use garland.
This cedar garland is draped around the mirror as well as the door, by Mary McDonald.
She punctuated the garland with clusters of silver and gold balls. Look at the image
in the mirror's reflection showing off another door or window draped in garland.

Designer Tobi Farley used a balsam garland and added clusters

of citrus fruit in a Williamsburg style of Christmas decor.

I love the use of fruit in holiday decorating,

its classic and old fashioned, but here it feels so fresh and updated.

Granny green apples and nutcrackers nestle in a bed of greens on this

antique mantel that I decorated for a Holiday House tour in the town I was born.

I actually started the tour over 20 years ago as a way to make funds for improving

our downtown, and it makes me proud to see this tour continue to this day.

This isn't a garland, instead a bunch of greens layered on the mantel, giving it a garland effect.

So this post is my way of saying, don't forget the garland!!

You will get a tremendous bang for your decorating buck. Adding lights

really makes it come alive, and there is nothing prettier than twinkling lights

in a home during the holidays.

For all of you who love Christmas decorating as well as history

and tradition, consider this wonderful book:

Christmas at America's Landmark Houses, by Schiffer Publishing.

I was pleased to receive a complementary copy to review and it really

put me in the decorating mood and gave me plenty of great ideas.

Historical homes are featured and decked out to the nines. Tour the honeymoon home of

Bill and Hilary Clinton, the castle of Edsel Ford, Williamsburg historical homes,

Woodrow Wilson and so many more. This would make

a perfect gift for anyone you know that loves old houses, America and decorating

for Christmas~like me!

One last thing I am soooo excited to share with everyone....

Our beloved Taylor got her heart!!

The photo below is from Thanksgiving, with Tay sitting closest to the left.

Both of Justin and Madison's families joined together for Thanksgiving at their

new home. It was one year ago at Thanksgiving that Taylor went to the hospital with

heart failure. A few days after Thanksgiving Taylor got the call!

We are thrilled that her donor heart seems to be a perfect match.

Madison updated Taylor's status with this message from the GoFundMe site:

Taylor's new heart is a perfect match- so perfect that the doctors really can't believe it. There are many things that need to be considered in the organ matching process, including blood type, antibodies, body size, and medical history. Taylor and her donor were in perfect alignment. We really don't know anything at all about Taylor's donor, except that on December 2nd, they saved AT LEAST two lives- this was a double procurement, meaning that at least one other organ was taken for a transplant scheduled on that very same night.

There were 16 of us gathered to give thanks.

This was the other table in the room, and this year my parents were joining

us for a rare treat as they have been in Florida for the last 20 years.

My 85 yr young dad is the photographer for these family candids.

Family, love, and health.

Thank you to everybody who has supported Taylor at her GoFundMe site, or has

sent positive thoughts, best wishes, prayers, notes and cards.

Its going to be a wonderful Christmas in so many ways.

Our Dining Room French Doors!

Finally, finally!!

I can start playing around in this room and get it decorated for the holidays. The french doors are installed and now the interior trim work is finished and all that goes along with it. They are every bit as beautiful as I hoped they would be. The room feels so much wider, and brighter too. In my imagination I thought maybe this winter I would be hunkering down by the doors in a comfy chair and watching the birds feed at the feeder, and taking in the winter wonderland. The dog can go in and out back here too, so I am testing out a seating area to see if it is feasible,

hence the chair in the corner. A big comfy slipcovered chair.....yum.

Of course I love my purple transferware collection and it will still be the main

decorative theme in the dining room. The large boxwood wreath that I made at

Matthew Mead's holiday workshop last year got a pretty purple and green plaid bow.

I found some beautiful ribbons at a beautiful independent florist in Boston called

Cedar Grove Gardens. Two big rolls of purple wired ribbon came home with me,

including the one you see here on the boxwood wreath.

Wired and lovely, I find ribbon really can be an easy way to decorate for the holidays.

How about that adorable boxwood wreath pillow with it's own black and white striped bow?

From an independent Etsy vendor called Simply French Market, she has the most perfect pillows!

I spotted this new design of Terri's on her Instagram, @simplyfrenchmarket, and I instantly knew it would be perfect. It's got a zipper with a soft insert and a lovely realistic transfer design of a classic boxwood wreath. This is exactly what "shopping small" means. Supporting real people

trying to make a living by doing things like making pillows, as Terri does on her Etsy site.

Check out her many options for high quality and affordable prices.

This dining room is just starting to gear up for the holidays, and for now this bit of greenery and ribbon are setting the tone. The wreath pillow is so whimsical, which I think always goes well in keeping a room from feeling too serious. I will be taking a "less is more" attitude towards decorating, although roping for the doors are a must!

And a pair of wreaths as well. I just love greenery for the holidays.

Simple but still festive. Hopefully that is possible!

And a few baubles here and there....

Colby is doing well, and in the thick of things, always. He is not chewing things

so much or biting anymore, but he is a bit rambunctious so we do take walks every day.

Actually I realized that if I start jogging he stays right next to me and never strays.

Since I have never been a runner that is a new thing for us both, and we have been doing some running walking kind of walks....he really is a great little dog.

He can now give kisses on command. Just don't ask him to come.

Candles for the Season

Candles!

I love them and use them in many ways around our home.

Candles are always part of my dinner table decor, especially during the holidays.

My old standard for years and years was to use only white tapers.

Back when I had my shop, there was that funny time that I painted candles

with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in a color I mixed up to get a vibrant pink.

(Note that you shouldn't burn them as they will smoke, so this is just decorative.)

Those pink candles are a far cry from traditional white tapers.

So you can see that I have loosened up my rigid thinking of what is supposed to

be correct. My recent fondness for striped candles that feel modern and add

a touch of color to my table are on this year's holiday dining table.

As far as scented candles for a dinner table, I will say that is a no-no.

Who wants to be eating dinner while smelling vanilla

or gardenia or cinnamon or evergreen or......you get the idea, right?

Of course in other rooms of the house, I do love to use scented candles and

often light a candle in the kitchen or the living room if I am hanging out.

My living room is my favorite room to do just that, and it appears to be Colby's as well.

We spend hours in here~I am often reading or on the laptop, and he is either

on the couch or in front of the fireplace on a little quilt with his chew toys.

Right behind Colby on the window side table is a neat little candle warmer that scents

the room, without me having to light a real candle. Wax melts are added to the warmer and

the scent is released into the air. You can switch it on or off when you want to scent the room. Or you can do it the traditional way by lighting one of their scented candles in glass jars.

I had never tried a wax melt and was surprised at how effective it is at scenting a room.

The small ceramic dish warms up wax melts

(which are little chunks of solid scented wax)

that you add to the ceramic dish on the warmer to really add a

holiday atmosphere to your room!

I love creating a home that is filled with all the things that make a
Christmas memorable. Adding old photos, like this one of my hubs and his big
brother, bring back childhood memories that make us recall how magical a time Christmas can be.
The smell of a Christmas tree transports me back to when I was a little girl
waiting for Santa Claus. They say the sense of smell is the strongest to bring back
old memories. So what could be better than adding that Christmas tree smell to our homes?

It didn't take long before my room was scented with an evergreen aroma.

Air Wick makes these special scents for the holiday and I am

pleased to give one of my readers two of the Emerald Woodland
and Apple Crumble candle scents in the glass jars.

Spiced Apple Crumble is perfect for your kitchen, and the Emerald Woodland

is exactly what I needed in the living room as my tree is a fake one,

so the woodland scent was ideal.

To win the four candles all you have to do is leave a comment letting me know

you enjoy candles too. Or maybe you will share the special ways you

incorporate candles or wax melts in your home.

Enter by December 7th, and I will have it shipped out right away

so you will be able to enjoy these scents for your holidays!

Its only four weeks 'til Christmas!

Oh my gosh, lets enjoy the season, shall we?

To check them out and see all the fragrances they have

you can click on the links below to see more.

Scented Candles by Air Wick

Air Wick Wax Melts

You can also find these at Target, Walmart and area vendors.

Note: This post was sponsored by Air Wicks and I received product for myself and the giveaway and compensation to do this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Classic Christmas Tree Magic

This is the first time I have ever decorated for Christmas before Thanksgiving. Two reasons being, one is that Justin and Madison are hosting Thanksgiving this year (that and our dining room is still not finished), and the second reason is I got a Tree Classics Christmas tree to review! For the last several years I have been wanting to get a fake tree, simply because they are a lot easier to maintain and these days look just as realistic as any tree off of a farm lot. It arrived in a sturdy cardboard box with the red and green Tree Classics logo. It was a two piece tree that all you had to do was "snap" together and plug it in. Ready for decorating!! Since I started so early I may do a few different looks for the tree as there are so many ways I love to decorate Christmas trees. For this post I decided to do the tree in an "heirloom shabby chic" style, pulling out all my antique and vintage glass balls and using beautiful french blue satin ribbons.

The handsome 7.5' Hyde Park Pine Snap Classic tree with clear lights is decked out in glass balls that we have collected over the years. This tree is so realistic, even my husband said the only way he could tell it was a faux tree was to look at the base, as it is on wheels so you can roll it around to where you think it looks best with ease. I had this tree set up in ten minutes flat! Lights included, so it was truly a joy and all that was waiting was to do the fun part, decorate it!

A few simple touches around the room include scented cinnamon pine cones

on an old transfer ware platter and a thin satin blue ribbon for my

potted boxwood topiary that I got at my son's shop.

A collection of vintage pink ornaments and lambs ears along with a few faux roses

and tiny bottle brush trees are decorated with more satin ribbon to tie

it together with the theme of the tree.

Tree Classics also has beautiful hand painted ornaments, like the gold trellis design,

which I was thrilled to add to our lifetime collection. Tree skirts and ornaments and

other delights for the holiday season can be found at www.treeclassics.com

My living room went from everyday to holiday magic in a flash

because of the simplicity of this tree design. Let me show you how easy it was to assemble.

My "everyday look" in the living room these days revolve around puppy care for Colby,

our three month old pitbull pup. Normally he hangs out in front of the fireplace with his collection of toys and old plastic garden pots, his current favorite. I brought the tree into the living room and as I said it is in two pieces. The top is sitting on the couch and the base of the tree has been snapped into the rolling stand. You need to separate the branches and do some fluffing so that the tree is full and balanced.