A Sprinkle of Holiday Decor

I’m not going to bore you with the details but I’m behind on blogging due to computer issues.  UGH!  Back in the saddle again and now trying to play catch up.  FEW!  Here we go with a little post on how we decorated our house.

We purchased and decorated our tree the first week of December.  I like to enjoy it the entire month. I relish in the ambiance it creates.  I enjoy  lighting the fire and candles, having a nice glass of wine or champagne, and gazing at our sparkly tree.   Our color scheme is simple; white, silver and anything that sparkles.   I kept our holiday decorating to a minimum by just accessorizing a few key areas.  I hung stockings on the fireplace, added some holiday decor to the dining table, and planted paper whites and amaryllis (I love the smell and enjoy the blooms).

I started in the dining area.  The runner on the table stays on all year round along with the ceramic urn.  I just added some touches of mercury glass and tea lights to dress up the table.  The branches were purchased from Michaels (got 50% off for $3.99 a stem), I wanted more, but this is all they had.  They look like real tree branches with fake snow and pine cones.  I had about six women in line ask me where I found them only to tell them I grabbed all that were left.  Since we live in LA finding tree branches is next to impossible.  I added these two trees from Home Goods which are made from pine cones with a silver color.  The little reindeer are from Pottery Barn and were purchased last year (see my post Winter Wonderland).  I fell in love with these little vases from Pottery Barn, made from mercury glass.  When I first saw them, I thought they were candle holders but they are actually bud vases (plus, they were only $8.00).  I had to have them.  Also, I bought eight or nine of the mercury glass tea lights from Target.  They were $.99 each.  Can you believe it?  I bought eight of them. They are great to use all year round.  Well take a peek inside our little beach house for a sprinkle of our holiday decor.

      

 

I had this bell wreath from my old apartment, it’s been sitting in a box for years. I pulled it out and added it to our China cabinet and it had two matching bells that were ornaments (too heavy for the tree) so I hung them on the drawer knobs (purchased at Pottery Barn).

On the chest that sits across from our dining table, I added a few touches of greenery and silver to compliment the table.  Each year, I use my grandmothers vintage casserole dish and fill it with paper whites.  I like the vintage look of the dish.  You can really use any vintage piece of silver or container for paper whites.  I reused the nuts left over from Thanksgiving.  They sit in a vintage silver candy dish given to me my mom’s best friend (she was cleaning her closets and throwing a bunch of silver away, I was like a little kid in school…pick me! pick me!), and a silver mercury glass candle holder I got from my favorite store,  Home Goods.  The mercury glass candlestick adds a hint of sparkle to tie in with the table. The photo below that one, is another tray I got from my mom’s friend.  Remember the one cleaning out her closets.  I used it at Thanksgiving for the champagne.  I added pine cones, a beaker with some left over greens from Thanksgiving and added a candle.

Here’s an overall look at the chest.

It’s so hard to capture our tree.  Whenever, I have taken it with a camera it just never comes out.  I found a setting called “night” and I tried that.  Waa Laa! Finally, something that shows how it looks when it’s  lit up at night. I use on average five to seven boxes of lights.  I used to be a wrap it around the tree girl, until I met my old roommate, Jen.  She taught me how to weave the lights in and out so it sparkles from within.  I liked it so much, I have kept it up over the years…however, I curse her every year for showing me how great it can look, because now I’m obsessed with it. It takes so much time to put it up and take it down.  Thanks Jen :)  The only thing I wished I purchased was starfish garland.

 

 

Here is a close up of some ornaments that I have collected over the years.  Rosie do you recognize the one in the center?  It always goes at the top of the tree.  I look for things that will sparkle when the lights hit them.  Most of my ornaments come from Home Goods and Marshalls.  They have tons of ornaments that look vintage at the fraction of the cost of major retailers.   Most of them come from Poland where the higher quality glass ornaments are produced. 

I love my clip on birds. The Santa below is from Home Goods and the starfish is from my mom.  Every year she sends me one ornament.  I love my big fat puffy lady below too….Compliments again of Home Goods.          

Oh Yes! To satisfy the man in the house we have a football, a rocket and somewhere on our tree a Minnesota Vikings helmet.  He makes sure they are front and center to screw up my color scheme.  It’s also his way of reminding me there is a guy living in the house. LOL!

      Our stockings.

        We have a tiny bathroom guest downstairs that I decorated.  To keep it simple, I just added some eucalyptus to the vase, some holiday guest towels, and greens in a tiny bud vase to add a splash of color. 

That’s it folks! I didn’t have a lot of time to edit so sorry if I’m rambling, but then again, what else is new?  Ha! Ha! I’m on a rice and beans budget this year, so everything was repurposed or purchased on sale or at a discounted store.  How about you?  Did you repurpose or go hog wild? What color scheme did you use this year?  Hope your enjoying all the festivities….look forward to your comments!

Bloomingdales Big Window Challenge

Currently, Bloomingdales is hosting a Big Window Challenge at their flagship store in NYC.  There are three different designers doing a various window displays with their own concept idea and storylines.  Eddie Ross is one of the designers, representing Elle Decor for this competition.  I fell in love with Eddie during Top Design. I have watched Top Design since it’s inception. My girlfriend Erin and I always giggle because it reminds us of us a few years ago at FIDM.  As crazy adults, we decided to go back to school for design.  We both had a love for design, textiles & homes and wanted to fine tune our skills and see if this was a life we’d want to lead.  Anyone, who is a professional working person and goes to school full time for interior design at night can attest how insane and crazy it is ~  pulling all nighters, laughing because your so delirious and deprived to sleep that your going crazy, and the joys that come from all the hard work and seeing the end result.  I always related to the Top Design contestants because sometimes you do need a little time to get the creative juices flowing but not on this show – you jump right in and sometimes they had to work on a tight deadline and/or had to work through the night, something I related too!  Eddie Ross was one of those contestants that always pulled the rabbit out of a hat and made, whatever he did, look like it was magazine worthy (table settings, room vignettes, etc).  He’s been in the business for sometime and has had an already successful career working at Martha Stewart and now he is thriving even more!  He has a fabulous blog which everyone should read Eddie Ross.  If I lived back East, I’d want him as my neighbor.  I know we would have a blast entertaining together and I think he would be great fun to chat and gossip with!

What I love about this contest is each room done by a designer is to have a story.  Eddie’s is a woman who owns a fashion PR company with offices in Paris and New York. She has two children who have recently moved out of the house likely on their way to Harvard or Yale (that’s my thoughts) or maybe off to school in Florence to study textiles or apparel. While I read the story of who this woman was and how she lived, I really got lost in the story, it was as if, I was reading a modern day novel of Coco Chanel, but more the business woman.

What I love about Eddie is ability mix the bold with the subtle.  I truly enjoy pops of color but my natural esthetic tends to be whites, linens, tans, etc.  I appreciate color as a designer and wish sometimes I had the ability to do it myself ~ go to the bright side!   After reviewing the photo’s of Eddie’s window display (See Photo’s Below) I was stumped on the walls ~ I couldn’t figure out if it was wallpaper or if he splattered paint on the walls.  I was torn – do I like it or don’t I?  I loved the color but wished I could see it in person.  The more I pondered it, I was pleasantly reminded of a class that we took at FIDM with a quirky instructor who taught us about the imagination and about shapes, proportions, and various elements as an art form (think Andy Goldsworthy and the late Gene Moore, the window dresser for Tiffany’s) and I looked at it in a new light.  I always love his mix of materials.  The brass chandelier in just the right color – not to shiny not to dull.  I love how Eddie and his team added pops of color and how the orange and pink’s compliment one another.  The furniture is simple and understated but the woman expresses herself through her art, pillows, and classic accessories.

  I love this statue (See Below).  It makes me want to go to Italy and scour the flea markets for one. I think I’m in love.

Dear Apollo,

How I wish you would come live with me? If we lived together, you’d probably be my new best friend – I’m sure we’d have many conversations ~ on how our day is going or not going, maybe I’d throw things at you when I was angry, but, your far to handsome for that.  I see us as being best friends, while my dog barked at you – like, who is this stranger that invaded our house? I think my boyfriend would likely hang his clothes on you…but I would take care of you.  Don’t you worry! Of please come stay with me!

All the Best,

Ann

I absolutely love this table display below.  My dream is to have a room dedicated to nothing but dishes, glasses, serving platters, etc., so, I really could begin to collect all different colors for the various seasons.  I remember reading about this brass tray below Eddie bought he was guest blogging on Pure Style Home– another of my favorite blogs.  He shared with her readers how he bought it for next to nothing at the flea market in the hopes it would clean up nice but even if it didn’t – it still would look amazing.  A little brass cleaner and elbow grease and look how well it cleaned it up ~ looks like something you’d see at Bergdorf’s.  Also, another accessory I love on this table and something I’m collecting myself, is this white urn.  I have one in my bathroom, I got for a $1.00 when I was at an antique shop in Old Saybrook, CT.  It currently holds my Q Tips!  I broke my other one (I do everything in 3’s) so I need a replacement.  I’ve been looking for a larger sized one to put my orchid in and this was is perfect.  Eddie  it’s perfect for my bathroom ~ where did you get that?  Can I buy it when your done???

The picture above does make me feel like this woman is in the fashion industry – with the ever so popular Ikat fabrics on the pillows to classic Toile and Leopard  print ~ it’s timeless yet current. I want to sit on that pink (I think it’s pink – maybe red) blanket with a glass of Cristal champagne. I love the sense of whimsy (See Below), the pink and white gumballs displayed in a beautiful vintage porcelain and of course, the ever so classy Eddie, has it in a beautiful bowl with peonies behind it – I LOVE IT!  When I talk about decorating is in the details, this is a great example of it. It’s just the right touch color, texture, whimsy and everything blends together beautifully.  I want to be friends with this lady – never mind!  I want to be her!

Eddie has an incredible eye for putting together unique and creative ways to display barware.  He puts them together in such a chic way.  I love how he mixes the silver tray with vintage glasses and even throwing in the whimsy skull head or monkey head LOL!  I don’t know what it is, but, it looks like an ice sculpture.  These brass flowers are amazing!  All the bloggers are talking about them and how they want them and so does muah!  I welcome the touches of fresh flowers when entertaining but I also enjoy it in my personal space when I’m alone.  When I was broke in college, I told my best friend, Sue when I had my own apartment, I was going to buy fresh flowers  every week and have them in my house.  I do, whether, I have company or not.  Depending on my budget that week, it can be a fresh rose from the garden in a bud vase, or star gazers (my favorite for smell) in my living room, tulips or hydrangea’s in my teapot,  or my green goddess calla lilies to brighten my kitchen.  The quickest way to warm your home is through flowers and candles.

This is probably of my favorite pictures in his storyline for his window display.  Why?  Because this picture hits so close to home and is SO ME!  His storyline indicates that, this woman loves to entertain and she and her husband are having friends over for drinks.  She only has a few hours and wants to catch up on her favorite indulgence ~ reading magazines.  She’s looking for ideas for her house or inspiration?  While this lady can afford anything  ~ I cannot!  So for me, magazines are my pure pleasure and they transport me to a place of utter bliss.  I know what I love, but, unfortunately, my pocketbook cannot afford my champagne taste on my beer budget.  So until I am in a place where I can decorate the way I want, I will live vicariously through Eddie Ross’s window and fantasize about this fabulous woman’s life and story he has created.  While our lives are very different, she lives in chic house in NY and I’m in a beach house in Manhattan Beach, we do have a few things in common ~ we love to shop at flea markets and find those secret treasures(whether it’s $1.00 or $100.00), the fun is in the hunt and spotting a good thing in a pile of ruble also, kicking off your heels off after a long day, relaxing with our magazines and then having close friends over for cocktails!

Make sure you check out Eddie’s beautiful window display and read the story line.  I assure you for a blissful 10 minutes you will be transported to Paris and a chic apartment in New York.  I promise the journey will be worth it.  Make sure you vote for him and his team!  You can only vote twice a day online or via text.  Click here to cast your vote for the designer of your choice.  All excellent, but, I think you know who my favorite is!

 

PHOTO CREDITS:  EDDIE ROSS

Hey Buddy!

There is nothing that makes me happier than bud vases filled with fresh cut flowers from the garden sprinkled around the house. There are so many creative ways to display your flowers. I have used everything from old wine bottles, jam jars, soup cans, and even antique tea cups!

When I am having a good/bad day, working at my desk, or even going to the bano (gotta have something pretty to look at it), there is nothing better than looking at fresh flowers. My friend Nick, brought me some gorgeous dahlias the other day. I'm staring at them right now. Flowers make me HAPPY!

Look how beautiful these stakes are for an outside garden party or an outdoor wedding - how romantic!

I imagine this filled with gerber daisies, cosmos, or loves lies bleeding! Keeping it simple with the monochromatic look and the same flower.

Just a hodgepodge of color and shapes!

I love how they mixed antique creamers with crystal vases. You could even use vintage champagne glasses! Look for those random cups, vases, glasses, etc. or any on of a kind item sitting there all by its lonesome begging for a home!

Photo Credits: Photo 1(http://www.atwestend.com/), Photo 2: (www.vivaterra.com), Photo 3: (http://www.atwestend.com/), Photo 4: (http://www.napastyle.com/), Photo 5: (www.interiordec.about.com - Photo By: Glenna J. Morton)