Decorating with Family Treasures

The holidays always bring in a flood of childhood memories for me. I find it comforting to incorporate family heirlooms and heirlooms "to be" into my holiday decorating. As a newlywed I had a garage sale with my new mother in law and discovered a small box of shiny brite ornaments she had marked to sale for a quarter. When I asked her where she got them she said they were her first ornaments as a newlywed and upon closer inspection I discovered the box was stamped 1969 not only were they her first box of ornaments they hung on my husbands first of many childhood Christmas trees. I imagine my in laws carrying their son to his first Christmas tree to watch their tiny newborn open his eyes to focus on the bright lights and multicolored ornaments. Needless to say that box of shiny brites came home with me, along with their first tree topper. Every year I display these fragile ornaments in a footed bowl that once graced the table of my husbands great grandmother. This year I have draped it with a strand of pearls that my grandmother wore to church on Sundays. There is much history tied to so many wonderful memories in that small holiday display. My cloche holds a tattered book, a baby photo of my father and my prized ornament that my best friend Amy bought for me on her trip to Curious Sofa. This is sure to become an heirloom as time passes and the shine fades. Draped on the book is a vintage rosary. This is the rosary my father carried with him on his tour in Vietnam, if only these heirlooms could talk, what would they say? What have they seen? I would love to hear how you incorporate vintage pieces into your holiday decor.

Soooo Thankful!

I am soooo thankful that my husband can take control of my procrastination and put me into prospective at just the right time. I have been so wrapped up in the way my boutique looks that I would have been happy to leave my fall decor up at home until...um...the new year! But my dear husband pulled a "Clark Griswald" this weekend and forced me to sit down, look at the full calender we have, and somehow got me to agree that our Christmas decor would need to make it's grand entrance now or never! It took me 2 hours just to decorate my shelf...for some reason I was just not feeling it. And as if that weren't enough we went Christmas shopping and knocked out most of it in one day! And did I mention he "encouraged" me to do the Thanksgiving grocery shopping now rather than later (I would have rather had a root canal)? I have to say he was right...I feel better that it's done but I need a long winters nap!

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas!

Of course I am talking about a master bedroom re-decorate! Back when I built my house 6 years ago, I wanted rich bedding in jewel tones with lots of trims and patterns something with a very ecclectic feel. So, that's what I did. And now....this is what I want! I bed that tempts you to jump right in the middle of it, a bed that my kids can come snuggle and watch a movie in, something a little less "stuffy"! As I take off my 100 beaded and trimmed pillows every night I think to myself "this is not me"! Kind of like when you see a family dressed to the nines for a photo and they look like they want to jump out of their own skin and you know they are really a jeans and t-shirt kinda family. Well I want a bed that feels like my favorite jeans (holey Lucky's I have had for 4 or 5 years, but can't part with) and my v neck baby soft tee from no other than Target! I just need to convince my husband that a white fluffy bed is manly, and convince him that I need his help re-plastering the walls. Can a girl put that on her Christmas list?

photos: bella notta, patina green, ?

Old World Christmas...Done!

I have finished decking the halls at Oliver's. My wonderful husband/chief financial officer/best friend/heavy lifter came to my rescue and helped me with the hanging and moving and I have to say I could not have gotten it all together without him. And just in time. The Market is hosting a Holiday Open House on Friday Nov. 13th. If you are in the area they will be serving refreshments, have live entertainment and hourly drawings. Now I just need to re-coup so I can deck the halls at home!

The Old and The Beautiful!

I often wonder if I ever built another house "what would I do different"? I go back and forth between nice traditional cabinetry or something like this. I have a friend who saved antique pieces for years and had her builder "build around" them. I can see this round corner piece as a great coffee/tea bar in the corner of a kitchen or breakfast nook. And this red piece as a place for fine linens, formal dishes, or even used casually as a pantry. The large blue/green piece would look perfect in a master bath as a linen closet with beautiful towels, and vintage apothecary bottles, sitting next to a slipper tub of course with a big fat chandelier hanging above it. I would use these pieces exactly as they are, the patina is priceless.

Great Blog and Great Giveaway!

Check out what this girl can do with some Goodwill finds! And this is her great giveaway! She gives you a chance to enter 3 times! Tell her I sent ya!

2 Days til Christmas Music!

I woke up thinking that in 2 days I will be breaking out the Christmas CD's! (I am embarrassed to say I have around 20) My family is giving me a hard time and almost had me convinced that Nov.1st may be a little early for holiday tunes...then I found this in my email and took it as a sign. Christmas is just around the corner and I "need" 2 months of the joyful sounds of Christmas streaming through my day. I did make a deal with my kids that I wouldn't play it to wake them for school or change my ring tone on my phone for a couple more weeks...yes, I do bend! This is from the "chalk guy" he is amazing!