Holiday Chandelier

The holidays are certainly upon us. In fact I think they are rather like a locomotive plowing full steam ahead! I can't believe that Thanksgiving has already exited and we are ushering in Christmas. With no time to spare I got to work on my Christmas decor. I started with my dining room chandelier. The picture above is actually taken as a reflection in the dining room mirror. I love how the light just radiates warmth.

I decided upon a gold and frosted fruit theme for my dining room this year. I felt that the gold silk on the inside of the chandelier shades was screaming for something subtle. The shades are a black silk but in these pictures the light seems to be making them come across navy.


Here is a shot during the day with the lights off. As you can see I took the greenery, ribbon and frosted fruit down from the ceiling.





This picture was taken right after my wallpaper was put up. No drapery panels or anything yet. I wanted to give you a peak at the chandelier without anything on it and this was the only picture I could find!

I really piled on the ribbon and greenery to make it lush and full.

I love this fruit frosted with gold. I used gold dusted faux magnolia garland.

The colors in the fruit look beautiful at night with the light hitting them and they compliment my plaid silk panels.

A lot of layering went on to make this one happen!

I picked up two rolls of this pretty scrolled gold ribbon on sale at Michael's. I love how the light plays off of the glitter in the ribbon.

I twisted the ribbon down from the ceiling as well and left loops at the top to cascade down.

What are you doing to your chandeliers this season? Don't forget to check out more creations and inspiration at Susan's Metamorphosis Mondays at Between Naps on the Porch by clicking here. Have a terrific week!

Revisit The Kiddie Table

Today I thought I would share our "kiddy" table from last year to get the Christmas season rolling. Chocolate Santa's stand at attention near each child's place.
Matellasse place mats in green serve as bases for some whimsical place settings. A terrarium filled with glass ornaments is an easy centerpiece and keeps breakables behind glass so little hands can't reach them. A snowman hands candy filled with salt and pepper.

I found some great gingerbread cookie ornaments shaped in frosted letters. Since I knew the names of the kids who would be in attendance I picked up one for each child with their initial and they got to take them home at the end of the night.

The polka dot salad plates made for a fun whimsical addition. I picked them up a few years back at Pottery Barn.

An easy table for five fun kids.

The variety of initials all with different "frosting" kept each place setting a bit different and fun.

I love to decorate chandeliers and my kitchen one is no exception. This one was done in green ribbons and red berries.

I wish all of you a very happy Thanksgiving. I pray your home is warm and full of love and laughter. Please visit Susan for more wonderful tables.

Tree Tops

I spent the past weekend in Asheville where I toured once again the stunning Biltmore Estate. We did a bit of shopping too, of course! I was very taken with the lovely Christmas trees in all of the stores. Especially the way they had decorated the tops of the trees. Luckily I had my camera handy and took a few shots.

This tree was done in all gold and green. Very pretty and soothing.

An abundance of greenery was used around the top of the tree.

This whimsical delight was a fun sight indeed! Look at the Santa belt around the middle of it. Everything was over sized and fun. I loved the over sized Christmas lights stuffed into the top of this tree. Fun!

This one was all golds and reds and very elegant. The top almost looked like a show girls head dress! Isn't it stunning though?

All of the trees had some of the most beautiful ornaments on them.

Frosted glass in lovely colors.

I loved these tall deer. These were in gold but they had them in red, green and silver as well.

Red crystal drops.

A candy cane tree.

Wrapped with a Christmas ribbon.

This tree top held a wooden toy soldier. In fact the tree held many toy soldiers.

Golds and whites. So pretty!

White feathers and reds.

Some more of the pretty ornaments.

A more rustic tree with berries.

Berries and ribbons fill the top of this tree.

When will you put up your tree this season? If you are like me I try to get it done the weekend after Thanksgiving. I am happy to have viewed all these trees. I always struggle with my tree top. This has given me some great ideas! I hope it has given you some ideas as well!

ThanksGiving Table 2008

For this Tablescape Thursday I am re-visiting my Thanksgiving table from last year. As I was organizing some photos today I came across my Thanksgiving table from last year. All set and awaiting its guests. Since I was not blogging at this time last year these pictures were never shared so I decided I would share them now.


Coming from a large family I always tend to use a more casual dish for gatherings. The main reason for this is I simply don't want to hand wash my formal china!

I made a quick arrangement using white spider mums apples and some greenery.

I found these blue and white transferware turkey plates some years ago at a HomeGoods. I am pretty sure they carry the same ones every year. I ended up making the napkin rings out of some tassels and trim I picked up at the fabric store. I just could not find any I wanted at the time and so resorted to creating my own.

It is funny to look at all the changes I have completed in my dining room since last year. In these photos I notice the room has no window treatments........ WOW did it look plain!

I had thrown this center mat together out of a scrap of Waverly fabric I found at the fabric store for $5. I liked the colors in it and the way the blue roosters picked up on the blue turkey plates. I trimmed it out in red brush fringe I got on sale. I think the entire project cost me around $15.

Oh look my lamp shades had not even been monogrammed yet!!! So many of you have had your shades monogrammed since I posted that project. Now you can see what mine looked like before they were done! They look so plain don't they? Hope you had fun re-visiting my table from last year with me. You can find more inspirational tables by visiting Susan at Between Naps On The Porch

Tween Bedroom Makeover ~In A Weekend

A few years ago when we were still in California and I had my Decorating business, I was contacted by a client who wanted to do a weekend makeover for her daughters twelfth birthday. This type of re-do is made to look quite easy on the shows on HGTV, but trust me it is not! I felt I was up for the challenge though and took a drive out to her home to see what I was "up against". She had almost all the furniture relatively new. That was staying.

She expressed some definite storage issues around the desk area that needed to be addressed.

The room also had its own bath that she wanted done.

The french doors and window treatments were a definite must do.

The biggest challenge was that she wanted to keep the existing bedding. One less thing to do yes, but very hard to match other fabrics "off the shelf" to an existing set.

After seeing if all my seamstresses. painters and carpenters were on board and able to do a 48 hour turn around I agreed to take on the project. After all how excited would you have been at the age of 12 to go away for a weekend and then come home to this big surprise! So I was off and running (literally) to come up with a plan. I found a great plaid fabric that worked with the existing bedding. There was just enough to make some panels and a bed skirt as well as a bolster pillow for the bed top. That left the existing bed skirt up for grabs and just what I needed to use for fabric to incorporate the pattern into the window treatment. I designed a valance lined in sage green and cream check.

Here is an after shot. I chose a soft blush pink paint for the walls. My work room made soft pink organza sheers to attach to the canopy bed at the corners. I found a great pink on pink patterned fabric to make some roman shades with beaded fringe on the edge.

Here is a look at the finished window treatments. They really made the room.

Some rearranging of the furniture was necessary for a better layout and function in the space. Some new lamps and art work and a lot of accessories helped to pull the space together.

I had my carpenter build in some open shelving above the desk to store all that tween stuff.

I brought in a cream Napoleon chair and added a lovely pink taffeta cushion with sage green and cream tufted buttons on it. Sadly I did not get detailed shots of the room. Mainly because we literally finished 20 minutes before the tween arrived home. Talk about reality makeover!

A restful tailored space was the end result.

The end result was one happy twelve year old! Visit Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for more wonderful transformations.