HOLIDAZE

 

What a world wind.............Christmas retail, decorating a home for the Christmas walk, winter containers......a virtual haze. But, I am grateful. Grateful to be busy and blessed with wonderful clients

 

 

Time is clicking.......... loudly. Clients are all cared for, family and friends are not. Eleven days before Christmas........how did that happen!?

    Will I buy cards, send them?   probably not

    Christmas gifts? Not a one!   yikes!

Until that last moment of madness I wanted to share with you some of our projects

LOVE creating clients winter urns. The beauty of "planting" this season is that once complete, they are truly complete. No waiting for them to grow, watering, fertilizing, pinching.........FINISHED, instantly.

We use many faux's, apples, berries.............

Never use styrofoam, they will explode. But hard plastic will last for many seasons

Faux rose hips

Large oval urns were filled with red twig dogwood, pulling in the color of the roof

Have window boxes? Never leave them naked!

The variegated leaf is faux holly. Real holly turns black quickly.

Yellow twig dogwood for a garden of blue and chartreuse.

A stately manor's urn hosts a double juniper tree. With each season the base changes, the juniper tree remains a constant.

The base has a variety of seeded eucalyptus, silver fir and blue berried juniper repeating the elements of above

Back to the blue and chartreuse garden...........we repeated the yellow twig dogwood, faux white berries with blue toned "greens" and yellow seeded cedar

Massive bronze containers match the color of this homes outdoor lanterns.

Yellow and red berries.....yes, faux!. A popular berry is 'winter berry', do not bother.........as soon as it gets cold they too turn black.

On another note I was inspired by a post from friend Eddie Ross. Hosting a contest, Eddie suggested that readers submit their examples of wreaths created with a wire hanger and ornaments. Go to his post of December 12th to see the final submissions, vote for your favorite and view his instructions. Isn't this gorgeous!

PS:  Watch a repeat of Eddie's HGTV special 'Celebrity Holiday Homes'......I am partial, Eddie's portion is the best!

Onto that inspiration...........I pulled from the shop boxwood balls ($7.00 each), double sided satin ribbon and a few other bits

Open the hanger and spear the boxwood balls, use an odd number. Fill the hanger formed into a circle, re-twist the ends to form a hanger and tuck down, below the boxwood balls.

Hung from one of my fav pieces...........a lantern from New Orleans, split. One half frames each side of a window.

Turquoise ribbon and a vintage looking skate.

Without the skate, I added a turquoise ornament garland

Back to our Christmas house................if you recall from our previous post, the theme was turquoise. To my surprise, blogger friend Maria of 'Colour Me Happy' responded that Pantone designated turquoise as the color of 2010, yeah!. If you get a moment visit Maria's wonderful blog.

 

Utterly exhausted I may not get to a tree for our home. BUT if I did, what do you think of this design? Fueled by all that caffeine VOILA! Great use of diet Mountain Dew cans..........now that is going "green!"

But.........now that I am unwinding think I will indulge in this treat my husband found

A mix of chocolate AND red wine........divine!

'Christmas Gift Suggestions'

To your enemy, forgiveness
To your opponent, tolerance
To your friend, your heart
To your customer, service
To all, charity
To every child, a good example
To yourself, respect


by Oren Arnold

  xxo
Debra

THE COLOR TURQUOISE

Tradition dictates green and red as the colors of Christmas. Join us in a twist on tradition.

In the charming town of Geneva, Illinois, it's Swedish orgins are celebrated annually with the Christmas Walk and House Tour. The lighting of the BIG tree, Santa's arrival, roasting chesnuts, horse drawn carriages, evening shopping............and the House Walk. Five design based businesses are paired with five homes to decorate in a Christmas theme.

 

"Our" home was a charming mid-1800's cottage. An architectural gem with a refined color pallette of off-white, light and dark gray. How about those corbels on the entrance stairs?

 

Oversized black urns were brought in and placed under the two center windows then filled with blue, white and silver accents for winter interest

These great copper wall pots were fun to fill

Silver fir, seeded eucalyptus, blue berried juniper, purple cabbage for POP and strips of birch skins

 

The same theme was carried to the window boxes

LOVE those cabbages!

 

An antique pot from France the homeowner found at my shop. The repeated palette plus large glass votives held tea light sized battery candles

Our "nordic" feel extended to a sitting area; vintage ski's, plaid blanket, burlap coffee sack, greens and a sprinkling of silver bells

Let's go inside!

 Sandy Lichtenstein, the lovely and gracious homeowner standing in her dining room. Sandy allowed us full creative license.

 Notice the carrera marble cut to top her radiator. Her collection of gorgeous silver trays were displayed amoung greenery and used as chargers on the dining room table

This is my favorite vignette; we provided the zinc cherub and our floral designer Vicky added height and drama with a romantic floral display, the lamp, mercury glass candlestick holders and French grey tapers.

I love radiators and the even warmth they provide; a garland and an architectural piece which was once a piece to a door of a long ago wine cellar in France.

The living room

On this radiator we added the lamp, concrete bust and a vintage zinc finial

Well, maybe it is a toss-up.......this scene could also be my favorite. The Christmas tree is in a raised urn, the rolled rim hosts a mohair turquoise scarf and this great vintage linen sack from an old shoe factory in Italy. (We have two left)

Faux parrot tulips, silver sparkled nest and eggs, turquoise beaded garland, faux seeded eucalyptus stems, silver snowflake light "necklaces" and look closely.....our vintage zinc stencils

Wooden chandelier drops make interesting ornaments

Sister wrapped the gifts in placemats, yes, "pop-up" placemats! Added glitter and satin ribbon

These placemats have raised scenes and always a spot for your guests name

Cozy, intimate family room

LOVE the battery candles particularly when nestled into greens..........safely

Sandy's grandaughter

When you look at the sofa on the right you will see the pillow for her grandaughter. On the left side of the radiator is 'DYLAN', her grandson. But take a look at the two small wicker stools slipcovered in linen, perfect for those lucky grandchildren.

Kitchen island looking into sun room

A gorgeous resin bowl Sandy found on her travels filled with mercury balls, faux greens and mini "celebration" candles

See the touch of turquoise on her farm table?

A dear friend, Alain Roby, a master pastry chef and three time Guiness World record holder, created this pulled sugar ribbon, last minute, during his busy season. Thank you Alain!

His truffles are legendary!

Born in France, eagerly American, Alain's new cookbook is brilliant.............easy, yes easy, elegant desserts, order here!

A vintage snowsuit found on e-bay.

OK, ready.............let's go out back outdoors..............

Nooooooooo..................you know i am being ridiculous! Every neighborhood has this and i will never understand. What are your thoughts? Does anyone else disdain "inflatables?"

This cutie is our floral designer Vicky Whitt. Her and Susan Olson were some of the masterminds behind this project.

LOVE these candles. As guests arrived they were greeted with the NEST holiday candle, clean burning scent of pine and exotic spices.

Upon entering the kitchen the GODIVA scented milk chocolate truffle candle with subtle floral undertones engaged your senses.

I have been quiet of late...........a long time between posts, no comments on my blogger friends posts.............part Christmas retail, part installing winter containers at clients homes, big part Christmas walk house.................ahhhhh..........one can dream, dream of far away places, turquoise waters, turquoise skies, turquoise flippers..............HMMMMMM, i do need a vacation.

 

Thank you for visiting!
Debra