This Weekend

With so many events to choose from this time of year, it's hard to know where to spend your time.  Well, let me help you out a bit.  

If you live in the Birmingham area and would like an hour or two of sheer interior design bliss, here's where you need to focus your time this weekend. . . 

IPC Holiday House Tour

I am always amazed by this tour.  The ladies in charge of this tour do an amazing job selecting a wide variety of homes (in both style and size) all of which have be touched by the style mavens of our city. 

The Home of Doug Davis

(interior designer for Tracery Interiors)

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The Home of Betsy Brown 

The Fulmer Residence

The Wagoner Home

Every detail is styled to perfection - just for you!!! 

So, you know where I'll be this weekend!  Hope to see you there. M.

AND

If you are still wanting more, my dear little sugar plum fairies?  

For this weekend only, your Holiday House ticket will also get you in to the Birmingham Home & Garden Inspiration Home.  For free!! 

I attended a grand finale party at the inspiration house this past week, and I will tell you -  it did not disappoint.  Every single furnishing in the home has been so thoughtfully selected - lots of limed washed wood walls and ceilings, Circa lighting, and the most delicious fabrics.   

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Happy Weekend. M.

Enjoying the Month - Advent Style

Every December, I get out this very cute Christmas tree wall hanging with the days of the month magnets and my kids fight take turns placing the days on the tree as a countdown to Christmas.  Each day is a different shape - candy canes, presents, elves, etc.  In addition to this, we've always celebrated with an advent wreath we light each week to represent the season.  This year, I had to come up with something different.   

To make a very long, boring, almost painful story short - I decided to decorate our home without using red in any of my decorations (both inside and out).  Instead, I decided to go with golds, whites, chocolate and a fern green.  It really does look beautiful.  BUT, I had no idea how much this "on the fly" decision would impact my decor.  Lots of things you don't think about - including our Christmas tree countdown (it had tons of bright, reds and greens) and our Christmas stockings (which is a totally separate post!)

Well, I did a little brainstorming and decide to combine the countdown with an Advent concept. 

There is one for each day of the month, and inside there is a Bible verse for the day and a trivia thought related to Christmas - history of the Christmas tree, several Christmas carols, even Norman Rockwell and how he got his start.  Yesterday, the trivia note was about cultures who celebrate by drinking Wassail.  We even made a recipe of it to try!  Very fun.      

I relied very heavily on this amazing Advent Calendar from the Teaching Mom to create ours.  I just tweaked the days of the activities based on our schedule.

Then, I spruce up a basket (it's actually my Easter basket when I was a kid) with some greenery and a gold organza bow.  It's been very fun and a great way to remember why we celebrate Christmas.  I hope you are taking time out to enjoy the season. M.

Project in Progress - Guest Bedroom

I did an installation this week for a guest bedroom in a beautiful home in Vestavia Hills.  I posted about a redesign I did back in October here for the same client.  After we finished moving furnishings around in her home, my client wanted to freshen up one of her guest bedrooms.  So, we used furnishings and accessories she already had and unified the space with new bedding. 

The zebra print chair was our jumping off point.  

In order to make the different styles of furniture work, I added a hint of Asian (which always does the trick) with these fantastic Chiang Mai pillows by Schumacher.  

By pairing these with the larger, less expensive trellis pattern pillows, you get the impact of the Chiang Mai without spending a fortune. 

If you've ever seen this fabric in person, you know the pictures do NOT do it justice.   The color is so incredibly saturated and the fabric is the most perfectly textured linen EVER.

Ah- maze-ing.   Makes my mouth water when I think about it.  

So, with the help of a couple of new fresh fabrics, you have a new guest bedroom.  Happy mid-week. M.

Entryway Arrangement Tutorial

As many of you know, I grew up in Mississippi on a large piece of property outside the city of Laurel. Every Christmas (even before Martha Stewart made it cool), my family would go out on our property and cut fresh greenery to decorate with during the holidays -  wild magnolia and bay leaf, holly, cedar and other evergreens, wild pyracantha and even chestnuts.  I grew up watching my mother create some of the most stunning arrangements you can imagine.  We used all different kinds of containers from large french baskets to galvanized oval shaped tubs.  So, decorating for Christmas brings back lots of wonderful memories for me, and I just love the process. 

I mentioned last week I would show you how to put together a large arrangement for your home like the one I did for Christmas Count Down.  Here's the final arrangement I made for the night.

And, here it is on my buffet in my dining room.  I changed out the branches for sandblasted manzanita branches to give me the look I wanted for my dining room, but it's the same arrangement.

Large arrangements are much easier to make than you think.
In general, remember "the rule of 3's."  There are three types of greenery, three types of ribbon,  three types of ornaments and the entire arrangement is laid out in a triangle.


Create a base layer by bunching up some burlap.  I bought mine on a random trip to Hobby Lobby.  It's just cut yardage, so I folded the cut edges under.

Select a container with some height.  I've had this container for years, and I use it for lots of different occasions.  It was an investment at the time, but I'm so glad I have it.

For a wire container, line it with moss and then place a water tight container in the center filled with floral foam that's been soaked in water.  As an aside, when soaking your floral foam, fill up a basin with fresh clean water and drop the foam in - that's it - do NOT push it down to submerge in the water, let gravity fill the foam properly)

Use floral stick tape to secure the foam to the bowl.

Every well designed arrangement includes something tall, fullness in the middle and something draping.  (another rule of three).  I like to start with the tall, I placed three large branches in the center making sure they're angled out a bit to provide space for the ornaments.

I added the draping element - these branches were from a very sun deprived scotch pine in my mother-in-laws yard!  It's a little difficult to see (b/c I'm not a great photographer), but I have grouped these draping branches to form a triangle.

Then I filled in around the base of the branches with large magnolias to cover the bowl, foam etc.  The shiny leaves are a nice contrast.   Again, I grouped them in three clusters to form another triangle.

Then, I filled in with some cedar just to draw your eye up to the the ornaments on the branches

Almost finished!  I added some ribbon to create a contrast in color with the greenery.  I used three different ribbons with three different textures.  I think when you cut all the greenery out of your yard (or a friend's yard!) you can splurge a bit on the ribbon.

Final step, I placed ornaments on the branches in a sparse way - three different kinds.  Don't over do it or it begins to looks like a hot mess!

Lastly, I added something special to the table - packages of Christmas cards from years past.  I've been collecting Christmas cards from each year since I got married.

During the season, John and I will pick a night to sit down with a glass of wine and go through some of the bundles.  It's always fun to see how people change and families grow.

I hope this encourages you to try an arrangement of your own! Have a great week.  M.

It's Monday

Since life is feeling a bit like this for me at the moment . . . 

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I thought some eye candy was in order - just to get our week started on the right foot!  These are just a few of the images I've saved for some heart stoppin' goodness.   They are random rooms from many different sources; but each one makes me pause and sigh.  

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Now get out there and seize your day! M.

Are you in the Spirit Yet?

I have hit the ground running this week.  In addition to my design projects, I am helping a few clients style their homes for the holidays.  We are working on fresh greenery for their entryways, mantels and even outside on their front doors.  Some are simple additions for their family's enjoyment while others are more elaborate decorations for hosting Christmas parties during the season.
For me, this type of thing is simply another form of styling the home, and I LOVE it. 

First up for the season, I was invited to participate in Christmas Count Down.  This is held every year at Covenant Presbyterian Church where lots of very talented people create Christmas displays for a ladies night full of ideas on how to decorate your home for the season.  My display was entitled "Entryways and Side boards" and was intended to give you ideas on how to make a great first impression as visitors enter your home during the holidays.  Here's the finished arrangement.

I took pictures of the entire process, and my plan is to show you step by step how to create one for your entryway. So stay tuned . . . I'll try to post it next week.

In the meantime, here are lots of the other displays at the event.
This cute table was entitled, "A few of our favorite things," and it included all kinds of handmade gifts (AND not a single cookie, which is just my thing!).  

This was such a cute idea - handmade mulling spices to make your home smell wonderful!

Yes, that is a daffodil bulb in a tin can!  Amazing how something that simple looks so great with the burlap, boxwood, and holly.  

Here's a spice rub for grilled meats.  Also love the wooden spoon on the container.

You could even take it a bit farther and put together a basket for the griller of the family.  This is really a simple gift in that all the items are easily available these days.

This is a basket for a "Game Night."  This would make a really cute Teacher's gift.  Sometimes this is just the thing to help someone pause and enjoy the season.

This was my favorite of the entire night.  It's entitled "12 days Ring & Run" and each gift is a "tongue & cheek" take on the 12 days of Christmas.   The idea here is to pick a special friend and each night starting on December 13th you drop off your gift without getting caught!  Here are few of the days.

The tag reads: "On the Fifth Day of Christmas, your true love gave to you . . .five golden rings, but sorry, we're too poor for golden rings, but will some golden pineapple rings do?"  

Some Ben Gay for the Lords of Leaping - they'll need it!

For an entire list, click here or use your imagination to come up with takes of your own.

This is the perfect gift for your children to give their classmates!  Simple red M&M's, in case, Rudolph needs an extra.  

Here are few others . . .

The entire night was very inspiring and the totally put me in the spirit (ok, I was already there, but it was still a ton of fun).

If you are still not quite in the spirit and live in the Birmingham area, here are two really special events to totally put you in the mood - Birmingham Home and Garden Inspiration Home and IPC Holiday House Tour.  We are so fortunate here in Birmingham to have such talented decorators and floral designers and both of these events are simply a feast for the eyes.  Grab a girl friend and make a date to check them out!!  Happy Weekend. M.