Hello and happy Friday! Please enjoy these photos of a client’s home I recently decorated for the holidays.
I’ve been working with this sweet family for months on some very dramatic before and afters, to come soon, but they also requested I update their holiday decor. No problem! Down came the boxes. With all of my projects, the main goal is to first use what you have in new and creative ways, before spending frivolously on all new stuff. You’ll recognize that theme throughout and hopefully it will inspire you to dig in that closet or cabinet and use things you never thought to before.
Here we go!
Here’s a shot of the main living room. First things first, when you bring your live tree in, the branches need to be trimmed. Just call me Edward Scissorhands. I take all the branches I clip and use them as the base for the mantle and console greenery.
Then we step outside and use what Mother Nature has generously given us, and clip cedar and magnolias from the yard and layer them on thick.
Now let’s take all the peasant feathers (saved from my client’s old dried flower arrangements I nixed throughout the home) and lots of ornaments from our new color palette (gold, green and brown) and work them into the mix adhered by wire.
We had some old feather ball vase fillers in the basement we brought up and worked in here. The Potterybarn reindeer were from a previous year. I love them here on the console. After this photo was taken, I piled on yet more ornaments and greenery for a super lush effect.
Speaking of lush, this is the most luscious mantle, designed by none other than the great Pamela Pierce out of Houston. I fell head over heels in love with this house when it ran in the December 2003 holiday issue of Southern Accents. I scanned the image so the quality is meh but still so worth it!
Can you stand it? The limestone fireplace, the heaping greens, that bull nosed niche in the walls with those lovely reclaimed doors below (one on each side of the fireplace)! The brackets on the doors. The slipper chair. The antique olive jar with rosemary topiary and on and on. Someday I’ll do a post on this entire home.
Okay, back to Georgia.
Here is a close up of the tree topper. I grabbed some sticks out of a vase in the kitchen and stuck, stuck, stuck them up top. We took our new brown and gold iridescent ribbon we purchased at the Hobby Lobby for half off and made a huge dramatic bow and used the rest to wrap around the tree. Then I took more feathers we’d collected and stuffed them into the very top. I LOVE how it turned out all free form and crazy.
The tree skirt was easy: cheetah fur fabric also from Hobby Lobby, half off. Adds such a nice soft texture to our woodland-themed tree we got going on here. Don’t spend a ton of money on a tree skirt unless you are absolutely in love with it and money is abundant. Try some old fabric, a tablecloth, a curtain panel or burlap instead.
The other purchases we made at the hob lob were dark and light green bulbs, also half off.
My client makes hair clips for little girls and had these gorgeous butterflies already that we worked in here. Love them because they are attached to a wire and you can easily make it look like they are floating on air.
A close up of our new color palette piled high on an old Southern Living At Home tray from the basement vaults.
This was an old centerpiece filled with red berries and burgundy and gold ribbon. I ripped it apart and added the gold beaded garland (found from some other decorations we donated) and added our new ornaments and repurposed feathers. Voila! Looks great sitting atop the sofa console.
Moving into the freshly painted den (the before and afters of this room are dramatic!) We have the family tree.
We started out with a GREAT looking fake tree from Walmart for $128. It’s a find and sold out last year but you can order site to store now. Our main purchases for this tree were the red matte and shiny ornaments and red beaded garland. Again all from the hob lob half off. We repurposed some old felt ribbon for another dramatic tree topper bow and filled the tree up with all of the family’s ornaments.
A close up of my personal favorite. Abominable!!!
We used the remaining butterflies to match our bright and colorful palette here too.
There is one last tree we designed in the family foyer, our “hybrid”, that I have yet to photograph but will follow up with soon.
I’ll leave you with this last image of “Elfie” our family’s elf. Thank you Pinterest for giving me this awesome idea! Snow angels in the flour. The kids LOVED it.
I hope your holiday decorating is off to a smashing start. If you have any questions, I’d love to be of assistance. We can all use some extra help this time of year so don’t be shy. Cheers and have a fabulous weekend!!!
xoxo
Jenny from the rock
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just what I’m looking for since we traded cedar boughs for our holly clippings with a neighbour– I was intrigued by your use of “peasant feathers”– wondering what that could be, something rather quaint and kitschy I thought– until I came upon the ‘pheasant’ feathers…lol… thanks!
just what I’m looking for since we traded cedar boughs for our holly clippings with a neighbour– I was intrigued by your use of “peasant feathers”– wondering what that could be, something rather quaint and kitschy I thought– until I came upon the ‘pheasant’ feathers…lol… thanks!