holiday hodge podge and a happy new year!

Whew!

Christmas.

Blows in every year at a faster and faster pace and then bam, done and gone.  You try and get out in front of it every year, and somehow still miss the deadline for a proper holiday home tour. So, I put together a mix of the latest design updates/dilemmas on the home front with some holiday highlight thrown in.

The front entrance of our home consisted of a few yards of roping and the rest was all clippings from our yard. Every year I grab this fake wreath and add more bulbs and some live clippings to beef it up for authenticity.

I had this ribbon I think is pretty, that I use to hang mercury glass ornaments from our chandelier on. I bagged that tradition and used the ribbon here in a casual, messy bed head, kind of look by just tying it in strings.

You know they say husbands aren’t very observant, and I can agree somedays…”is that a new dress? Babe I’ve worn this dress ten times?!” However, he did notice, right away, that our tree takes on a different twist each year and he’d be right. Some color! This past year, I started to fall in love with RED again and wanted to incorporate it into the tree. The wood stump tree table is a new addition, since we last visited, that I found at High Point this year. Fell hard for this bleached out cypress beauty.

I added some wide striped ribbon and frosted cranberry garland that I scored at Dad’s Homegoods back home.

I took some of my gold spiked sea urchins (obsessed) and added them to the tree. I have a tendency to walk around the house and grab random objects to stick about.  And these extra large stars came from Zgallerie. I’m thinking these could be cool, all year round, styled in some sort of way. They are plastic and completely harmless.  And the old standby, some magnolias from the yard. Someday I’m going to be that person who makes garland out of those glossy brown and green leaves.

Oh and these oversized sparkly snowflakes were a new add too.  I snagged em cruising through Walmart (have a total love hate with that store). But I do make a point to always peek at their holiday stuff and every year they surprise me so I keep coming back.

These fabric screens are a new addition. The thought process/curse being symmetry. I found them on line and selected the color and designed a nail head pattern for my badass upholster to dream up. The pair of brass columns were a FIND for $80, however, I was already half way down the road, with designing some foxed glass mirrored columns that will take their place. Which means we’ll have to find a another fun place for these guys!  Kinda crazy about columns, any shape, size or color. I think they are a great, fun and dramatic add to any space. I feel this way about art easels too. Table top and floor. Be on the look out for those to add to your tabletop vignettes or as a backdrop behind a chair and side table.

I started playing around with trim and decided I want something WIDER to add down the middle. I don’t need much so I’m going to splurge and investigate some Samuel & Sons.

A raw white silk drapery panel will be added to the space…boxing with myself over where to take the rod, how to hang the drape, blah, blah. Think I finally have it figured out. The rod will be lucite with antique brass and I’d like to run a trim, inset, along the leading edge and bottom.

Still haven’t found what I’m looking for for the fireside chair pillow…

However, I do think we may have a winner in the foyer with the latest lamps to get their turn from some other place in the house. ;-)))   I filled a white narrow dish with ornaments for some pizzazz.

Here’s a pic of the other side of this space. We added a bench and pillow and I’m chewing on drapes for the window. They will hang, double width,  to the right side. Hence why the art  is not centered 😉 My sister asked me that same question. I actually ordered two of these panels and am kind of excited! I think they could be fun but we’ll see. May need some customizing of some sort. I have wild ideas for the upstairs walls and have to make sure it all jives.

This holiday included our annual “Favorite Things” party. I read about this idea on Pinterest and hosted our fourth annual. You should think about having one (my friends rave). And it is one of the easiest parties to throw because everyone brings a favorite dish or drink to pass too. Good times!

My friend Shannon’s absolutely lovely friends from Santorini were in town with their stunning jewelry collections from Greece. Bonus, we all got to shop.

In the dining room, I recently had the walls painted “black magic” by Sherwin Williams. Dig. And a chartreuse-colored Duralee fabric is coming for the drapes. I’d like to add a table square in some sort of pattern or texture. And I would love it if my faux finisher installed her amazing gold finish on the ceiling. I lost the pic darn it. But baby steps. Get the drapes up and the shelves figured out big shooter.

I was channeling my Mother-in-law Jan and played around with table settings for Christmas dinner. Settled on our wedding china and some hand-painted glassware I scored at Scott’s.

I kept saying hello to this mirror at one of my favorite antique stops and finally said I’ll take her! She was a steal at $115 and ultimately I think will make for a cool headboard above a bed. The shelves, ahem,  are still a work in progress. I love the white, neutral vibe, but I’m craving a touch of color, maybe, and more crust. Honestly, the shelves drive me nuts. Somedays I consider covering the bottom half of them with doors, mirrored ones maybe? But then don’t want to cover up the wallpaper. Blah, blah, first world design problems. I plan on working on these tonight, after I sign off here, to quell my nerves for the Spartan kick off at 8. Roll right over that tide Sparty!

More shelves, more struggles…these may just have to be overstuffed in white and gold and then see what happens next.

 

Of all the spaces in our home, the keeping room, is probably the furthest along, maybe. I’m definitely close to my pillow game in order. I really want some plaid in here. It’s traditional, classic and I love the idea of mixing the mod with the trad.

 

Found this Charlie Brown looking fake tree at Ikea this year for $25 and colored it up with green, blue and hints of pink tones. The big French bucket was a hell yeah at the holiday show house from Boxwoods and will corral firewood.

This basket, a Scotts find, filled up with paper whites. Now HERE’S something I managed on time!

I introduced this rust color velvet and recovered my Alexandria chair in it. I was thinking a solid, texture, to accent the great shape and lines of the chair. I can always add a little pattern to the back half of the chair for an easy, but bold, update.

I gotta nurture the Northern in me with some snow so I hang her in the window ;-))) Reminds me of home. Love some fresh fallen snow and miss it. Nothing more fun than playing in the snow at night, as a kid, with it all aglow and perfectly quiet.

The whole family donned matching pajamas this year…

We wanted to take a pic of all of us in them and send as a holiday card but that didn’t happen. Hats off to all the beautiful cards you all send out each year! We so enjoy them, know how much work they are and display them proudly in our home. At the end of the season, we save em all to a ring clip and pull them out again next year. You hate to thrown them out.

{Sunshine one and two are ready for Santa!}

The back door got some love (and some design) this year…

I bought a can of bright red glossy paint for the door, but missed the deadline ;-))) I’d like to stencil some funky stars on the blue ceiling and find a gargoyle to prop up on that column. I thought Mom was weird with her love of gargoyles until she explained to me they stand for good and “ward off evil spirits”. Sold. I’ll take all the feng shui I can get. ;-))

My 1980s skates are always a part of the program.

Well that’s the latest and greatest on the home front of designing and dilemmas with a little better-late-than-never holiday thrown in. I’m so excited for the new year and all that recharge, restart, reinvent that comes with it. I’m taking the next few days to purge, organize, figure out the damn book shelves and work on my business plan for 2016. Lots of exciting things in store and its always fun to daydream where the journey may take you! I wish all of you peace and so much love!

 

jennifer sunshine