Holiday Decor at the Denham House

 The Holidays are about sharing and being with Family and Friends, right? So I wanted to share a little of what's been going on at our house. In between moving Mom in, working, and spending time with my daughter who is home for the Holidays from her first year at college, we have been decking the halls just a little bit.

Last year I made some stockings for the mantle using white burlap, trimming them with a little left over green linen I had from a local Showhouse I had worked on years ago. I added wooden letters to each stocking for each family member's initials. I made them with carved wood letters that I found at Michael's, which I painted black, then added gilding on top of that. I rubbed through the gilt so some of the black paint showed through. Cost for each stocking, about $6. 

My Mom brought some very fun things with her when she moved it! She had the vintage wire basket (I think it looks like a crown!) and we filled it with crystal bunches of grapes, decanter stoppers, and huge crystal chandelier drops. She also has been collecting crystal balls and spheres for some time, which we scattered across the mantle. I put up a Flea Market painting I found and a copper float that has faded to a beautiful grey-green atop a white ironstone footed bowl. Glass hhurricane lanterns and small glass votive holders, Cedar and Fir garland complete the mantle. Family memories, new and old make it special to all of us.

Our tree is not very "designer-y". There are so many beautiful takes on designer trees out there, my mind is boggled every year with all of the creativity out there! But our tree remains pretty much the same from year to year. Our kids love to put up ornaments we have collected over the years, many of which I had when I was growing up, some of which my Mom has had since her early marriage since the 50's! All of them hold Christmas stories for us....even the gold paper stars that have been on our tree ever since I was little. It may not be the chic-est...but it is perfection to us!

I hope you all have wonderful memories of Christmas past and joyful plans for Christmas present!

* Happy Weekend! *

Were You Good This Year?

It was an interesting economic year, wouldn't you say? This year, our Christmas Lists were shorter, and more practical, as well as more creative. And I have to say this Christmas was one of the best I have ever had in terms of gifts received. They were more thoughtful, painstaking and by for more meaningful than ever.

My daughters are both very creative. One is a very talented artist and bakes delicious goodies. The other loves to make things with her hands and has a very unique and wonderful graphic sense. The latter made a mosaic pot from shards of pottery she found at the Antique Faire on a trip she went on with my Mother, her Grandmother. Little did I know she would create this masterpiece and present it to me Christmas morning with a beautiful jade plant. My mosaic pot runneth over.

I collect bottles with caning and wicker around them. I always am on the lookout for another special one. The same daughter found the middle bottle at the Sacramento Antique Faire with the letters "AA Co." printed on it. I love it and I love her for thinking of it. I think I have another Antique scavenger in the making here! Like Mother like Daughter?

I had mentioned seeing these two cups or vases at Fringe, a really fun shop near our home recently, and lo and behold, my husband, Tim, had gone the very next day and picked them up. I also collect shells and vintage shell boxes. These cups were made in Ireland, probably as a tourist tchake. I adore them! They will be used for pencil cups at my desk or for flowers in various places. So many uses! These were such a bargain as well. I am so glad he went back for them! (I have a wonderful husband....did I mention that?)

A little close-up. I can just imagine these on a window sill overlooking the sea with a bunch of Irish Heather.

My husband knows my collection of Ironstone is ever growing, and he hunted down this sweet sugar bowl..........

......and this platter at the antique shops over on 57th Street in Sacramento. Totally unexpected for Tim to go Antique shopping on his own. I think that meant more to me than the gifts themselves!

One of my very favorite presents was this bulletin board Tim made for me. Apparently he and girls had it hidden during production in the garage for a month before Christmas without me knowing. He made it perfectly to fit where we had been talking about putting one for all of those mundane things like family calendars, shopping and "honey-do" lists. Now we have a place for all of it besides the kitchen counter. SOOOOO cool! (Love you honey!)

Didn't he do a fantastic job?! It will be filled up as soon as I can find some cool tacks.

Tim also went and found this vintage breadbox at the Antique Shops on 57th Street. It was on my list....but putting things like this on my list is a little risky. Who knows what might show up, and I have been known to be a bit picky. But I think Tim is developing a very good eye! I really like it, especially since all of the bread is now hidden away instead of having 3 bags on the counter.

Tim also gave me these two beauties. I had a beautiful Christmas day with my family, just relaxing with a cup of cider curled up with these two books, also on my list.

Nothing too big, nothing too fancy, but perfect in every way.

(Did I mention how much I love my family? They just "get" me, and that is the biggest gift of all. I must have been pretty good this year.)

Oh Christmas Tree.....

Living Room Console all ready for the Holidays

It is that time of year again....time to deck the halls and all that jazz. I am finding that this year, the "divide and conquer" method is working for me. I have been working on one room at a time, and so far I am almost done with the Living Room. Granted, I have had help, but the duties are largely up to me. My family has found over the years that I am particular about the tree lights. Guess what? When one is particular, one finds that one is relegated to completing the task oneself. It takes me about 4 hours all together to do the lights.....I know....a bit compulsive.

But isn't it pretty? I do enjoy the fruits of all that labor. I truly do.

Our tree all finished

It all starts with this:

And this is not all of it, believe me. I have been collecting ornaments and "stuff" for a long time, and many of the ornaments were collected by my mother and passed on to me. As Mom has downsized over the years, I have become the lucky beneficiary.

As I said, I did have lots of help, and here are my little elves working away.

All done!

I decided to use burlap as my tree skirt for the first time, and am not quite sure what took me so long! I love how it drapes and the color is perfect for any color scheme. Best of all, it is very affordable and available.

And evening all lit up.

The tree was done first. Then on to the console. Every year I do a little something different on this table for the Holidays. One of my very favorite Christmas movies is the musical, SCROOGE. So I decided to add a little Dickens to my decor this year.

I used ribbon with music printed on it, and brass horns which I have had for many years. I stacked vintage books to add some different heights. I found a vintage star the other day at a shop I love (I will blog about it soon!) covered in tarnished glitter.

I have added silver candlestick holders leaving them a bit tarnished. I may be alone here, but I love a little bit of tarnish on my silver (unless it is to be used at the table). It has a bit of a romantic quality. I cut some boxwood from our garden and put it in silver baby cups (one was my father's, one was mine and a couple were from other family members.) Derby cups would also be pretty, but I do like the personality of the baby cups.

I added some votive candles and some evergreen cuttings.

Oh....and a few gold painted pine cones. (Here's a tip: if you buy wreaths that have pine cones on them, save them for future use before disposing of the wreath after the holidays. They do come in handy and are already pre-wired.)

As I said, I did have quite a bit of help. We put on the Christmas Carols, had some hot cider and had a wonderful evening making things merry and bright! But now it's time to take a little rest, sit back and enjoy........

It's not too late I hope!!!!!! More Blogger Trees

I must apologize for being away! Having family stay with us for the holidays and our annual Christmas Eve party put me a little behind. But I have been seeing such lovely trees on so many blogs, I thought it might not be too late to share. I mean....you all keep you own trees up til at least the day after New Years, right? I remember one year growing up, we kept the tree up well into February.

The tree above is by the talented Maison 21 blogger, Christian May. A fairytale in white. Please visit and see Christian's wonderful pets, Richard and Mona, and how Christian translates his love for animals into the Christmas Spirit, here!

If you haven't seen the Devine Life of designer and blogger Michael Devine, you can check it out here. Michael has conjured up two trees this year. His "city" tree is pictured above.

And this is his "country" tree. I cannot have just one tree either. (Mine are farther down!) I love that Michael has a celebration with friends to decorate both trees.

My friend Kevin at Journal 703 has had a particularly poignant Christmas this year. This is his beautiful tree. If you want to find out just what the Christmas spirit is and what a very special person Kevin is, please visit Kevin here and send him your best wishes. Love you Kevin!

For a very cool tropical Christmas, visit Linda at Lime in the Coconut blog. She has a fantastic house and shows all of her wonderful decorations here. For another very powerful Christmas message from Linda, pause for just a moment .... click here.

This is blogger Paloma's tree from La Dolce Vita. She has included some pics of her house along with her decorations, so if you LOVE to see what other bloggers do with their decor like I do, click here.

I have a new blogger friend Lecia who writes A Day that is Dessert blog.....and who doesn't want a day that is dessert?!?!? Lecia lets us in to her warm and cozy life with wonderful recipes and her adventures with her family. She sent me this picture of her beautiful tree, and I hope you have a moment to visit her blog. You will be hooked.

This is my tree. I love blown glass ornaments, and add to the collection with gifts to my daughters every year. Some of the ornaments I have enjoyed since I was a very little girl.

This elf is from my childhood.

And so is this angel on the moon.

The mermaid was my favorite growing up. The swan and fruit basket have been added in more recent years.

The reindeer is also newer and came along the same year as this Santa:

The soldier is an oldy.

My older daughter loves all things Japanese. I found this glass lantern just last Christmas for her.

I love this squirrel, a gift to myself, because of the little acorn ornament attached to the hook at the top.

Like Michael Devine, I have more than one tree. I have collected straw ornaments over the years.... and added more from IKEA lately. I also love carved wooden toy ornaments. So in our basement library/office/kid space, I have this little tree.

I hope you all had a magical holiday and wish you all a PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR!

Invitations

My family has hosted an Open House on Christmas Eve for over 14 years now, and I have enjoyed making the invitations almost every year. Since I started blogging, I have begun to see the world through the eyes of a blog reader. What images would read well on my blog? So I have been taking many more pictures than I ever had before. It has been coming in handy on many fronts!

I decided to use this image from a post from Christmas of last year to create this year's Christmas Eve invitations. I printed the image on Strathmore blank cards with a deckle edge. Then I used the Strathmore Vellum Overlays to print the invitation information for the inside of the card. A little gold ribbon to tie them together and voila!

I think they turned out rather well!

The Holidays, DIFFA , Jean Larette and Jo Malone

I received a lovely email last night about the beautiful Holiday Table created by designer Jean Larette for the annual DIFFA Dining by Design Event in San Francisco last week at the Design Center. Inspired by the Jo Malone London line of fragrance and lifestyle products, I think it is a smashing success! I thought you would enjoy a peek.

Jean Larette describes her inspiration here:

"The inspiration for the Jo Malone London table came from the brand’s elegant and sophisticated aesthetic. I was inspired by the brand’s signature cream and black packaging finished with black grosgrain ribbon, and the polished, clean lines of their shops where their products sparkle on the shelves. I used full panel mirrors to reflect that sparkle and enhance the intimacy of the dining room setting. The simple, clean lines of the black lacquered fireplace added warmth and highlighted Jo Malone’s Holiday scented home candles: Pomegranate Noir and Pine & Eucalyptus. The sculptural pomegranate wreath suspended by a black grosgrain ribbon added a festive element and referenced their Pomegranate Noir fragrance. The table setting resting atop a custom ivory linen table cloth edged in black is reminiscent of the brand’s signature packaging. This color palette was repeated in the black Oly Studio chairs with ivory raffia seating which added texture in a casual yet refined way and the black floor with the addition of the cream-colored stripe. Baccarat champagne flutes and black glassware added both sophistication and sparkle, while a variety of Jo Malone candles (travel, Fragrance Combining and Home) scattered on the table filled the room with a festive holiday scent. Instead of a traditional chandelier, I suspended cream-colored rose spheres from black grosgrain ribbon as a soft, feminine accent. Lastly, the fresh pine needles added softness and greenery to our Holiday table."

I think this table and room could easily take you from a joyous Christmas through a fabulous New Year's Eve.

And when you have a moment, check out the Jo Malone Holiday Gift Magalogue here! It is full of wonderful gift ideas.

Beautiful website! Check it out, and Happy Holidays!