{President's Day Sale}

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Happy 2013!

[deviant art]

I hope you all have some exciting plans for New Years Eve.  We’re planning to ring in the new year with a low key evening at home and a nice glass of bubbly. 

If I were going to have a NYE party, the décor would be white and glamorous just like these rooms.  Maybe next year…

[Crystal Gentilello]

[Canadian House & Home]

[Elle Décor]

[Sally Wheat’s home via Décor Pad]

[pinterest/source unknown]

[Rue Magazine]

[AH&L]

Happy New Year!

{ Decorating in Layers }

Just like in fashion, layers almost always works.
Here's a way to create an inexpensive (free) Holiday swag for your home.
layer, layer, layer...

this project included

• a scrap piece of burlap from a coffee bag
• an old pair of ice skates discarded at a flea market auction
• zip ties
• branch clippers
• cutting from a holly tree and out Christmas tree
• ribbon

start by attaching the pine cuttings to the holly cuttings with the zip ties.

then "sew" the burlap to the cuttings with a few zip ties.

then, layer...the burlap, cuttings, ice skates, ribbon.

add a zip tie to the back for hanging.

hang.

sharing at

{ Santas in a Jar }

{ Hot Chocolate Station 2012 }

If you've been living under a rock, let me fill you in on the easiest Christmas project you can do for your kids and they will think you are a rock star!

...the hot chocolate "station"

move your hot chocolate ingredients out of the pantry and cluster them together on a tray. voile la. You've made a hot chocolate station. Congratulations.

Throw in a cookie or two and your the best mom in the world.

I needed a little height, so I turned a cake pan upside down and laid it on top of a milk glass vase.

Wham bam, Bob's your uncle. It's like you live in a Four Seasons Hotel.

sharing at

{Christmas Mantel}

This year's mantel is one of my favs! I collected silver trays throughout the year just for the purpose of making a wreath out of them at Christmas.

The trays are attached to the wall with 3M Command picture hangs. Lot's of them.

The candle sweater sleeves were left over from my sweater pumpkins at Halloween.

And, the Santa mugs always make an appearance somewhere.

A little sparkly, a little cozy.

sharing at

Painting the Church Hall - Interior

I am always fascinated by the zeitgeist of changing colour fashions.

A decade ago I can remember talking to a real estate agent about the colours people paint their houses. We were looking at a house that had been painted a very daring and dark battleship grey and he said "thats just a fad - it will be over by next year."

Well all shades of grey are still very much "in". In fact I am sitting here with four sample pots in varying shades of grey trying to work out which one will work for my church hall interior.

Why not paint it white, I can hear some of you saying. Well the walls are lined in very old cedar boards with plenty of imperfections so a darker colour will not highlight the nicks and wobbles as much. The vast pitched ceiling is painted a bright white (Dulux White On White) with big exposed wooden trusses.

The very deep skirting boards, which I am loving, and chunky architraves are also being painted a crisp white. As the room is so huge we decided that it could take some colour.

My inspiration is the joinery in Atlanta designer Jill Brinson's loft, above.

Cast Iron Beds, more

This is the Lillesand bed from Ikea - not a bad look.

Where to buy Cast Iron Beds?

I did a post on this look some months back and keep getting queries from readers about where they can get that traditional cast iron bed look.
I bought my single beds from Forty Winks (now Home Zone). They look great and I'll post a shot soon - they are currently at one of the beach cottages.
Freedom now do a reasonably priced version, as do Ikea.
I have included photos.

Purists will poo-poo theses knock-off versions but the original ones are usually odd sizes and need work. Believe me, I have a stunning iron bed in pieces in storage as I have to get a custom mattress made for it and fix it up a bit. It will probably remain in storage while my Forty Winks beds are solid, well made and look great!

This is the new Firenze bed from Freedom Furniture which comes in two colours.

If you have any renovating or decorating dilemmas, I'm happy to help out!