~ Oh ... Christmas Tree ~ The Decorated House 2014

For the last few years I've wondered if I can do without the big Christmas tree. You know, maybe a small one on a table so something like that. I've watch how the Christmas tree trimming story played out with the older women in my neighborhood as their kids grew up, or even the grandkids grew up .... and maybe even some moved away. I think by the time I met them only one still had a larger, real Christmas tree that her daughter used to pull in the house on Christmas eve.  Another lady would still put a small artificial tree on a table in her front window and red bows on her outdoor lights, even though she lived alone.  I miss her, and that silly little tree and the red bows.

For this year, there is still a big tree in the living room. Right where it has been for the last 30 years. I like to think my little family would miss seeing one there, but I'll most likely rethink the whole thing once the needles start falling, or I am wrangling the lights off the tree. Sometimes I forget to just let that be a part of the fun as well. 

But I never forget to enjoy the dance of the lights in the evening when all is quiet after a long or busy day. Somehow it brings you back to a peaceful moment and makes it seem worth the work it takes to put it all together. 

I hope your Christmas Season is going well and that you are creating beauty and joy all around you. 

~ See Y'All Soon ~

~ The Decorated House - Christmas 2014

It's that holly jolly time of the year again when you most likely get bitten by a bug ... the Humbug or more hopefully the Christmas Merry Bug! And yes, there seems to be some in between states of mind as well. Or you might flip from one to the other one day to the next. That's OK, just try to take a little time to breath in the beauty of the season and shake off the stress that sometimes comes with it.

Black and white at Christmas? It might seem like an odd color combo for Christmas decorating. But we have been using it for a while, and I still love it! I think it started for us several years ago when we got a Bambi, Radko ornament set with Flower and Thumper being the cutest of the lot. Flower of course is black and white/silver so that one has been displayed the most over the years. But it was the star that came later that really moved the color scheme to black and white.

 

Then a couple of years after Flower came to Christmas,  I found a pretty MacKenzie Childs star to add to the decorating mix. A few more, including one more star, came along in the next few Christmases. After a couple of tree crashes that destroyed a lot of the overpriced ornaments, I vowed not to get anymore. Out of all those glass ornaments, the stars are the only ones on the tree every year and I still love them!  The amount of lime green varies a bit year to year sometime a little more and sometimes a little less.  Still the Christmas decorating for me is white and silver with touches of black and remains my favorite combination with a touch of lime green.

Amazing to me, the presents are getting wrapped a bit early this year! Between procrastinating and trying to hide the gifts from my daughter, over the years I always seemed to be playing catch in on Christmas Eve, often everyone was in bed. This year I have a very good start on the packages which are going to be wrapped in white and silver, with black and lime green accents.

~ See Y'All Soon ~

~ Christmas Mantel 2014 - The Decorated House - White and Silver

How is your Christmas decoration coming along? Here is a quick peek at the mantel this year, and I'll post some more pictures when they are downloaded and ready.  I hope you are enjoying this part of Christmas ....  decorating, visiting and sharing your own.

After doing the mantel I remembered telling myself not to use fresh greens because it is such a mess to clean up afterwards. It was too late by then of course.  In this case I don't mind using the faux because I keep it and use it for many years,  and the snow capped greens on the mantel ledge are faux with some real added here and there. But around the frame, real look best right now.

I took fresh greens and wired them together to form a garland around the frame of the Madonna picture. It's such a beautiful painting isn't it? I printed it out on antique paper from the late 1800's which gives it a wonderful aged look.  Although I used the same picture last year, I changed the frame to add some aged gold to decorating this year. 

~ See Y'All Soon ~

~ White Christmas Time

It was Christmas tree shopping time this weekend for us,  and this year's tree is awaiting its adornments. The next couple of days will be happily spent listening to Christmas music and deciding what do this year. My guess it will still be the same neutrals of lots of white with silver and Mercury glass with a dash of color. Time to get the boxes in and see what surprises I'll find that I completely forgot about having stored away.  Hope your week is going wonderfully, too!

If you would like to see how the finish was created on this 

vintage frame with the Madonna, click HERE.

~ See Y'All Soon ~

~ Christmas ~ Bless The Animals and The Ones Who Love Them

 

We were blessed a few years ago with a rescue puppy who found us right after 

Christmas as many of you know. Probably because he came to us so close to this 

beautiful holiday, it is easy to remember to help out some incredible 

dog rescue people this time of year. The work they do day in and day out is amazing.

The world is certainly a better place for them.

Please consider making a donation to one of your local dog or 

animal rescue people, or organizations this time of year. 

You can save a life!

The cute bottle brush - sisal dog came from Pottery Barn last year. Since they are 

wire and sisal, it was easy for me to curl his tail a bit like our Cody Bear's tail is. 

He also got  some dry brushing of white paint to make him a little whiter.

Our lab mix puppy grew up to keep his pretty white color and the 

white paint made this one look more like our pup. 

And he goes perfectly with the bleached bottle brush trees. 

I hope you are enjoying this wonderful holiday

season. Slow down and eat the cookies and 

kiss your loved ones!

~ See Y'All Soon ~

~ How To Bleach Bottle Brush Trees for Christmas Decorating

Have you fallen in love with these wonderful little bottle brush trees? I haven't seen them in their natural state of creamy off-white in stores, although they can be ordered on-line. However for just a few cents, you can create your own because you can change them very easily. 

The first ones I saw a couple of years ago were vintage, but today you can find them new as well.

The trees on the left are how I found them. They are sold for using in those little villages people put up especially during Christmas time. Look in the area  where you can buy the miniature houses and furnishings and that's where you find those strangely colored blue green trees.

I started bleaching them a couple of years ago, and I haven't seen anyone coming up with a newer idea.  It's all the same very simple process. After they are bleached you can use any kind of dye to make them another color like pink or aqua if you wanted to. Or just leave them pretty and natural.

HOW TO: This is all you need to know! 

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~ Halloween Decor in Black and White - Entry Table

Halloween may be the time of joy for children, but it is also a wonderful time to bring a little different twist to your own decor. This is one of the times of year when black and white is so perfect for changing the look of your home and celebrating this fun holiday as well, although it may not be the wise choice to get your own favorite candy to give out. 

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~ Halloween Decor Elegant in Black and White - The Decorated House

As the weather cools a bit, it is the perfect time for a little Halloween Decorating.

The entry table is dressed in Black and White with Silver and

Mercury Glass. Antique Books are so pretty as they mirror the colors 

of the fall leaves just beginning to turn their Fall colors.  

Keeping things on the lighter side, you see faux Pumpkins painted 

Old White and Pure White with Chalk Paints 

and a lovely Velvet Pumpkin. 

The glittered spiders run havoc over webs and pumpkins, enjoying

the only time of year the are indeed free to roam inside. 

Welcoming all from the entry table this year is Abigail Bunny. 

You can see Abigail and other Halloween Art Prints are in the shop.

See Y'All Soon~

~ Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Pumpkins - Black & White with Silver Halloween Decorating!

Halloween Decorating at The Decorated House
Halloween 2012:
Come take a look at how I used some decorative goodies to decorate
our entry table for Halloween with elements
 that you probably already have!

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~ Magnolia Leaf Candle - Fall Decorating ~ 1 Little Project at a Time

 Magnolia Leaf  and Burlap Ribbon Wrapped Fall Candle

with Flower Rosette and Rhinestone Button

Even with the temperatures are still in the 90's around here, the pull of Fall decorating is gently tugging at me. I've been playing too much of the "if only" and "as soon as I get ______ done" games ..... if only all these work projects around the house were done, then I could get out the Fall goodies and decide what to do this year. So instead of playing that silly game, it's time to just do one little project at a time. Too much work and no decorating makes some girls grumpier than than they need to be. So let's play and make something very pretty and very, very simple. 

This is very similar to the candle HERE that I made before for Christmas time. For this one, we will use the beautiful copper side of the leaves turned out. The pretty shiny green side peeks out at you as you look at the candle from different directions.

All you need to do is put a rubber band around the candle and tuck the leaves inside it spaced the way you like. Then tie a ribbon or two to cover the rubber band. Add a pretty embellishment lie the flower and you are all done!

It is that rich and beautiful copper color that is really singing my tune right now. This color is so very pretty and just speaks fluent Fall. Now to figure more ways to work it into the Fall decor.

The ribbon here is a burlap with white dots. This will be used in other pretties for Fall and/or Halloween this year. This ribbon can easily be found at the craft store.

(** Please remember burlap usually has  formaldehyde on it. So keep it out of the reach of children and pets!! I wear plastic gloves in case I go into the kitchen after making something with it.)

 

The Decorated House - Fall Decorating - Fabric Rose and Candle

The front is embellished with one of the lovely fabric flower rosettes that I posted about HERE with instructions and pictures to make your own. There are so many pretty projects that you can use these for. It is finished with a wonderful vintage rhinestone button, but you could use something new that looks old as well.

You could make a couple of these in a short time. I made some flower rosettes out of the same  white dotted burlap ribbon and they turned out really fun, so I'll be using them along with this candle. If I get just one little project done at a time, maybe I'll have some fall decorating soon!

See Y'All Soon~

~ Fall to Christmas Handmade Decorations - DIY Magnolia Leaf Candle

How to Make a Charming Magnolia Leaf Wrapped Candle:

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~ Happy Easter!

Wishing You

a Very, Happy Easter!

See Y'All Soon~

~ A Little More Easter Decorating

The weather has been so nice out it is perfect for getting some new flowers in the ground. And lots of shrubs and things need a trim. So it's been a little hard getting any decorating done with Mother Nature calling so loudly to come out and play. 

It has been fun to find the bunnies and see exactly where they would like to go for Easter this year. I'm always happy that I didn't give away all of them when  Easter and Spring arrive, and they do brighten up the holiday so nicely.

The entry table this year is host to my other favorite bunny who is charming in his cute little jacket. He's been around for a few years and it's always easy to find a spot for him. The cement garden bunny came along and is joined by a sweet bunny inside a the large covered jar.

New to the Easter party this year is Abigail Bunny holding her little friend Chicka Dee and in her basket is a delicious chocolate bunny along with some decorated eggs. (She is available in the etsy shop.) I used the gray painted eggs with lace with some spring lime green eggs, and the color combination is a new love.

The paper flower wreath is wearing a white dotted burlap bow and another little bunny nestled in the  center of it. The Easter display is finished off with a succulent  and a moss ball both in sliver cups. And a little crown just because .......

See Y'All Soon~

~ Decorating for Easter

It's time for Easter decorating this weekend, I hope! Here are a couple of pictures from a couple of years ago. One of the best things about blogging is that you can go back and see images from other years. I totally forgot about that cute garden bunny. Wonder where he is? He might hop back inside again this year.

-------------------------

The bunnies are running wild in the house this year. Even this little old garden bunny is inside. I think he has been somewhere on the porch for couple of years, although he was an outside bunny once upon a time. He is sitting beside a reindeer moss ball in a slightly tarnished bowl. Together they are perched atop a beautiful antique Italian vellum book from 3 Fine Grains.

Thanks for the nice comments on the last post, but I deleted the whole thing due to an overactive spamming party over the weekend. Thank goodness blogger has that spam filter now. I've included the same picture below that was in that post. An open shelf cupboard with drawers in the kitchen. It won't be there forever since open shelves are too much work to keep clean for me.

This coming week I'll add a few more pictures of Easter decorating around the house.
Thank you for stopping by!

Have a Great Weekend 
See Y'All Soon~

~ Valentine's Day Mantel 2014 - The Decorated House

 The mantel is dressed very simply for Valentine's Day this year. One of my favorite art prints that we have illustrating one of my favorite stories, Beauty and the Beast, is at the center. I spent so many hours in elementary school reading fairy tales. This is one of those stories

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~ Celebrating Each Day - 101 + Fabulous Valentine's Day Ideas

Valentine's Day is the perfect time to remember to Celebrate our lives, day by day, and each and every day. Breathe in .... let the Heart Breathe out. It's one of the most wonderful days of the year to celebrate those whom we love and all those who have ever truly loved us. So let's do a little Valentine's Day decorating, cooking or giving to keep the Heart open!

See Y'All Soon~

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~ Hearts & Ex Voto

When you take a moment to look closely, you often see things that you miss in your daily running around at full speed. It wasn't really until only a few years ago that I noticed heart shaped beach stones, even though I grew up near the ocean and spent many wonderful hours there. For Valentine's Day especially I love bringing out this shadow box that shows off the Heart Stones along with a silver Ex Voto and an Antique Skeleton Key. It's on the entry table along with some roses, the Mercury glass heart, and one of the little silver crowns and another small silver heart. Sweet Hubby and I a very simple short vacation at the beach the year we found these, when all we did was walk the beach and swim and eat. Very boring stuff for most people today, but we thought is was perfect. During those long walks I began to notice how beautiful the shades of gray were in the shells and I as I started collecting a few for color and paint inspiration, I noticed the heart shaped stones. They remind me of the beach and a very happy time.  The pretty hearts on the entry table this year, reminding me to look for the heart in all, and to see with my heart, not just the eyes and brain.

See Y'All Soon~

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~ Valentine's Day Decorating

Mercury Glass Hearts,
Antique Skeleton Keys
and
a Simple Beautiful Rose

There always seems to be an abundance of beautiful roses for sale about this time each year. It may be that with trying to time roses to be in  the perfect pre-full bloom stage for Valentine's Day, growers have to stagger the bloom times and lots of roses are ready for market now! On the last trip to Costco's they had beautiful roses in bundles of 2 dozen for $17.  Personally I'd rather have a nice dinner or a special gift instead of sweet hubby spending a $100 more on rose delivered on Valentine's Day. The ones from Whole Foods are about the same price for 2 dozen, and so far they are holding about the same, and are opening up better. 

See Y'All Soon~

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~ Christmas Tree with Purple & Green

 

Has your decorating style or colors changed over the years at Christmas time?

My style is lighter and more simple in the last few years,

but I still love seeing these rich colors and gold for Christmas.

 What a pretty combination  lime green and purple is.

This was in 2005.

Now it's time for the 2013 tree, 

which needs to be decorated yet!

I'll be back soon. 

Happy Decorating!

~ See Y'All Soon ~

~ Halloween Decor :: Vintage & Elegant :: Black & White with Mercury Glass :: Entry Table 2013

Entry ~ Halloween 2013

The entry table is another favorite place to decorate for the holidays.  I shared photos highlighting some of the different elements that are shown here in  previous posts that can bee seen by clicking here:  Details of My Velvet Pumpkin,  The Monogram Pumpkin with Paper Butterflies

The Mercury glass pumpkins and gourds are a really wonderful addition to Fall and Halloween since they add a touch of elegance and reflective light. And if you have come by in years past, you know those little silver crowns get used as often as possible when a little bit of silver is sure to add a sparkle.

The foyer table is black marble and has a simple burlap runner on the top for  texture and feeling of Fall. To complement the other black elements, there is  a tall black urn holding one of the painted white pumpkins. The pumpkins were painted a couple of years ago with ASCP and simple white paint as well. The pumpkin on the antique books and the one on the vintage silver piece are both velvet pumpkins which are newly made this year. I showed how I made mine HERE.  The small black pumpkin is a faux pumpkin that was painted a few years ago with spray paint. Look for the kind that will work on plastic, like Fusion and Universal. Both will give you nice coverage. Of course if you have some black ASCP it will work too.

 Ravens wear collars, and the spiders wear glitter.

 

Antique books and a garden urn with a Mercury glass gourd on top,

with a Mercury glass pumpkin sitting on a black and white pinwheel made of wired ribbon.

A little silver crown and antique skeleton keys round out the display.

 The other raven wears a fun harlequin collar.

 The vintage mirror is lightly wrapped with white web while glittered spiders climb to the top.

 And Velvet Pumpkins add another little touch of elegance and texture.

Black and White Paper Butterflies and Spiders, too. 

These Velvet Pumpkins have real (dried) pumpkins stems. 

Partying with Stone Gable. 

See Y'All Soon~