Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all our friends, followers, and customers!  May 2012 be the best year ever!

Christmas with a Silver Lining

As I designed this display today for our shop window, it reminded me how much I love using silver, not only during the holidays, but throughout the year. 

I love doing simple, yet elegant displays like this design, using a silver container, garland, a few inexpensive silver ornaments, and a pretty candle.

Mercury glass is another favorite.  It is relatively inexpensive and looks gorgeous lit with candles.

Silver ornaments look beautiful among the green boughs on a Christmas tree. Paired with faux silver berries, it is stunning and classic.

This is another example of using a year-round silver container to hold shiny ornaments for a quick but classic decoration for a table or sideboard.

This is a table setting I did using red transferware, creamware, and silver baby cups from my collection. Using your collections in combination with ornaments or other holiday decor makes the design much more meaningful and personal.

 

Silver containers such as mint julep cups look so pretty containing amaryllis or paperwhites at Christmas time.  I also love the look of this green wreath against the silver-finish mirror.

This is just a beautiful idea using a silver tray, a crystal cloche, faux snow, some pretty ornaments, and pearls.  Easy but so elegant.

Remember to think outside the box with your holiday decorating and don't forget the silver!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Halloween!!

Happy Halloween!!

Great New Design Books!

Need a gift idea or a great new addition to your design book library?  Go over to At Home Tennessee magazine and check out his months book review column, The Pick.  It is written by my daughter Shana, who is also my right hand in the family design business.  Shana knows a good design book when she sees one!

http://athometn.com/books/design-inspirations/

How Our Winner Used Her Bounty!

We recently held a giveaway of two beautiful framed etchings from Wendover Art.  Our winner was reader Marilee Dennis, who was very excited to win and e-mailed me after the drawing was announced that she had the perfect place reserved hoping she would win.  She has sent me photos and I thought you would enjoy seeing where the prints went to live.

I think she did a beautiful job displaying the etchings!  I love her dining room, with the pretty curtains, crystal chandelier, and of course the out of this world silver collection.  A girl after my own heart!

I hope you enjoyed seeing Marilee's dining room and her use of her prize.  Stay tuned, we will be giving away more fabulous things soon!

Daydreaming of Summer....

With the holiday weekend upon us, it got me thinking about getting the house ready for all the family goings-on here at our humble home.  Ideas are plenty, but funds to make all those grand schemes come to life sometimes aren't so large.  But, that doesn't stop me from dreaming and planning, which is really a huge part of the fun anyway, don't you think?  So I compiled a few images from my stash to get you thinking and dreaming along with me about the summer season that spreads before us.

I love greenhouses and conservatories of all kinds and if money were no object I would definitely own one.  Some are really grand and would cost more than my house itself, but some are more in scale with what I think would go with an average-size house, like the one above.  In my fantasy, I would come out here to my garden house with my coffee every morning and tend to all my lovely plants and flowers.  In reality, I have a black thumb, so everything in there would probably be brown and dead.  Oh well, this is a fantasy, remember?

Summer here in the South usually involves using any event as an excuse to throw a hen party, I mean a baby shower or bridal shower, or some other soiree where we can bring out our pretty glasses and dishes, eat tiny little sandwiches, and celebrate friends and family.

I am lucky enough to live by the water so I always love images like this one showing great ways to get close and personal with the water in style.  Just love.

My house doesn't have a big porch, which really surprises me because I love them.  This porch just makes you want to bring a good design magazine and a glass of iced tea and relax.

Now that I am thinking about all this, I realize I don't have a porch swing either.  What was I thinking twenty years ago when we built this house.  I believe this post is bringing me to an epiphany that I need to remedy all these problems in my life before it's too late!

 Or you could always hit the road and go glamping (glamourous camping) in a decked out Airstream like this one.  Again, copious amounts of dollars involved, but still dreaming.

Before I come back to reality I will pretend this is my backyard where I stroll daily.

A nice big screened porch overlooking the water would be wonderful wouldn't it?

Last but not least, while we are thinking of this summer and the Memorial Day holiday, let's remember what it's really all about.

Happy Memorial Day!!