Carol Raley Interiors in At Home Tennessee!

Check us out in the November issue of At Home Tennessee magazine where we give tips for creating inviting holiday tablescapes.  Here is the link to the digital version of the magazine.  We are on page 59.

http://issuu.com/athometennessee/docs/november-2010

Some Updates Around the House

I've been absent for a little while around blogland, occasionally checking in on some of my favorite blogs, but in general just taking a little break to regroup.  Since finishing the large project we worked on for close to a year, I have turned my attention back to tweaking a few things around my own house.  We also have been invited by a regional magazine to share a holiday tablescape, and I am sharing a few of our own photos of that little project as well. 

Here is a shot of the dining room dressed for the holiday tablescape shoot.  I just had to build the design around this huge silver tray and meat dome I recently acquired!

A close-up of a place setting using red and white transferware from my collection, as well as vintage silver baby cups and tiny hand-blown glass ornaments.

Here is another shot of the table.  I love this little vintage cup with the key!

Another close-up of the table.

This is a Lucite console I placed in the dining room because it takes up so little visual space.  Here I placed a few transferware berry dishes on a distressed gray pedestal, along with my 1950's vintage coffee urn and (yes another!) darling little dome.  A tiny vintage coffee creamer looks sweet in this vignette I think.  The large crystal drink decanter gets a lot of use during family get-togethers year round.

I had the headboard recovered in a pale tiger-stripe fabric I had languishing in storage and added a french stool and needlepoint pillow at the foot of the bed.  Silk curtains were also fabricated out of more fabric from my "going-to-use-this-someday"  inventory.  The walls have been this color for a few years and I would really like to change them, but I guess I'll hold off a little longer.

I paired this sweet little French ladie's desk with a modern leather and nailhead stool that I think has a sort of Morrocan flavor.  An original antique etching hangs above it.  I didn't want anything too big there that would take away from the desk.

I also had this bedspread made out of some really inexpensive linen and I like the way it looks with the headboard.

I updated the living room a little bit with some large Bliss Studio pillows on the sofa and a tall mirrored tea table.

I brought this gilt Louis chair down from its previous home upstairs to brighten the room up a bit and added a grain sack rug under the tea table.

Here is a tighter shot of the chair.  I have the matching sofa, also, which will have to continue living upstairs!

The little antique secretary is a piece that we bought years ago when we were first married.  

The other side of the living room which includes a tall skirted console, sepia-tone landscape prints, and family photos.

I'm not big on a lot of accessories in my kitchen because I really cook and I need the counter space, so I leave out my food processor and stand mixer all the time.  I did add a recent find of a sweet little flow-blue platter.

This burled wood trough planter is pretty as well as useful.  I like to place little ferns, herbs, fruits, and vegetables in it.

There is nothing prettier in the kitchen, in my opinion, than real fruit displayed in a pretty container.

These little white linen slipcovers are great on the counter stools!  Just throw them in the washer and hang to dry!

I hope I still have a few readers out there!  If so, thanks for coming back and reading!

The Week Between

How do you spend the week between Christmas and New Year's?  I try to take a little time off and just relax.  When my children were still at home it was a week to just be together without the hustle and bustle of shopping and holiday decorating.  Now that the nest is empty, my husband and I still try our best to put work on hold if possible and spend a little time around our own hearth.  We took out the gas logs a few years back and went back to a real wood-burning fireplace.  It's a fairly cold night in East Tennessee tonight with lows in the 20's.  So I will sit next to this fire with a stack of design books and magazines and dream about a new year and new designs.

Real or Faux Christmas Tree?

my tree Christmas 2008

I'm curious.  Do you have a real tree at your house for Christmas or a faux one?  I now do a fake tree after many years of only having a real tree because it enables me to put the decorations up earlier.  But I must admit nothing takes the place of that fresh-tree smell to put you in the spirit of the holidays.

My Fancy New Curtains!

Everybody who knows me knows that I am a fabric addict. I love many different kinds of fabrics; cotton prints, linens, silks. I love them all. In fact one of my famous lines is "So many fabrics, So little time"!

Sometimes when I receive the notice that a fabric I have in my line will be discontinued and I haven't had a chance to design something with it, I will buy some yardage and hold it until the right room or project comes along.

This was the case recently when I had on hand a gorgeous silk damask that I had admired and bought after being discontinued. I wanted a change from the green striped silk that had hung there for several years, so I finally sketched up a design. I wanted a dressy look since this window is on the front of the house and is in my office. I added a ruched-cuff heading and lots of fullness in width. I also splurged on heavy English bump interlining which gives body and richness to silk like no other interlining.

My sketch for the workroom

The finished product!

I think they will be a nice dressy look for the holidays. Thanks for looking!

(P.S. the wall color is not quite as orange as it looks in this photo!)

In Honor of The Skirted Roundtable

A skirted table from my own living room

I love to listen to The Skirted Roundtable discussions every week. Joni, Megan, and Linda are real-life designers like many of us with many of the same challenges and rewards that come with this crazy business. They put real faces and voices out there. I think that is what draws us to this format so much; real world design as opposed to the almost deity-like authority that comes across when we read the design magazines. Don't get me wrong. I truly treasure many of the better magazines and horde my back-issues like prized antiques, but hearing our blog mentors and friends verbalize what we all struggle with is often just what the doctor ordered.

Down Time on the River

Have a wonderful weekend!

It's been a hectic and stressful week.

This is my backyard.

If you want to know where I'll be...

A little down time with my family.

I hope you'll do the same.