Winter Decor

Hello friends! I hope everyone is enjoying a great start to the new year! 

Today, I'm sharing my post-holiday winter decor with pops of turquoise and white, inspired by our new ottoman from World Market. For my wintry look I wandered around the house one day after I packed up our holiday decorations and gathered up anything I could find that was white or turquoise and had a wintry "feel."  

Then I just sprinkled it all around the living room.

My winter chalkboard was inspired by Barb's free printable over at The Everyday Home. I still think chalkboards are lots of fun, and I'm getting pretty good at drawing mine free-hand with all the practice I've had. 

A big bag of Epsom's salts from the grocery store makes economical "snow" to put in glass jars with candles and for sprinkling on trays. The little white crackled bowl resting on a carved wooden stand was a gift years ago from my old friend and neighbor, Susan, a talented ceramics artist.

An extra furry pillow and cozy throw is tucked into the olive bucket. The block print folk art bear is by my daughter, Annie, who has a degree in illustration. 

The "snowballs" are dollar store foam balls from my craft room.

My husband gifted me eight of Pottery Barn's beautiful bird plates this year for Christmas, and they were so pretty on our Christmas dinner table. I couldn't bear to put them away in a cupboard the next day, so I chose my favorite to display here for the rest of winter.

This is the first time I've decorated with so much turquoise. It's a strong color that doesn't take a lot to pop against a neutral backdrop. I'm loving this bright fun look for chasing away the dark cold days of winter. 

Thanks so much for stopping in today to see what I've been up to around the cottage. I hope you stay warm and have a great day!

It's never too cold to party, so put on your mittens and let's get going!

Elizabeth & Co.

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Tomato Cage Christmas Trees

This morning I woke up early while the house was still cold and dark and quiet. After turning up the furnace, I turned on the little Christmas tree lights out on our back deck and curled up under a blanket in a chair with my coffee to watch the sun rise over our little snow-covered yard and the hills beyond while our house warmed up.

Every winter we wrap some lights around a couple of tomato cages stuck upside down into the dirt of two plant pots on our deck by the steps. 

The tomato cage tree shapes are so plain and simple and scraggly that they remind us a little of Charlie Brown Christmas trees.

Sometimes plain and simple and scraggly is just perfect.

It's time for a party! 

Share It One More Time Link Party

Christmas Home Tour 2015

Happy holidays, everyone!

I've been battling a bad cold since before Thanksgiving, and the past few days I have finally been feeling chipper enough to decorate for Christmas and take some photos. So, before Saint Nick comes to visit next week, here's our Christmas home tour!

My holiday Chalkboard was inspired by this Elli Party Invitation

I have almost all of my Christmas gifts purchased and delivered to our home thanks to internet shopping, and I've even been making some felt ornaments while sitting bundled up in my chair with a box of kleenex close at hand. My husband has been taking such good care of me while I'm under the weather! We're super excited to have our family from California coming next week to spend Christmas with us (safe travels, you guys) and I'm so thankful just to be feeling better and for their impending visit that I couldn't ask for anything more for Christmas. 

I have so much to catch up on in preparation for our Christmas and New Years celebrations that I probably won't have a chance to post on my blog again, so today I'm wishing all my dear followers and blog friends a very, very

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

May all your Christmas dreams come true! 

{See our 2014 Christmas Home Tour here.}


Note: I've received many questions about the woody pillow and red truck pictured here on our Christmas Home Tour. The "woody car crewel embroidered lumbar pillow" was a birthday gift last year from Pottery Barn, and the "red metal truck" was purchased at Hobby Lobby online.


How about a Christmas party? Join me at

Between Naps on the Porch
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A Stroll Through Life

Chandelier Shades

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday last week!  I'm a little sad to be saying goodbye to my fall decor now that Thanksgiving is over, but at the same time I'm excited to start decorating for winter and Christmas, especially with the snow we've had.

 Before I began packing up my fall decor today, though, I took a few photos of our new dining room chandelier shades. 

Our dining room has very tall ceilings, and as we sat down to our Thanksgiving feast last week, I was reminded once again that I wasn't happy with the way the chandelier filled up the big empty space above us with harsh unfiltered light, making our dining experience seem less intimate than I would have liked. So, today, knowing my husband was making a trip to the building supply store, I made a quick search online to see if they had some of the burlap chandelier shades I've been wanting and asked him to pick some up. Better late than never! :)

Even during a cloudy day you can see how the shades direct most of the light from the chandelier bulbs down onto the table, creating the warm, cozy, intimate space I was hoping for even with the candles unlit. 

  

I wasn't positive I'd like how the shades would look in our dining room during the day, but I loved them right off. I think they add just the right amount of coziness beneath our ten and a half foot box beamed ceiling without making the space look busy or crowded. I also love the informal burlap texture with our rustic farmhouse decor.

The shades are easy to install with a metal clip that fits over the chandelier bulbs. Along with the dimmer we already have installed on our light switch I can now have the exact amount of soft light I want directed right where I want it, on the dining room table.

These are the shades we bought. We had to mix and match two different manufacturers to get seven in the size I wanted, but we can't tell the difference between them. And what a great price, right? These little shades can run up to four times this much at some higher-end stores. 

A great convenience that many stores offer now days is the ability to check the store's website for the availability of merchandise at your neighborhood store before you leave home. When I found what I wanted online, I just took a photo with my husband's cell phone of the computer screen showing all of the manufacturers information, so he knew exactly what to look for. He really appreciates having that information on his phone when he runs a shopping errand like this for me. And while at the store he took a phone photo of the shades and texted it to me for approval.

If you're looking for a way to create more intimacy and warmth around your holiday table this year, you might want to give chandelier shades a try, too. They also come in other fabrics, like linen, and fun colors and patterns - how about tartan for winter or red for Christmas?