Faded Beauties...

 

Every January my local Publix grocery store has about a week and a half 

when the store is filled with 

"Buy One, Get One Free" bouquets of roses. 

Two dozen roses for a little over $10.00!!

I've written about this before.

I posted pictures of the fresh, beautiful roses on my Instagram account.

They had every color of rose imaginable.

I put them everywhere.

Eventually they begin to fade. 

I keep them for as long as I possibly can. 

I refresh the water and trim the stems to prolong the beauty.

 Roses are worth it. 

And then the roses begin to dry and the petals become papery. 

I leave them in the vase on the counter until there isn't any moisture left in the bloom. 

There are a lot of different ways to dry roses but this works for me. 

Not every bloom dries perfectly but I usually have over half of them dry beautifully.

I snip them from the stem and arrange them in a bowl 

or on a little blue and white chinoiserie plate. 

They don't have much scent but you can take a cotton ball and put a few drops of essential oil on a cotton ball and tuck it under the blooms.

They don't last forever - when they get too fragile or the color fades you can just toss them 

and treat yourself to another bouquet of roses and dry those!

Like Velvet

 Velvet is having a moment at our house this Christmas. 

Red velvet is the traditional Christmas look but we don't use red in our Christmas decorating very often so velvet hasn't been a major player in our house. Until now!

This Christmas lots of other colors of velvet are showing up. 

First, I found this gorgeous mustard gold velvet ribbon. I had recently purchased this pinecone wreath and I could just "see" them paired together. 

Then I saw this gorgeous velvet magnolia wreath. I was smitten. 

Then I found out there was a matching swag! Sold! 

We used the velvet magnolia swag on the mantel in the family room which was recently freshened up for the Fall One Room Challenge.

Then I decided I wanted wreaths in the windows in the Library (this is what happens when I don't have a deadline to 'finish' decorating!)

So I picked up a couple more of the velvet magnolia wreaths. They are gorgeous and they will store flat so that's a huge bonus!

Here's a night time shot of the velvet wreaths in the Library.

I couldn't wait to use all of these gorgeous velvet items in my decor.

 They are rich and elegant but also simple and understated as well. 

Do you use velvet ribbons at Christmas time?

World Book Day.

April 23 is World Book Day.

It was designated by UNESCO in 1995 

and April 23rd is the anniversary of William Shakespeare's death. 

I, perhaps, would have chosen the anniversary of his birth. Slightly more upbeat spin but no one at The UN has ever asked my opinion on anything.

Anyway, that being said, I am a book stacker. Yep. I am. 

So in honor of World Book Day and long departed Shakespeare here is a glance at a few of my favorite books in their respective stacks 

and a couple of shots of our Library (that used to be our Dining Room.)

What great books are hiding behind that elephant?

Most of our books, stacked or otherwise, reside in the Library 

which used to be our Dining Room.

We don't live in a grand house at all but we morphed our little used Dining Room

 into a very useful Library over 10 years ago. 

I gave it a big refresh a couple of years ago during a One Room Challenge.

And then another little update recently.

 (We even have a book related Christmas tradition if you want to check that out!)


This old cabinet (originally from an old school library) is on the opposite side of the Library from the bookcases and globes above.

Open...

and closed.

I am always thankful for my cozy home but home is more important now more than ever.

I have been enjoying looking through my favorite design books 
during this shelter in place time. 
What about you? 

MidLife....

I can remember being intrigued with the term 'middle age' when I was very young. 

If someone said they were middle aged

 then I thought they were literally at the half-way mark of their life!!

 If you were 35, and said you were middle aged, then 70 was going to be it!! 

Luckily it does not work that way!!

That being said, I'm now in the older half more than the younger

 and I recently listened to a fun, new to me podcast - Midlife Matters!

I happened to start with an interview with one of my favorite bloggers, Emily A Clark, whom I've followed for years! I'm sure many of you can say the the same thing. 

She spoke about design - not about being middle aged, BTW! 

And she's definitely younger that I am!

 But so many podcasts and bloggers who are big time right now have little children and are young and it's getting harder for me to relate to their ideas and areas of influence. 

We are just in different places in our lives.

There were so many great ideas that the podcasters (is that a word?) 

and Emily chatted about. 

And it made me feel good about some design choices I have made along the way because I have reached the point in life where I am doing me and I'm not going to be changing things up or following trends. If something I have is trendy it just means it finally came back around as a trend! Cause it's been here all along!

That's really what Emily shared. 

But here are my "take aways" anyway!

Emily talked about using furniture in rooms or ways 

that may not be the original intent. 

I'm so on board. 

I have a china cabinet in my master bathroom for one thing. I put it in there during my Fall 2016 One Room Challenge. I bought the traditional china cabinet for that room. 

It was never intended for a dining room. 

There isn't a closet in this master bathroom so this china cabinet stores a multitude of necessary items and looks gorgeous at the same time!

I've also recently inherited some family furniture and I'm going to need to get creative to be able to use find ways to use it in our home.

Emily stated that she thinks we will be seeing more monochromatic rooms in 2020 as far as painting goes. Rooms where the windows, trim, doors, walls - everything - are painted the same color!! 

I did this in my Library when I refreshed it in the Spring of 2016! I still love it. The walls were actually already black. I had painted my dining room black over 10 years prior to that but left the trim white. Then I took out the dining table and added black bookcases. Then I painted everything glossy black from top to bottom except the ceiling.

 (And honestly I'm toying with a color for the ceiling one of these days!!)

 PS. The wood faux bamboo china cabinet was purchased for the Library and waaaay after this room had been a dining room :)

There was also a quick mention about "white kitchens" and if they are "out" and I've got more on that coming on another day!!

All the ladies on the podcast chatted about their homes and open concept vs. traditional room layouts - you know, walls, doors, lower ceilings. 

Emily mentioned that the traditional dimensions of the rooms in her house attracted her. That she can stand on a ladder and reach the ceiling, trim work, etc. to paint things herself. Or hang pictures or whatever. 

I've always wanted  to live in a loft or non-traditional building as a house. But now that I'm "mid" and not as young and bend-y I like the ability to reach things from a stepladder and I'm more concerned with heating spaces and such. I've had a very traditional "5, 4 and a door"  home for many years and I had to make it work. 

We are thankful for it, we love it,  and we couldn't move to follow housing trends.

I'm looking forward to listening to more of the Midlife Matters podcasts 

and their very relatable subject matter. 

 Are you a Podcast person? 

I Started A New (to Us) Christmas Tradition...

Lat year I came across the tradition called Jolabokaflod, from Iceland. 

It is the tradition of giving books and chocolate on Christmas Eve.

As soon as I read about it I knew it was for us!!

Christmas in the Library - you can see why getting and giving books is for us!

It is a fabulous tradition to start anytime but since Mollie is an adult

 and we don't have small children around

 some of our past traditions that focus on Santa and reindeer have fallen away. 
There's some spare time now after Christmas Eve service!

Books and chocolate!? Yes!

 New tradition for us!

Here are some of my favorite titles from previous gift giving.  Mr. Monkey holds a few chocolate treats!

Even if you have some family members who aren't "big readers" like we are there are plenty of books you can still give. I would count comics. Or photo books you create online of trips you have taken, all the grandkids through the year, or the year in review. And coffee table books exist in almost every genre and most people love to learn the history behind what they collect or their hobby. (Tennis player who doesn't read much? - find a picture heavy book about Wimbledon. Start a collection of a series for younger children - you might just create a reader! And you know what to give them for the next holiday- the next book in the series.)

You can get very personal and creative with your book shopping. 

All of our books for Christmas Eve giving are wrapped and ready.

The tradition began in Iceland during WWII.
 Paper was readily available when almost everything else was scarce. 
Icelanders gave each other books as gifts and to this day they are a country of readers!

Jolabokaflod roughly translates to "flood of books" which I love.

Blue and white chinioserie teapots for serving hot chocolate.

So start looking for that perfect book for everyone to open on Christmas Eve, find a fabulous hot chocolate recipe (or keep it simple and buy a gallon of chocolate milk from the grocery  and put it in the crock pot!)

Then every one can cozy up with a mug of cocoa or a gourmet chocolate bar (if you prefer) and their fabulous new book.

PS. Don't leave yourself out - I order myself a fabulous design book so that I can cozy up with a book and cocoa too!

Christmas Tour 2019 - Part 1. Outside, the Entry and the Library.

Our sweet Greeter Guy (as I call him) greets everyone with a shy smile

 and a big shell full of chippy Christmas ornaments in every color. 

Rain or shine he's cozy in his plaid scarf.

In December there's a second greeter at our house.

 The big gold Santa (Mollie's fave) is on the front porch. He was a Goodwill find

 (in the middle of the Summer) and people looked at me like I was crazy for hauling a 5 foot tall, pretty ugly Santa out of the store in 90 degree heat!!

See his before here.

Our garland is a faux base with lots of fresh greenery wired in! 

You can barely see the "faux" underneath.

It's such an easy way to create full, manageable garlands.

We are using this gorgeous, blue plaid ribbon again this year.

We love it so much.

No filter needed - those are the true colors!

The swag on the back gate got the same gorgeous ribbon. 

In the entryway we have a small champagne colored tinsel tree

 with some little Chinoiserie ornaments I made last year.

 All the details and how-to's are here.

I just noticed one of the green Chinoiserie lamps got turned around while we were dusting -oops!

 I added in a little Audubon.
 I think Chinoiserie and Audubon birds are perfect companions!

Just a little touch of palms and palmetto fronds (lowcountry gal here)

 complete the decorations in the foyer.

I have had the nativity on the bamboo table for about 30 years.

 It goes in our entryway every year. 

Our cozy Library (or Snug as the British say) is home to the blue and white Chinoiserie Tree.

(This is also where several porch plants are spending the Winter)

There are a few more touches - magnolia, palmetto fronds and ornaments 

tucked in here and there.

This is one of my favorite spots during the holidays!

Hopefully I will have a few more cheery spots to share before the big day is here!!

UPDATE: Christmas Tour Part 2 did not happen due to a family medical emergency.
 I didn't even take any pictures to show later :( 

Here's to 2020 and blogging more regularly!