Lights on my tree

Much to my surprise I actually put up our tree this weekend! It has lights and a handful of ornaments and the rest of them will sit in boxes near the fireplace and converse with each other until I get around to finding the box of hooks which never seems to be in the same place I thought I put them last year.

 

I remember when I would finish the entire tree in one day. Lights, ornaments, ribbons and everything else, all done and ready to be admired before bedtime. But the last few years I started to take my time, putting a few up one day and a few more another. Last year nothing went on the tree until practically the day before Christmas. I usually have it done by Yule but my heart wasn't in it so this year I'm trying to make up.

 

 

I was so proud of myself for actually getting started that I took a nice long break and indulged in my new copy of Where Women Create. Then I watched a little bit of figure skating because it's not the holidays without it, worked on my holiday gift list and listened to Luna who informed me that she's not fond of the new kitty bed I got for her so back it goes.

 

I somehow got distracted by this video by Stars for their new song Backlines. I love how it has the feel of assemblage art or a vintage vignette or shadow box and of course I love the stars.

 

  It also makes me think of The Borrowers just a little.   How do you do your decorating? Do you get it all done in one day? Take a few days or stretch it out over several weeks?   My son seems very happy that I didn't wait until the last minute to get started this year. He has always been my helper elf and it means the world to me when I can make him smile.  

 

dreaming of white and a monday treat

Happy Monday everyone, or what's left of it (it's almost 2pm here in my Tomato Land). I finally had a chance to sit down and read my new copy of the September Romantic Homes. It's such a wonderful treat.

This issue is filled with rooms done in an elegant white palette.

I love color and touches of rich dark wood. But whenever I see an all white room like this, filled with vintage treasures and just a pop of color here and there, I start entertaining thoughts of redoing a room in white.

I love all the details here. The carved chair, princess dresser, the vintage chandelier lamp and my favorite, the tall narrow plantation shutters in the back.

I also love the faded shabbiness of this old hutch. I'd love to have this in my creative space to fill with paint and ribbons of all shades. It's lovely to dream. Then I realize that an all white room/house could never work for me. Maybe it's the thought of having to do extra cleaning that scares me!

I love to move our stuff around and redecorate for the different seasons. I finally decided that I don't have a specific style but a mish mash of different ones. I mainly like to decorate around stuff I love that mean alot to me. We have lots of well loved hand me downs, stuff I pick up at antique and thrift shops and fun themed stuff depending on what I'm currently inspired by. When the 2nd Harry Potter movie came out my son and I absolutely fell in love with the Weasley's house, the Burrow. So my kitchen and dinning room had a very cozy higgledy-piggledy English cottage look, complete with faux painted brick walls and a scattering of owls.

Right now I already have a few touches of Fall out, even a few Halloween crows because I just can't wait anymore. Do you have a particular decorating style? I think I would call mine 'early casual bohemian vintage artsy whimsical cat'! Oh and guess what? I just happen to have 2 of this issue of Romantic Homes and if you tell me what you call your decorating style in a comment I'll do a random number thingy in a few days and send one out to you!

Wait....I almost forgot. I was inspired by another blogger who would add something she was grateful for at the end of each post. I love the idea. So today I'm grateful for:

A lazy summer afternoon eating over ripe plums with my son.

♥