Saturday, November 28, 2009

The Decorating Begins

As always, the Friday after Thanksgiving is the day set aside to start (and with any luck finish) the holiday decorating inside the house. 

As mentioned in an prior post, I was going for a red/teal color scheme this year. With a touch of retro, I wanted to keep it simple and elegant. I think I'm headed in the right direction!


This year, we opted for a table top tree.  This 4 1/2 foot tree is so realistic looking and is charming in the corner of the family room.  With a mish-mash of teal, blue-teal, red, silver and white ornaments, it's just perfect.  I wish I could make a photograph of a decorated tree look good! 


In our kitchen eating area, we have a mantel shelf on the wall that tends to be the focal point of room decor as the seasons and holidays change.  Here, an antique pitcher is kept company with holiday plates from Martha Stewart Everyday (several years ago).  The garland is embellished with teal/silver/red ornaments.  I'm still debating if I need to add lights. 


I love my kitchen decorated for the holiday.  I prefer to use everyday kitchen items as part of the decoration.  On the antique Hoosier cabinet,  I filled a great serving bowl with stems of pine boughs and tossed in some color coordinated ornaments.  Festive, but simple.


The first year of the Martha Stewart Collection Holiday decorations included these big Kugels.  Here, the kugel hangs to the right of the Hoosier cabinet and is 'dressed' with a teal ribbon. 


I remember a very early Martha Stewart Living show when Martha made curtains from 'tea towels.'  I decided to use the concept with some great candy stripe towels I purchased from Macys (Martha Stewart Collection) last year.  A few simple cafe curtain rings and voila! - a festive holiday curtain.


We have an extensive collection of Jadeite which looks great with the teal/red colors.  Here, I used a clear domed cake stand to display snowmen (with red/teal hats!) on the table.  The dome keeps the cats away and keeps the artificial snow from blowing off the cake stand!

I still have a little bit of 'tweaking' to do before I can call the project complete.  I think we're well on our way for a holly jolly season!

5 comments:

ANDREW RITCHIE said...

Beautiful, Kenn! I'd love to partake in your decorating some year! My favourite is the kitchen shelf (no lights needed!) and the Jadeite display of snowmen. Just beautiful! And the tree is lovely!

Jen @ ourfinehouse.com said...

A beautiful color combo! You've inspired me to get started on my decorating. Thanks!

Elaine said...

Everything looks so beautiful and festive! I love the festive cafe curtains!

John R. said...

Simply beautiful, Kenn! We've got the outside pretty much done. Took advantage of the nice weather a few weeks ago, and starting on the inside this week as I have Wednesday & Thursday off!
Do you mind if I "borrow" your idea with the cake stand/dome?? ;-)

Anonymous said...

Do you know the history of your 12 Jadeite footed cake plate? I have one just like it and am researching it. Can you please post that information here? Thank you!