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A peek behind the curtain.

I scalloped the bottom of some vintage music paper I found at a flea market and added it to my windows for a fun twist on a top valance.


I own a lot of dishes so I am always looking for a way to incorporate them in my decorating. When I hung these fragrant olive wreaths in my window I added one of my asiatic pheasant teacups.

Sonoma Cutrer is one of my favorite wines and it doesn't hurt that the label matches my kitchen. Putting extra bottles in this french casserole dish is perfect for a party. I just add ice and tie a bottle opener to one of the bottles.

My Tudor style house was built in the early 20's and has a small galley kitchen typical to many of that era. When we purchased the house it came with this deep green tile in the kitchen. While the rest of my house has very serene colors I went bolder in this room to compliment the tile. French tea towels hang in the windows to keep out the morning sun.

I am always on the lookout for interesting iron pieces. I put flowers in them in the summer, bulbs in the spring, pumpkins perch on them in the fall, and in the winter.....dishes!

This is part of a tea set I found years ago. I loved it so much that I wanted to keep it out but with space at a premium I hung it in my window.

This is an antique french soap display that now houses root vegetables.

There is now a chandelier where you see a hole in this picture. The plates above the sink are old french plates.

This deer is made out of pine cones.

My dining room with a twin linen duvet from Papillon Linens as the tablecloth.

This magnolia garland went up a few holidays ago and I couldn't bear to take it down.

I try to add natural or lodge influences throughout the house to give the rooms a little more masculine feel. I am not sure if my husband and and two sons appreciate this or not but I try!

These skis were my grandfather's.

A curtain tie back is a great place to hang a teacup or small pitcher.

My dining room decorated for Christmas. I went with a woodland theme in order to showcase my deer dishes.

Just adding candles and paper whites make a table seem festive.

Instead of a place card I used a glitter initial, tying it onto a bird nest on the back of the chair.

On each plate I put a bundle of twigs with a little deer on top. If I get to it I thought writing each person's name in glitter on the deer would be a nice touch.

I tied a gold dusted pine cone onto each napkin and tied it in by adding a gold charger under each plate.

It's a little hard to see but I wired a branch onto my light above the table and hung glass ornaments from it. I also nestled some nests into it to tie in the nests on the back of the chairs.

More plates on display under a cloche and teacups on the window sill with small cypress trees in them.

A rosemary topiary in an old trophy. A faux bird perched on a vintage candlestick.

I lined my shelves with striped sage and cream linen. Vintage books make easy vignettes.

Pine cone garland and the same deer plates as the dining room help bring the woodland feel into our family room.

I filled this vintage birdcage with ornaments.

I got this old map of France in Sonoma. It is one of my favorite things in my house.

The tree is kept simple. Mercury glass ornaments, some of the same striped linen from the shelves wrapped around it and a gold crown on top. It sits in a ornate iron urn.

Vintage books and crowns.

2009 Sacred Heart Holiday Home Tour

This year for the Holiday Home Tour we decorated a house on 38th Street. The house had been recently renovated and had a very contemporary feel inside. This sort of interior is a little out of my comfort zone so I was fortunate to have Wes Green from Twigg's join me on the project. I always try to have a theme that gives the house a cohesive feel as you go through it. Due to the bold nature of the decor I decided to use old silver as the universal element to bring it all together.

The Living room had a bright red couch, clean lines, and rustic artwork. The mix of modern and rustic led us to use more organic elements in the decorating. For the tree we used rusted metal letters found at a flea market as the ornaments and rooted it in a large urn of the same material.
Wes had the inspired idea to add the red glass balls and burlap which gave the tree more of a presence. Wes also added the greenery to the mantle and window sills thus softening the room. My friend Donna made the custom stockings out of the same material as the curtains which is a great way of bringing in a holiday element that also enhances your decor.

The Dining Room before...

And after....

The dining room is where we able to let the old silver play center stage. Instead of place mats or chargers place settings were set on silver trays. These Johnson Brothers dishes were my grandmother's and I borrowed them from grandfather for this event. What is great about using the silver is that any dishes would work. We used a cranberry colored napkin that brought out the colors in the plates and each setting had a different antique silver napkin ring. Twigg's floral display was the perfect enhancement to truly make the table formal yet festive.

The kitchen was almost a blank slate. With the dominance of white in the cabinetry and the slate grey walls we felt the need to enhance the space with the color red.

My Mom painstakingly made these candy cane wreaths. We placed a gingerbread ornament in the middle and put them in the windows.

Gingerbread mixed with old silver.

Candy is a cheap way to add color.

Silver chargers coupled with individual silver pedestal plates continued the silver theme. I used a small rolling pin with a name glittered onto it to mark each setting.

I strung gingerbread cookies on a ribbon then tied it to back of all the chairs.

The Family room was dominated by a monstrous white entertainment center and a severe black leather couch so we decided to keep this room as contemporary as possible. We used old silver cups, creamers, and sugar dishes as ornaments mixed in with black glass balls, and silver wire. To cover the tree stand we used plaid paper that we had used to wrap some of the gifts. We further tied in the paper by interspersing it throughout the tree and even using it as a tree topper. The result was very elegant and you couldn't even tell that it was paper that we used. The finished product looked more like fabric or ribbon.

After...

We are always limited by our budget when we participate in this tour but I think we were able to come up with some innovative ideas that do not cost a lot of money. I hope all that were able to tour the house in person enjoyed it. Joyeux Noel!