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!