Monday December 14, 2009
On the first day of Christmas
my true love sent to me
An antique secretary.
Antique Secretary
© Wayne Shielly
This antique secretary may be Italian, but with its elaborate carvings and hand-painted finish, it could slip right into any New Orleans style home. Displayed as it is, the effect is very New Orleans French.
The secretary lives in the bedroom of Memphis Interior Decorator Wayne Shielly. I'll be featuring his bedroom, along with the rest of his amazing house, in photo tours this week and next, starting tomorrow.
More 12 Days of Christmas on About.com
Sunday December 13, 2009
Remember that period in the late 1980s and early 1990s when you'd nearly be shunned for using anything other than white Christmas lights?
White lights are certainly beautiful. I love them, but weren't we taking ourselves, and our decorations, a bit too seriously?
Thankfully, we are past that phase now. I do wonder if the increased interest in collecting Christmas kitsch during past years is some sort of collective rebellion against those years.
Kitsch is fun, campy, and never serious. Christmas kitsch is the antithesis of the white light rule.
Saturday December 12, 2009
When it comes to decorating, I don't think a home is ever finished. Nor should it be.
You'll always have new treasures to incorporate, and old ones to cull once you've upgraded. You'll find that one change sparks a dozen others. That means extra work and some temporary disarray, but you'll end up seeing your furnishings in fresh, new ways.
My friends Stan and Gwen are always adding, rearranging, and removing. Each time I visit, I notice something new, only to find out it's been in the garage or in another room all the time.
My goal this morning was to put the old dining table in storage, and then bring in the new one. The new old one, that is.
That simple goal turned into a plan to paint the chairs, reupholster the chair seats, move the living room window treatments into the dining room, and rehang all the artwork. Of course, that means I'll have to rehang artwork in the other rooms since I'm planning to swipe some of it for the dining room. I didn't have time to do it all today, but I'm anxious to work on it.
Don't be distressed when your projects get bigger than you intended. Just get creative and enjoy the process. It's definitely worth it end the end.
Thursday December 10, 2009
For reasons I can't remember now, one of my former coworkers decided not to put up a traditional Christmas tree a few years ago.
Instead, she propped a big dry erase board on an easel, drew the outline of a Christmas tree on it, and piled the gifts around the bottom of the easel.
All throughout the Christmas season, friends and family used the dry erase markers to add ornaments and details to the tree sketch.
While I personally require a bit more sparkle, I love the idea of alternative Christmas trees.
