Restful, calming, inviting.

Adding beautiful greens to my bedroom mantel gives the entire room a new feeling.  I love this view from the top of the stairs.  It makes me look forward to unwinding, finishing the day peacefully.  During the day I love how bright the sunlight is in this room; it makes our gray winters a little more bearable.

Silver bells, layered garlands, white lights with silver covers.  Simple and classic.  Every year I wonder if I’ll be ready to do this mantel differently.  Then I unpack this garland, hang it up and fall in love all over again.

A few pieces of silver on the mantel with my white antler wreath.  I love this wreath.

Creating an atmosphere like this in my bedroom reminds me to slow down, enjoy the season, take care of myself.

Merry Christmas!

Hopeful Homemaker

shared here

I smile as I watch our younger children standing beneath them, trying to spot theirs.  It’s a really short mantel, especially for ten stockings.

I  placed my all-time favorite nativity scene above the stockings.

I get a lump in my throat every time I stop and look at it.  The simplicity of it speaks to me.  I love that the entire scene consists of the manger, baby Jesus, sheep and three angels.  It reminds me of the heavenly host – so much bigger than the small circle of witnesses present in person – that celebrated and rejoiced in the birth of the long-awaited Savior of the World.  There is a production called Savior of the World that we try to attend every year which has forever enhanced my feelings about the unseen witnesses to the birth of our Lord.  This nativity scene rekindles all those feelings for me.

The world – all of us – waited so long for Him to come.  Now we wait for Him to return.

Enough said.  I just really, really love it.

It’s hard to believe that in just over two weeks those stockings will be filled instead of hanging expectantly.  Where do the days go?  I still have much to do…

Sigh.  It’s a wonderful time of year, isn’t it?  I hope you’re enjoying it!

Jennifer

shared here

One room, at least, is ready for Christmas.  I enjoy decorating the dining room for holidays because it’s the room that stays most like I left it.  My children cheerfully redecorate everything else they see but for some reason they generally leave the dining room alone.

I placed a vintage Christmas tablecloth across the table and replaced the large mirrored tray I’ve been using in there.   While unpacking boxes in the basement I remembered the ceramic lamb I always use at Easter and decided to bring it up.  We are, after all, celebrating the birth of the Lamb of God.

So using the lamb as a starting point, I then pulled a nativity scene from another room and used it as well.

I placed Mary, Joseph and the baby on a cake platter with more lambs to continue the theme.  I love the simplicity of it.

For height I borrowed a large trophy vase from my family room mantel and filled it with picks I had on hand; some inexpensive berries, beaded leaves purchased last year from Ballard Designs, and green flocked pinecones around the edge.

The wise men are placed around the other side of the tray to add visual interest from all three of the openings to the room.

A few ornaments were added to the dining room cabinet.  I still love the blue in that cabinet.  I’m so glad I painted it earlier in the year!

My favorite vintage bust just makes me happy perched up there.

I love walking through this room.  In fact, I realized that many members of our family walk through this room countless times a day.  Perhaps displaying a nativity scene in here was a good move because it will be so often seen by all of us.

I’ve been a total stress case this week, calm on the outside but nerves humming on the inside.  The little ones are still so needy and emotional.  In the past two days we’ve had only a couple of waking hours when one or both of them weren’t crying.  Seriously, my almost four year old cried for over 2.5 hours on Monday night, just to make sure we all knew she wasn’t happy with us.  It’s been wearing on me, I think.  I wonder if they’re just not feeling better yet or what?  Either way, I’ve got to calm down.  Maybe I should pull up a chair at the dining room table and make myself sit there until I’m quiet inside.

I hope your Christmas preparations are in full swing and on schedule!  More importantly, I hope you make time to be still and ponder the reason why we’re doing all this in the first place.

Please excuse me while I attempt to go follow my own advice.

Jennifer

Using branches from one of our cherry trees (which is dying), I built a mini-tree in the kitchen.  It sits between the two windows near our table.  {This also makes it difficult to photograph because of all the lighting behind it.  Sorry!}

Standing over eight feet tall, our gratitude tree is actually one really big branch with two smaller branches attached.  I spray painted them all white, but didn’t go for total coverage.  They almost look like aspen branches now.

I placed the tree in an urn, weighted it with rocks, and wrapped it in some creamy burlap I had in my stash.

I wanted to hide the spot where I attached all the branches to each other, so a burlap ribbon and vintage dictionary page “flower” was added.  In its center I attached a glitter-covered rose I had sitting around and a tag declaring this our “Harrison family gratitude tree.”

When I started this project I intended to take down the white mirror that hangs between the windows, but once it was up I loved the reflection of the branches so much that I left it in place.  It adds more dimension to the tree.

In keeping with the color scheme I chose to cut our leaves out of the same dictionary pages.  I cut them in a variety of shapes (found here) and I love the way they look.  Because they lack color their shape is emphasized.

To hang each leaf we simply punch a tiny hole and use a wire ornament hanger (purchased at the dollar store) which is then hung on a branch.  We’ve also started using a Sharpie to write on the leaves which makes it easier to read with all the dictionary text.

Last night we had a family discussion about gratitude in which my older children shared thoughts and insights that were very encouraging.   I am grateful for brief moments when I discover that we just might be getting through to them, after all.  We also talked about how Thanksgiving is the perfect prelude to the Christmas season.  I have also been pleased with the enthusiasm with which they’ve welcomed the tree to our kitchen.  It’s big enough that we can’t help but notice it and I’m excited to have it for the holidays.

So there you have it:  our 2011 gratitude tree, created entirely with materials on hand and not a single penny spent.    And for the record, I am grateful for it because it provided me with a creative outlet on a busy day, which motivated me to get my work done and which brings me joy each time I see it.  It is beautiful to me.

What do you think?  Do you do something to record your blessings and grateful thoughts during this wonderful season?  I’d love to hear.  If you’d like a peek at another adorable gratitude tree, check this out!

Jennifer
*Don’t forget:  today is the last day to enter my 2nd giveaway for some velvet pumpkins in non-traditional colors!  Leave a comment here to enter.

An old metal bench.  An oversized acorn hanging from burlap and embroidered ribbon.  A simple wood plank declaring “A Day of Thanksgiving and Praise”.  A lantern with a pumpkin and some battery operated candles enclosed.  A couple more candles on the ground in blue lanterns.

Simple.  It makes me happy.

And over by the front door, the wood sign I’ve had for many years:

Welcome to our home.  And welcome, Thanksgiving!

Jennifer
*Love Thanksgiving?  Dont’ forget to tell me how you celebrate and enter to win a “give thanks” banner here.

One thing I enjoy about this time of year is looking at holiday catalogs for various home decor companies.  Do you do that too?  While there is no room in our budget for splurges of this nature, I thought it would be fun to share some of the things I’m really liking.

First up, Ballard Designs.  I’ve been tempted by this mercury glass cake stand for three years now.  Every year I hope it will get marked down, but it always sells out before that happens.  I don’t have any mercury glass but would love to use this year round.

Also at Ballard Designs is this document gift wrap, which would be so elegant and fun to use.  I can also picture using it for art projects or some ingenious decor project.

And finally, the document ribbon they’ve added this year would be really fun to work with.  I also love their burlap ribbon with red on the edges.

Ok, next up is the Pottery Barn catalog.  I’m not one to buy bedding just for the holidays but I would make an exception for this duvet cover.  It would be so beautiful in our bedroom with the aqua walls!

I’m also loving the painted bird boudoir pillow cover that pairs with it.  And while on a pillow note, they have several painted Christmas pillows that are lovely.  They’d be so pretty on a bed or couch.

I must also say that this Partridge in a Pear Tree salt & pepper shaker set is the cutest ever!  It’s already sold out, but I love it anyway.

Williams-Sonoma offers what might be my favorite piece of all, this square aluminum pedestal cake stand.  Anyone who’s seen my pantry knows that I don’t need another piece of aluminum serveware, but this is perfect.  I love that it’s square.  In fact, I just bought a new deep square cake pan for my son’s upcoming birthday and would love to serve it on this platter.  Yes, this is probably the most tempting of them all.  And there’s a rectangular one.  Gorgeous.  In some ways even prettier than the square one because it’s taller and the shape is uncommon.  I’d like them both, please.

Also at Williams-Sonoma, these pie crust cutters are adorable.  I have their leaf set and love to use them (in fact, I played with them just yesterday).  I’d love to use that acorn and the turkey.  So cute!  This set and this set also look like fun.

While I’m on the subject of baking, I noticed an Emile henry pizza stone in the King Arthur Flour catalog.  A few months ago it would have meant nothing to me, but after falling in love with my emile henry pie pan after my birthday I’m a huge fan of the products.   This would be a lot of fun to use.

I’m still liking the curled wood accents out there, particularly wreaths.  This collection of red curled wood accents at Home Decorators is really well priced and ships for free right now.  I’m not sure if I’d choose the square or the circle wreath.

I saw a gorgeous green one somewhere that was breathtaking, but can’t find it.  If I can I’ll add it.  It was so pretty, but more expensive.

The most practical items on my list come from Crate & Barrel.  I’m loving this set of white mixing bowls.  I’d use them every day of the year.  I have a couple of sets of their mixing bowls that I love.  They have all held up well to the wear and tear of a large family.  The price for this set is really good for 5 bowls that are all microwave, oven and dishwasher safe. It’s a good thing I don’t live near one of their stores, because I probably wouldn’t be able to resist them in person.

And if I bought the white set, I’d also have to buy one with a red and white gingham rim.  This might be the cutest bowl I’ve seen in years.  Again, I’d use it ALL. YEAR. ROUND.

And just for fun, wouldn’t some of these or these aqua ornaments be fun to use?  I don’t think I’d pack them away after Christmas.  I also don’t think I’d ever actually buy one.  I’m not loyal to Anthropologie in any way and $18 is a lot of money to spend on a single ornament.  Still, they’re oh-so-pretty.

And finally, what might be the most beautiful items of all come from Wisteria.

The first is this incredible glass urn vase.  I actually have one of these, purchased earlier this year and I’ll just say that it is my all time favorite vase.  I’m totally in love with it and intend to use mine in my holiday decorating this year.  It’s stunning.  I’d love to buy a second one so I could pair them together on a table.

And if I had a beautiful entry in my home with a gorgeous table in it, I’d really love to put this angel weather vane on that table for the Christmas season.  (But since I don’t have that entry or that table, the angel will need to live somewhere else.)  Still, there’s something about it that kind of speaks to me.  I’d love to have a big reminder of the good tidings the angels declared on the night of Christ’s birth.  (After typing this I can’t find it on their website, which must mean it’s already sold out.  Bummer.  I really wanted to share a link and a picture.)

Ok, and here is the last.  It’s probably the least practical of them all but I think it’s beautiful.  It’s one of those items that really doesn’t fit my stage in life but I love it anyway and would love to use it over and over again.  It’s this gorgeous antiqued glass vase in a trophy cup shape.  LOVE it!  It’s waaaay too expensive for me, but beautiful just the same.

As I look back over my little fantasy shopping list, none of the items I like scream “holidays.”  Most of them are things that would be beautiful all year round (except perhaps for the curled wood wreath).  All of them could be used for any holiday or special occasion, which is part of the reason why I like them so much.

So there it is.  My dream list of holiday products right now.  Posting them is almost as much fun as buying them would be.

Tell me, which is your favorite?  Have you got your eye on something else?  If you do, make a comment and share a link!  I’d love to see what other people are liking right now.

Don’t forget to enter my giveaway for a fun Thanksgiving banner this week.  I hope your November is moving along nicely.  I’m behind, as usual, but enjoying this wonderful time of year.

Jennifer

The sun is shining and I’m about to head outside for the last of my weeding and bulb planting before the temperatures plummet tomorrow.  This gorgeous day is supposed to hold through tonight, which will mean plenty of happy children come dark.  We’ve got kids scheming to meet up with friends to trick-or-treat and little ones still vacillating between this or that costume.

Before the day is over, I thought I’d share a few pictures of the Halloween decorating I managed to do this year.  It was minimal, but fun.

This year I put a bird cage on a mirrored tray and used that as my starting point.  I was in the mood for simple black and white, so I made a few black and white velvet pumpkins and put my favorite vintage crowns on them.  Yes, I still like crowns on pumpkins.  Most of them sit in a footed silver bowl.

A little vintage bust fit nicely inside the cage as well, along with some beaded leaves and a small collection of black and white seashells for pattern and scale.

I added my favorite velvet crow to the outside of the cage for fun.  I like having him perched up there.

On the back side of the cage I used my gold glittered “Boo” letters and added a wire spider hanging from the top.

While I like to challenge myself and use things differently each year,  I do love to hang my beaded spider web across the picture frames every year.  It looks great there and the children love it.

Lastly, I hung a vintage black scarf across my favorite mirror in the living room.  In a mostly white room, I like the dramatic effect of the black hanging there.  If I’d done this all sooner and had more time, I would have really gone for it with a black and white theme in this room.  Maybe next year.

And there you have it.  I used some of my traditional orange things in the kitchen as well.  Tomorrow it will be time to take it down and prepare for Thanksgiving, one of my favorite holidays.  For now, I’m going to take my little one (now the only child not asleep) out with me to pull a few more weeds in what may be the last sunshine we have this week.

I hope your Halloween is a lot of fun!

Jennifer

I realized when I posted about my new kitchen sign that I’d never taken pictures of the valances I made for my kitchen windows this summer.  I previously had vintage white linen in the windows but wanted some pattern in the room.  I found a Robert Allen print that I liked and went with that.

I like the way it brings a few more shades of blue into the room as well as a touch of green and yellow.

I also picked up a mirror on clearance, painted it white, and hung it between the two windows in the eating area.  A simple project that adds beauty to my kitchen.

HH

I scored this old dresser for $15 at a yard sale in Denver early in the summer and it took me a while to rehabilitate it enough that it could be used.  Now it’s done, and I’m so pleased with it.

I realized after it was home that it had a strong musty smell so I stored it in the garage for a couple of months where it could get some afternoon sun every day.  I also sprayed some bleach water on the inside of it to try to kill the smell.  I scrubbed the paint but couldn’t get it to look clean enough so painting was necessary.  I chose a dark, cool gray color and went to work.

I love the detail on this dresser!  It looks as beautiful in gray as it did in aqua.  I got all the work done and then was stuck on the last part:  fixing the bottom drawer.  I wanted to ask my husband for help several times but my pride prevented me from asking him to lift a finger on this project.  He was opposed to my buying it in the first place so I had to do it myself.  The bottom of the drawer was missing and had been repaired once in such a way that I couldn’t take it apart again to add a new bottom so I had to get creative.  My handy extended family would probably be disgusted with me, but I did it and it’s now functional.

The piece was missing one of the drawer knobs so I found a similar pair of knobs to use on the top drawer.  I think they look very natural with the other hardware and don’t take away at all from be beauty of the old brass hardware which I put back on the other four drawers.  I know that brass is coming back and in general I’m still completely opposed to that, but I do think this hardware is gorgeous.

I put the dresser in my studio and my quilting fabric is now stored in it.  The piece I was using previously was white, so having the dark color in that spot does change the feel of the room just a bit.  There is a lot of natural light in there though, so it works.  The white piece went to my son’s room and I’m the lucky one that gets to look at this beautiful dresser full of vintage charm and character!

Hooray for a finished project!

Jennifer

P.S. Want to read about me and the color purple?  Head over here for my confessions!

Are you like me?  Do you flip through magazines, catalogs, or even blogs and websites and sigh sometimes because what you’re looking at is so beautiful, clean, tidy and stylish and your life feels nothing like that?

There are so many amazing blessings that have come to all of us through media, digital photography and the internet.  We can share ideas and information so easily that we forget life ever existed without it.   But sometimes, if we’re not careful, we can become dis-satisfied with our own lives by comparing them with what we think life must be like inside that picture.

Sometimes I fall into that trap.  I guess I look at it all and think that life inside that picture seems calm, organized, slow, and surely the to-do list is nearly empty!  I’m tempted to wish I lived in a place that was “done” so I could focus on things I want to do and fewer things I need to do.

Guess what?  It’s not reality.  The homeowner of the picture I’m in love with still has work to do.  They still have things to maintain, lawns to mow, bills to pay, laundry to do.  Weeds grow in their flowerbeds and children spill in their kitchens.  They too, will have things wear out or will tire of some of their decor.  Having someone photograph their home doesn’t mean they’re living a dreamy life.   If they feel like they’re living a dreamy life, it’s as much about their habits as it is about the space.

What I’m really wanting is the feeling that life is beautiful. The feeling that I’m not overloaded, but able to appreciate and enjoy the simple blessings life has to offer.

Two days ago I spent a couple of hours cleaning my kitchen thoroughly before beginning phase one of my fall preserving.  I like to start with a clean kitchen.  I got it all cleaned up, hung my new sign, then turned my attention to the overflowing bowl of tomatoes on my kitchen counter.  In that moment I looked around and thought, “My kitchen looks great!”  It was flooded with light from the afternoon sun and the gladiolus in a vase were so bright and beautiful you couldn’t help but smile.

I was having a little magazine moment in my own house.   There was a room in my home that looked beautiful.  It was just a small part of my house.  I wasn’t looking at the laundry piled high in the laundry room or the wall my two year old most recently decorated with crayon.  I wasn’t looking at the garage that needs cleaning out or the bathroom that needs scrubbing.  I was just looking at my kitchen and I loved it.  I loved it because it was mine, because I had worked to make it beautiful, because it was full of light, because I had slowed down enough to appreciate it.

I realized there are times when a small part of my house looks like this and I don’t even notice it because I’m so focused on the areas that don’t.   The difference has nothing to do with my address or budget and everything to do with my frame of mind.  Much as I would love to live in a home that is all clean all the time, it’s not my reality right now.  I have young children.  I have a lot of children.  I have a lot more to do than just clean.  But I do my best to take care of it and all the other things I’m responsible for, particularly the eight awesome young people who are our children.

My house doesn’t have to be featured all over blog land for me to feel good about it.  It is ours.  We actually live here, which means there are dirty socks and toys in addition to the accessories I love.  I don’t own a home for the purpose of decorating it; I own a home for the purpose of raising a family.  A house is just a tool, like my hammer or screwdriver, for accomplishing something.  The time I have with my children is fleeting; my oldest is old enough for me to start figuring that out.  So I’ll take the messes as they come, clean them up the best I can, repaint the whole interior as soon as my baby is done with markers and teach my children to work alongside me on the laundry and housework.  The purpose for having a house is for people to live in it.  I remember a whole lot more about the feeling in the home I grew up in than I do about the decorations.

And when those “magazine moments” strike, even if it’s only a two foot square space that looks beautiful for two minutes, I need to smile and let that beauty nourish me.  The kitchen lasted up until I brought everyone home from school and things quickly disintegrated from there.  It’s ok.

The purpose of this post?  I’m not sure.  I guess it’s just a gentle reminder to myself to enjoy the eye candy everywhere while remembering that the best life is the life being lived right here, right now in my own house.  It’s the life that involves holding sad little ones while the dishes wait in the sink and great conversations with a teen-aged boy in his messy room.  It’s the life God gave me to live and I’ll be much happier if I live it cheerfully than if I wish it looked more like… whatever.

I hope you enjoy your life this weekend!

Jennifer