decorating — Page 57

A Tree for the Dollhouse

December 13, 2012 at 9:04 am by Claudia

I wanted a Christmas tree for the dollhouse. But I didn’t want to spend any money on one. What to do?

I had some bottlebrush trees from our Dickens Village days that I had thrown in my wrapping paper bits/fabric Easter Eggs/ ribbon drawer in the den. I pulled out the tallest tree and pondered bleaching it. I googled ‘bleaching bottlebrush trees’ and what should come up first? My friend Terri’s video! Thank you Terri, it was extremely helpful!

Bleaching it took a while. I get impatient. I probably should have gone even lighter, but what the heck, I was just playing around. I looked through all my little bits for decorations I could glue on the tree. Here’s the finished product:

That’s a bit of French silk ribbon winding its way around the tree. Plus some little beads and sparklies I had in my studio.

The wider view. It wasn’t quite tall enough so I put it on a stand. I’m not sure I’m happy with that little crochet skirt but it will do for now. Or at least until I start obsessing about some other possibility.

The den just got a touch of Christmas – the red ribbon wreath on top of the blue armoire. Less is more.

There’s still so much to do in the dollhouse: moldings, more wallpapering, more wooden floors, finishing touches and more furniture! Winter always seems to be the perfect time for work on the dollhouse. I’m starting to get that ‘itch.’

Another new scarf in the Etsy shop:

I have two more coming up in the next few days and I want to assure you that if you place a timely order, I will get it out to you in time for Christmas. The shop link is in the menu above and on my sidebar.

Happy Thursday.

Simple & Heartfelt Christmas Decorating

December 12, 2012 at 8:49 am by Claudia

My little white tree is the cottage’s Official Christmas Tree this year. I wonder how it feels? Usually, the little white tree is the runner-up; loved, of course, but slightly overshadowed by a bigger, green and fragrant tree in the den.

This year? It’s a whole new world.

(Note tip of Scout’s ear in lower left hand corner.)

I’ve really only decorated one room, the living room. The den has been left as is. So has the kitchen.

(Again, the ear. This time, two of them.)

This has been an interesting experiment. What is the bare minimum I can use to decorate for Christmas?

A wreath for the door. Check.

Lights on the porch. Check.

My bottlebrush wreaths because I love them so. Three of them are hanging in the living room windows. The fourth is hanging above the piano. Check.

My little white tree. Check.

Some of my bottlebrush ornaments. Check.

My Necco Snow Globe. It’s on display year round. Check.

The lights on top of the big white cabinet in the living room. (They are there year round, too.) Check.

And the dollhouse, of course. Check.

That’s it.

I find I’m liking it.

If Don was going to be here, of course we’d have a big tree in the den. I’m a fan of real, green, fragrant trees. So is Don. But he’s not going to be here and a large tree just seems like a lot of work. I have a lot of ornaments and decorations in my bins. Lots and lots of vintage Shiny Brites. And I love them all. But, surprisingly, I’m not missing them this year.

Normally, I have about ten of these large bottlebrush ornaments on the tree. This year, I hung three of them on the chimney. I have to fight the urge to hang even more. I think three is enough.

I bought this tree from Michael’s a few years back because I won a beautiful handmade mini tree skirt in a giveaway. So I had to have a tree to go with it. I’m so very glad I bought it.

The bottlebrush wreaths were first glimpsed on Dawn’s blog a few years back, where she shared the fact that she found them at Big Lots. Off I went to Big Lots, where I somehow managed to dig through everything and find 4 of them.

The bottlebrush ornaments were accumulated over time from Heidi’s shop.

Can you tell I like all things bottlebrush?

Back to the tree. No special ornaments were used, just tiny glass balls and some glass garlands that I’ve had for a long time.

I don’t like a lot of clutter and in a small house like this one, clutter is an ongoing problem. My usual amount of Christmas decorating, though lovely, can add to that. A bit of cozy clutter? That’s fine. Lots of stuff? Not so fine.

For this year, at this time, this seems like the perfect level of decorating.

Simple. Heartfelt. And – surprisingly – more effective.

Happy Wednesday.

Adding A Dash Of The Unexpected In Your Home

November 27, 2012 at 9:25 am by Claudia

Not long after Don and I moved into the cottage, we went to a local auction. We saw this:

A wonderfully vintage and battered display rack for, of all things, chains. Both of us are drawn to things with interesting graphics and a touch of the industrial.

This large piece had graphics, all right. We looked at each other and bid on it. Why? Who knows. No one else was bidding on it with any degree of enthusiasm. We had no idea what the heck we would do with it. It was one of those moments where we threw caution to the winds. We got it for $20.

Immediately, my mind started whirring. What could we do with it? We had to do something.

I call my decorating style Christmas in Connecticut for a reason. I like vintage, eclectic, overstuffed and cozy, just like the furnishings in all those wonderful old 1940s-era movies. But, to be perfectly accurate, it is Christmas in Connecticut – with a dash of funky.

I like surprises in my home. The unexpected. I want visitors to think they’ve figured it all out and then discover something totally offbeat.

I had an idea. I trotted off to the store, bought a length of wooden dowel. I measured. I cut. Couldn’t have been simpler, really.

Then I added these:

And we had our funky paper towel holder.

Here it is in the kitchen. Now, I understand it is not everyone’s cup of tea. But we like it a lot. And we use it all the time.

These two photos show it in the context of the whole kitchen. I love the contrast between the cream colored table, the wooden chairs, the white of the hutch, red shades, doily swag lamp and the metal/industrial look of the paper towel holder.

It’s a surprise. A cozy cottage kitchen with a sudden dash of hard-edged/metal/industrial. And, I don’t know about you, but I love a happy surprise. I like to be kept on my toes.

Have you added a dash of the unexpected in your home?

Happy Tuesday.

A Tree for the Dollhouse

Simple & Heartfelt Christmas Decorating

Adding A Dash Of The Unexpected In Your Home

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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