Did I Say Citrus Christmas?

Good morning one and all! I've got my coffee and am ready to post.

Did I say I was going to have a citrus Christmas? Well, I think I forgot about that when I started purchasing decorative items for my home. So here is how it is going so far.

Do you remember me talking, in an earlier posting, about this fabric I ordered for a friend's home to use for draperies? Well I ended up getting this beautiful Liz Claiborne Breda Nectar fabric for myself also and it is being made into draperies as I speak. The balls in the jar on my coffee table and in the jar on my chest of drawers are close to that color as are the balls on the tree. Certainly not CITRUS, sorry but I had no will power!

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I am "havin" a love affair with the green roses. 

Do you remember years ago when people made and sold sequien fruit? They used styrofoam fruit shapes and covered them with the appropriate color sequiens that were attached by sticking pins in them? They went out of style but now they are back in style. I had purchased some when they were outdated, for our antique shop, and kept a few in my home. They also pick up on the nectar color and were added to the jar on the chest of drawers.

I fully intend to cut stockings out of white felt and using the xacto knife, cut out my grandchildren's initials in black felt to attach to the stockings with fabric glue. I will hang them with lime green and white poka dot ribbon.

More later

More Citrus Christmas Pictures

These pictures are from the Better Homes and Gardens magazine December issue 2009 with photos by Edmund Barr. Notice the theme of lime green and yellow running throughout the pictures.

Still lime greens and yellows.

I would love some of the lime green fabric with the circles on it.

Even the cookies have lime icing.

I'm working on making ivory felt stockings using fabric for the first time.

The following photos are by Bill Holt.

More lime green. At the top of the page is a bunch of twigs spray painted and tied up in a bow hanging on the wall.

                                                             Photo by Nichael Partenio.

"Merry Texas Christmas You Yall"!

A Citrus Christmas

I have always wanted to do a citrus Christmas. Yes, I love the traditional red and green Xmas but the other just seems so bright and cheerful. I received a beautiful quilt from some church ladies right after I was diagnosed with cancer. It is bright yellow, lime green, black and blue.  So I am going to show you what I have done so far. I have not lighted up the trees or anything else yet but will soon. I started chemo again and it is doing it's job cause I don't feel so hot but that's good.

So after I show you my first not yet finished picture, I will post some more pictures that to me represent a citrus Christmas. Who knows, maybe it will rub off on you. And if not I have lots of red and green pictures on their way.

Bunny William's 1999 Christmas

House Beautiful, 1999 December issue featured Bunny William's home. Here it is. I think it speaks for itself.

  

Regarding the COTE DE TEXAS Post About Two Houses and the Same Architect

Last night I was reading my favorite blog, COTE DE TEXAS, and some not so nice, remarks had and  were being made about Joni Webb's post regarding a couple of homes she featured that were done by a well  known Houston architect. It seems the person who chose not to reveal him or herself was critical of decorating by paring down and making one's life a little more simplistic. Granted, not everyone      likes the idea of using slipcovers but Joni made a very valid point when she indicated sometimes it can be more costly to go the slipcover route than to just reupholster furniture. I can attest to that because the estimate I got to slipcover a settee and a chair and a half, in the Waco, Texas area, was                fourteen hundred dollars and that was using cheap fabric!

I came across a magazine story about an Austin, Texas couple who were tired of living in their surroundings of 23 years and were ready to reinvent their home. The magazine was the September/October 2002 issue of Better and Homes and Gardens Decorating. The decorating team      hired to accomplish this, did it mainly by paring down, reupholstering furniture the couple already had and by adding a few new pieces to the mix. The design team was Mark Ashby and Mary Ames and      their photographer was William Stites. The color palate was that of either calming or dramatic neutrals and the use of large patterned fabrics.

 The white fireplace was painted a dark brown.

   
They separated the living room into several seating/activity areas.  Two completely different types       of chairs were brought together by using the same fabric to reupholster them both in this part of the living room. There is also an area near the dining room and another area in a corner for playing cards.  

Originally, the couple had their desk set up in their bedroom. They eliminated an unused bedroom and turned it into their new office. They switched out the colors using a dark color on the walls and light colors in the drapes and reupholstered chairs.

 

By putting white dinnerware on top of their wallpaper in the breakfast room, texture and depth were added to the room.

They painted the dining room walls the same light color as the living room and put a solid fabric on the chair seats.

Once they rid themselves of the desk, the master bedroom became a restful place in which to spend time.

                  The antique chest of drawers and the mirror over top were new purchases. Well, there we have it, a home re-do without slipcovers. I realize the person complaining about the COTE DE TEXAS blog will probably never look at, much less read this commentary and that is alright by me.

And, yes, if I had, had a say so in this re-do, I would have requested slipcovers because I am in love with them!

The Apple of Her Eye

I am tired of posting about kitchens and would like to show you a lovely Massachusetts farmhouse. Sandy Craig managed to put color and neutrals in the same home and blend them beautifully. The home is circa 1740. She hired a builder to put in wiring, plumbing, heating and air-conditioning systems. A hand blown glass vase filled with roses graces the top of a pickled painted coffee table. Photography was by Sam Gray. This home appeared in the September/October 2002 issue of Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest Publication, Decorating.

The hand printed floral fabric on the lounge chair and ottoman is a reproduction of a historical pattern.

Gazing with seeming approval on the scene, the glamourous woman depicted in the antique French poster is a chic alternative to a more predictable ancestor portrait. Sandy hired an interior designer, Linda Carbutt, to assist her in decorating the home. They managed to use soft colors that would not compete with the natural light provided by an abundance of windows. She used florals, plaid, stripes and solids in a rainbow of soft yellows, greens, blues, peach, melon and rose colors.  

A new painted and glazed secretary makes a strong color statement in the living room.

Opening to the living room on one side and the dining room on the other side, the entry hall features faux-marble fruity green walls.

The charming floral pattern carpet continues up the stairs to the second landing.

With rose colored papered walls, warmed by the fireplace the low ceiling dining room is intimate and inviting.

A simple jabot in lime green silk softens the window. The new mirror above the bombe chest is a little jewel that might have come from an Irish country house not too formal.

A burst of color from a tasseled striped silk balloon shade adds to the serene scene.

The new bed is distressed to look like old iron with chipping paint. Taupe-color paper that looks like suede covers the bedroom walls.

The master bathroom is dressed in a crackle finish wallpaper with a pattern of classical urns. Marble covers the floor and tops the surround of the built-in whirlpool tub.

The Venetian mirror above the sink is new. Now who would not love this home?!