Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Silver and Gold Christmas Dining Room
Were in full celebration mode here at The Decorative Dreamers house, how about you? We've already started the celebrations at our house last Saturday after hosting Christmas for my husbands side of the family. It was so nice to be able to see everyone and to have been able to do so without being stressed from work this year. I love working retail and I do miss working, but I have to say that it has really been a blessing time of year. I have been able to slow it down and focus on the little things and that has meant quite a lot to me and to my husband as well. He always takes the week before Christmas off and is thrilled to have me home with him this year. He also has always been one of my most treasured blessings!
My dining room is one of my favorite rooms in this house. I love it for so many reasons. One reason is because of the location of the room in this house. It is to the left when you enter our home as most dining rooms are but because our house sits so much higher then the street when you look out of the windows it overlooks the whole yard and just feels so open. I also love that it has another door that leads into the kitchen. Because the view is so enjoyable I have never put blinds in this room. I do finally have curtains but since this room is so rarely used they always stay open
I also love that this room is large enough to accommodate a big table which I now finally have. It has enough space for additional pieces of furniture for serving as well as a Christmas tree too. When I started this tree it was primarily to showcase my collected Lenox ornaments. I started collecting one of them each year starting when my husband and I first married. That was in 1988 and we now have quite a full set. I decided they would be best complimented with silver and gold and so the dining room tree came to be.
This year I added the gold angel wings that I got from after Christmas sales last year. I actually had forgotten I had them until last week when I came across them while organizing my Christmas decor storage. They are quite large and really pretty but I think they would have been better if I had put them on first so they would be more in the background. I do love them though!
I read a blog this morning that talked about focusing on details this Christmas. Not necessarily with regards to decor but with regards to special visions that create wonderful memories. I loved this bit of advice. I really want to do this not just for the holidays but for everyday!
I couldn't believe my luck when I went out just last week to find a new tablecloth to fit my larger table. I found exactly the color and size I wanted at the first place I went to. It is an off white color with silver metallic threads throughout. I love TJ Maxx! I thought for sure they would have been sold out already but I guess since it's larger in size I was still in luck.
Speaking of silver, this year I even made time to polish the silver. Now mind you we will not be using this silver tea set but since I was polishing my silver serving pieces I decided to polish this set up as well. I love how shiny and sparkly it is!
Our marble buffet table also sparkles as well this year. It's the perfect place to display my Fitz and Floyd. I love unwrapping these pieces every year!
I actually have used this tray several Christmas's to serve ham. I think I may have to retire it from serving duty though because I noticed it is starting to loose some of it's coloring around the edges. I just can't bare the thought of seeing it all worn and rubbed off, but gosh the ham sure does look good served on this pretty platter!
I purchased this manger scene from the Atlanta market this year. It was from a vendor who sold handmade ornaments from Peru. They are just spectacular. Can you imagine making this by hand?
Okay, I just have to share this little tidbit tip I used this year. Early in the season even before I set out any trees or Christmas decor. I pulled several pieces of my silver serveware and displayed them in a utensil dish. I did this so I would see them and remember to get them polished before company came. I am so glad I did this. I had them in another utensil caddy then switched them over to this one since I needed the caddy for silverware. I already had this metal container and then I found a glass container I already had as well that fit perfectly. I love this look and it matches a larger metal piece that I usually use on the dining table for floral displays year round. I think I will now keep my serveware out and handy all the time now. That way it gets used as well as serving a decorative look appropriately in the dining room.
I hope you have enjoyed the tours of Christmas this season. I hope to do more blogging again now that I more time to do so.
QUESTION: I have a bit of a dilemma that I hope someone will help me with. My son has restored one of my older more expensive laptops that crashed many years ago. It is now totally restored and free of any old pictures and virus's too. I could use it again to blog but am very concerned to do so since I have been through several laptops that mysteriously developed virus's that caused them to crash totally. I have also recently deleted several blogs I followed because they were causing my blog feed to be filled with strange blogs that were not only phishing but some that were x-rated. I currently use a chromebook but am unable to use photoshops (Picasa) on this without a great deal of hassle. I have been using my phone for photos and my blogger app to post them, then editing the words on the blog with my chromebook. If I go back to my laptop I can use my camera for better photos and be able to edit them and tag them as my property which is important to me. The question I guess I have is how can I prevent these virus's from creeping in again. I am hoping some of you will take the time to share what measures you use to prevent this from happening. I am interested in hearing what you do not just with malware but with anything you can do on blogger to prevent this as well.
As always, thanks so much for stopping in again today. I really appreciate it and hope you'll come back again sometime if you'd like.
Most importantly,
I want to wish each of you a very Merry and Blessed Christmas!
Jesus loves you!
Tuesday, December 15, 2015
Christmas all around the house
Hi Blogger Friends! Today I am so excited to share my whole house with you now that it's all decked out for Christmas. Tis the season, and in the spirit of giving and sharing I've decided to join several linky parties. Oh what fun it is, to sit back for a moment and enjoy all the pretties that others are sharing of how they decorate to celebrate the most wonderful time of year. I'll be attending the following parties at; All Thru the House Christmas Tour of Homes,
Come on in sweet friends! It may be nearly 80 degrees outside but inside it's a cozy winter wonderland!
The first thing to welcome you in the foyer of my home is the manger. I couldn't think of a more welcoming scene to put in my entry way. The message of the baby Jesus birth coming to save us is one of the greatest most inclusive and unconditional acts of love ever. I want others to feel that love when they enter my home.
This message is why I like to go all out at Christmas. This is reason enough for me to pull out every bit of effort I can to celebrate. It's all about sharing joy and celebration with those I love.
I know most of you attending these parties understand that because I have already been enjoying some of your beautiful homes. Wow! You ladies really know how to do it up right! I love looking at all your pretties because they inspire me so much. I probably tune in to blogs more this time of year then any other because there is so much to see and appreciate.
Let's walk over to the dining room now. I keep a silver, gold and ivory theme in here. This is the only room I haven't done a full post on yet, but it's coming soon, I promise. One of the things I'm going to enjoy the most is using our new table with family this year. I got our table this summer at an estate sale being held just down the road. I still hope to find additional chairs one day that match, I have 6 would prefer 8.
I kept things fairly simple in here with just a few splashes of frosty faux greenery. I love the sparkly look of snow on greenery don't you?
I have been enjoying seeing so much real greenery among many of your homes this year. It's so positively beautiful! I would really love fresh greenery but it's a bit too costly for me this year. I could have sneaked out in the backyard and cut a few cypress branches but I'm thinking with all the rain and warmer temps we've had this year that would not have been too smart. I've already heard warnings on our local news about those who have real trees need to be on the look out for ticks this year. Can you imagine? Yikes!
Now let's pop into the kitchen, okay?
It's candyland all the way in here. Yum! Yum! This year I added a new slimmer then ever tree so I wouldn't have to eliminate any furniture pieces. I was so surprised about how many ornaments actually still fit on this tree.
We have a new little one coming this year who is a toddler and I absolutely cannot wait to see his face when he see's this room. I may just have to let him hold one of the elves too!
I have been enjoying the coffee bar so much after I added a countdown calendar on my chalkboard. I was inspired to make my own after seeing a premade chalkboard countdown at Target. It's amazing and kinda scary how quickly the days have flown by since I started counting down.
Before we walk into the den let's poke our heads in the half bath. I know it's kinda weird, but I wanted you to see how I finally found the perfect spot for my pink mercury glass Christmas trees. Since this bathroom has a rose garden type theme I was so thrilled when I realized how cute they would look in here. Love when that happens!
Okay now you can go on into the den!
One of the best tips of inspiration I have gotten from blogs was a tutorial that I saw last year. It was on how to do multi layered ribbons for the Christmas tree. I did it last year and let me tell you this was so easy and so fun! It's also probably the main reason why I just knew I had to do new ribbons this year.
Crazy I know, but y'all I just love it! For me it's so fresh and colorful! There were several changes I made in this room because I was inspired by others. One more idea I used was when I was inspired to add more vintage looking Christmas balls after seeing a beautiful kitchen picture on pinterest that used them all around the room. So likewise, I decided to spread some around too!
The last stop on the tour today will be on my screened porch. I hope you like Mermaids!
It's a Nautical wonderland out here! We love this little porch and are sure to be enjoying it quite a bit this Christmas. It's so unusually warm this year but what a blessing!
I say it's a blessing because I've been able to get caught up on the cleaning and repainting and maintenance that I would otherwise have not been able to do this time of year.
So as we sit outside this Christmas and enjoy these warmer temps we will also be able to sit and remember summer vacations past while looking at the ornaments on my Nautical tree. I can hardly wait until everyone gets here and we can start to reminiscence!
Well that' wraps it up friends! I didn't share any of our outdoor lights but they out there. LOL! IF I can I will try to do a seperate post on those as well.
Thank you all so very much for visiting today! I really hope you enjoyed the tour. If you enjoyed this tiny bit of inspiration I've shared and want more please be sure and pop by any of the following for more beautiful sights from all over!
All Thru the House Christmas Tour
The Scoop
Inspire Me Tuesday
Wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas this year!
Hugs,
Mary
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