Tuesday, 15 November 2011

Holly Jolly Tutorial

I finally did IT! I made a stencil with freezer paper. I had seen this on blogland and wanted to try it. My excuse...Hubby was out of town and I wanted to do a fast, fun and easy project.
Here are the steps to making a stencil.

ONE: Find a graphic that you like. You will have to cut out all the design, so choose carefully.
I chose this from Google Images by doing a search for Christmas letter

Monday, 14 November 2011

Blogversary Today and Winner!

Today is a very special day for me. A year ago, I decided to share not only my voice, but my creations with you and started my blog. Today, my stats are:

904 Followers
432,930 Pageviews
250 Posts

That's more than one new post every other day!!!  I didn't know I had that much to share:)

I decided to give, to one lucky follower, this hand-painted tray, table scarf, teacup and various teas/

Sunday, 13 November 2011

Fall Breakfast Area

Happy Sunday, folks ... and, come on in!  Welcome to what *used* to be our Fall breakfast area.  It's all looking like Christmas right now, but I wanted to share with you what it looked like just last week! 

There are a few changes to this area since I shared it last time.


The biggest change being that I painted the table base Annie Sloane Old White, and I also asked my sweet friend to recover our chairs.  It's actually extra fabric that I had stored away! 


I also added a bit of this fabric to the center of the table, layered on top of a *burlap-y* looking fabric.  I then placed a grapevine pumpkin on a cream cake stand and covered all of that with a large glass cloche.


I also added "EAT" above the window ... I painted the letters Old White, followed by Chateaux Grey (to tie in with the neighboring dry bar, which is done in the same colors).


A view of the breakfast area from the great room ... you'll spy our Family Fall tree, which has become a tradition in our home every Fall now.  For the last two years, it has been in our sitting room, but, this year, I decided to place it by our breakfast table so that it would feel more "present" during the Fall.  I loved sitting at the table, and staring at all of the pics ... lots of memories always come flooding back, and I love that:



Crazy tree topper:


I fill this tree with special family pictures ... moments which we are so thankful for ... like the first moment I held my son:


Special sayings:

And, fun times with friends (like the day last year that my husband and I renewed our vows for our 15th wedding anniversary, surrounded by great friends, on the beaches of Punta Cana):


The family tree has since been moved to another room, and I look forward to sharing that, along with the rest of our house, which is now all dressed up for Christmas!

In the meantime, come on over and party at these wonderful blogs:

Dittle Dattle/Amaze Me Monday
Kristen's Creations/Share Your Creations Party


Thanks for stopping by,




Dragonflies and Butterflies Anyone?

I have been working with a client on decorating her huge home. This post will only show parts of the formal dining room that I added decor to. There is much more to be done in this room.

The chairs are large and very nice but looked a bit masculine to me. So I made 8 lumbar pillows (12 x 18) with reddish fabric featuring dragonflies on the material. The background of the material coordinates

Saturday, 12 November 2011

Blogversary GiveAway!

On November 14th, I will celebrate ONE YEAR of my Forever Decorating! blog website. I went from one follower to 897, over 430,953 page-views and 249 posts. I am so amazed at those numbers. And, it has been the sweetest year of gaining personal friendships with YOU.

To celebrate, I am giving away this tray that I handpainted with the word EAT, a rose teacup and an assortment of teas and

Thursday, 10 November 2011

Simple Snapshots ...

Just a few snaps of a Fall afternoon taken last week ... I love the sun streaming into the sitting room:


Love how it highlights random leaves and branches ...


and how it bounces the reflections of the mirrors onto the walls:


Wait until you see the sun reflecting off of the Christmas tree ornaments which are in here now ... yippee!

Have a great day,
everyone,





Buyer's Remorse To Buyer's Rejoice!

Have you ever bought something and had buyer's remorse when you had time to think more clearly? This happened to me about a month ago.


I found two beautiful framed prints of topiarys. They were large and the frames were ornate. I paid too much for them to call them a DEAL, but overall the frames alone were worth the price.


One of the two prints

When I had time to step back and review my