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Hope you had a wonderful Christmas! We surely did!
I thought I would just quickly share some photos from our “DIY Ornament Tree” in Montana.
We had great fun making all the ornaments on the tree from scratch.
Allison showed you the button wreath idea from Martha Stewart’s website. Here are a couple of ours:
The initial ornaments turned out great and were so easy:
These little candy cane mice were super cute:
We also did God’s Eye ornaments (remember those from summer camp?)
And frosted trees made from real twigs.
Thank goodness someone had already collected twigs for the fire which we could use on the ornaments, because generally it looked like this up there:
We enjoyed spending the day indoors making the ornaments. A great time for all ages and I highly recommend the activity for your family next year!
Now, I am going to spend the next few days recouping, un-thawing and getting organized for the new year! We have a lot of projects ready to kick off and I predict 2014 is going to be even busier than 2013!
Last year we had a table top event at the store with some great Christmas table decorating ideas:
This year I wanted to share with you some new tabletop ideas showcased at the Bosque Arts Center’s “The Arts of Christmas” event. This musical event also had a tablescape display available for viewing during the day. Several of the tables had very unique themes and those are the ones I’ve chosen to post here.
A “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” holiday table:
A table for the Angels:
A circus themed table top, complete with monkeys hanging from the rafters:
Finally, a beautiful, classic table top with ribbon purchased from Heather Scott Home & Design. The ‘napkin rings’ are made from red felt ribbon with embroidered Scottie dogs. The burlap ribbon bows have black and white edges and embroidered holly and berries. We’ve had fabulous holiday ribbon for sale this year.
Happy holidays to you and your families. If you have a great holiday table scape make sure to take a photo to share with us! Just a quick update on our new space. We are still waiting on our occupancy permits, but we hope to be able to open in the new location January 2nd. Keep checking back with us for location news!
As you may know, we only have one sale a year celebrating our anniversary but we are happy to announce that we are again participating in the American Cancer Society Holiday Shopping Card!
With a $50 donation, this card will give you the opportunity to save 20% off merchandise at a variety of supporting stores around Austin, including Heather Scott Home & Design. The event runs from October 25th – November 4th.
Heather Scott Home & Design will honor this discount towards special order & in-store products, exceptions include previously marked down items and any services.
If you don’t have time to swing in and ‘pre-shop’, here are some photos of our current store inventory.
Many of the upholstered and case goods are customizable and can be special ordered to suit your needs.
We will also be spending the rest of today putting out our holiday décor so it, too, can be purchased with the shopping card discount!
For more information regarding the purchase of the card, participating merchants, terms & conditions please visit American Cancer Society Holiday Shopping Card. We look forward to seeing you on the 25th!
Have you noticed recently that decorating for Fall has gradually shifted from well thought out plans to sticking out a few Styrofoam tombstones and some orange light strands in the front yard? Well, Canada has us beat by a mile when it comes to decorating for fall. I just got back from a trip to Quebec City and Montreal and the decorations were so amazing, I couldn’t stop taking pictures.
The outdoor decorations were so incredibly creative. I’ve decided to share a few of my favorites with you that are ‘fall’ and some that are ‘Halloween’ focused. They certainly inspired me to take holiday decorating up a notch and I hope they inspire you.
Fall décor:
Halloween Inspired:
Most of these photos are from the Joan of Arc Garden in Quebec City. The last few are from the town square, which had very interesting “Wine” themed decorations. I don’t think I have the time or inspiration to go all out like in the winery theme, but the photos from the Joan of Arc garden are really quite simple items, such as blackboard cut outs, pumpkins and some fabric material.
Dueling men (note the ‘ghosts’ in the trees)
The Hangman (note the street lanterns which were wrapped in orange cloth and tied with a bow. They looked like pumpkins in person).
The sorcerer at the cauldron:
The pirate’s ‘boat’ and treasure chest:
The Wine display (notice the painted pumpkins and the detailed garlands)
These displays were really amazing in person. I was surprised so much time would be spent on ‘landscaping’ in an area covered with snow for such long periods of fall and winter. That said, I am so glad they did because our whole group really enjoyed searching out and finding all the creative displays at various parks, offices and restaurants. I hope this inspires you to take some initiative in your fall décor as well!
Holiday season is around the corner (no grumbling- it’s true!) and we have just put out the beginnings of our Holiday décor!
Although it may seem a bit early, we have the most beautiful ribbon this year and we thought our customers might need a little extra inspiration time to gather their creative ideas. If you need some help brainstorming, try starting at Pinterest. Also, check out my Friday post which is going to show you some fabulous fall decorating ideas to really push you to expand your creative concepts!
For our designer and event planner customers, we invite you to get an early start on planning for your client’s holiday decor. This incredible ribbon will never fail to impress at special parties and events.
Due to the popularity of our holiday ribbon over the past couple of years, we significantly increased our quantities and selections. The ribbon styles can be used in a variety of home decor styles from rustic to traditional.
Burlap Ribbon-comes in brown, green, red, and tan!
“Ticking” style ribbon- also available in red/white!
The ribbon ranges in price based on the style and is usually 10 yards long, which is a generous amount.
This holiday season is sure to be one of the best and we hope you start celebrating with us by stopping in the store and sharing with us the joys and blessings of your year.
Don’t miss Friday’s post, with pictures from my recent trip to Canada!
My “winterscape” tabletop made it to the top 6 in a holiday decorating contest! You can vote on your favorite on pinterest until noon (central time). Check out the great pictures and choose your favorite. You may recognize mine (silver and white with snowflake place-mats) from my blog post last week!
Here is the link to vote:
We had a great event with Austin HOME magazine this week at Heather Scott Home & Design. Here is a photo from the event, with Scott, Cathy Hale, Austin HOME’s Director of Marketing & PR, and I . The event was to celebrate the launch of the winter issue of the magazine (which Cathy is holding in the photo). If you don’t already subscribe to the magazine, you can do that here:
Subscriptions for Austin HOME magazine
It was great fun to see a lot of our friends and regular customers and enjoy a glass of wine with them.
I decorated 3 tables as part of the event and this week I am going to share some tips for what I put together and how I approached the decorations. I’ll start with each individual table and then recap the key points.
My first concept was for a “Winterscape” table which I thought could be used for a more mature evening. We all know how popular it is to decorate with the color gray right now, so my color scheme was white, gray and silver. I also wanted to use my existing formal china, which is Wedgewood Sterling, with some accent pieces from their archival collection.
Once I knew my color scheme I looked for an inspiration element that would fit and these snowflake placemats from Dransfield and Ross (available through Heather Scott Home & Design) were a key focal point. They fit my silver and white color theme and added something unique to the table. They are finely made, as well, so I know they will last and will be worth keeping over the years.
I used the snowflake theme in these place card holders which I already had (a gift from Carolyn- thank you!). They aren’t ‘holiday’ but they are silver and white.
I went to Michaels and purchased some white cardstock paper and some snowflake stickers to make the place cards. I used power point to make a small border in gray and then downloaded the font for the names for free from this website: http://www.dafont.com/
I applied the stickers and there you go- a classy, fun, name place card.
For a second tablescape I wanted to do a Southern Traditional table with holiday china. However, to keep the table from being too formal or stuffy, I ‘took it down’ with several elements:
The first thing I did was to mix up the chairs so they were different. I have 2 blue velvet head chairs, a white linen banquette and 2 wood and cane chairs on the sides. This avoided having formal dining chairs lined up like little soldiers. You could borrow chairs from your every day table to mix with your formal dining room if you plan a cohesive design scheme through out your home.
Second, I decided to use a burlap tablecloth. I went to JoAnn Fabrics and just had them cut a couple of yards, leaving the rough edges for effect.
Third, I used inexpensive, gold chargers so the table didn’t feel too antique or ‘precious’.
Finally, I used traditional sterling silver with a twist. Each place setting is antique sterling silver, and are all well known and different patterns.
Now, being confident my table would not be too stuffy, I focused on the key design theme, which were the holly leaves in this case. I found some beautiful holly ribbon (available in our store) and wound it throughout my garland. Additionally, I added some pinecones (also in the holly pattern on the plates) and wine glasses which have holly painted on them. Lastly, I printed some great looking menus (again in powerpoint) by using their clip art feature for a touch of sophistication.
I also placed some starburst mirrors under the garland and put candles on top of them to incorporate a nice reflective element. Finally, to make each guest feel welcome I put a candle as a take home gift at each place setting.
My third table was a table for the young at heart. My inspiration for this table came from the black, gold and red Christopher Radko Holiday Swag china. While black is not your typical, youthful element, I thought I could have a lot of fun with a red, black and white theme.
My foundational element was a square tablecloth in my color scheme. I then found some red sashes to tie on my chairs to raise their ‘holiday’ factor. In the centerpiece, I used a casual, felt ribbon in red with jingle bells and fun holiday sayings on it to keep the theme lighthearted and yet completely appropriate.
Continuing the youthful theme with the china I added bright, red chargers, reindeer plates and mugs (available through Pottery Barn), 12 days of Christmas napkins (from William Sonoma), Vietri reindeer bowls and votive candle holders, and seeded glass wine and drinking glasses.
One thing of note, my reindeer plates have silver rims, but my dinner plates have gold. Traditionally one would think you should not mix these elements, but here is an example where you can mix and match and it works quite well.
I also made place cards for these tables shaped like candy and decorated with fun, colorful ribbon. I got this idea from Martha Stewart’s website. I just purchased colored cardstock and very colorful ribbons (at Michaels), hole punched the paper and threaded the ribbon through. The colors used were red, hot pink and light pink, which further add to the fun and unexpectedness of the table setting.
I’ve shared with you my thought process and approach to decorating 3 very unique tables for the holidays. Here is a recap of the key elements you can use to do the same in your own home:
Work with what you have to reflect your style and be cost effective
- Use your existing formal china and everyday pieces as a starting point- they will look completely new with some decorative accents. You don’t have to have ‘holiday china’- take your existing pieces and pull some accent colors from them to inspire your table theme
- Using what you have is ‘green’ and it will leave you the budget to splurge on items to make your table unique
- Fresh flowers are beautiful but only last a short time, consider investing in elements you can use every year (a garland, ribbon, linens, hurricanes and candles). Purchase the best quality you can afford
Mix things up to update your table
- Just as in furniture no one buys the whole matching set any more, you don’t have to have every piece of china match. Interest will be created by expressing your own style with unique and different pieces
- Items that may not seem to match (gold rim vs. silver rims) may blend if you develop a theme
- Entertaining is less formal these days- look for elements to bring down the formality of your existing pieces (burlap, seeded glassware)
Pick a theme
- Find a unique element to inspire your table, ex. a pretty embroidered ribbon, a fun tablecloth, unique placemats
- Carry the theme throughout various elements, especially on items you can create on the computer place cards, table menus
- Look for ways to personalize individual place settings such as with little gifts or name cards, even for close family
Mix high and low
- Find chargers for as little as $1 a piece at places like Target and Cost Plus
- Your tablecloth doesn’t have to be expensive. Get a couple of yards of burlap for a few dollars at Jo-Ann fabrics and layer it under your nicer elements (placemats, china).
- When using inexpensive items, be sure to add some finer elements to bring the overall quality level up
Now, no excuses, go create a fabulous table setting for you and your family to enjoy this holiday season!
Our What’s New Wednesday this week is not a product, but an upcoming event!
We are very excited to be hosting Austin HOME Magazine’s Winter Issue Release Party at Heather Scott Home & Design.
The event will be held the evening of Thursday, December 8th between 5 and 8 pm. Everyone is invited to attend, but you do need to RSVP (see email address below). We will be celebrating and spreading some holiday cheer with drinks, snacks, giveaways and some holiday decorating ‘how-to’s’ when it comes to making a beautiful and festive tablescape!
We would love to see all our friends there, so mark your calendars now and we will see you on the 8th!
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