christmas magnolia

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One of my favorite things about living in the South are the magnolia trees. If you've never seen one (or stopped to really look), the textures are amazing--the fronts of the leaves are waxy green and the backs are velvety brown.

My parents sent us a beautiful magnolia wreath this week and I started looking for more ways to incorporate magnolia leaves in our Christmas decor. I love these ideas:

Design Sponge

Merriment Events/ Scott Clark Photography

Southern Living

Southern Living

BHG

magnolia wreath, magnolia decorations, magnolia garland, magnolia holiday

easy glitter bow garland

Since when does a Pinterest-inspired DIY ever come out looking right? This was a first for me--and it's so easy, it's almost kindergarten level. You can buy it for $31, but don't.

The supplies cost <$15 and make more than one mini-tree garland. I laid the pastas out flat, sprayed them liberally with fine glitter spray, then sprinkled on the larger glitter while they were still wet. I did that to both sides then tied them onto gold embroidery thread.

I'm never one to get through a craft project unscathed--my glitter spray paint leaked all over the place and made a huge mess. 

BUT the mini-tree garland turned out perfectly.

halls decked

I put up most of my Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving. Forget "rules," I wanted to see them.

I don't have a ton of Holiday decor, but I try to add at least one thing every year. This year I bought a trio of these mirrored Moravian-style Stars. In person, they're a little less shiny and a little more vintage looking (but not cheesy).



And if you can't have or don't want real pine in your house but like the smell, this candle is Christmas in a jar. Nordic Pine from Target's holiday line (the egg nog one is also great).

I also got my craft on a little bit over Thanksgiving. Glitter and pasta. It sounds like a kindergarten project and it practically was, but it turned out just like the inspiration. I'll show you tomorrow. :)

favorite (decorating) things

I watched Oprah's "Favorite Things 2012" special this weekend. I never get tired of watching her surprise people--the reactions are priceless. Nothing on her list really spoke to me, but it did inspire me to create a little list of my own favorite (decorating) things. I totally love each of these things and would recommend them 100%!

$34.99 Lyrical Branches Curtains from World Market

These curtains are perfect with so many things because of the organic, curvy lines of the vines. If they ever make these panels in longer than 84", I will snap up them up.

Meri Drum Chandelier by Oly Studio

I love they whimsy of this chandelier. It's high style but not too serious.

$200 O Holy Night Canvas by Lindsay Letters

I mentioned this canvas in a post about favorite Christmas decorations last year. Still adore it.

$50+ Mary Freer Portrait from Art.com

The only thing stopping me from owning this portrait now is deciding what size and where I'm going to put it.

$599 Harlow Vanity Desk from Crate & Barrel

I can't get this desk out of my head--it looks like wood with black finish, but it's actually wrapped brass. Love love love.

$75+ Flame Velvet Pillow Cover from Ariana Belle

Flame was the Pantone color of the year, and it definitely sucked me in. The color of this soft velvet is perfectly red/orange.

$20 March Fox Print from Amber Alexander

I love the scale of the perfect little fox in this landscape, and the colors are so perfect.

$9.99 Rugby Stripe Bins from The Container Store

I never met a black-and-white stripe I didn't like, and this one is so perfect for chic and functional kids storage.

$699 Clairemont Coffee Table from Crate & Barrel

I wish this coffee table weren't all wrong for my living room-- I have half a mind to scrap it all and start over based solely upon this table. It's perfectly classic and current.

$399+ IKEA Stockholm Rand Rug

This rug is perfection. Who needs a Weinrib when IKEA is so dead on?

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Do you have a favorite something? I'd love to hear about it, please share!

DIY do-over

This is actually version 4 of this console:
first it was raw wood, then a bad version of "faux marble," then a dull grey, and finally white and gold.
My two favorite colors, go figure!

P.S. As you can see, I'm debuting a new look on the blog-- hopefully a little cleaner and easier to navigate?
Tell me what you think!

eclectic cool living room design

Lately I've been up to my eyes in work-- which is not a complaint! Thank you for supporting my business! My blogging has definitely taken a back seat, though. So I thought I'd show you one of my favorite projects I've been working on.

 My client Nancy has a beautiful old home in California that she wanted some help modernizing with a palette of neutrals and cool tones. This design is for her living room, which already has a beautiful traditional rug and great windows. I like this design because it's eclectic and interesting and relevant, but not so trendy that she'll want to throw the whole thing out in a year.

Plus it uses my favorite coffee table--which is from a big box store for a fairly reasonable price! Crate & Barrel's Clairemont (everything in the Clairemont line is fantastic).

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Have a design challenge you'd like help tackling? Lets work together!

online interior design, edesign, e-design, online interior designer, raleigh interior design, interior decorating, decorating blog

"faux marble"

This week I finally painted my unfinished IKEA console-- behold, "faux marble."
Oh it is so bad! I clearly have no painting skills!
Know any great (and legitimately easy) furniture DIYs I might try?

Happy Weekend!

oil portraits

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I'm completely fixated on owning an antique oil portrait: mostly black, pops of white, of a total stranger.

Nate Berkus for Target

Architectural Digest

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I missed my big opportunity on eBay a couple months back-- a large original oil portrait of a seriously beautiful lady for only $100. My husband thinks this whole stranger portrait thing is creepy, and I thought it might be a fleeting fancy, so I passed on it. Big oops.

I haven't found anything even close to as wonderful as that portrait. 

Here's what my Internet searching has offered up recently:

Art.com | Art.com

Aside from the fact that a reproduction portrait of a famous figure is kind of cheesy, the lighting and color (or lack thereof) are perfection.

eBay | Etsy

And I'm drawn to the leprechaun dude's colors. But he gives me the creeps!

sale steals

Just a handful of great sale finds from this week-- they won't work for any of the projects I'm working on, but someone should snatch these up! 

$649 Salon Daybed

Looks like a cot from a pre-war hospital, and for some reason I love it. 

Okay, this first one isn't that cheap... but it's a bed. Don't give up on me, the rest are under $50!

$24-48 Printed Cotton Rug

I love the star print for a child's bathroom.

$13 Adriatic Blue Velvet Lumbar Pillow

Velvet is perfect for fall, and the color is beautiful.

$30 Ball Fringe Bedskirt

Subtle and totally sweet.