In the Pottery Barn catalog for the fall, there were lots of great ideas for holiday decorations. Thanksgiving, Christmas, and winter decorations were abundant and most of them were "rustic". They had lots of vessels (glass bowls, decanters, globes, etc) filled with pine cones, gourds, greens, ornaments, etc. I tried to recreate some of the looks here at our house and I'd say I was marginally successful.
Remember these clove-studded oranges circa 1982? Did your mom make these when you were younger, too? I used to love the look and smell of these and thought, "why not"? Total investment = $4.68 (bag of oranges - $2.99, jar of cloves - $1.69).
I also added some cuttings from outside of our house, inkberry branches, red berry branches, and blue spruce. I layered in some pine cones we collected at the cabin and a few mirrored ornaments.
I saw this rustic arrangement in the Pottery Barn catalog. All I did was grab a dogwood branch and hung some ornament from it. I'll be honest - it looks a little hokey (and not nearly as cute as the PB version), but it's kinda unique - and let's face it - it was almost free! All I did was buy an 8-pack of mirrored ornaments for $2.99.
Lastly, I layered some blue spruce cuttings with clove-studded oranges and pinecones in these vessels. I already owned the apothecary jar and I bought this rectangular vessel for $9.99.
Here is our mantel - like I said, marginally successful.
At least Christmas affords me the opportunity to accessorize a little bit. We do not live at Pottery Barn, but I think it kinda looks pretty around here!
it looks great kirs, i love everything!! i have to get in this mode!! did we find the stockings yet??? that's all the fireplace is missing!!
ReplyDeleteIt all looks so wonderful. I dont think you're decorating challenged at all !
ReplyDeleteWe dont have PB here , so I live vicariously through hearing about it from other people and occasionally sneaking a look on the net. Exxy! I think yours looks just as pretty.
Im not much of a decorator either...
thanks, Nic - I only found stockings for Josh and Emma - I guess it's back up to the attic I go!!
ReplyDeleteMrs P - I don't ever buy anything at PB, but I like the catalogs. We're more of an IKEA budget, here! :)
You are most certainly a decorator - and a refinisher, a refurbisher, and a kitchen designer and master organizer all rolled into one!! :)
It looks great, I love that you did that all yourself on a budget. It just shows what you can do without spending trillions of $. I am sooo glad we don't have Pottery Barn here, because I would be depressed that I couldn't afford it. They have such beautiful things, I spend the occasional hour drooling over their website, so at least I can try and copy some of their ideas too.
ReplyDeleteI was going to put up the decorations on the weekend, but with the verandah renovations happening, it was just way too hard.
Hi Marg -
ReplyDeleteIt's even worse when you visit a Pottery Barn store - talk about painful!!!