Winter Sideboard and Mantel

Winter Sideboard and Mantel

Unknown   Januari 13, 2015   Comment  

After the whirlwind that is Christmas all I want is to create simple sideboard and mantel arrangements that will see me through until the spring. Something calm and easy on the eyes, but still pretty.

I added some colour to the sideboard by embracing the warm side of the palette - red, pink, and orange. I was inspired by the fresh colours in the plates that I re-hung on the wall ... after not being able to find them for TWO YEARS.  Yep, two years ago I took them down to hang up the Christmas plates and very carefully put them away so they wouldn't get broken. When I went to put them back up, I couldn't find them anywhere and it has taken all this time for them to reappear.  Welcome back fruit plates.

I like that I can change out the flowers when needed to any red, pink, orange, or even white flowers or maybe even add a potted plant (which is a good thing because shortly after I took these photos the hydrangeas wilted and only half of them recovered). The carved oranges are fully dried now - with the more orangey ones being from the Christmas craft party this year and the more brownish ones being from the craft party last year. They are honestly the easiest hit of natural colour ever. I went wild with the tablecloth just because I love how cheery the colours are. And I couldn't figure out any other place to put the red tissue paper flower I made for the husband's birthday so I hung it from the top of the mirror.

The mantel is still very neutral with a collection of white stoneware across the middle and warm browns on either side with the bracket fungus and the brown pot holding the plant on the other side. That plant has been alive through two summers in the garden and this is its second winter indoors.  I love how it looks like a bonsai.

Do you change up your mantel and sideboard. It's one of my favourite ways to decorate our home.

Our Christmas Mantel

Our Christmas Mantel

Unknown   November 21, 2014   Comment  

I've always liked Scandinavian decor and with Kate having just fallen in love with it too, I thought this would be a great year to decorate our mantel for Christmas in that style.

So what key elements of Scandinavian design did I use when decorating the mantel? Well, I used lots of candles and shiny objects,

and white was the main colour,

and plenty of natural elements like pine cones (and fake pine cones) and evergreen boughs (also fake),

There you have it. I really like the soft effect against the light green walls, but when the husband first saw it he asked me why there wasn't any colour on the mantel. Sigh. I think it is growing on him though as we both like the simplicity of the decor.

Have you got your tree up? or your mantel decorated? I'm having our annual Christmas Craft party here next weekend so I wanted to get some of the decorating done to set the mood for the party.  I'm still working on the sideboard and plan on putting the paper snowflakes that we made last year up on the walls. I've got some fun crafts planned for the party. I'm looking forward to it.

When I was finished decorating the mantel I had to look back at how I decorated it in previous years. You can see the past four years in the collage below (clockwise from the top left - 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013).

Spring Mantel and Sideboard

Spring Mantel and Sideboard

Unknown   Maret 02, 2014   Comment  

It was time to change things up around the house and bring in some pretty spring colours.  It may still be ice and snow outside (and we just got another 4 cms this weekend), but I sure was ready for fresh spring turquoise and yellow inside.

This was the first time I had put my Grandmother's batik on the mantel (it usually goes over the sideboard in the dining room) and I'm so glad I did because the colours are perfect for spring.  I lined all the turquoise and a few clear glass vases and mason jars up along either end of the mantel and added some tiny pink flowers.  I didn't know the name of these flowers until I Googled them, but it seems like they are waxflowers (chamelaucium).  Not a very pretty name, but they sure are a pretty flower and look great with turquoise.  Do they go by any other names?  

At the other end of the room I used yellow on the sideboard and dining room table.  My husband has a green thumb and has managed to whisper in the ear of all three of our orchid plants and they are blooming at the same time.  And for this lovely display they deserve to be given pride of place on the dining room table.  You can't really see all three plants in the photo below so I included a second shot with all of the plants visible.

  

The sideboard has yellow striped napkins on it and a yellow striped jug on top.  I love all the sun-shiney yellow.  Yesterday I ventured out through our snowy backyard and climbed the snowy climber to get some pussywillow cuttings.  They are actually starting to open up on the tree.  How do they do that when it is well below zero outside and the ground is covered in snow?  All I can say is that it sure is a welcome sign of spring.

  

Have you started decorating for spring?  March 1st was my ticket to change things up.  Now if we could just get those temperatures to go up a bit too.

Winter Mantel and Sideboard

Winter Mantel and Sideboard

Unknown   Januari 07, 2014   Comment  

I've been doing a lot of helping kids pack recently.  Well not really pack - they are old enough to do that for themselves, but more discuss what to take and what not to forget. 

William is back in Winnipeg and started classes again yesterday.  Kate is off to the University of Bath in the United Kingdom for a term, but is first going to Paris for a couple of weeks, then to Amsterdam for a few days and finally to London for a few days.  She also hopes to visit Spain over the Easter break.  There was much deliberation over what clothes to take that would work for winter, spring, and even summery weather.  She took a small backpack for her computer and books and a wheeling bag that was half filled with her sleeping bag and the rest with her clothes.  She actually had room to spare which was the goal as she will want to bring things back with her.   

I decided to draw Kate's packing list as a good sketching exercise and a little reminder in years to come of what she took.  

The last few days have been wickedly cold and there was some snow yesterday which caused Kate's flight to be delayed by 12 hours resulting in her missing the connecting train from London to Paris.  Sigh.  I will be glad when we hear that she has finally arrived in Paris.

With all the Christmas decorations down, it was time to decorate the mantel and sideboard for winter. 

I went with simple and natural for the mantel this year.  I kept the paper star and the foil birds I made before Christmas and added some pottery jugs, candles, a few things we have collected from over the years from various walks, and a plant.  The plant was growing in our front garden all summer and I couldn't bear for it to be killed by the frost so I dug it up in the fall and put it in the brown pot and it has thrived (or at least not died and that counts for something).  I like all the soft browns and grays and silvers - they are very restful.

The sideboard is a little brighter than the mantel since I kept the red and orange snowflake runner as the base.  It seemed natural then to decorate with golds, bronzes, oranges and reds.  We still have a few seasonal plants around so they got added to the sideboard along with the carved oranges.  I kept the bronze candlesticks and pine cones along the back.  I love the look of the sideboard with the candles lit during dinner.

And last, but not least, I want to thank all of you for your kind words regarding my father.  I am just now getting myself in gear and replying to you, but I want you to know that your support has meant a lot to me.

My Christmas Mantel

My Christmas Mantel

Unknown   Oktober 05, 2013   Comment  

I just decorated our mantel for Christmas.  Crazy, I know, but I needed to take photos of some crafts for a contest.

At the Blogpodium conference Tonic Living had a great contest to win $100 to spend on fabric. The rules of the contest were simple:  choose two pieces of fabric and make them into something ... anything creative and inventive.   How fun is that?

The first big decision was which of their gorgeous fabrics to choose.  You can see all the choices in the photo below.

photo by Anna with Love, official photographer of Blogpodium

(was that my fabric the photographer happened to catch in the photo above at Blogpodium?)

I decided to make something Christmassy so chose red and green fabric.  My thought was that I could not only use the item for the contest, but also get a head-start on Christmas decorating.  

I used a thrift store tree-shaped baking pan and glued the green fabric on to it using spray glue to keep the fabric smooth.  I used paperclips along the sides to hold the fabric in place while the glue dried. 

Then I cut out the letters to spell "Noel" from bristol board and glued them on to the back of the red fabric and cut the letters out.

Now it was time to decorate the mantel for Christmas!  It felt funny to be digging out showy wreaths and snowflakes when it isn't even Hallowe'en yet, but a blogger has to do what a blogger has to do.

So there you have it - the story of why I decorated our mantel for Christmas at the beginning of October.  

P.S., Rest assured, I put all the Fall decorations back as soon as I finished taking the photos!