Puttering, Design ADD, and Procrastination.

Well, things are starting to look normal again around here. 

Actually, I still have some bins of Christmas stuff out, that I need to finish packing away. 

Whenever there is a big mess in the house, such as when I am dismantling Christmas decor, I tend to ping -pong around the house, bouncing from one task to another, stopping occasionally to set up an entirely random vignette; (for some inexplicable reason) only to move on to yet another new task when finished. 

Design A.D.D. or Wild Hair Syndrome. 

Whatever you wanna call it, I KNOW I've got it! 

I am a spinning top, only stopping now and then to caffeinate. (Oh yea, like that's gonna help! Ha!)

The unfortunate result from all this whirling about, is that I have tons of things going at once. 

Some are ALMOST finished, say 90% complete, and others only 20% complete. 

I wish I could be more like my son, or the dog. They are both singularly focused creatures. 

In the photo below, however, they are both focused on relaxing in the warm sunlight.

*Cuties*

And since I am sitting down procrastinating about finishing up the partially completed tasks around here, I thought now would be a good time to show you one of the gifts I received from my awesome sis for Christmas...

It's got my initial, and it is super cute black and white girly perfection!

I hung it on the side of my pantry wall with a clear Command Hook. 

I think it looks so cute there, and it's handy to grab when I am getting ready to make dinner. 

Which I am NOT going to procrastinate about tonight! 

I'll be back tomorrow to show you what I scored at the Thrift store. 

Thanks for stopping by! 

xo-Lisa

Happy New Year! ~ And ~ A Look Back at Christmas 2013

Happy 2014 Everyone!! 

I hope your holidays were filled with love, laughter and family! 

Even though all of blogland has moved on to thinking about Valentines Day, I thought I would share our Christmas home today. 

I'm calling it...

Christmas 2013

A look back...

(Also known as BETTER LATE THAN NEVER!) *sigh*

We had a great holiday season. My son's birthday is the week before Christmas, and the day after his birthday, we headed down to Nashville to be with family.

I fully decorated the house for Christmas this year, despite the fact that we were not going to be here for the actual day, or even the week prior. 

I love filling my home with greenery and trees, twinkling lights, and all things shiny and bright! 

We put up 3 trees. We have a VERY large tree in the living room, that is my pretty matchy-match tree, and a casual fun tree in the family room, with all of our collected ornaments, and finally, a little tree in the boy's room that he can deck out just as he pleases! 

Without further rambling, here's how the holidays looked at Nothing But Blue Skies...

I try to do red outside the fron door, since I have a nice red doormat (from Frontgate) and vintage sled, that I only use at Christmastime. I change the urns each year, with whatever strikes me. This year it was baby trees, flowering kale, ivy, and a tiny red poinsettia plant for a pop of red. 

The wreaths are real, but the garland is lit, and is a mix of faux greens, that I have used and tweaked over the years.

Please come in...

The lighting is really crazy; the walls look like a horrible shade of yellow, when in fact they are a much more neutral creamy beige. 

I did the stair garland very simple this year. I usually drape it more, so it swags, but this year I tucked it up, just under the rail, and used burlap ribbon at the posts, to make it feel a bit more casual. 

The dog (Romeo) decided he wanted in on the photo shoot...

See him sitting on  the stairs? It's one of his favorite spots.

He does a good job photo bombing!! 

This is the view from the top of the stairs looking into the Living and Dining Rooms. 

I love these snowmen that I tucked into my (tag sale) vintage sleigh...

My favorite thing, this time of year, it to sit in here at night with a cup of hot tea, or a glass of wine. I wish the season were longer, so I could have more time to just soak it all up!

Romeo wants to take you through the archway, into the family room and kitchen.

 There is an antique drop leaf table that sits against the slanted wall between the family room and kitchen. I did not do a fussy display, but just kept what was there, and added vintage ornaments in a basket. They belonged to my husband's grandmother. 

The family room is decorated in bright colors, and our tree can go from white lights to colored lights with the tap of the foot pedal. It's such a nice feature to have!

 And here is the Family Room Tree at night...

I have no idea why I can't seem to find a good daytime shot of the tree and the mantel. I know I took some. 

I have a nutcracker collection that is added to each year that is sitting up on the matel this year. I always try to find one to represent something we have done that year. 

We have lots of little traditions here, and another is to build a cute little gingerbread house.

Each year, the boy and I buy a gingerbread house, from a kit sold at Trader Joes. It's nothing fancy, but it's one of our little traditions, and he LOVES it! 

This year I displayed it in a grouping of random vintage ironstone items in the center of my farm table. 

I found these cute little evergreen trees at Trader Joes too. I bought several, and placed them around the house. I love that they have silver sparkles sprayed into them.

I broke out my vintage santa mugs, and made a fun Christmas display at my coffee station.

 I used my sugar cubes from France, and I also have cinnamon and cocoa to sprinkle on a homemade latte, as well as mini marshmallows for hot chocolate.

I actually have an area just to the right of the coffee station above, where my Keurig, and my Nespresso machines are kept. I did a quick little Cup of Cheer sign one day on an ironstone plater with some chalkboard vinyl. 

I should have cut it into an oval shape to perfectly fit the inside of the plater. Oh well... it was just a quick little idea. 

 In the long hall leading to the family room and kitchen, is a grand plan for a seasonal family photo gallery wall that has yet to happen. There is a large space in the center, that has been saved for a vintage   heavy frame that is still waiting to be anchored to the wall. (That would be why it's not up yet.)

I need my handyman for such tasks, as it is waaayyy to heavy for me. 

Meanwhile, instead of plopping another wreath there, I decided to get whimsical, and draw in chalk on a vinyl cutout, and then as usual, I went outside the lines. 

It is by no means professional or fancy, but it was a fun way for me to fill the space.

Who knew you could write on a painted wall with chalk?!

I will give you a quick peek at how the little guy opted to decorate his tree this year. It sits in his room, and instead of using all traditional ornaments, he decided to use some crayons flash cards, toys, etc.

He just cracks me up!!!!

He is so funny!!!

I neglected to show you my dining room, and some close ups, so we will head back in there now.

I wish I had daytime shots. These are grainy and yellowish, and were all taken with my iPhone. 

(Eeeek! That is a CRIME in the blogging world, I tell ya!)

Here's a daytime closeup of the collected ironstone display on my dining room buffet. 

I used a rusty green tool caddy to house my ironstone plates, pinecones and greens.

The boy's first pair of cowboy boots are always on display in the Living Room, but for Christmas they moved over to the Dining Room, and got stuffed with greenery and old book pages.

They just make me smile, as I picture him wearing them, and galloping around as a smaller version of himself, with his little horse on a stick and his cowboy hat, pretending to be the Sherif. 

The above picture is my cup wreath. It was a very nice wreath I bought last year on Christmas clearance, and I brought it home and added burlap to it. A while back I was at the thrift shop and I happened upon ironstone cups for .69 each! I could not walk away from them, and bought them even though I had NO idea what I was going to do with them.  I had a crazy idea to wire them into my wreath in the Dining Room, and I think it's just so fun!

My table setting is not fancy, and since we knew we would not be here for the holidays, I didn't try too hard either! Just used a small ornament tree to hang the few leftover mugs and some ornaments and pinecones. All else was there before the holidays. Ha! Gotta go easy somewhere!

Well, that was what the holidays looked like at ou house. 

I hope you had a wonderful 2013 holiday season. If you are anything like me, your wheels are already turning with ideas for 2014! 

And from the photo bombing camera hogging hound....

Happy 2014!

For a tour of our house when it's not decorated for Christmas, click here, or go to my House Tour tab.

Thanks so much for stopping by! 

xo

~Lisa

Linking to the following...

Savvysouthernstyle Wow us Wednesday

Fall Mantle. My Simple Design How-To's.

Happy Monday!

Let's talk fall decor. More specifically, mantels. 

Do you decorate your mantle seasonally?

If so, it can get pretty daunting, if you are trying to one up yourself in the design department from one year to the next! 

My idea to keep it simple was born out of necessity. I mean, who has time to be Martha Stewart, and still get to the gym, clean the house, be a mom, and have a life? 

I can't decorate like I am having a photo shoot every other month! 

So, I cheat. I use what I have, add a few little things, and try to keep it understated. 

Sort of. 

I am not exactly a minimalist. 

I like layers, people. - And a weird assortment of collected "junk." 

Whatever makes me happy when I see it. That's my litmus test for what should be in my home.

I generally do just one mantle per season. Sometimes my spring and summer are the same. For fall I don't do a separate Halloween Mantle. 

I do put a few Halloween items around the house, because my son loves them, but they go up the week of Halloween, and come down the day after. 

It just works better for me to have a design that stays the same through Thanksgiving.

I also have a few core items that stay up on the mantle most of the year, like the books, the clock, and the urn.

The Book Page Wreath will stay up most of the year too. 

...Unless I find something really cool that inspires me.

This season, the only thing I bought were the little brown paper pumpkins. 

I used some re-cycled black tissue to fill them. 

I am very happy with how it turned out!

I just try to make my life easy and keep it simple! 

What are your seasonal design strategies?

Do you decorate in an elaborate way for each season or holiday?

...Now just so we are clear, all bets are off for Christmas! 

I go a little crazy! What about you?

Have a great week! 

Thanks for stopping by!

xo-Lisa