Ideas for Your Christmas Table

THIS POST IS FROM ROOM REMIX - THE BLOG .

Southern Living

I'm probably like many of you in that I didn't grow up with exotic tablescapes or decorations in my home. 

Midwest Living

My mom was the ultimate entertainer, but not because she threw glamorous parties or gorgeous family dinners.  She was a minister's wife on an extremely limited budget who never knew who was going to show up at her home or when, but somehow miraculously always managed to have just the right amount of food on the table and everyone always felt welcome and loved.  

allaboutyou.com

I don't know how she did it, but I never remember having to turn anyone away, or it being obvious that she had to really get creative to serve everyone for any given meal.  No fancy tablescapes, but lot's of good food, great conversation and much laughter.  She was, and still is, an amazing example of what true hospitality and entertaining is really all about...

allaboutyou.com

Our Christmas family get togethers have remained simple and uncomplicated in that way over the years, many times because there were so many of us that you couldn't get us all at a table (or even two) anyways! 

Midwest Living

For the last five years or so, though, (has it been longer, girls?)  we've started setting up several long tables in their basement and one of my sisters and some nieces have done a great job of decorating them with just some simple, inexpensive decorations to add a little festive flair. 

Midwest Living

That's what drew me to many of the ideas in this post.

4 of the ideas from Midwest Living's Festive Holiday Tables



They're very pretty but most of them are made up of simple elements that you could use to make your table festive on a budget without putting a ton of time into it.

Midwest Living

This pretty napkin started out plain white, but they added the gold dots with paint.  So pretty...

Style at Home Photo Virginia MacDonald

I also like this unique arrangement for a buffet table using iron shepherds hooks inside tall sturdy vases filled with sand and then accessorized with ornaments and lanterns...



Midwest Living Photo Kim Cornelison


How do you decorate your Christmas table?

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A Visual Feast - Terrace/Tablescape

THIS POST IS FROM ROOM REMIX - THE BLOG .

Photo John Granen and Peter Krumhardt

I'm not going to have time later to post but I wanted to get a quick one out to say

Happy Easter/Happy Weekend

and give you a little eye candy from Traditional Home (April 2010 issue) before I scoot out of blogland until Monday. Traditional Home calls this a "visual feast" and the moment I saw it in the magazine (love when mine comes in the mail!) I immediately agreed! Don't you love those chandys too? Too see the rest of this beautiful terrace/tablescape click here.

Easter & Spring Decorating & Entertaining Ideas/Inspiration/Recipes

THIS POST IS FROM ROOM REMIX - THE BLOG .

Add a simple spring touch to your candles

or your placemats (Martha Stewart Tutorial here.)


I'm so excited that today is the first day of Spring! You wouldn't know it by our temperatures today, but at least the sun is shining.

Because I'm in the spring mood, and because Easter is coming up quickly, I thought I would do a post with some Easter/Spring ideas and inspiration just in case you're looking for some.

10 Easter Crafts to Brighten Any Home from Readers Digest (craft projects created by Jennifer Sbranti)

9 Unique Easter Egg Decorating Ideas from Readers Digest (photos: Meaghan Mountford)

Spring/Easter basket from Southern Living

Make a Spring nest centerpiece or try one of the other ideas at Country Living's Spring Centerpieces and Table Decorations (photo: Simon Bevan)

Bright and Crafty Easter Eggs from hostessblog.com

Fun Easter Crafts from Country Living (photo: Frances Janisch)

Easter Paper Crafts from Good Housekeeping (photo: Michael Partenio)

Cute Easter/Spring bags from Parents.com? Click HERE for tutorial (photo: Sarah Kehoe)

15 Easy Easter Crafts from Woman's Day (Photo: © Len Lagrua)

Easter Dinner Made Easy at Woman's Day

Easter Dinner Recipes from Country Living

8 Egg Shaped Easter Treats from Woman's Day (Photo: © Quentin Bacon)

Sweet Chick and Bunny Treats from Woman's Day (Photo: © Anastassios Mentis)

Easter Entertaining: 4 Brunch Menus at Woman's Day (Photo: © Mark Thomas)

A nest of sweets for your tablescape from Southern Living (photo: Beth Dreiling Hontzas)

or a Robin's egg placecard also from Southern Living (photo: Beth Dreiling Hontzas; styling: Buffy Hargett)
Tablescape idea from Family Circle (photo: Allison Miksch)

I love this idea for printing your menu on the napkins. The one shown below is actually for Mother's Day, but you could use it for any special celebration, including Easter or a brunch to celebrate the arrival of Spring. Some extra work that you probably wouldn't want to go through for every occasion, but wouldn't it be fun to try it just once? Instructions at Country Living. (photo credit: Miki Duisterhof)

Country Living tablescape (photo: Laura Moss)
Elegant Easter: Flower Arrangements and Centerpieces at Good Housekeeping (photo: Michael Partenio)

Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade Easter Centerpiece

A simple tablescape from Martha Stewart


Happy weekend - Happy Spring! :-)

Decorating with Maps

House Beautiful Designer Peter Dunham/Photo Victoria Pearson

I was totally amazed by all of the comments on my last post! Thank you so much! Even though I wanted to post about it because it was out there in the magazine and I at least wanted to say that it was mine, I felt a little weird after hitting publish, like it was kind of a "look at me" post, but none of you made me feel that way at all. (How's that for a run-on sentence?) You rock. (I should have said "our" bench though, because it was definitely a team effort with my husband. Couldn't have made it without him.) The comment that gave me a LOL moment was from Leanne who offered to find all of the copies of the magazine in her area and write my name in them. :-)

House Beautiful Photo by Don Freeman

In case you haven't figured it out yet, this post is inspiration and ideas, large and small, for decorating with maps. If you love maps, you'll probably like it. If not, I'm fairly certain it will be map overload and you may hate it. If you try to visualize something else you love in place of the map in each image, maybe you'll still find something to inspire your decorating. Otherwise, I promise NO MAPS in the next post. :-)

Adding maps as art can help create a pretty vignette. I love the warm colors of this one...

Southern LivingPhoto Robbie Caponetto

and the cool colors of this one (I know. I'm fickle, but they ARE both pretty!)

Trisha Brink Design via flickr

Six vintage maps, framed, create instant wall art.

Country Living photo credit: Steven Randazzo

We've already seen this in a previous post, but I still think it's an interesting way to use map art (or any other art for that matter).

David H. Mitchell for Southern Accents 2005 via House of Turquoise

Rather than framing your map, put it on the wall and hang a frame over it. (diyideas.com)

Large scale maps...
Centsational Girl's warm and cozy game room/lounge


A nautical chart of Long Island in the style of a blueprint

House Beautiful Designer Kim Coleman/Photo James Merrell

I've loved this room that Kimba at ASPTL decorated for her son since the first time I saw it. To see how she created this map art click here.

A map headboard from BHG.com

Papering the walls with maps...

House Beautiful Designer Steven Gambrel/Photo Eric Piasecki

Impress Your Kids created a map wall for her son's room. She shows you how she did it here

Pottery Barn

Map place mats...

Coastal Living Photo Charles Walton IV

Map coasters from San Francisco Chronicle (tutorial on site)

Have you noticed that butterflies are appearing everywhere in decorating? Image Surgery uses maps to create their butterfly art.

A map cupcake tower by Laurie Federico featured at mydiyweddingday.com. This one was obviously for a wedding, but would it have to be? Instructions here.

Kristi at Addicted to Decorating created this globe pendant light. Tutorial on site

Chez Larsson makes a map lampshade. Tutorial here.

Wisteria has a map chest...


And Bombus makes map chairs...

Sasha Andreev (HGTV) created a map rug by by attaching a large map to a piece of linoleum. He adhered the map with spray adhesive and finished it with several coats of polyurethane. He also made a map window shade and shadow box. You can see those here.

Map trays from Carolina Cottage

Art print from StudioLyon

If you like your maps in really small doses, Denise at Living Life Creatively made this cute map bird. She teaches you how to make them here.

So... What do you think? Do you/will you decorate with maps or are you completely overloaded and can't wait to get away from this post? :-)