Tablescape 101 - How To Layer a Table for the Holidays

So with the Christmas season right in front of us now, we have started to decorate for the Holidays.  I figured I would start with our Dining Room table first because Centsational Girl is having a contest on November 30th for tablescapes.  So make sure you check out Kate's blog on the 30th for all the pretty tablescapes.  I can't wait to link up.

  OK, so let's get started with "How to Layer Your Table for the Holidays".

My colors for this year are:  Bronze, Gold, little bit of White and a touch of Silver thrown in and the pop of color is Turquoise.

One clean empty table.  I started by putting all the table leaves in, because we need to fit 10 guests at this table.  We have around 19 guests for Christmas, but there is another table set up in our Family Room that holds most everyone else.  More details on that another day.

Then I added the table pads and my new table cloth from HomeGoods.

Here is a close up of the table cloth.  It is a gold satin Ikat.  It's not so stripey looking in person.  It only cost $19.99 for 118".  Cha-ching!!!

I added a cake plate I bought at HomeGoods next.  It kind of looks lost on that big table, doesn't it.

Close up!!!  I love the gorgeous Turquoise color.

I then added some candles on top of the cake plate.

But then I decided that I really wanted a table runner as well, so I put down a Jute table runner.  It just grounds the center of the tablescape for me, but you don't have to use one if you don't want to.  Plus I know I always want to stay on the table runner with my decor....kind of keeps me in check when I'm layering the table.  You want to make sure you still have room for your glasses & plates.  ;)

Here I added two bronze squenced trees to either side of the cake plate with candles.  Now that cake plate doesn't look so lost anymore.

Next I added some gold/silver garland around everything.  I try to lay it down kind of back and forth and around things.  It doesn't need to be perfect in anyway.  Just lay it down the way it looks pleasing to your eye.

I used two pieces of garland for this look.  I like it to look full and fluffy.

I then added beaded garland in Turquoise to break up all of that Gold garland.  Plus I threw in some ornaments, in Bronze, Gold & Turquoise.

I will show you more of the details in a minute.  Let's finish the layering first.

Here come the place settings!!!  I wanted to go with a casual setting, so I mixed and matched what I put on the table.

Let's take a closer look at the table settings.  I used my everyday water glasses and my everyday silverware.

But for the plates I used some Turquoise plastic plates as my "chargers" {yes I said plastic, well it's melamine plates for outdoor use}.  Then I broke out my good China and put that on top of the chargers.  They are white and silver, so they were still simple.

 Here are some close up details of the centerpiece.  I added beaded gold garland around the candles...even letting some fall off the cake plate a little and then I added different size ornaments all around to complete the centerpiece.

A closer-close-up!!!

An even closer-close-up!!!

Here is a close up of the ornaments I placed on and around the Gold/Silver garland and beaded Turquoise garland.

I love these Bronze squence trees.  I bought them a few years ago at Burlington Coat Factory.  Yup, they sell more then just coats.  They have a pretty good selection of Holiday decor and even everyday decor.

Now we couldn't forget the chandlier.  We hung about 12 ornaments from pretty Bronze/Gold ribbon I bought at Michael's.  I love all the colors hanging down and complimenting the tablescape.

So here is the full view of the whole table and chandlier.  We love how it turned out.

Well I hope you enjoyed "Tablescape 101 for the Holidays".  It was fun putting it all together and we love the outcome of it as well.

Here is the break down of the cost of this project........

Gold Satin Ikat Table cloth = $19.99 - HomeGoods

2 gold candles = $4.99 ea. - HomeGoods

2 bronze candles = $3.99 ea. - HomeGoods

1 white candle = $5.99 ea. - HomeGoods

Cake stand = $12.99 - HomeGoods

Ribbons = $.99 ea. {sale} - Michael's

Gold/Bronze Ornaments {5} = $5.00 - Target

Turquoise & Silver Ornaments = $7.00 - Target

Grand Total = $72.89

For $72.89, I created a whole new tablescape that I didn't have last year.  Last year I had mostly Gold, Red & Green throughout the Dining Room, Living Room & Kitchen.  Sorry I didn't blog about my holiday decor last year.

I still have ribbon left over & some of the Turquoise & Silver ornaments, so it's the decor that keeps giving.  ;)

You can check out this post for all the details of the products I bought for this project and some other decor I bought for our house.

So has anyone else started decorating for the Holidays?  Let's share what you have done already or what you want to do this year.  Did you know that Burlington Coat Factory sold decor?  Do you like Turquoise, Bronze & Gold together?  Let's hear all about it.  Share away ladies!!!  :)

Thanks for stopping by everyone!!!  Have a great day!!!  :)

Also Linking Up to:
Home Stories A 2 Z

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!

I wanted to stop in and say "Happy Thanksgiving" to everyone!!!  I hope your tummies are nice and stuffed tomorrow.  I really enjoy Thanksgiving food.  What is your favorite?  What is your special dish to make?  I love eating Pumpkin pie....I don't need anything else.  ;)

I'm grateful for my life, my family, my very special hubby and for friends!!!  What are you grateful for?  Let me here all the details my friends!!!

Thanks for stopping by everyone!  Have a great day and most of all have a safe holiday.  I'll be back after the holiday with some Christmas decorating posts.  The fun begins this weekend in our house and I'll be sharing the fun here on my blog next week.  :)

A Little Organization

Sometimes it's just easier to start with the little messes before some of the bigger ones.  Our home office tends to become a dumping ground for soooo many things in our house.  The number one thing that gets dumped here so quickly is paperwork.  It just adds up very quickly and can get out of control very easily.

Here is a small drawer station that is located on top of our file cabinet.  It was supposed to be used for important paperwork we wanted at hand, bills and some supplies.  Well it was out of hand and I had to clean it out.  Basically, I went through everything on the top first and then each drawer.  It took be about 1/2 hour total to go through everything and figure out if it was garbage, recycle or needed to be filed.

I ended up with this.  All cleaned up and organized.

See how you can't see the paperwork inside the drawers anymore.  Yup that is how full these drawers were.

 

For me, if the little things are organized, then I can move onto the bigger things.  It just works for me that way.

So let's look at what I didn't organize yet.  Yikes this is a really big job and I'm just not ready to tackle it yet.  I'm trying to organize my home office, one project at a time....one area at a time.  This armoire is right next to the file cabinet.  It was my Grandmother's and now it's mine.  I want to paint it one day, but that is a large project for me and I will have to find the right time for that.  But I will be sure to share with you when and if I do.  So now you know my house isn't always cleaned up and organized.  I try to organize my life one little area at a time.  Let's take a look inside.

It already has some built in storage, but I don't untilize them well.  I need to re-think these drawers and what I use them for.  So I will need to take everything out of the amoire and start over again.  I would like to turn this into my "extra decor" cabinet.  I'm really dying for a cabinet to holds all my extra decor pieces that I have around the house, stored in different places.

I added some storage.  But it is just not enough.  Ok, maybe I have too much stuff and I need to get rid of even more stuff.  But I do need to rethink this side of the cabinet and get better store or utilize the storage I have already in a better way.

This storage holds candles & candle holders only.  Think I have a candle problem?  I need to garage sale some of this stuff.

And let's not talk about my desk...it's partically organized, but when trying to clean up the floor in the office, this is what happened to the desk area.  Yup it went from the floor to piles on the desk...then I ran out of steam for that day.  I will sort through things and it will be cleared soon.  I also have to hang that cork board.  I want to use it as a "mood board" for projects in the house.  To use it in a way so I don't forget my vision for a room or a project.  I can't wait to hang it up.

Anyone organize anything this weekend?  Do you have a paperwork problem?  Do you have a candle problem?  Let's hear it all ladies!!!  I love to hear from you, so please leave a comment and let's hear about your weekend.  What did you do this weekend?

 

Thanks for stopping by everyone!!!  Have a great day!!!  :)

Christmas Has Begun...

...well the shopping has begun!  ;)

I wanted to share the new Christmas decor I bought, so far, for this year.  I wanted to add Turquoise to the mix this year.  So I will be using, Gold, Bronze & Turquoise and probably a little bit of white.  I'm in love so far.  Just can't wait to start to put together everything in our home.

I bought all of this from HomeGoods....my BFF!!!  I love the sparkly bronze and the simmering brushed gold candles.  I just have to find the right Turquoise colored candle now.

I bought lots of Turquoise ornaments and even some Bronze & Gold ones too.  I love those star burst looking ornaments to the left of the picture.  We will see where they end up.

Here is the gorgeous cake plate I found at HomeGoods.  It was just the right size for the candles.  This will be the centerpiece on the Dining Room table hopefully.  Praying it turns out the way I envision it to look.

Here is a close up of some of the glass Turquoise ornaments.  The colors are more Turquoise in person.  They read a little more green in these pictures.  I was having a hard time with the lighting that day.  I have two boxes so some of them will be going on the tree and some else were, but I haven't decided where yet.

Look at these lovelies!  Beautiful turquoise glass ornaments.  I bought these in two sizes.  They are prettier in person.

I couldn't resist these fun bronze starbursts.  I also bought them in gold.  Three in a pack, so I have six total.

This piece I just couldn't resist.  We will put it in our Family Room downstairs, since our Christmas tree is upstairs in our Living Room.

Here is what it looks like up-close.  There are clear LED lights on the inside so it lights up.  It looks pretty cool when it's lite up.

Now my shopping trip turned to Target & Michael's
Check out these gorgoues gold & bronze ornaments.  I can't wait to hang these up.

Some Turquoise & Gold Icicles and beads.  They will probably go on the tree and some of the beads will probably go on the Dining Room table.

Small Turquoise ornaments will be used for filler maybe, or the tree or even hanging from my chandlier.  I haven't decided yet.

Ribbon for the ornaments for the chandlier & front Living Room window.  Bronze on one side, gold on the other side.  It's gorgeous!  Thanks Michael's.

Here is the break down...


2 gold candles = $4.99 ea. - HomeGoods
2 bronze candles = $3.99 ea. - HomeGoods
1 white candle = $5.99 ea. - HomeGoods
Cake stand = $12.99 - HomeGoods
Christmas Tree = $39.99 - HomeGoods
Ribbons = $.99 ea. {sale} - Michael's
Gold/Bronze Ornaments = $5.00 ea. - Target
Turquoise & Silver Ornaments = $7.00 - Target
Turquoise & Gold Icicles = $2.00 ea. - Target
Turquoise & Gold Beads = $2.00 ea. - Target

Grand Total = $120.89
Total if you take away the Christmas tree = $80.90

So for a whole new look this year, I ONLY spent $80.90.  I already have lots of gold & bronze ornaments at home from last year.  So this years ornaments are just supplimenting what I already have.  Not too bad for a whole new look with the Turquoise this year.  Now in the future, I have a lot of different colors to choose from because I already have red, green, gold, bronze, silver & turquoise ornaments & decor.  Nice!!!

This year, I want to hang some of those pretty glass ornaments from the front window in our Living Room with the gorgeous ribbon I just bought.  I can't wait to put it all together.  Plus every year I hang ornaments from our chandlier, but this year they are going to be even nicer with the ribbon.

So has anyone else bought new Christmas decor for this year?  Where did you shop?  Get some great prices?  Let's hear it ladies!!!  Leave a comment and share your details.  I want to hear it all!!!

Thanks for stopping by everyone!!!  Have a great day!!!  :)


 

Ornaments made from Lowe's Products

When I received the lastest copy of Lowe's Creative Ideas magazine, it had a lot of Christmas ideas.  Even better it was about thinking outside of the box and using all products that you could buy at Lowe's to make Christmas ornaments.  What an awesome idea!!!

Let's check some of them out.

I love their statement of "move over macaroni".  Who would think of using finials, biscuits, switchplates, post caps or paint brushes for ornaments?  I know I wouldn't have thought about that on my own.  I guess I need to start thinking outside of the box more then.

I love the snowman which is made from.....ready for it.....a paint roller.  How stickin' cute is that?  And the picture frame next to the snowman is made from a wood switchplate...genius!!!  The one I think I love the most is the wood post cap for the chalkboard ornament.

Let's take a closer look at some of these.  Sorry I couldn't find actual pictures from their website, these are scanned in from the magazine.

Here you can see all the information you need to make all of these ornaments.  Lowe's says that these ornaments are under $10 each if you make more then one ornament.  Maybe not the cheapest ornament, but it's great to be able to say that you made it yourself.

The block letter ornaments could just be wooden letters that you have leaning on the top of your mantel or standing even.

I absolutely love these colors for Christmas.  Christmas colors do not always have to be dark red and dark greens.  I love this palette.

I think I want to make the snowman & chalkboard ornaments.  So stinkin cute.  I'll let you know if I get the chance to make any of these before the holidays.  I have a lot of other things to do first, but I would really like to do one of these at least.

Here is one for my Jewish readers.  What a cute idea.  Love it.  Wood Star directions.  They are just made out of wooden dowels.  I love how they set this up.  Could put it on a mantel or a console table against the wall.  Great idea!!!

On a separate note, has anyone started using "myLowes" yet?  You have to sign up, but it's free.

MyLowe's is a collection of tools designed to revolutionize, customize and simplify home improvement.

• Track purchase history with a MyLowe's card.
• Get organized with Folders & Lists.
• Stay on top of seasonal needs with Reminders.
• Make managing your home easier with Home Profile.

I think I might check it out.  Could help me remember certain things during the year and give me reminders about stuff I need to buy.

So which ornaments do you want to make?  Have you made one already?  Have you ever made an ornament from the crafty things you have at home already?  I would love to hear all about it and I'm sure my readers would love to hear about them too.  Let's dish all the home made ornaments we have made over the years.  You can put a link in the comment section if it's something you have blogged about before.  I would love to see pictures.

Sorry I'm totally into Christmas right now and I've been buying some new things for this year....more to come on that.  Can't wait to share with you.

Thanks for stopping by everyone!!!  Have a great day!!!  :)

PS:  I was not perked in anyway for this post...I just love Lowe's and the ideas and products they have.  :)