How was your weekend?

1. Yesterday I frolicked around the house singing “Deck the Halls with boughs of Holly,”… as I did just that. {Pictures of our home decorated for Christmas are soon to come… lots of Holly and decorating with just-two-things}.

2. We had a Christmas party this past weekend and now family coming to town this week to kick off Christmas weekend number one {anyone else do this?}.

3. We have also been in high gear errand-running-mode, as our family has two big surgeries scheduled for next week. Can I be so bold as to ask you to pray for my husband and my Dad? My heart will be clinging to this verse next week:

“Do not fear for I am with you, do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” – Isaiah 41:10

Thank you so much, treasured friends!

For today’s ditto, I could not resist this space, featured in a Holiday Home tour of designer Meredith Heron done by HGTV of Canada. I think you will love it too! And I can’t wait to hear:

What would YOU ditto?

DITTO :: {WHAT I WOULD STEAL FROM THIS SPACE}:

Things are getting busy around here! How about with you? I love this time of year, and I love its busyness. But I especially love that my busyness comes from carving out a lot of time for family traditions. I hope you, too, have a lot of time to spend with your loved ones this Christmas and Holiday Season, making wonderful memories.

I am excited to share my latest design board with you. It is a versatile basement space, and it is all about having a place where the family can be together. This basement has it all, with spots for TV watching, card playing, snacking, and playing billiards.

I had a lot of fun pulling all of the elements of the room together. One of the goals in this space was to keep it a place where the family’s Dad would feel like he had a space of his own, while avoiding making it a man-cave.

Here is what I came up with:

Here are my favorite elements in this room:

1. Mixed metals!
2. The punch color of navy.
3. Bold, fun patterns
4. The aviator art
5. Brass accents

With my Vision Design Board Consultation, I include a complete listing of all of the resources seen on the board, as well as providing ideas for D.I.Y.’s and money-saving alternatives. I can’t wait to see how this room takes shape as my client pulls it all together !

I would love to hear your thoughts on this design board! What are your favorite elements from this space?

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{have you entered my new monthly giveaway yet? FREE eDesign and a gorgeous turquoise necklace! click below or here to enter:}

Last Sunday I was delighted to open my inbox and get these great pics of a client’s {mostly} finished guest bedroom. This particular client has been the sweetest woman in the world to work with, and I have enjoyed doing three design boards for her home already.

My client wanted a room that featured grays with an accent color of pink. She also wanted to bring some girly touches to this space, as well as bring in modern and glam furnishings. I had fun adding grays contrasting with browns, and playing with cotton candy pinks and berries. Here is a picture of the design board that I created for her space:

And here are the pictures of my client’s space:

Isn’t this room smashing!!?? I am so thrilled with how it came together!

You can see that she did not use everything exactly as portrayed on the Vision Design Board. To that I say, hooray! THAT is the beauty of having a Vision Design Board! You get enough of a glimpse into the “After” of your space that it gives you to confidence to experiment, play around within the ideas, shop for deals, wait for sales, and find great accessories that would work in the space.

My client wrote the sweetest testimonial about my services, which I promptly added to my Testimonials Page.

By the way, for those who are still waiting: My wait list is still pretty hefty for my Vision Design Boards, but I am glad to announce that, at least for the moment, my wait is finally under 27 weeks. The wait list is currently open… for the moment!  Also, my wait for Email Consultations {which has been a wonderful, affordable alternative for my clients} is only at 2 weeks for the time being. You can read more details here on my Design Services Page.

I would LOVE to hear your thoughts on this finished client space!!!!

{have you entered my new monthly giveaway yet? FREE eDesign and a gorgeous turquoise necklace! click below or here to enter:}

Today’s ditto is going to be just a little different than usual. It is part-ditto, and part-ditto-diy, and plenty of visual inspiration! I was eager to get this post out for those of us {ahem.} who have procrastinated on their Holiday Decorating plan, and I am excited to share my ‘secret’ for a very simple way to approach your Christmas decorations.

For nearly all of my Christmas decorating, I am in love with using just these two simple elements that can transform your home into a classy and gorgeous Christmas.

1. Wide ribbon: 

made of satin, velvet, cotton or a natural material like burlap. {2-4″ wide for the most presence; avoid wired ribbon for a classic Christmas look}.

2. Natural greenery:

{pine boughs, natural garland, magnolia leaves, holly branches, etc.; or other natural elements like pinecones, acorns, etc.}.

With these two accessible ingredients, you can easily whip up some stunning holiday adornment that surpasses the trends. The look of greenery and ribbon is not only simple, but it is stunning in its simplicity. Not a lot of fluff, just sheer beauty!

The look is just perfect for a classic Christmas where family, traditions and faith is the focus.

Take a look at the following classy and timeless Christmas decor, all created with simple greenery and wide ribbon. The best news of all is that each of these looks would be so simple to ditto…instructions aren’t even necessary. Just study, and ditto!

Here are the looks that I most want to ditto this christmas. Which one{s} of these would you ditto??

{photos 1-7, MarthaStewart.com. photo 8 goodhousekeeping.com, and photo 9 bhg.com}

Ribbon Tips:

Notice in all of the pictures above, cheap ribbon or thin ribbon is never used! My favorite way to find gorgeous ribbon is to search for vintage wide ribbon on Etsy.com or other vintage sources.

Greenery Tips:

Gather as much greenery as you can from your own yard, or the yard of a friend. If it is stunning in form, and especially if you can find it in abundance, it is certainly great for using in your Christmas decorating. At tree farms, or even the grocery store, you can often buy ropes of natural garland and natural wreaths. Even if there are no plain wreaths on display, I find that if you ask for a plain one, they are willing to sell you their pre-decorated wreaths at a small discount after removing their decorations.

Can’t wait to hear if you are going to do some ditto-ing this Christmas and bring some ribbon and greenery into your home for the holidays? Do tell!

{have you entered the FHD monthly giveaway yet? click on the image below to enter}