Christmas Dressing: The Mantle

When I think of Christmas decorations, a fireplace mantle is one of the first things to come to mind... stockings hanging in a row, draping garlands made of pinecones or tinsel, wreaths with beautiful bows. All of these accoutrements for the mantle are beautiful. However, this year I decided to give our mantle a romantique twist while also keeping the Christmas décor minimal. ( The more decorations I put out, the more I'll have to clean up right around the time we start back with homeschooling.) 

 



  So, with the less is more approach, I decided to dress our master bedroom mantle, which also happens to be our headboard, with a variety of pretty shoes.

This picture from my Noël Pinterest board (below) is what inspired the idea. It reminded me of the French soulier {shoe or stocking}--a French tradition, where children's gifts were placed in their shoes lined along the fireplace or under the sapin de Noël {Christmas tree}.

 

 

 

If I had had any small gifts this year, I would have added those as well...Of course, I could have wrapped some faux Christmas gifts. Ugh, I haven't even finished wrapping the real gifts...Maybe next Christmas I'll add some faux gifts and a glamorous Christmas wreath above the mantle...Maybe I should do my Christmas projects in the summer so I won't run out of time like I always do???

 

The gold pair of shoes on the far left were Amelia's birthday party shoes this year. I tucked this "1st hair cut" ornament I made a few years ago in them. I don't think she's had a hair cut since then. Just looking at that sweet lock of hair makes my heart melt.

My initial plan was to make a special souvenir ornament for each year, but I skipped her second and third year...I probably ran out of time.

This year, I think I'll get a larger clear ornament and squeeze a copy of her handprint inside... 



When I purchased these muted gold flats, I just loved their color and style, but they were never comfortable, so they never made it out of the house. They were actually in a box destined for the resale shop the week I decorated the mantle, and when I needed one more pair of shoes in the right color palette, they were spared the walk of shame to the resale shop.

 I'll probably still get rid of them and look for a better pair to replace them next Christmas.

 



These vintage white heels came from an estate, where a woman had the most fashionable vintage shoes I've ever seen. There were probably 100 pairs of uber chic vintage shoes for $1.00 a pair. Unfortunately most of them were a size  7AAA, which translates as: super narrow shoes that would never fit a single person I know.

How is it that women 60 years ago had such narrow and dainty feet? In comparison, I feel like Wilma Flintstone...not a good feeling.

So, I just bought this white pair. I figured Amelia would enjoy clogging around in them for several years throughout the house.

 

Along with cream tulle, I added a homemade glitter star ornament, a new champagne ornament, a vintage gold ornament, and my favorite French powder box. 



The silver glitter shoes with the cream bow were Amelia's Easter shoes. When I bought them, I knew that once she outgrew them that they would go on display. They're just too pretty to put away.

At the back of these shoes, I added placed an angel wing ornament and some cream tulle. Then I added one vintage silver ornament, and a glittered bird ornament.



 

Amelia wore these adorable vintage white shoes in her one year pictures with the
sweetest vintage cream dress.

I forget what these white berries are called, but I love them.

I also added this little pink Santa Claus tag that I bought from Willow Nest, and a muted gold jingle bell.

 

souliers in a line on the mantle

And the view of the chausseurs de Noël perched above the bed--nothing grand, but a little hint that Christmas is only a few steps away.

 

 

One week till Christmas...I wonder if I'll have time to share with you our Christmas tree?

I'll see what I can do.

 

_{images by à la parisienne; image #3 via Pinterest}

Christmas Dressing: Noël en gris et blanc

For the winter season, I decided to take our guest bathroom back to a softer, more romantic palette of gray and white--quite different from way I decorated it this summer.

Bathrooms are probably the least shared room in blogland, for understandable reasons, so if you think I'm silly for sharing or think I'm crazy for decorating a bathroom for Christmas, you can quietly roll your eyes at me if you wish. But I'm always looking for home decorating inspiration--even for the powder room, so I hope you will find this post inspirational.

-- gray ribbon with white polka dots tied around the vintage vanity mirror--
I may switch the ribbon to a wide winter white satin ribbon for a more romantic feel.
 

I found this wonderful winter white dress for Amelia at a local resale shop--tags from a boutique in London still attached.

It's the perfect romantic shade of white for displaying on the gray walls, so I put it on a linen hanger and hung it up. Easy change.

I've started the habit of using pretty articles of clothing as part of the décor...Why leave them in the closet?



gray party dress I picked up at a yard sale (in my size) for $5.00. Oh, and it's Banana Republic--not that name brands really matter to me, but it is well-made--good bonus.

 

I also like to hang an article of clothing on the bathroom door, so I decided to hang this perfectly tailored party dress in the pefect shade of gray.



My handmade winter blossom tree from last year has found a new place to rest.

 

I just love how it looks on the vintage, white metal table.

 

Noël in gris and blanc.

 

In the corner of the guest bath we have this vintage black corner shelf.

I promise that's not dust in the picture--not that I'm a clean freak or anything, but I would make sure it was clean for a picture!

The shelf is old and when it's clean, it still looks dirty.

Maybe you know what I mean?

 

I added some sweet Christmas items to this shelf: a dark gray metallic bottle brush tree, a vintage white Christmas bulb with a simple white bow, a glitter snow flake, a beautiful Christmas card sent by a dear blog friend, and a vintage bottle of black ink.

I really like the monochratic look of this vignette--black, white, and gray--I may have to keep the shelf looking this way--- Now I know what to look for when yard sale/flea market season starts up again next spring...

That's a long time from now, and there is so much to look forward to until then.

 

How are your Christmas plans looking?

The next several weeks are going to be super busy, but so wonderful.

 

I'll be back hopefully next week with more Christmas dressing.

 

 

images by à la parisienne

Christmas Dressing

 

 

I've never been one to decorate the house for each holiday, but Christmas time is an exception.

I've been sifting through my favorite vintage Christmas ornaments (a small addiction of mine), pretty garlands, and sweet Christmas trinkets and have been merrily adding romantic vignettes thoughout the house.

I think my favorite part of Christmas decorating is styling with various shapes and textures as well as playing with different color palettes~~~just like fashioning a special Christmas wardrobe for each room.

 

The Marie Antoinette-inspired vignette above is nestled inside the curio cabinet in Amelia's bedroom.
Speaking of dressing, can you just imagine the dress that coordinated with these shoes???

More Christmas dressing photos to come!
 

image via à la parisienne

 

 

 



Hello Again and Happy Thanksgiving

  _{autumn wreath hanging on the garden gate}

 

Hello again, friends! It's been four months since I blogged and I imagine many of you have given up on me by now, but for those of you who haven't, thank you for coming back, and a big "thank you" to those of you who emailed me to check in and to tell me you missed my blog posts. I've been missing you as well and this creative outlet quite a bit lately, so I hope to blog more often.

 

So, I imagine over the course of four months, many new things have been happening in your lives--hopefully good things...

Life has been pretty "usual" around here, but, later, I do hope to fill you in on what's been going on in our world.

 

 

For now, I want to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving and share with you a few glimpses of autumn blessings around our home.

 

_{It's fall and the garden is aflutter with all types of butterflies--some dressed in shades of autumn.}

 

 

_{It's  mid-November and tomatoes are still ripening on the vine...}

 _{Meet Lucy: She's all grown up!}

_{Meet Dinah: She's a fluffy, diva hen decked out for fall in her gold and black feathers.} 

 

_{Meet Esther: Amelia's favorite.}

 

The other day during school I had Amelia choose four things that she was thankful for and write each thing on a separate leaf for a fall garland (Daddy and I also added what we were thankful for).

 Amelia's answers were:

 Daddy, Zena (our cat), Jesus, and the chickens.

If you only knew how much she loves our chickens!

 

I hope all of who are celebrating Thankgiving tomorrow will have a blessed time with family and friends.

Hopefully, I'll be back soon!

 

 

_{images by à la parisienne}



A Sweet {or Salty} Summer Treat

We're enjoying the peak of watermelon/canteloupe harvest here, and every lunch and dinner is highlighted by these cool, juicy fruits! 

This year I planted a couple of heirloom varieties (from seed purchased here) that have been especially fun to harvest.

The watermelon above, called Golden Midget, has a bright yellow skin when ripe and a beautiful pink flesh, which creates a most beautiful summer color combination.

The best thing about this variety is that there is no question when it's ripe, which is difficult to determine with green skinned varieties (or hard for us anyway!)

And living up to its name (even though not required to do so) this adorable watermelon was the size of a softball---notice its size compared to the spoon.

We all (chickens included) have thoroughly enjoyed the fruits of our labor---

Mr. à la parisienne prefers to add salt to his watermelon while Amelia and I prefer to enjoy their natural sweetness.

Which leads me to the question:

What is your favorite way to eat watermelon? Salty or sweet?

_{image by à la parisienne}

Artful Harvest

I don't think my daughter is the next Picasso, Van Gogh or Gaudí, but a mother can't help but find pleasure in her daughter's creative artwork~~work she creates with her young, tender hands.

I love sneaking up on Amelia as she's standing behind her easel, long paintbrush in hand, swirling, stippling, gliding the colors from end to end aimlessly, with purpose, aimlessly across her white craft paper. What I discover on the other side is usually a wide-eyed little girl excited to share her newest creation.

Yes, I secretly dote on her paintings and have been keeping all of my favorites in a special stack~~ for safe keeping, for a future project...I'm not quite sure.

It's been a while since I photographed something for the sheer sake of caputuring something that I find beautiful.  But the other day, as I was carrying in a bowl of fresh yellow Jubilee pear tomatoes from the garden, their vibrant yellow color was screaming to be paired with one of Amelia's most recent paintings~~ a beautiful pêle mêle of cool violets, ceruleans, and turquoises.  

The result is nothing but eye candy. Completely random, but I love it.

I can't help but stare at the wavy blends of blues and purples, the ripe form of the tomatoes, and their exploding contrasts.

Perhaps photographing Amelia's artwork is a way that I can preserve and keep it for future admiring.

In this case, I have captured the two things we love the most~~

Amelia's affinity for painting (and the color blue) and my passion for gardening, which together create a most artful mixture.

_{images by à la parisienne}

Our Potager {Garden} and Oasis

If you enter through this gate, you will find a woman, wearing the ugliest sunny.yellow.rubber garden shoes you've ever seen, watering, weeding, harvesting, planting, picking, and swatting at ginormous mosquitos. If it's in the early morning hours, her face will be au natural, her hair will be in a messy French braid, and her outfit will most likely not even match--quelle horreur!

If you crane your neck to look beyond the over grown, mammoth tomato bushes, you will find a sweet little girl hunched over a raised bed feeding her toy alligator fragrant lavender buds and moist dirt.

~~~~

Two winters ago, we did a complete overhaul on our vegetable garden.

Before, it consisted of four black tubs with a handful of summer vegetables plants--quite tiny and unsubstantial.

_{a dreary and dead before image}

So we decided to create a long, narrow garden area along the side of our house, where the plants would be bathed in hours of direct sunlight.

Notice the airconditioning unit--That wasn't going anywhere, so we had to work around it.

In a short time frame of 16 months our family has created and enjoyed our new oasis- le potager, le jardin, garden, or whatever word we choose to call it in the moment.

_{Potager as of May 2012}

Our newly constructed garden has been a family project. And as many of you may have already realized, that's how most of my projects (birthday parties, chicken coops, etc.) get accomplished.

Mr. à la parisienne is once again the champion of this garden redo.

Aside from much of the grunt work you can't see in these images, he built the fence and all of the wooden raised beds. My dad, who has been gardening since I was a young girl, works in the garden with me every time he comes for a visit. No matter the odd job, he's always willing to help, and it's been a perfect father-daughter hobby for us to share. 

_{When the weather is mild and the mosquitos are nonexistent, we tote a few extra chairs to the garden and eat breakfast alfresco.}

The "dining area" of the potager is still incomplete. In this space, I hope to add a few smaller raised beds for roses and flowers, a couple more vintage, weather resistant chairs for seating, and a large vintage inspired sunbrella to shade us from the evening sun.

_{vintage cobalt bottles hold simple clippings from the garden}

I enjoy changing the outdoor décor with coordinating vintage table cloths, bowls, and vases.
The cobalt bottle on the left is a little treasure I picked up in a flea market in Madrid, Spain for five Euros.

_{trellised Asian cucumber}

Two thirds of the fence is constructed of wire fencing for better airflow and to maximize our growing space.

Along the wire fencing, I plant climbing vegetables and flowers such as pole beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, roses, and morning glories.

_{a plump green bell pepper awaiting it's destiny}

As many of my posts go, they are long overdue. I had plans to share our new garden design last summer, but wanted to wait until more of the design was complete.

And since I photographed these images at the end of May, a month has passed, and the potager is now even more thick and lush...

_{garden as of June 2012}

The tomato plants are now "the forest," Amelia's official term, and we enjoy getting lost in them everyday.

 

_{images by à la parisienne}