Here are some ways to keep your decor fresh throughout the holiday season with these easy tips and ideas. I’s easy to transition your holiday decor from Thanksgiving to Christmas with a few simple updates if you like, but these should cover your needs for the entire season.
 

Gather Ornaments in a Bowl
It’s never too early to unpack a pretty collection of ornaments, especially when you have a handsome way of displaying them. Take this silver bowl: It’s a lovely receptacle for ornaments. A few striped balls add just a pop of color. Tip: Try changing the color, finish, or shape for visual variety that blends seamlessly with your non-holiday decor.

Pile On the Apples
Make a modern cornucopia by piling Granny Smith apples, pine cones and greenery in a vintage suitcase. Double the visual impact by using the open suitcase top as a frame for your favorite winter photograph; just use double-sided tape to secure the image in place.

Dress Up Inexpensive Ornaments
Paint and glitter can be fantastic helpers to create miniature focal points around your house. For example, classic gray paint and a dusting of glitter add contrast and sparkle to ordinary decorations. Wrap a tiny box in neutral paper and add pinecones and greenery for color.
 

Play Up Natural Holiday Elements
Tuck a small vase inside a larger glass urn and fill the space between the two with mixed nuts. Fill the small vase with water and add fresh flowers or greenery.

Mismatch Glass Pieces for Your Mantel
To make your mantel holiday-ready in minutes, pair a few red-hue glasses, votives, vases, and champagne flutes together and fill with mini white candles. Tuck a few real or faux berries around the containers for a lovely interior accent that will please no matter the season.
 

Combine Colors and Accents
Pinecones evoke autumn, while silver and blue often call to mind winter. A deft combination of the two provides a dramatic yet easy decorating accent. Here, various shades of spray paint transform the textural beauty of pinecones.

Enhance Your Staircase with Twigs
Tie bundles of bare tree and winterberry branches to the spindles on your staircase for an autumnal look. After Thanksgiving, tie pine boughs to the branches with pretty velvet ribbon, and wire Christmas ornaments around the velvet ribbon for extra color.
 

Mix Fruit, Greenery, and Pinecones
For decorations that smoothly transition from Thanksgiving to Christmas, start with neutral basics. A beveled-edge mirror topped with simple white candles creates a classic foundation. For Thanksgiving add a simple fall garland and mini pumpkins. When Christmas draws near, replace harvest elements with pine boughs, clementines, and pinecones (as shown).

Combine Greenery and Ornaments
Trays filled with ornaments make a great holiday centerpiece. For warmth, temper the shine with small sprigs of greenery and miniature pinecones tucked between the ornaments or even inside small vases. Keep the vibe casual with a smattering of larger pinecones placed around or underneath the container.

If you’d like help in creating a lovely holiday mood for your home, email me at: Carmen Dick or call me at: (407) 947-7718 and we can discuss possibilities.

Well, it was time for another…field trip! The International Window Covering Expo was in Tampa in March, so I decided that, since it was so close to home, I had to make this one, no excuses! So, I drove over there and brought Mary with me. Mary has been with me since I started this journey of decorating, and she has stuck by me through thick and thin. She is an amazing seamstress, having produced hundreds of beautiful draperies, bedding, and pillows for all of my clients for the past 14 years. I would be lost without her. We ventured off early in the morning and had a great time and ,of course, had to indulge in some adult beverages afterwards, at my favorite venue, The Columbia Restaurant. So glad we went, very informative, and a LOT of great products and ideas!

Next month I’ll bring you up to date on the nursery decorating, and more photos to come! And speaking of the nursery, I’m also planning a “Parents to Be Party” in May for my son Ryan and daughter-in-law Jenny! I love throwing a good party and will post my tips for creating an elegant and fun event. Stay tuned.

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Just the name sounds powerful and mysterious, but this color is a strong bluish violet, that the Pantone Color Institute says is ‘inventive and imaginative, Ultra Violet lights the way to what is yet to come. A dramatically provocative and thoughtful purple shade, PANTONE 18-3838 Ultra Violet communicates originality, ingenuity, and visionary thinking that points us toward the future.’

Pantone is an international color-matching system, the industry standard, that provides complete matching of standardized color for all materials used in interior design, architecture, manufacturing and related industries (like textiles) and printing. If you have a brand color or colors – or just something you’re trying to match precisely – it’s likely Pantone will be involved in the process.

Laurie Pressman, vice-president of the Pantone Colour Institute, said: “The Pantone colour of the year has come to mean so much more than ‘what’s trending’ in the world of design; it’s truly a reflection of what’s needed in our world today.” Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the institute, said: “We are living in a time that requires inventiveness and imagination. It is this kind of creative inspiration that is indigenous to Pantone 18-3838 ultra violet, a blue-based purple that takes our awareness and potential to a higher level.”

So back to Ultra Violet. Wow, at first blush, it looks pretty intense, a bit tough to dive into. But the more I spent studying it, I could see a variety of ways to use it that would not only enhance, but totally beautify designs. And when I went online and looked at how some people have already used the color in their design work, I was blown away, and I’ll be sharing some of those images with you below. This bold, blue-tinged purple hue, while highly regal, is not as easy to decorate with as a color like blue, for example. But here are a few ways to work Ultra Violet into interiors:

Use it as an accent – The easiest way to start decorating with a new color is to take baby steps, like having a rug with a few violet threads, or a pair of purple throw pillows, or a few sprigs of violet flowers (or lilacs) in a vase.

Soften it with other purples, pinks, and blues – This is a great way to utilize a bold color like Ultra Violet, by working with other shades in the same family of colors – mauve, blue, blush lilac, etc. – which will soften it and have the color feeling completely at home.

Create a moody theme – “Moody” is a great description of purple, dark and romantic. A very bold approach would be to embrace other supersaturated dark colors and rich luxe fabrics like leather, velvet and dark-colored woods. Big, bold…deep and intense…are you up for it?

So check out some examples of some wonderful interiors utilizing this new color in various ways (isn’t Pinterest great?!). Of course these designs are copyrighted by their respective designers, but that’s what PInterest and Google are for…inspiration! Have at it – and let me know what you think, if you find yourself inspired with this vibrant, interesting, rich new color for 2018. Is this color inspiring you? I’d love to hear your thoughts! Email me at: carmen@sohointeriordesign.com or call me at: (407) 947-7718

If you received my newsletter, you know it’s “Grandbaby time!” Our son Ryan and daughter in law Jenny are expecting their first baby in July! Jenny and I came up with a theme of a perfectly pink-and-gold nursery. A palette of soft pinks and ivories, enlightened by gently touches of more saturated pink tones and pops of gold finishes. I showed a few idea images of pink and gold nurseries in the newsletter, but want to share more images here in the blog. Some very exciting and inspirational ideas here. Let me know what you think. Email me at: carmen@sohointeriordesign.com or call me at: (407) 947-7718

Floral centerpieces for a good cause and a great group! Colorful Spring flower pom-pom balls…

I created the centerpieces for our annual Ladies’ Luncheon as hand-held bouquets wrapped in brown floral paper, that could be purchased for a donation! They were a huge hit and we had lots of fun (and collected a LOT of donations!) – you’ll notice I also dressed for the part (color-wise and round flowers). For me, flowers are such a joy and you can’t have too many of them in your life!

Forget painting a wall, why not use this new product that I found.

Artis Wall™ is a new product that uses planks of authentic, reclaimed wood, easy to install, easily removed, and made in the USA! The best thing about this product is the the planks are also removable and reusable and won’t damage your walls. Great for renters who don’t want to create anything permanent! Need help selecting a look? Hire me for a consultation and I’ll come to your home and give you a professional opinion before making an investment. Artis Wall™ gathers their authentic reclaimed wood from old barns and other structures around the US and crafts them into Artis Wall™ planks. Their installation system is patented and allows for the planks to be easily installed, removed, and reused in any room.