DIY Coffered Ceiling

If you're like me, it's no fun to spend money earmarked for decorating on basic repairs like the water damage on this ceiling.  Unless, you can turn that necessary repair into an opportunity.  This room has the beginning of a stunning space with the formal moldings and inset recessed alcove but the blank, boring ceiling is doing nothing for the room.  If this were my house, I would embark on a DIY coffered ceiling made easy with Armstrong Residential Ceiling tiles.  Using traditional methods, this could be a challenging DIY carpentry project but with these ingenious drop panels you can get the look without all that effort.

My first choice would be a classic look using  Easy Elegance Coffer 24" x 24" panels in white.  Love the depth these create. 

Or I'd consider painting the room a rich, warm shade and choose these Shallow Coffer panels in black.

Another option would be panels that recreate the look of an antique tin ceiling.  I'm partial to the Metallaire Large Panel in Brass with their simple styling.

If this was your room, what would you do with that ceiling?

This post is sponsored by Armstrong. The opinions expressed are my own.

Behind the Scenes at Downton Abbey!

For Christmas I received Behind the Scenes at Downton Abbey and have been thoroughly enjoying every page!!  If you don't have a copy yet, good news as you can get a sneak peak with the Look Inside feature on Amazon. Love that.

An Affordable Paneled Round Tablecloth

Ballard Designs has just come out with this 108" paneled burlap tablecloth for only $119.  It's an affordable way to to get this Tom Scheerer look.  Love.

Christmas at My House 2013

Christmas at My House 2013.  After I put together this post I realized I  could have also titled it

 "balls in bowls." 

Gotta love Whole Foods -their mini-trees are only $25

Greenery cut from the yard

Kitchen window sill, more balls, this time in lotus bowls :)

Our 9 ft. tree in the family room.  All four of us found it at the same time and liked it.  

A Christmas Miracle.

Filled mostly with vintage ornaments from my family and bought at yard sales.

These two are some of the oldest ones.

Love 50's ornaments - especially the bells.

My Paddington and my brother's Snoopy - from the '70's

Wishing you a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays & a Happy New Year!!  Michele

The Annual Christmas - Decorating Book Breakfast!

Don't you love Christmas traditions with friends?  Every year my friend hosts a wonderful Christmas breakfast with delicious food in a festive setting with great conversation.  What else could you ask for?  Well, there's one more fun bit.  We bring decorating books to exchange!  This year I came home with Suzanne Kasler's latest :)

Love the table setting full of gorgeous ornaments, mercury glass and beautiful place settings.

My friend is also talented at decorating outdoors as well.  Love this swag tied to the lamp post.

These fun trees in zinc planters are lined up along her front porch.

A pinecone wreath and evergreen and magnolia "tree" at the door. The added burlap wrap makes it even more special.

Can't wait for next year's Christmas-Decorating book breakfast! 

Hitting the Highlights

Whew. My blogging muscles are a little out of shape, but I just wanted to pop in to share some holiday happenings around here. First of all, my Pop-Up Shop was a great success. Thank you to everyone who braved the nasty, rainy weather to come and shop! I moved some merchandise and met some new people which is always great fun. I still have some "smalls" left, so I'm thinking of starting an Etsy shop or some such option after the first of the year.

Here are some peeks of Christmas around my house (if you follow me on Instagram - where I spend a lot of my time lately - you've already seen a lot of these) . . .

Every year, my decor changes ever so slightly. This year we got a bigger tree and put it in a different spot (next to our fireplace). Our family's ornaments are already so colorful so when I saw the felt garland at Walgreen's (yes, Walgreen's - I'm so highbrow), it seemed like a no-brainer. Also, since the tree is so close to our mantel, I went with less greenery this year (I usually do a full garland of fresh greenery) and instead opted for a gold dot garland (I painted some Mara Mi garland from Target gold -  I found mismatched ones at Goodwill for $1. Gotta improvise, people). I also threw in some gold feather ornaments from Hobby Lobby and some bronze urchin-looking ornaments as well. As always, I love to see Christmas cards from friends and family first thing when I walk in, so I stash them on mirrors and greenery within the house.  Speaking of Christmas cards, mine will be going out soon, I promise. 

Oh, and here's a little Rockin Around the Christmas Tree to get you in the Christmas spirit from none other than our talented daughter Meg at her piano recital Sunday. So proud of her!

meg from Kathy McGee on Vimeo.

Hanging Wreaths from the Ceiling

The title from this Living etc feature says it all - dramatic and magical.  4 ribbons and some way to attach it to the ceiling, a temporary hook maybe, and you're good to go :)

image via  The Wool Acorn

via chic at any age

from The Shed

What's Your Mental Age?

With all the craziness at the Holidays,  it's nice to take a break.  Sitting at my desk, my husbands yells over to me, "Hey, I'm 33!"

"What to you mean?"

"My mental age is 33!"

So of course, I headed over to  My Mental Age to see mine.

"Guess what?"  I shout.  "I'm 33 too!"  

After which, we proceeded to dance our 50 (his) and 49 year old selves around the room, chanting "We're 33, we're 33!"

Now as a I write this, I'm not sure it was such a cause for celebration.   Don't they say, wisdom comes with age?

Victoria at Home

The DC area has a new home design store!  Well known DC Designer Victoria Sanchez has opened a fantastic store, Victoria at Home,  in the heart of Old Town Alexandria at 1125 King St.   It's  a wonderfully curated collection of home accessories, furniture and art work and it also happens to be full of decorating inspiration for the Holidays.  Love these three gold vessels paired with holly and red ornaments - perfect for a foyer.

The store is actually quite large and in every vignette I found something I wanted - case in point, these fantastic greek key hurricanes and the greek key mirror above the sofa.

As well as this gorgeous green velvet sofa, which is actually a deeper, richer shade than this photograph conveys.  Throughout the store, there's a smart mix of traditional and on-trend (in a good way) which creates a really fresh and elegant look.  

Victoria at Home also has a great collection of art, so if you're looking for a piece to finish out a space, you've got a very good chance of finding something here.

Glazed pottery - something I think we're going to continue seeing in interiors for the next few years. 

There's also a great selection of items for gift giving.

More tablescapes and styling inspiration.

Finally, check out this amazing pillow with velvet Griffin appliqués.   Love.

Victoria at Home  |  1125 King Street, Alexandria, VA 22314  |  703.836.1960

Monday-Saturday, 10-5; Sunday, 12-5