Belated Christmas Decor

How was everyone's Christmas? I became violently ill and my poor mother had to cancel the celebrations at our house. I know right, who cancels Christmas? I was THAT sick. No fear, we are making up for it this Thursday by getting together and exchanging gifts. I still feel awful about it though, I kept saying how I ruined Christmas all day!

Anyways, I know Christmas is over, but I figured I would share today's post with you on how to take ordinary thrift shop finds and turning them into festive decor for the holidays! I actually purchased these two ceramic owls at a thrift store for $4 to use as everyday decor, but I so happen to love them as Christmas decorations! I also may have a slight obsession with ceramic or brass animals...I don't know why but they're irresistible to me.

Here are the owls in the state that I purchased them during the summer:

I simply gave them a light cleaning, and sprayed them with Rustoleum semi-gloss white spray paint, making sure to give them light, even coats. After letting them dry, I gave them a quick coat lacquer clear coat to give it a ceramic appearance. Here's the after:

crappy cell phone picture, need to get on that!

And here are the both of them set up at their home for the holidays!

As soon as the Holidays are over, they will be residing on Adam's bookshelf, but for now I like where they are.

Do you have a thing for ceramic animals? Have you ever spray painted a thrift store find?

Christmas on the Brain!

With Thanksgiving fast approacing, I definitely have Christmas on the brain, more specifically Christmas trees! I realize that this post may not apply to everyone since not everyone celebrates Christmas but I wanted to share my most recent thoughts. I usually decorate two Chrismtas trees every year, one at my parents house and one at my boyfriend Adam's house. A couple years ago my boyfriend and I went out to Target and bought an artificial Christmas tree and a bunch of cheap, but nice ornaments in traditional Chrismtas colors of red and green. Anyways, this was while he was living in an apartment with no color scheme! Now that he has a house of his own, I have a new scheme for the tree in mind this year to better match the living room. I photoshopped a little rendition of what I have in mind:

Adam's living room is far from being 'complete', maybe I'll share some pictures soon but the colors going on are brown, orange, blue, neutrals, and touches of gold, like this:

I love the look of tall and slender Christmas Trees, especially since we are tight for space in his 889 sf condo! I also love Christmas trees that aren't the traditional Christmas colors of red and green. If we actually go through with this plan this year I want to make the tree skirt above using our existing tree skirt by using this tutorial. I will probably also make a bow tree topper out of some cream colored ribbon, but we'll see! Maybe I'll post a tutorial on how to make one, what do you think?

How do you feel about non-traditional Christmas trees? Would you put one in your home, or do you stick to tradition?

Holiday Cards & The Alphabet

With the holiday's approaching, I figured I would share with you today something I stumbled across in a caption in the December issue of Architectural Digest, showcasing a set of unique holiday cards that I absolutely love. They are a breathe of fresh air from the typical holiday cards and are especially thoughtful for that special someone you know who has a thing for architecture and artwork in general. The artists work is available here. Take a look at the holiday cards that are fairly affordable at $3.50 a card:

 Aren't they awesome?! Anyways, while I was looking around the website, there was another series of cards that I found particularly charming and that was the Architectural Alphabet set. One thing that I've seen done before and love for children's room is a large display of letters. Some fun examples of this:

via decor8

via the hand made home

 I think that this look could be achieved very easily with the Architectural Alphabet, if not better! Here are some of my favorite letters from the set:

Beautiful, right?! The level or detail and charm that they have make them irresistible. Never mind children's rooms, I want these framed and placed in a space of my own! Each one of these letters are available as a card for $3.50 each or you can get the entire set of 26 for $91.00. I think something like this would be a nice investment because they are classic and will never go out of style. You could chose to pin them on wire like the above inspiration photos, or frame them inexpensively for a larger impact.

Would you ever frame an alphabet set in your own home, or do you think it's strictly for children? Tell me what you think!