Gobble Gobble 'Till You Wobble: Home Edition

Back to Thanksgiving, I never realized it until I started writing these but I guess this is one of my favorite holidays. I mean the Macy's Day Parade is on, you get together with your families (and family friends at times), there are some excellent movies on, you get to engorge yourself in food AND at least in my family it means the Christmas season is only a day away. See growing up my dad had a very strict rule that anything Christmas related (i.e. wish lists, music, decor, etc.) could only make its appearance between the day after Thanksgiving until the day after Christmas. I hated it back then but now I see that it makes sense as with only a limited appearance it makes it all the more special when it does come around!

Ok, so I already told my my ideal Thanksgiving table set-up which isn't happening anytime soon so back to real-life and I'll let you in on what decor is most likely to actually happen.

1. A wreath - don't think there are any surprises here. I believe my fascination with wreaths has something to do with the peeping Tom incident (although it was more like a peeping Jane) found here. Ever since that fateful day I've been going over-the-top to make the house looked lived in so we don't have anymore fun instances such as that. Wreaths seem to really make the "someone lives here so don't come peeking in any windows" statement more than anything else I've found.

2. My next idea would be a mat, once again no surprises there but when you don't have any rugs a welcome mat becomes uber important to try to keep as much dirt out of the house as possible. Might as well keep the mat flowing with the seasons right?

3. Finally I'd like to "trick out" the house with various sizes of pumpkins & gourds in all shapes and colors too, even putting some in the flower baskets on the rails (maybe nestle them into some fern/grass type stuff if I make that happen).

Gobble Gobble 'Till You Wobble: Table Edition

This will be the 3rd year that my cousins and I cook Thanksgiving dinner. It started as just one of my cousins and I doing it as a Christmas gift for my grandmother and has evolved into an annual tradition with the majority of the remainder of my cousins and their spouses/significant others joining in. We usually have a nice big crowd of family, extended family and friends joining us for the dinner and use a mish-mosh of serving pieces, dinnerware and everything else. I have always had this crazy desire to have a long immaculately decorated table where the "perfect" dinner is served with everyone dressed to the nines. Granted that will never happen with my family as we just aren't a formal bunch but maybe one day when I'm hosting. Anyways, here are a few random thoughts on how I'd like it to go.

First order of business would be a tablecloth. I'd love to have a super-long rectangular table with a long burlap tablecloth lined with a similar color silk-like fabric (no need to get expensive, you're just going to drop food all over it).

Next would be place settings. First I'd like to start it out with a pretty copper charger. Add a Thanksgiving themed plate on top and some Turkey themed salad plates on top of that (not that we actually serve a salad at Thanksgiving - just extra room for sides). Next we need a napkin and a ring to put it in and some flatware (REALLY wishing they had this flatware when I registered by the way darnnit!).

After that I'd just need to do the tablescape. To be honest I'd probably swing by the grocery store to pick up flowers and use a cachepot I already have but would have to buy some additional ones of course. I think I'd also like to put a copper pot in the center with the biggest arrangement. I'd mix in some of these carved and woven pumpkins as well as some of these great little turkeys.

My final touch would be candles. From tall tapers to small votives and maybe even some chunky ones inbetween.

All we'd need is some excellent food and even better company to finish it off!

Lay Your Weary Head to Rest

Our bedroom is my favorite part of the house so far. I think that is in part due to it being the closest room to being finished but mainly I think it is due to my love of sleep. Poor Tim has not only had to adjust to me taking over the majority of our king sized bed but also has to deal with me poking, prodding and nudging him as he snores his way through the night. Apparently I also have a slight issue with breathing a little louder than most but that didn't happen until earlier this year when Tim tackled me in the snow resulting in a broken nose for me and a lifetime of guilt-trips for him. Note: apparently when you are being tackled you are not allowed to lift your head without expecting to get a broken nose.

Anyways, as I digress, Tim's parents gifted us a King sized mattress last Christmas and with some of the money we were given for our wedding we were able to get a bed frame. 

                                     

We got the majority of our bedding as wedding gifts from Pottery Barn and the Biltmore Collection from Belk. Their sheets and comforter are so comfortable. 

                                     

Recently I was at a Pottery Barn outlet and found two of the nightstands I've been wanting so of course I snagged those right up. 

                                               

We've got a bed for our sweet little girl on the floor next to me which she loves and typically will go straight to when she gets back here from daycare everyday (my parents house). Although a few days ago I walked into our room to see a sweet little beagle with a guilty look on her face poke her head out from the covers on my bed. 

                                    

The only other furniture in our room is a TV cabinet leftover from my college days with a TV my parents gave to us when they upgraded to a flat screen. The TV seems to be a little too heavy for the cabinet because I've noticed lately that the side of the piece is pulling away from the support shelf. I'm thinking that we should put a few extra screws in there so the three of us don't get a rude wake-up call in the middle of the night with everything crashing down. 

                                               

There are three things in this room I'm most proud of:

The first are the silhouettes over our bed. The ones on the edges are actually each of us from our wedding day and the one in the middle was taken right after Tim asked me to be his girlfriend a few years ago. The fun part is that they actually hang about the spots we sleep. I didn't mean to do that but kind of neat that it worked out that way. I minored in photography and had to take a graphic design class and just applied a few of those rusty skills. These aren't exactly 100% accurate but I'm pretty proud of them anyways. I took some random frames I found at HomeGoods and spray painted them green and was done.

                                          

My next favorite is the drawing just inside the entrance of our room, which is one that my dad did when he was a freshman in college. I'm still amazed at how talented my dad is/was. He on the other hand was not as impressed that I hung up his picture, the look was more of "Greeaaaaaatt." Oh well, I like being able to see it as I walk back and forth everyday.

My third favorite are the pictures of our parents and grandparents from their weddings. I'll be replacing the picture in the middle with one of ours one of these days so we have a full collection.

Things we have left to do here:

1. Get a quilt for the foot of our bed - Tim likes to freeze me out with the air and heat usage and on top of that he loves to wrap himself like an enchilada with the blanket at night. Not only would a quilt help to finish off the bed and add a little more color to the room but it would help me stay a little warmer. The Pottery Barn Colebrook Quilt is one that we registered for but it sold out in record time so now I'm on a search for a replica.

                                                                     

2. Replace the center picture in our wedding assortment with one from our wedding - the simplest and cheapest project, yet somehow I can't seem to complete it. One of these days!

                                                 

3. Get a new armoire/tv cabinet -  there is much discussion in our house as to whether or not you need a tv in every room. I say no, Tim says yes. Guess who is winning...I can't deny that I haven't used it a good deal as well but I'm still not a fan. Oh well, its my turn to compromise. I want something that looks weathered and well-loved but still looks clean and fresh. Here is an example of the idea I have in mind.

                                                 

4. Get a bench for the end of the bed - Neither of us have a place to sit and put our shoes on after we get dress so it always ends up being a selection of the lesser of two evils. Sit on the floor or put the shoes on the bed. A bench would be great for that purpose and would help fill the space of our very large master bedroom. Btw, whenever you build a house make sure you measure out each room to make sure you get a better feel for how big it really is. Ballard Designs has a great classic turn-legged bench where you can select your own fabric to match the rest of your home.

  

                                                

5. Put up curtains - I didn't really realize how much curtains can complete a room until Tim's brother & sister-in-law got some put in their den. It makes such a huge difference. I want to get some heavy fabric, almost like a tapestry weight and have them made (I'm not crafty enough for this project...yet that is) and some of those nice thick wooden dowels to hang them on. 

                                              

6. Get a bedskirt - This goal actually has a deadline attached to it. We registered for one I really like and have a discount to Pottery Barn & Williams Sonoma through November so my goal is to finish off everything I really want by then. I was going to get my parents to buy some of that for me but apparently my car has to have some kind of specialty tires that are insanely expensive so those have now blossomed from my birthday gift to my birthday/christmas gift. Growing old is oh so thrilling.

                                            

7. Get some bedside lamps - There is nothing I hate more than stumbling through a dark room, yet somehow I end up doing it just about every night. This is why we need some lamps on either side of our bed but I hate how much room they take up on the nightstands and at some point I always end up knocking them off. Pottery Barn to the rescue again, they have some awesome bedside lamps that install on the wall but they actually plug in so you don't have to worry about making sure everything is wired. These even have an upgrade in that they swing around so you can bring them closer or move them further away based upon how much light you want.

                                         

8. Do something with the giant blank walls - I'm not someone who is a fan of blank space. I understand not wanting to overload a room with stuff but then again I always feel like a room is missing something when there are large expanses of wall without anything on them. I feel like we need to either add something to either side of the new armoire or we need something on the two large expanses of wall to either side of our bed. This is probably a project I'll take on after I get the rest of the house finished up.