This is for my friend Tami. The first thing she said when she arrived at our house, after my family finished mugging hugging hers, was that our banister was going to look great for Christmas.
The candy garland is from my childhood.
This buffet table is about 90 years old and newly restored to its former glory. The dining room is too small to fit the whole set, so this piece moved here. Philip actually came up with the idea to put it here, and I like the weight it gives to the entry way. Plus, it provides some nice display area.
Right now it has our lighted Nativity. I bought this so long ago that I can’t even remember when. This is the first time we’ve had room to put it out. Originally we had Mary and Joseph, the shepherds and animals all set up, too, with Baby Jesus safely tucked away until Christmas and the Wise Men waiting off to the side to begin their journey. Then one of the children said that maybe we should put Mary and Joseph away, too. And boom! It hit me. Boo has a statue of Mary and Joseph on their way to Bethlehem. We packed everyone away and put the statue out instead. Now we are reminded of Mary and Joseph’s difficult journey all through the Advent season.
I smile when I see this statue. Mary’s patient, resigned face is so telling of her end of pregnancy state. I have been pregnant for two Advents, both times just about ready to pop, too. In fact, my girls were each born at 8 pm, one 3 days before Christmas and one 3 days after. I am eternally grateful for the comfort of our car instead of having to sit on a donkey.
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So here’s today’s Design Delemma. The staircase seems to need something (during the rest of the year, mostly). Or does it? It curves, so it’s tricky to hang anything up, but I suppose we could make it work. My original thought was to put a round table in the space, but with the buffet table we’d just end up zig-zagging around. So what say you? Attempt to hang something on the curved wall? Leave it as is? Here’s a different view, capturing the whole hallway.
Several people have asked to see pictures of our new house, a request I’ve blissfully ignored. We’ve lived here for 4 months now and those months have been filled with school work, scouts, dance and vacation. Not to mention unpacking and decorating. We’ve been having our dining room set slowly but surely restored to its original glory and battling what can only be described as zombie wasps. But that’s a story for another time. The point is, our house isn’t as presentable or as photogenic as I’d like it to be. However, if I wait until it is, the children will be grown and out of the house and it will be time for us to downsize. So here we go.
If you come in through our front door, the first room to your immediate right is the music room. We don’t have need of a formal living room, so we moved our grand piano into the space and are attempting to created a somewhat formal but welcoming library/music/quiet area. It’s going slowly since this is one of 3 rooms which we’ve never had before.
Look what I did yesterday:
I moved a ladder in!
Heh heh. Actually, I did something I’ve wanted to do in our home for several years. I added a quotation to the wall above the window. Here, I’ll show you a close up:
It says, “If music be the food of Love, play on. -Shakespeare.” How perfect is that for a music room? I did it all myself, except for Philip bringing me the ladder. Which we left there, since it looks so classy.
That’s the window at the front of the house. Now walk with me towards that window, then to your right and we’re looking at the piano.
Doesn’t that look nice? We need a lamp in here because this is the one room in the house that didn’t have some kind of overhead light. The angel next to the stairs doesn’t actually live there. My grandmother made her for me when I was oh…6 years old. She (the angel) is waiting her turn for the washing machine since the years have been a little hard on her.
So my decorating dilema for the day is two-fold. First – see the curtains in the front window? I’m not too thrilled with the rod showing there. The red curtains are always open and the sheers are always closed. Any ideas for how to hide the rod? Or just leave it?
Second – what sort of lamp should I get for the piano? I’m thinking floor lamp. The adjoining room is the dining room which has cherry wood Queen Anne furniture.
Shoot me an email.
