Christmas Decorations – Two (And Estate Sale Finds)

 Thanks for stopping by to visit, I hope you enjoy this post!  The holiday season has arrived…at least in my house.  Somehow (I do tend to amaze myself) I managed to get all my decorating done last weekend.  I’m still not quite sure how I pulled it off but I do know I’m in desperate need of a manicure.

If you happened to accidentally stumble upon this post (which I, um, doubt), let me bring you up to speed.  This is the second in a series of posts about Christmas decorating ideas that I use throughout my home.  Sorry you missed the first one, you say?  No worries, click here.

We remodeled our dining room this summer.  I don’t recommend painting during the month of July unless you enjoy the feeling of sweat dripping from your body.  But if it is the week before a beach vacation, by all means, try it.  It will do wonders for the way you look in your bathing suit!  This dining room remodel came about because once again, I got the idea in my head that it needed to be done…now.  Is there any other time?  When I get an idea in my head it doesn’t get pondered for a while and then float off into space.  No, no.  It gets tossed around, played with, tossed around some more, researched to ensure no important pieces are missing, and finally…manifested into the masterpiece I envision.  My husband, who I am in the process of finding the best nomenclature to describe so that he will immediately be identifiable as “my husband” in future posts, is usually enlightened during the tossing around phase (the second one).  “Honey, I was thinking…” are words that strike fear in his heart and evoke a facial expression that I would best describe as…well…pained.  Then I remind him that he married me.

As I was saying, we remodeled the dining room.  We painted it red…love, love, love…and added a chair rail and wainscoting.  “I” envisioned the room, “my husband” implemented the plan, and “we” discovered that his talents are limitless.  Of course this new knowledge is now stored in my brain’s database for future ideas.  I will provide more details about the “how to” in a future post…but let’s get to it, shall we?

The chandelier was added during the remodel.  I found it at an estate sale over the summer.  SCORE!  Gold, beautiful and imported all the way from Spain just for me!  Well, not really, but I like to think so.  When I walked in the door of this particular estate sale, it was just sitting there waiting for me, softly calling out, “It’s about time you showed up, I’ve been waiting.”  I immediately grabbed it.  They wanted $75.00 (that was a steal) I offered $40.00 (we had a deal).  Here she is all dressed up and decorated for Christmas (please excuse the darkness of the pictures, I’m still new to this blogging venture)…

And here’s a close up that shows the ribbon, the red and gold balls, the greenery, and…the berries and beading I dressed her in…

But why stop there when there’s a buffet calling to be decorated with a huge vase of flowers and ribbons and candy, like this…

  

And to finish it all of…because does anyone just put up a tree anymore?  The saying, “the more the merrier” applies to everything in my book, not just people, but things, too.  Big. Shiny. Glittery. Things.  Speaking of which, drumroll please…the Grand Dame of the room who was hidden in the garage in plastic at a previous estate sale I happened upon…

and close-ups of her beauty and splendor…

  

By now I’m sure you are thinking that it just doesn’t get more beautiful.

It does!

To top it all off and to fill the dead space between two windows, this chair…

You guessed it, yet another estate sale find…SCORE, SCORE, SCORE, SCORE…in one summer.  And, here’s a tip I discovered about estate sales bargaining – arrive no earlier than 15 minutes before it ends and they are more than willing to accept your offer.  A wink and a smile helps too!

In my next post I will discuss the magic I performed in the living room, featuring the tree, the mantel and the Christmas village.  If you enjoyed reading this, hey, why not follow me?

Peace,

Eileen