i see red and green. by orange

As my friends can attest to - I love the holidays.  I love holiday music, ugly sweater parties, holiday lights, christmas trees, gift giving and holiday decorations.  And this weekend is the weekend - where it all starts!!  I get to lug out my box of holiday cheer from our closet and start decorating the house.  Even more exciting - we might be investing in a real christmas tree this year.  With two dogs and one of them loving to chew just about anything, we've aired on the safe side in previous years with no tree.  We don't have an exact plan on how to keep the schnood away from the tree, but we plan on figuring it out this year.

 

Even though I already own two boxes full of holiday decorations I love to see what is out there in some of my favorite stores.  Compiled below are the items that caught my eye from Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, Pier 1 Imports and Target. 

 

What is your favorite thing about getting ready for the holidays?

 

 

Pottery Barn:

• Twig Reindeer
• Advent Calendar
• Twig Star
• Outdoor Wreath
• Ornament Tree
• Cranberry Vase/Candle Filler
• Star Plates

Pier 1

• Cheer Pillow
• Ornament Stocking Holders
• Red Ornament Garland

Target

• Snowflake Hurricane/Candle Holder
• Berry Candle
• Striped Door Mat

orange paint! by orange

If you've been reading the blog you know that violet and I love decorating and re-decorating. Whether it be a new pillow, a new throw rug, a chalkboard wall or a new duvet. Well this weekend with the upcoming Seattle stay-cation the husband and I decided to purchase a new duvet (yay!!!) and some paint. Here are the grand purchases!

For the bedroom:

1. Marimekko Tamburiini Duvet
2. Patrice Sheets

1. Behr "startling orange" paint
2. Inspirational photo

With the paint kick, the husband and I talked up many ideas for using chalkboard paint. Here is what we decided on: a chalkboard large frame in our "family/hang out" room. Kind of like this photo:

Basically, we will paint part of our large wall with tinted green chalkboard paint, then buy or make a white frame to fit around the painted area. We are thinking about a 4x6 ft chalkboard area...




So we of course bought some of this:













Today we are working on putting all of this together! I'll show pictures once it is complete - cross your fingers!

pillow talk. by orange

For my birthday I received a gift card to Pier 1 - how I love thee. When I recently posted about duvet covers I thought - man, I really want one. Now. Unfortunately my bank account did not agree or randomly grow more cash. How depressing. However, with the gift card, I thought: no duvet $$ - pillows are an answer! And more cash friendly! I'm excited to add some new color to the master bedroom, the couch downstairs, the list could go on. Here are my current pillow lusts (found at Crate & Barrel or Pier 1):

the power of a duvet. by orange

When I discovered Duvets I fell in love. I remember sophomore year in college my good friend had the most amazing bed. It was set up high (required a little hop in my step), was "huge" (queen size considered luxurious back then), fluffy beyond fluffy - thanks to a pillow top mattress and down-filled mattress pad and...lastly, it was covered by a duvet and snuggly down-filled comforter. You can see why I was a bit envious as I had the tacky "sleep set in a bag" from Linens and Things.

Come graduation and making money at a job - I became the owner of a duvet and down comforter. I finally made it into duvet land. What I love most about a duvet is it can quickly revive a room and make things fresh again. In an ideal world I would Love to have a new duvet cover for each season. One to usher in sunshine for spring, one to inspire coolness in the summer, etc.

Here are some of my "want it now" duvet covers. All available at Crate & Barrel or macys