Guest Post - Keep Thanksgiving Decorations Simple and Stylish

The holidays are fast approachingand soon the scent of turkey, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie will permeate theair. It is a time for retrospect and giving thanks for the good things in life,but also a time of celebration where decorations are in order.

Instead of wasting time and money on inexpensive dollar store honeycomb turkeysand resin pilgrims, create classic and beautiful thanksgiving decorations withlittle to no trouble. Thanksgiving decorations are not highly commercial, butthere are ornamentations that are easily made. Thanksgiving bridges the periodbetween the beginning of fall and Halloween and ushers in Christmas and otherwinter holidays. Celebrate it with stylish decorations in fabulous fall colors.

Color Choices
Fall and Thanksgiving occur the same time deciduous trees start to change fromgreen to earth tones including gold, orange and red. They create a starkcontrast with the forest green of pine trees. Use brown, yellow, orange and otherearth tones in Thanksgiving decorations or go bold and add navy, forest green,burgundy and even a dark purple. Take advantage of complementary andcontrasting colors pairing dark blue with orange or try forest green andpurple. Yellow's contrasting color is purple and complementary colors are greenand orange. Instead of yellow utilize metallic gold colors. Red is complimentedby orange and purple. Red's contrasting color is green, which is more aChristmas combination, so try to separate them until after Thanksgiving.

Keep It Simple
Thanksgiving decorations do not need to be complicated. The cornucopia is atraditional Thanksgiving symbol that represents plenty. Cornucopias are easy tofind and made from many different materials. They are made from grape vines orbasket material and are usually inexpensive yet stylish. Fill the cornucopiawith artificial fruits, vegetables and nuts and place it in a place ofprominence on top of a bed of preserved leaves. If a cornucopia is notavailable just use a basket and fill it to the brim or lay it on its side withthe harvest falling out. If a more dramatic, elegant decoration is desired,spray paint the artificial fruits with gold, bronze and silver spray paint.

Cover end tables or dinner tables with Thanksgiving theme fabric that has theraw edges stitched under. Cover plain sofa pillows with fall flavored fabric.Throw a few colorful gourds on tables to give them a splash of color. Removeregular curtain tie-backs and replace them with fall inspired ribbon. Placepreserved or artificial fall leaves under the regular bowls or nick-knacks thatusually style the room. Hang Indian corn or corn husk wreaths from doorsfestooned with big orange ribbons.

Re-use
Most Thanksgiving decorations are also suitable for Halloween. Turn ceramicjack-o-lantern faces to the wall and keep them up until the end of November.Keep the orange twinkle lights aglow all through two months. Instead of usingorange bows on wreaths and Indian corn, use burgundy ones and use them on Christmaswreaths. Place burgundy or forest green candles on a plate covered withartificial fall leaves for Thanksgiving and replace the leaves with evergreenboughs for Christmas. Fill a large glass container with small gourds,cranberries and nuts and replace the contents with Christmas ornaments later.

Keep decorations simple to allow for extra time needed to prepare Thanksgivingdinner. Reuse decorations for either Halloween or Christmas to minimize storageand use what is available to save money and avoid a cluttered look. With just alittle effort there will be less money spent and more time to socialize withfamily and friends during the holiday. 

Submitted by Elliman Real Estate: Featuring NY apartments.Written by Julianna Lundblad (@juliannanyc)

My Conservatory, Holiday Decorating

One of my favorite rooms in my home is the Conservatory. It's sort of a Garden Room and Music Room in one.



It sits directly off our Living Room. You can see a bit of the green Living Room couch in this photo. The Conservatory is fairly large as it houses both a seating area and baby grand piano.



My favorite features are the mouldings and the huge arched french doors which lead out to our brick patio. Sun pours in from three sides of this room, including the front windows in the living room. It has gorgeous light through out the day.



Here is how it looks most of the year. You can see the greenery through the windows. The light in the photo is not the best, but it gives you the general idea.



On the wall opposite the piano I recently purchased a set of nine intaglios from Things that Inspire's new business venture, Quatrefoil Designs. TTI was so helpful to me. We decided on a "gliver" frame color (a cross between silver and gold) which really compliments my other artwork in the adjacent living room. Instead of paper matting, TTI was able to use the remnants of my 100 year old antique linen from my Swedish furniture re-upholstery project, as the background mat for the intaglios. They turned out stunning.



Hanging them proved to be a tedious task. My sweet husband spent several hours making sure they were straight and symmetrical. He's so good at math and so patient! Thank goodness opposites attract!



The finished wall turned out better than I could have hoped. The texture of the antique linen mat is such a wonderful compliment to the Swedish furniture. I hope to eventually find some beautiful sconces to hang on either side.

The Intaglios are very high quality and the price is very reasonable. If you are thinking of adding a set to your home do check out out Quatrefoil Designs.



As I mentioned the French doors open to the backyard and the brick patio.



I love the mossy brick and old stone walls. Both are original to the house; over eighty years old.



I have posted so much about not over doing the holiday look but working to enhance your already beautiful rooms. I wanted to share with you some of my Holiday decorating. The "bones" of my house are so lovely. I also adore my antiques and do not want to have them get lost because of over zealous holiday decorating. Each year I edit and use less decorations, but it seems my house still looks festive. Here is the Conservatory as it looks most of the year. (Well actually without action figures, ipods or dog bones laying around)



Here is the room decorated for the Holidays, just after we got a few inches of snow. I have a collection of antique Mercury glass, mirrored and silver glitter trees. They look gorgeous on the piano and the pedestal. They catch the light and all the day the room just sparkles.



Here is a close up of the piano during the year. The crown sits on its own pedestal behind the piano.



I just replaced the fresh flowers with the silvery trees and relocated the crown to the table in the seating area. Notice the sparkles of light on the doors to the right. All day the light sparkles move around the room.



And here is a close up of the newly upholstered Swedish chair (read more here) and Tara Shaw Maison iron table (read more here). I just added another needlepoint holiday pillow and a mint julep glass with holiday greens for a festive touch. Simple, but beautiful.

Over the next few days I will post the rest of my house decked out for the holidays. And if you hear singing, its most likely me Fa la la la-ing!!