Our Thanksgiving

Nate and I hosted Thanksgiving at our house for the first time.  I was a little nervous going into it, and I completely OVER estimated the amount of preparation and work I would be spending.  Once everyone signed up for a dish or two, I realized that I was only responsible for the Turkey and some mashed potatoes (which my mom ended up making anyways.)  It was fun, because most of my time was spent decorating and setting the table, which I love.  I know you guys are probably tired of seeing my dining room, but it is where all the action happens.  I promise I'll get to showing you the rest of the house.

We ended up having a great time and everything was so relaxed.  It always helps to have a little one around!

And the turkey did turn our nicely if I do say so myself!  

I hope you and your family had a good Thanksgiving too!

I Might Have Ruffled Some Feathers

Don't worry, no turkeys got hurt during this project!  Remember the Anthropologie Christmas decorations from last week?  I decided to try my hand at the feathered tree.

                                

Here's what you need:

-A styrofoam cone that you buy in the flower section at Michael's

-A pack of feathers (also from Michael's)

-Hot glue gun

-Scissors

Here's how you do it:

1.  Usually a pack of feathers has the pretty feathery part on the tip and the rest is a big ugly mess of grey fluff.  Cut off the tips of the feathers so that only the pretty part is what you are using.

2.  Start at the base and start hot glueing the feathers around.  Once you finish one row, move up and go to the next.  This is basically it!

Here is the finished product

                                  

Elegance And A Little Bit of Quirkiness

I love the way she wears just about everything!  Once winter hits, I never know what to wear so that I stay classy without being all bundled up.  SJP could wear a burlap sack and get it right, but this outfit really does it for me.  The outfit is feminine and sophisticated, but I love how she keeps her hair a little messy.

Yule Tide and All That...

This will be our first Christmas as a married couple in our own house!  I am probably much more excited about this than Nate, but I can't wait to start spreading the Christmas cheer with a little decorating.  We are going to cut down our own tree after Thanksgiving and I will be needing some ornaments to work with.  I absolutely LOVE Anthropologie's Christmas gorgeousness!

 Every year, they manage to keep it classy, quirky, and cozy.  I can't wait to string this colorful garland around my tree.

A Dinner Party

     I love throwing a dinner party.  My favorite kind of weekend is getting my home ready for such an event and I find that it becomes sort of therapeutic.  We are having thanksgiving at our house this year (we got a turkey roaster for our wedding, so bring it on!) so I figured I would start sprucing things up.  We also had a dinner party for some work friends on Sunday night, so something needed to happen with the dining space quickly!
I used brown wrapping paper as my table runner and got busy recovering those ugly office chairs.  A few old wine bottles as candle holders and little old bottles for flowers gave it a good fall touch.

Before- What a mess!

After-Feeling much more put together!

     Some of my favorites in this room are the old buffet made from an old file cabinet painted white and set with a mirror, old botanical prints from an antique store, the lamp was a hand me down from another teacher's classroom, and the big metal piece on the wall is an antique tile used on the ceiling of an old building in town.  

     I really didn't know if I would like the blue wall, but I love it and it gives the dining area its own separate space in the big living area.  

Fall Back

I'd like to fall back into this room.  I think this is it.  This is the exact way I want my master bedroom to be.

Oldster to Newster

I'm pretty addicted to little makeovers.  Every time I see something that has any potential, I'll give it a try.  I think it started when I began perusing Design Sponge and saw all the gorgeous little creations people submitted.  I don't want to spend tons of money on some new piece of furniture since I'm always changing my mind about what I like and I get so much more satisfaction creating something with my bare hands.  This little guy was an old chair that was not being used in a classroom at my school, so I just toted it home and covered it with this cute cloth I found at Waechter's Fine Fabrics.  I have another identical chair and found two others on Craigslist!  I originally wanted to use them as little side chairs, but now I think I'll use them at the dining table.