Friday, May 7, 2010

HOLIDAY INSPIRATIONS - CELEBRATING HOME

Welcome to our very first Holiday Inspiration Friday (I need a better name, any suggestions)!  For those of you who may be wondering, why is she writing about Christmas in May?  I am a planner and I literally start thinking about the next Christmas on Dec. 26th.  It turns out many of you do too.  So here we are talking about Christmas in May...

What I would LOVE to see happen is that these weekly holiday inspired posts become interactive, A PLACE TO INSPIRE & BE INSPIRED. It would be great to occasionally link our favorite holiday posts and ideas together sometimes random ideas and sometimes themed parties like favorite recipes, mantles, trees, traditions and so on...

This week I ask, where do your holiday inspiration come from?



I LOVE magazines and holiday books.  My favorite holiday book is CELEBRATING HOME - Decorating for the Holidays and Seasons.  Just look at some of what is inside...

Dreamy tablescapes

This amazing chandelier...

Vintage ornaments

Realistic decorating ideas - stunning...

Every season is represented and I promise you that you will be inspired.

In 2002, SEASONS OF CANNON FALLS, a seasonal home decor and gift company, began to restore an amazing 1868 house that had fallen into disrepair in the small Minnesota town of Cannon Falls.  The house has become a showplace for the company and is used to shoot their catalogs and is the backdrop for all of the ideas in this book.  Called "River House" it has been featured in many magazines including, Country Living, Mary Englebreit Home and others.  The house is perfection and my inspiration for nearly every room in my house!  It is well worth a look!

Of course this isn't my only source of reference when it comes to holiday decorating ideas.  I have a HUGE collection of holiday magazines, other great books and of course blogland.

Now I ask you, "Where do your HOLIDAY INSPIRATIONS come from?"

Best wishes,
Tammy

This post is part of INSPIRED BY over at THE INSPIRED ROOM.  If you want to be inspired be sure to stop by!

8 comments:

Natalie said...

What a lovely book! I am inspired by magazines, I can't get enough.

-Natalie

Faded Plains said...

I'm inspired by nature...I love to bring the outdoors in for the holidays.

Anonymous said...

oh! lets see! books,magazines,other people, and blogland! like you! i have been thinking a little about christmas too! i think this is a great idea! i can use all the help i can get!

jen said...

HI Tammy,

Well my inspiration comes from My grandma Rose who won the Best Christmas house in Santa Cruz a few timesin the 50's and DISNEYLAND! We go right after Thanksgiving weekend no lines and decorated to the nines! So many styles and so much imagination and way over the top! (we did Disney World one year at the same time , sad to say not even close decoration wise)
Thanks for writing back! I posted along with you today and linked to your page and fabulous shop :) I can't wait till next Friday!

luvs and glitter
~jen

koralee said...

Hi my dear...sigh...inspiration does come for everywhere..magazine have been my major source in the past..now it is blogs like yours..hugs to you. xoxoxoxo

Janean said...

magazine are the easiest...sometimes department stores...now blogs!!!

BucksCountyFolkArt said...

Where DON'T I get inspiration? Oh, there's so much that inspires me. Like most wrote, definitely magazines and books.

Being that I'm mainly a Holiday Folk Artist, anything related to Christmas, Halloween, Valentine's Day, Easter...you name it, inspires me! I listen to Christmas music all year long and never grow tired of it. And VINTAGE! Old Christmas decorations and holiday ephemera and fabrics totally get me in the creative mood.

Certain people, blogs, movies (Scrooge, Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Charlie Brown...) also inspire me.

Then there's the changing seasons from the crispiness of Autumn to the coziness of white winters. And how about community events? Hay rides and lighting of the Christmas tree, picking pumpkins, and Trick or Treating.

Then there's all the baking. Christmas cookies, pumpkin pies, Ham & dyed hard boiled eggs, romantic Valentine dinners.

And let's not forget DECORATING! All the ornaments for Christmas, redoing the mantle, hanging stockings, dying Easter egg, loading up the baskets, carving JOLs, and vintage Valentine boxes.

OOOO!!! And the SMELLS! The aroma of freshly bakes gingerbread cookies, roasted turkey, and spiced-pumpkin candles!!

Sixty-Fifth Avenue said...

Oh, that book sounds perfect for me. I can't get enough of old houses and their story about how they were brought back. Add Christmas to that and its even better!

I save my holiday magazines and pull them out for reminders. One of my favorite things to do right after Thanksgiving, is decorate my urn on the porch with fresh greens and whatever else I come up with year to year. I do my kitchen window box too. My view is the nieghbor so I make it really big and pretty.
This was fun!