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Decking the halls and the walls and the tiniest of places. PART THREE: The living room

Jane Balshaw

The living room. Where we live?  Actually we spend most of our time in our studios & kitchen but this room is where we live with some of our favorite collections while cozying up with a movie.  This year I brought out new collections and Christmassized some of the older ones.  

Although I try to tie in all the room colors with the tree each year, this year I simplified w/only white and jade/turquoise, the colors of our majolica collections. I pulled apart a spray of permanent white berries I found in the basement, sticking them into the branches with some white balls I used once in a bowl on the table. Turquoise balls from Target and Amazon teal mini lights helped the scheme.
What is a berry without a bird near by? Using all my bird ornaments….
So darn beautiful….
…the color!
The mantle over the “fireplace” is decked with more…. This fireplace is a fake reproduction that David and I built to house our T.V. below. The Christmas quilt I made with appliquéd cardinal bird. Pillows made from toile that my friend Debby brought back from France for me.
David gave me the idea of using our primitive shore bird collection as the focus decor this year. I nixed the idea of Santa hats–LOL–instead making a wreath for each one of them to wear around their necks. Normally they live on the piano.

Here’s how to make fabric wreaths:

  • Cut 4 matching strips of 100% cotton fabric. Arrange them alternating front to backsides so that the front of the pile has the front of the fabric and the back of the pile also has the front of the fabric. For these bird sized wreaths I cut 1″ x 6″-7″. You can cut any size but as it gets larger you will want more layers and you may need to support the wreath to keep the circle shape.
  • Sew down the center of the strips back tacking at the beginning and at the end leaving long threads at each end. Snip randomly up to thread on each side to make fringe.
  • Wet the sewn strip and rough it up under water, scrunching and rubbing. Throw into a hot dryer with another load of clothes. As it dries it balls up and becomes more wreath like.
  • Tie the 2 ends of the wreaths together twisting the wreath as you go, knot then clip them off. Sewn on “berries” if desired!
On the opposite side of the room is our wall of family photos. I decided to do a Christmas homage to all those photographers in our family past. Adorable Christmas cards….
Yep; that’s me with my baby sister.
A few years later…my father the photographer and my mother the artist.
Photo by dad, ornament by mom.
And how cute is this…my mother-in-law Christmas 1938! And yes those gangly kids in the background are my sis and I at Santa’s Village in CA.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s post. The final post will be coming to you soon just in time for Christmas. With love, Jane

Published by Jane Balshaw

Food writer, artist and co-owner of the Canterbury Country Store

8 thoughts on “Decking the halls and the walls and the tiniest of places. PART THREE: The living room”

  1. Merry Christmas to you and David. Your home is decorated beautifully . Looking at the pictures gives me a warm cozy feeling.

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  4. Ahhh Jane, I adore your artistic eye! This entire tableau could go *right* into a magazine! Thanks for inviting us into your home this holiday,..🥰

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