FLOORS PAINTED WHITE

I've always found old floors painted white gives a fresh, clean look to a space. It's also a great to add rugs to white floors, they really pop off the white and can provide a burst of colour. I've always loved the spread in Elle Decor many years ago where American designer, Darryl Carter showed his summer place with painted white floors.  Here are a few images from that. His book New Traditional, is still one of my favourites!

UNIQUE ANTIQUE DISPLAY ITEMS

As I mentioned yesterday – this wooden antique cabinet might be something that came from a hotel – it's got numbered boxes where items can be stored. I've used some unique, small accessories in the compartments. Here are a few of my favourite little trinkets. In this picture, you can see the numbers, and an old key my grandmother gave me many years ago. It's a large, heavy key! Also some shells in the background.

An old book of matches from the Lord Nelson Hotel in Halifax, a friend gave me these because she thought I'd like something with NELSON on it – and of course I do!

A fave whale clip – made of brass. I like that it looks like this guy is smiling!

And here is the cabinet again and the post about it is here http://www.debnelsondesign.com/?p=2676:

ANTIQUE DISPLAY CABINET

This antique cabinet is a great place to display small objects. Possibly this is a piece from an old hotel – each box is numbered, so could have been where the key to each room was kept.  Now makes a great place to show off some small, unique antique accessories. I'll be sharing more on those tomorrow!

DIY: REPURPOSE A SWEATER TO A STOCKING

I made these cute holiday stockings from repurposing sweaters; it was very easy to do and if you have sweaters you're ready to part with, consider this project. I preferred red sweaters with a festive feel, here's the process I used, and these were featured in Chatelaine magazine. Step 1 – decide what sweaters to use

I didn't use a form, but you could make a stocking shape with some cardboard or kraft paper to follow the shape when cutting.

Start chopping! You can see the shape pretty quickly! Using really sharp scissors to cut through the sweaters helps get through the thicker parts. Then I inverted the pattern and hand sewed them together with tight stitches.

Turn them from outside in and voila!  I loved how the stripe turned out! I used the bottom of the sweater so the top of the stocking would be in a solid red cuff.

Here it is on the fireplace.

The trio together.

And here they are in Chatelaine magazine.

SIMPLE HOLIDAY DIY IDEAS

I try to incorporate a few simple, DIY holiday items around this time of year. Here are a couple of my favourites from my own house – very easy ideas and some you can leave up all winter. The sled above is an antique luge that I love leaving out all winter.

Vases filled with inexpensive red balls just add a festive look to tables or mantels. So simple!

I also like to bring in some boughs, cedar, fir or pine and use this in vases around the house too. Just some simple ways to bring in some festive, bright decor.