Holiday Decorating Inspirations

The holidays always bring up memories that give inspiration to my decorating schemes. I remember my mother playing Joan Sutherland’s incredible operatic voice singing “The Twelve Days of Christmas”. Using fresh greens like pine and holly, I like to create a center piece using my favorite dramatic bird for my partridge and jeweled fruits to represent my pears. While trapped in the house this weekend due to the snow, I put together an arrangement using artificial branches of pine for the same effect.

I like to look through souvenirs that I’ve purchased over the years and create holiday vignettes. For my “Believe” story, I used Christmas tree bulbs from Crate and Barrel, my favorite Santa from a St. Petersburg craft market, wooden boxes from Old Town Warsaw and miniature architectural models of Old Town Square in Prague. I used lighted willow branches purchased from a local gift shop also available at www.illuminatedgarden.com. These LED lights are also great for Feng Shui when you want to energize a particular corner of your room or house!

I hope these photos and words will inspire you to look at your collections and display them in a new fresh way for the holidays!