I know so many of you will be spending Valentine's Day at home this year. We have always preferred to have a nice dinner at home and skip the crowds. It's also an excuse to buy yourself flowers for the table instead of getting the dreaded wildflower bouquet. My husband wouldn't know a peony if it him on the head! I can't even get him to understand that they aren't called panties when he pronounces them. I'll just save him that embarrassing trip to the store and pick them up my self. He did buy me tulips for our first Valentine's Day together 24 years ago. Unfortunately, they were potted ones from the garden department.
Anyway, this year it's all about the pink! Pink flowers, pink chargers, pink candles and pink champagne of course.
World Market is having a great friends and family sale with 30% off almost everything! I rounded up my favorite dining room furniture picks since the holidays are upon us. I also mocked them up so you can see how they look in a room, and then styled them with my favorite accessories.
The best part of Christmas is the decor and food so naturally the dining room is one of my favorite spots during the holidays. This year I added a this a bit of burgundy, but still kept it light and bright by adding it in small amounts. It's a great traditional color for a more elegant look than bright red, and it goes so well with gray decor that still remains popular.
I love traditional homes with fresh greenery and fresh fruit in the garlands. I re-created this look in a more attainable manner by mixing fresh greenery with my dried boxwood garland, and adding pomegranates and faux berries to pick up the dark red color of the wreath bows. The runner needed a little something so I added a wide ribbon in the same color down the middle under the garland.
If you remember I added these etched glasses for Thanksgiving. I like them because they are seasonless and can be use as wine or water goblets. For Christmas, I decided to look for gold chargers to match the chandelier I installed a few months ago. I fell in love with these gold chargers the minute I saw them!
Here's a closer look. There are several versions, but I prefer these because the gold is combined with clear glass. I like gold, but not too much gold.
I decided to use my buffet as a dessert area this year. I'm not sure why I didn't so this before. It's functional and looks so cute! Maybe it will be a visual reminder throughout dinner to save room for dessert?
I say early fall because there is a huge difference in the way I decorate my table between the beginning of fall compared to Thanksgiving. It's hard to break out the dark autumn colors when the temperatures are still in the 90s! I do love the white pumpkins and greenery too. The urn was a recent Homegoods find, and I immediately knew it would be a great dining room centerpiece. I also bought these beautiful etched wineglasses I've been eyeing for months. They are big enough they can also be used for water goblets on Thanksgiving. Everything else were items I already had on hand with the exception of the roses and pumpkins I picked up at the grocery store. The eucalyptus is real, but it is dried so I can use it for years to come. I bought mine at Hobby Lobby for $10. It's such a great deal!
I am so excited to reveal my new chandeliers! Our ceilings are so high in three of our main rooms that we needed very large chandeliers and an electrician to hang them...aka expensive! This is why I put it off for the three years we've lived in this house. Even though I didn't think we were going to install chandeliers this year I decided to go ahead and pick out the decor for each room of my house. It's something I do for my clients before I buy a thing. I realized I needed to treat myself like a client and have a plan for every room. That way I can go ahead and make purchases a little at a time without worrying I will make a mistake or went over budget. It turns out if I had just looked a bit harder I would have been able to find the exact lighting I had in mind all along at a fraction of the price of large retailers (not to mention my designer discount). Also, I found a highly recommended electrician that charges much less than many people I used in the past. It's a little disconcerting to realize I could have had chandeliers years ago, but I am happy to have them now!
Let's start in the dining room!
I think this chandelier was made for my furniture! The color, style, and size couldn't be more perfect. The funny thing is I kept coming across it in my online searches, but it just didn't look that great in photos. I had stopped by a local furniture store for a client and happened to see it there. I was instantly sold! I had no idea it was so substantial in person. The size of it still makes me take a second glance every time I walk past it. Honestly, it didn't look that well made in photos either. That couldn't be further from the truth. It is so well-made! The beads, mother of pearl and champagne finish couldn't be more beautiful.
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Here are tips for hanging chandeliers in rooms with high ceilings. Many designers will tell you to hang your chandelier 30-34" over a dining table, use a method of adding the dimensions of the room to find the height of the chandelier in inches you should buy, and to keep the width 10-12 inches smaller than the width of the table.
Throw all of that out! That's only good advice if you have an eight foot ceiling. I don't know a soul with an 8 foot ceiling! It makes no sense for us with new homes and skyscraper ceilings. Well, the configuration of the height of the chandelier is fine. When you buy a very tall chandelier you are also going to get unexpected width because most of them are made for foyers. It is completely okay to have a chandelier the width of your table. The reason why it is recommended to keep the chandelier width smaller than the table is to avoid your guests from hitting their head on the chandelier as they stand or sit. If you have taller ceilings you can easily just hang your chandelier higher. It also takes up the void of space in the upper half of your room. I prefer to use the rule of thumb of hanging the chandelier in a room without a table in this case, which is at least seven feet from the floor. In my case, I hung the chandelier six feet from the floor since the last 12 inches tapers in toward the table. The candles that are in danger of my guests noggins are seven feet from the floor. This isn't recommended advice I have seen anywhere FYI, but it's basic math. Once you research the why for the "chandelier rules" it is shocking how outdated they are. I hope this helps all of you with tall ceilings like mine!
Let's move to the foyer!
I absolutely love this chandelier! I picked this one out before our house was even finished three years ago today. Yes, three years ago today is when we moved into this house! It was very pricey at the retailer I saw it at all those years ago. After looking around recently I realized I could buy almost the exact chandelier at a much more reasonable price. I could not be happier with it! It is so dramatic and beautiful. The photo does not do it justice!
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The living room chandelier is also another one that I chose before we even moved in. I looked around to see if there was anything I liked better, but I always came back to this one. Just like the foyer chandelier, I found it for much cheaper than a popular brick and mortar store sold almost the exact one.
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I hope you enjoyed the new lighting tour! I am sure I will have more photos for you soon!
