Sunday, January 23, 2011

decorating for a non-season

Decorating the house after the Christmas decorations come down is always hard. It was the same way in my parent's house, and after New Year's I found myself climbing into closets and digging deep into my hoard of vintage PartyLite pieces to find something, anything, that would make me excited about decorating for January/February/March. Valentine's Day aside (because I really don't like to decorate with hearts, so sue me) it is ironic that these are the months with so many government holidays and yet nothing to anchor the season. The letdown from the beauty and ambiance of Christmas doesn't help either.

So, after a few hours of cleaning and arranging and moving things around about a thousand times, I ended up with this in my dining room:


and this in my living room:



The brass candlesticks in the dining room are from my mother, and I've carried them to every house and apartment for years without ever really using them. This season is their chance to shine, alone on the table in the dining room nook. I've even managed to put my mail and magazines elsewhere most of the time so the table is clean and inviting.

The living room arrangement is much more random, but it's fun to try something I haven't done before. I had the dried hydrangeas on the porch for a while, and the other pieces have been elsewhere in the house or packed away in closets since the fall. I like that the front living room has mostly stayed a music & conversation room and not a TV room, and this set-up reinforces that. For now, one of my vintage printer trays is behind the table, but I have some plans in mind for the trays when I redecorate the living room later this year.

Unless I go stir-crazy (always possible in the middle of winter) and decide to redecorate, this season-neutral set-up will probably stay until Easter. We shall see...

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