6 Wilson Pillow Giveaway! Merry Christmas

As this is the season of giving, I want to give back for all the support I have received in this year's launch of 6 Wilson.   There is so much to come in 2014, but for now, let's get to the giveaway!!

This giveaway allows you to choose any pillow cover from the shop, and it gets shipped to you free of charge.  The giveaway is open to the US, Canada and UK only.   It is open today through this Friday, December 13th at 5 pm.

Here's how to enter:

1.  Like 6 Wilson on Facebook, or let me know that you already have. (I'll have to check ;-)

2.  Visit the shop, then come back and tell me which pillow cover you would  like to have if you win.

If you comment as Anonymous, please be sure to include your email so you can be notified if you win!

That's it!  Super easy!  And while you're here, how about subscribing to the blog for updates on what's new in the shop, the world of interior design, or any other topic related to a warm and welcoming home.

Now, for some additional Christmas shopping fun, get 15% off any 6 Wilson purchase now through Friday at 5 pm, when the giveaway ends.  Maybe you want to buy a pillow cover before it's gone, or a table runner for Christmas entertaining, or small watercolor art for that small gift you need!

To visit the shop, CLICK HERE,  then come back and comment.

Good Luck!!


******THE GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED.  PLEASE CHECK BACK TOMORROW MORNING, SATURDAY THE 14TH, TO LEARN WHO THE WINNER IS!  THANKS TO ALL WHO PARTICIPATE AND GOOD LUCK ;-) ***********************

A Nordic Inspired Red and White Tablescape

It's a challenge to come up with new ways to use the dishes and tableware you have, don't you think?  If I allowed myself , I would own a million different patterns of dishes, serving pieces and such.  Seriously.  But since that would lead to a bit of stress in the 6 Wilson household, I just try to figure out ways to reinvent what I have.  And, when the spirit moves, I add new linens.

This table runner has gotten a lot of interest in the shop, so I thought I would show you how I staged it for a tablescape, using a couple of different dishes I have in my personal stash.

Here I've got my every day Casafina stoneware under a Johnson Brothers Friendly Village lunch plate.  In my mind, this runner calls for some greenery and pine cones, and I'm loving the rustic log container these greens are in.  Feels casual and authentic.

Above I changed out the plates to my 20 year old Macy's Christmas china, and added a stemless wine glass with cranberries and a few pine sprigs from the yard.  I love using fresh greens and such from the great outdoors.  It looks casual, elegant, and effortless, all at once.  I think this table runner needs a no-fuss attitude around the table, don't you?
 

See my water pitcher in the back?  Spode 1950's (forgot the pattern name) -- found it at an antique shop and bought it that instant.  It was true love.  I say pull out whatever you've got, because "off-matches" in shades of green like this can be gorgeous, and again, it feels unfussy.

If you haven't guessed already, I love doing tables, and when I am not staging products and I'm doing my table in real life, things get much more involved.  When I do my actual dining table for Christmas, I will be sure to share it.

I hope you're enjoying your weekend, everybody!  Talk to you soon.

If you want more information on the table runner, click here for details.

Pillow Giveaway at For the Love of a House!

  Hi friends!  I hope you are as happy as me that it's hump day and the weekend is in sight.  Not that I'm having a bad week, in fact it's quite awesome.  I just need some more serious decorating time and that doesn't happen again until Saturday!

So here's why I'm having a great week...  The very lovely Joan, from For the Love of a House,  is hosting a 6 Wilson Pillow Giveaway over at her blog, starting today. 

 

If

If you have never read For the Love of a House, you are completely missing out.  Joan and her husband Dan up and left Texas for the cold and beauty of New Hampshire, and she chronicles the new life they have breathed into their beautiful farmhouse, and the new lives they are living as New Englanders.  It's such a treat.  And, being a dog lover, I always enjoy glimpses of their girl, Ella, on occasion. 

So,  my readers, I invite you to the giveaway at Joan's.  And while you are there, stay a while and read some of her posts.  You will be hooked.

Have a great rest of the week,

My Christmas Living Room: Phase 2

 Well, the tree is up and the secretary is decorated in my monochromatic living room.  If you missed Phase 1 with just the wreaths and some candles here and there, click here.  You might remember this is where we left off...

I had to move the black chest to the dining room, and rearrange the chairs to make room for our very fat tree...

Cleary, (as my girls are quick to tell me) the tree is in serious need of presents on its skirt!  I keep my tree pretty simple, with nostalgic ornaments and no high-design -- my family likes tradition, so that's what happens ;-)  I did, however, add green and blue green ornaments to tie it all together with the room. I sooo didn't want the red in there, but, traditions...

Candles and such look so much prettier with tree lights behind them...

On my French arm chair I have a present sitting there, but as I couldn't get a great shot of the chair and the tree (okay, truth -- I don't love the fabric or the finish on it, so it's not in full view), here's the present with the pillow I love peaking in behind it...

This green wrapping paper is what I used to line the back of my secretary.  Here's what my secretary looked like last week when I posted on instagram (@6Wilson) that I was getting it ready.  Can I tell you that lighting in my living room is impossible for photographing greens?

After some wrapping paper and some decorating, here it is now, with the doors open so you can see.  I usually keep them closed, but you'd never be able to see behind them if I did that.

When I've decorated the desk of this piece, I will show you the whole thing.  For now, here are some close ups of what's going on in there...

I've been collecting Christmas books for years.  I love looking through them and adding to the collection.

My crystal nativity actually stays out year round.  It's my reminder that Christmas isn't just a one-day party ;-)  The cream vase/urn is filled with the pine cones I bleached (I posted on instagram) and add to my color story.

Using ornaments by themselves is such an easy way to create a quite moment in a vignette.

The skates on the top shelf are ornaments, propped up by a few more books and backed by a Spode tray my mom gave me a few years ago.

On the other side of the top shelf is a Wedgewood pitcher I found in an antiques shop last summer, simply filled with a few greens...

My favorite piece in there, though, is my daughter's watercolor of pine cones.  I love the personal touch this gives this spot in the room.  I put her art in 6 Wilson, too, which you can find here.  I really think that small pieces of art, whether on the wall or on an occasional table, are great ways to express your personal taste.

As for the tree itself, I won't bore you with family ornaments, except to show this favorite.  We gave our girls skating snowmen when they were four to remember their first skating lessons.  I am a total sap for nostalgia, I admit it.  So there's my bit for today.  I'm not one for cute stuff, but here's an exception ;-)

I hope you enjoyed my little living room tour!  Until the next Christmas post...

Join me over at Savy Southern Style's Wow Us Wednesday party, and at Ivy & Elephants 
 French Country Cottage,
and Between Naps on the Porch.

 You'll see tons of gorgeous Christmas decorating!!

Talk to you soon,

Blue and White Christmas Decorating

  I have always loved blue and white, but I've never really used it until recently.  When I saw that The Pink Pagoda was having a blue and white bash today, I thought it would be a great time to make the Christmas arrangement I was planning on, in a Homegoods pot I had picked up a while back.

Of course once I did the arrangement, I needed a place to put it, so I gathered the blue and white china from 6 Wilson (available here), along with a new blue and white table runner (available here) and I put together a tablescape (one of my all time favorite things to do.)

 I will be using my arrangement for the entire season, and since it looks wintery, probably into January. 

 So that's it, short and simple today.  I'm off to go through all the links at Pink Pagoda and no doubt drool over all the gorgeousness.  Join me there!!

Happy cyber Monday!

Christmas Decorating: Tablescapes and Chandeliers

While I'm working on this year's decorating, I started going through pictures from the past couple of years, and I thought you might like to see them, too.  It's always a challenge to reinvent what I have,  but here are a couple of examples of how I've given the same old thing new looks.

 First, my chandelier.  It's a very simple Pottery Barn one from seven years ago.  But its shape lends itself to some serious Christmas decorating...

The above was 2010, and I did a fairly natural thing with greens draping down.  For New Years the following week, I changed it to a snowy white theme, with snowflakes.  It's actually tough to get great images of a chandelier without all the background of the dining room, so I like close ups...

 In 2011, I went monochromatic and more glam to work with my drapes.  I love the gold glitter pine cones, which are finding their way to my tree this year...

 After Christmas that year, I redid my living room wallpaper, so the chandelier last year tied into the new found off whites in the room, and I kept it simple and airy...

 It's a tradition that I change the living room theme every year, and my girls love to see what I come up with.  The one constant, however, is that my snowflakes always hang from the chandelier, no matter what else I do...

 I have no idea what I'm doing in there this year.  I'm hoping inspiration strikes this weekend!  Now onto my table.  I have had my Macy's Christmas china for 20 years (hello, where did that time go), and every year I try to reinvent how I use that, too.  I have done a million tablescapes, but honestly, the images are all on my desktop and on past blogs, and it takes forever to get to them.  Soooo, I'm just going to show you a few shots from the past couple of years.

 The one above is one of my favorites.  I made the white "trees" in the pots by spraying some branches from the yard.  The original dark blue of the pots went gold, but then black in the following tablescape (reinvent, reinvent)!

 If you've been reading me lately, you've seen a few of this year's tablescapes here.  The shot below is one I was working on the other day...

 Well, my friends, I hope you had an amazing and heartfelt Thanksgiving, and I wish you nothing but peace and joy on this first "official" day of the Christmas season.  Happy decorating!!

Linking up to Common Ground.  Come be inspired!

In or Not, I Love Brown Rooms

  This Pinterest image stopped me in my tracks I was wandering through Christmas inspiration...

via

Brown and ivory is on my list of favorites, always has been, before the brown trend, and still now after its demise.  It's just so dang warm , with a stay-a-while attitude.  If the room above were mine, I confess the stockings would be brown velvet with black trim and cream monograms.  The chairs, which I adore, would have black pillows instead of gold.  Maybe, just maybe, there would be a small, creamy faux-fur rug between those chairs for bare feet to warm up on by the fire.  And how about that mirror?  Hello, it's warm and gorgeous and natural feeling like all of those browns...

Here's a ceramics pattern by Juliska I have been coveting, I confess, that in my mind would be on the dining table in the adjacent room.  With lots of red berries and pinecones on the table, too.

via

 Wouldn't that be spectacular on a worn, warm brown dining table?

So that's my bit of dreaming for this Sunday evening as I plan the week ahead.  I hope your days before Thanksgiving this week are filled with calm and time for grateful reflection.  Stay sane, peeps!