I love birds in decor.  Not, alas, real live birds - they give me the creeps.  But I love birds in fabrics, wallcovering, onplates, bird figurines.  My newest bird is a rectangular John Derian plate.  I also have three pairs of Asian parrotts in that amazing jade green glaze that is probably loaded with lead!  But, what a color!  Nothing says spring like birds, nests and eggs.  What a great way to greet your guests.

A friend inspired me when he ooohed and aaahed over the eight or so tropical fish that I had needlepointed and the 20 or so sand dollars I had strung with ribbon to also hang on the tree.  Now I realize that not everyone goes into their basement and comes out with needlepoint ornaments.  But I have seen lots of tropical fish-themed ornaments in stores this year - everywhere from Bergdorf’s to Michaels and Hobby Lobby.  I also painted several sea creatures at a pottery painting store.  So the point I’m making is, you can create your own tree with store-bought ornaments, string up real sea shells, coral, etc. that you’ve  brought home from the beach and have a darling remembrance from a favorite vacation.

What makes my tree so enchantig this year is the tree itself.  My oooh and aaah friend GAVE me the tree so I lucked out.  But you can create one yourself and the effort will be worthwhile as you can use it for many years to come - and even change out the ornaments if you get tired of the ocean theme.

The tree is about three feet tall.  It is a fairly sparse stick tree (as opposed to evergreen branches).  Small white lights on white wire were strung through the branches and hot glued into place.  Then the whole tree was sprayed with white snow.  Next big pink glass balls were hot glued to the trunk of the tree and to the interior branches.  Then lacy silver leaves were hot glued throughout the entire tree.

The tree was set in a pretty bowl that was filled with shells.  It was decorated with the assortment of sea-themed ornaments and topped with a gold-painted star fish.  This tree is in our master bathroom.  It is everyone’s favorite tree in our house and yes, Virginia, I have 10 trees - all completely different.  Merry Christmas!

It’s good to try to pick up an accent color from the painting in your holiday display.  In my creation we used fresh and dried sticks (my favorites are red with sparkling crystals), some interesting red flowers, and a few red butterflies clipped to drooping branches.  So easy and really dramatic.  Best of all, you can take it all off in January and reuse again next year.

I have been very, very lucky to learn from a true creative genius, Craig Sole, who is one of Kansas City’s premiere florists and all-around great guy.  My house was mostly decorated for Christmas before Halloween!  Boy, am I going to be sick of Santa by December 25th.

Be sure to check us out.  We have designed some really interesting and beautiful mantles, tablescapes, stairway treatments, etc.  There is a surprising theme running through all the decorations.  My house is at 4605 W. 146th Street in Leawood.

]]> http://burtonwalshinteriors.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=13 http://burtonwalshinteriors.com/blog/?p=4 http://burtonwalshinteriors.com/blog/?p=4#comments Mon, 03 Nov 2008 22:17:34 +0000 admin http://burtonwalshinteriors.com/blog/?p=4

Holiday decorating doesn’t have to be expensive – in fact – it can be free. One of my favorite fall through winter accents is using hedge apples– or as we call them in the Midwest – Osage Oranges. They are called hedge apples because the trees they grow on mark the boundaries of fields and were planted closely like a hedge. Apples drop in the fall and you can pick them up off the ground.

If you’ve never seen them, they are round – generally the size of a grapefruit. They have brain-like “skin” – dappled – more gritty than an orange – but on that order. But the best feature of the hedge apple is the color –the most amazing apple/limey green. This shade of green is a great pop to almost any color scheme.

Hedge apples mix in well with all kinds of other ornaments or greenery. They look fantastic just piled in a bowl or outside around the base of topiaries in urns.

To bring them indoors, though, you need to soak them in Clorox water for about 5 minutes to kill bacteria. Use about ½ cup Clorox to a gallon of water.

Once prepared, the hedge apples can stay inside all winter.