Archive for October 2010

Featured in the Herald Leader, Weekender!

Here's what Harriett Hendren had to see about our Christmas Open House coming up!!!

Christmas is nearly two months away, but November means the beginning of "open house" season, with stores decked out for the holidays offering specials and treats.
One of the first open houses in Lexington starts Tuesday and runs through Nov. 6 at House, the cut-as-a-button homem decor shop at 1583 Delaware Avenue.

Everything will be 20% off. Co-owners J. Stuart Hurt, Dwayne Anderson, and Jeremy Rice worked for years at Corman's, so they can decorate for the holidays like nobody's business.
A sampling of what you'll find: candles, trees, garlands, wreaths, swags and loads of holiday design ideas.
Call (859) 523-3933 or go to http://www.housebyjsd.com

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Christmas Open House! It's here!

Mark your calendars! 'house' will be celebrating OUR first ever November Christmas Open House! We are so very excited! Tues Nov 2 - Saturday Nov 6 Save 20% off EVERYTHING

We've been working our little butts off (well if mine is the determining factor..." fat butts off " )! Christmas is EVERYWHERE in the store....I MEAN EVERYWHERE.

Against what I would have chosen, we started listening to Christmas music on Tuesday of this week, but 4 days in...I'M READY! There's just something about Christmas Music that puts you in the mood!

We've been putting up trees, decorating garlands, wreaths, and swags! If you've thought our store was full before....just wait until you see it for Christmas! I should have went on a diet!

To let you in on a little honesty, every year as the Christmas season approaches, I get a little nervous, wondering how we are going to top what the three of us created before. WELL....this year, is VERY different. Hands down...we've smacked anything we've ever done out of the park this year.

As far as themes....we have everything. We have Burberry Equestrian, Classic Williamsburg, Traditional Red & Green, Oompa Loompa Red and Green, Candy, Cardinal, Formal Gold, Formal Silver, Ice and Snow, as well as some new combinations of Navy/Burgundy with a Flocked tree, and many others!

We are so excited to open our doors and share this wonderful season with you!

We also need your assistance to help us spread the word of the Christmas Open House Nov 2 Nov 6! Please tweet (we're @housebyjsd) , facebook, email, word of mouth all of your friends! Not everyone knows where to find us now! And after all....we're half the fun! (insert disclosure of possible snow and glitter thrown here! we do like to have a good time!)

We're counting down and hope that you are too! Thanks again! And see you soon!

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Tips on Creating Seasonal Arrangements

Any flat surface is a great area to seasonally dress. Here are a few tips on making the vignette look fabulous:
  • Room's purpose and style - Fancy in the fancy areas, casual in the casual areas.
  • Room's function - A large arrangement on a family room cocktail table isn't going to work if you're room's function is TV viewing...
  • Scale and Proportion - Whatever the area, make sure that the "stuff" is in scale to the surface or area your putting it.  For example, a large mantle needs large accessories.
  • Create highs and lows - Use books, cake stands, easels, hurricanes, apothecary's to create highs and lows in your display.
  • Group collections in odd numbers.
  • Try to break your symmetry - Don't be matchy matchy. 
  • Add something unexpected in the mix - Create a conversation.
  • Don't get lazy - Hang what needs to be hung, use a measuring tape when needed, take the extra step...
  • Bang for the Buck - One spectacular pieces, with knock-offs around it - makes the knockoffs spectacular too.
  • Don't go over board - Too much of a good thing, isn't good...

Fall Decorations - Tips & Techniques



Mother Nature is beginning to put on her grandest show for the year, and we're heading to the attic or basement for all those boxes marked "Fall Decorations."

As many of you would agree, fall is a great season to change out or update your seasonal and home décor, but just like our wardrobe, sometimes we need to weed out or refresh our stash. Here a few ideas and tips to help you update your home for the season and infused the latest trends into your home décor.


1.) Give your rooms a new arrangement. Fall is the perfect time to review your spaces and ready your rooms for the upcoming succession of holidays. Like a blank canvas, a new arrangement gives you an introduction for a medley of fresh ideas from accessory placement to infusing new color ideas. By starting at the base, you can layer on interesting new ideas, rotate your collections and perhaps come up with something totally new! (Insider Arrangement tip: Your hearth, piano or picture window is appropriate launching points for your new redesign.)

2.) Shop Your Home and Reinvent It. Unveil those fall décor boxes and sort through your decorating goods by shopping your own home. Metallics are still in the fore front of 2010-11 trends. Could your ceramic pumpkin and Indian corn collection get a hip makeover with a quick coat of trendy pearlized or high gloss paint; perhaps those pitted cabinet knobs, a lamp bases, or a painting frame could be given the same coat, creating a new metallic tread to your décor? From lamp shades to art print's mats - small changes made to your old stuff gives them the same result as a bit of Botox!

3.) Put it into Rotation. The same stuff out all the time, in the same place becomes a bit dull on the eyes - Consider a rotation of your accessories. Packing away a few of your room’s accessory staples when seasonally decorating, not only rejuvenates your room, but when you bring it back into the mix, put it in a different spot! My motto is - "A pumpkin in, means a Llardro out. "

4.) Layer it.  As the temperature goes down, the layers come out.  Nothing speaks more to the season than cozy & warm textiles.  Hot trends are nature inspired textural prints, animal motifs and ethnic patchworks - So incorporate layered fabrics and other textiles like rugs into your seasonal decorating.  Have an old quilt that can be reinvented into a beautiful pillow, framed as art, or upholstered into a footstool? Don't be afraid to layer more than one rug on the floor or consider that rugs can be wall art too. (Insider Tip: No one ever said you can't use fabrics as accessories - Down tables, tossed on sofa backs or tucked into or on top of bookcases or armories.)

•6.) Coordinate with Color. Incorporating a new color palette into a space is one of the easiest ways to revitalize a room. Some new color combinations may evoke your creativity when seasonally accessioning your rooms, looking for a new pillows, window panels, throws or creating vignettes:
-Coffee Bean Brown paired with Artichoke Green
-Dove Grey paired with Navy
-Deep Plum paired with Paprika
Try Chambourd and Buttered Yam Affinity hues by Ben Moore
-Apple Green paired with Tomato Red
-Smoky Pale Blue paired with Metallic Champagne Beige

What I love about Fall!


Now that it seem the temperatures have finally started to lower and become the Fall that so many of us love, I can't help but think about all of the things that I love about Fall!
The crisp mornings, warm afternoons, and chilly nights! Bowls of chilli! FOOTBALL! The turning of the leaves! And maybe...just maybe that the hint of Christmas is right around the corner! (I know it's still early, but I had to mention it!)

In the last few weeks we've been working on many Fall parties, and have created a number of different takes on Fall. For me, Fall isn't just about sunflowers, and pumpkins (although I'll never pass on a piece of pumpkin pie....don't judge!) , however the season is more about the colors and textures.
Our lovely friends at Heaven Hill asked us to do a couple of Fall floral arrangement to sit out at an WEG event at Keeneland. So what was I to use?
We first off, I found the incredible orange coxcomb seen in the arrangement, it was without a doubt what set the color direction for the rest, and who can pass on the fun texture that it provides! Taking the lead from the coxcomb, I had the color direction, but needed the right textures to add. The large bourbon stained fugi poms (the flowers that are kind of like star bursts) were a great texture against the coxcomb, plus they gave me the option of them being the "star players" in the arrangements. The unusual color and flower shape were ideal!
What to add next?! Well, I LOVE hydrangeas.....or maybe I should say I LUUUUUURRRRVVV hydrangeas (I have about lost my religion with mine at my home, because they bloomed like twice this summer!) The mini-greens hydrangeas were a perfect pop of color in this monochromatic orange/bourbon/green combination!
The final pieces to finish the combination were hypericum berry, decorative cabbage, and a surprise addition by a pomegranate. Notice the color of the hypericum. Often you find it in either a red/burgundy, apple green, or white color.... Well this morning I hit the jackpot....with this creamcicle hinted hypericum! THE PERFECT filler!
As for the cabbage, I use cabbage a lot in the fall, they are such a statement piece! And the pomegranate...it was a beautiful green pomegrated with hints of orange and burnt umber. NOW, just between you and me, it was artifitial....that's right....fake! But this morning while at the store, everyone who has saw it and touched it have asked where in the world have I gotten this beautiful fruit! I never shared the information around it! It just proves that in some circumstances, you can add artificial pieces with fresh to make a look!
So for me today, this was fall. A monochromatic look at the season through a different eye! Now...if I could just find a piece of pumpkin pie!