Pennsylvania French: Winter Decor

Next year, when I say I'm going to use fresh evergreens to decorate my mantel and piano...feel free to punch me in the head. What a pain to clean up. (but seriously...I'll use it again). In fact, I'm still using it in the form of potpourri. Excessive amounts of evergreen needles on mantel and piano + some Yankee Candle "Balsam & Cedar" scented oil = pine scented potpourri for the winter months.

I am still trying to find and define "my style". It appears that "Down On Your Luck Glamour" and or "Genteel Frenchy Poverty" are trending at my place right now. I'll just call it "Rustic Elegance" and be done with it.

I revamped my Christmas living room centerpiece by removing the evergreens and replacing them with moss and silvered, glittery pine cones. A few dabs of hot glue, and the book page roses become a romantic counterpoint to the almost architectural feel of the white birch branches.

My mantel also retains some of the Christmas pieces, but again, with a rustic, silvered touch.

What I call "winter naturals" ~ the balls and orbs and "artichokes" and berries in this little display are from a big bag of potpourri I purchased at Michael's after Christmas two years ago.

Thank God I bought it for the colors, because the "scent" of the potpourri was unbearable. I dumped the entire bag on a piece of newspaper and left it on a table in my sunroom for about a month. The scent has long dissipated (thank God) and now I use the bits and pieces as tabletop decor.

The birds' nest is from my yard; it's been spray painted silver. The "birds" are a salt and pepper shaker set I scored at GoodWill for under $5; I silvered them with Liquid Leaf. The pine cones are from the yard, and the silvery nuts are from the above mentioned "winter elements" bag.

Even though my pictures still stink (I really do need to trademark that phrase), they now are taken on my iPhone 4s, and are an improvement over my old digital camera. I had been wanting to show how I painted my mantel, but couldn't get decent photos until now.

Here's my mantel "before" ~ just that awful orangey raw pine.

Here's the "after" ~ a custom blend of ASCP in "Paris Grey" and some other colors (which I didn't think to write down at the time). I wrote "faith always", "hope always" and "love always" in French on the front of the mantel with a mix of Paris Grey and a white paint. It's very subtle, which I wanted, and I love it.

The dining room centerpiece is a silverplated chafing dish I found at the Saylorsburg flea market for $6. It's filled with the "winter naturals", pine cones and book page roses. I try to incorporate similar elements in both the living room and dining room decor as my place is small...this seems to make things more cohesive.