Holiday Entertaining Tips With Talbots

Monday, October 29, 2018



I am so excited that the holiday season is nearly upon us! The holiday season is all about cozy layers, texture, a touch or sparkle and being surrounded by those close to you!  I'm thrilled to be patterning with Talbots to share tips to ensure that your home is ready for the cooler months and holiday entertaining!

Indulge Your Senses 

Think apple pie, pumpkin pie, the scent of a wood fireplace burning while out on a walk and the feeling of wool socks on your feet. There's a little bit of nostalgia that comes with these aromatic scents and cozy textures. Simmering a pot of homemade potpourri using cinnamon sticks, cloves, a dash of nutmeg and orange slices will fill your entire home with the most delicious scent! Next, you'll want to introduce cozy textiles, such a velvet pillows and warm throws. Place throws where they are easily accessible and visible.





Be Our Guest 

Create an inviting, help-yourself environment by making items readily available, that way guests can easily help themselves throughout the evening. This includes finger foods and beverages which can be placed on tiered trays, in bowls or on platters on the coffee table or side table. You can even create a signature beverage and have it in pitchers so that guests can easily refill their glasses on their own. A hot chocolate station is always a hit!




Take A Seat 

Opt for a family style dinner. I love the conversations that happen around a family style dinner, everyone is immediately relaxed and at ease! Guests seem to linger at the table a while longer as they are just so comfortable. The wonderful thing about the holiday season is that when it comes to your menu, you don't have to veer too far off from traditional dishes. These dinners only happen once or twice a year, making them extra special!





Plan Ahead 

Prepare as much as you can ahead of time. You can do this by setting the table a day or two before, adding the final touches the day of your party. Consider creating seating arrangements. I love the idea of assigned seating for a number of reasons. I find that it helps to encourage conversations and allows your guests to get to know one another if they haven't met before!





Be Inspired By Mother Nature 

An easy way to decorate the table and other rooms in your home is by using items that are in season. Choose a seasonal color palette and select decorative pieces with that palette in mind for a cohesive feel. When it comes to decorating your dinner table, place flowers in small vases.
This allows you to distribute them the length of the table. You can also use seasonal fruit! Bring the outdoors in by placing branches with beautiful fall colored leaves in a vase and use natural items such as pinecones, pumpkins, birch branches and acorns as part of your decor!





Dress The Part 

Last but not least, of course you'll want to dress the part! I will forever love classic pieces and when hosting or attending parties, I typically opt for outfits that include layers, as I never want to be too hot or too cold. As the host, you'll be on the move - so you'll want to be comfortable!

Keep this in mind when selecting your outfit for the evening.  Pairing a dressier top with a blazer and jeans is a look that I will always adore. I find it to be a great balance between casual and dressy. You can dress this look up by wearing a pair of black jeans instead!






I hope you enjoyed these tips! Happy entertaining, friends!



***This post is sponsored by Talbots.  All opinions are my own***

A Spooktacular Living Room Mantle Decorated for Halloween

Monday, October 22, 2018


Turns out that having a mantle to decorate brings me an immense amount of joy.  Yeah, I'm crazy like that! lol

The kids and I went out to grab some halloween costumes this past weekend.  While they were perusing the costume section, I decided to wander over to the decor section and well, that's all it took for me to decide that we needed to decorate the mantel for Halloween!

This is the most that I've ever decorated for Halloween and I'm so excited, as are the kiddos!  All it took to achieve this look was a kit that had some gauze and bats (with adhesive on the back), some black crows, spiders, bones and skulls of course!

I had some burgundy candles from last year, so I used them to replace the white candles that were in here previously.  I used old books to prop some velvet pumpkins.

Bowls of skulls and spiders are sure to make you take a double take!  I love the fact that mini white pumpkins are so popular, they are so cute and pretty!  I have purchased a slew to decorate rooms around our house.  They mesh seamlessly with any colour palette!

















Do you decorate for Halloween?  You know what's next, right?  Ahhhhhh yeah!  I can't wait to decorate the mantle for the holiday season!

Cheers,

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Friday Favourites

Friday, October 5, 2018


Short and sweet for today!

I've got a fun post coming your way next week, be sure to check back!  Wishing all of my Canadian readers an amazing Thanksgiving weekend!  Speaking of which, I've started a fall board on Pinterest, you can find it here!

Cheers,

#CANVASRoomRefresh With Canadian Tire - A Living Room Makeover

Tuesday, October 2, 2018

You guys!  Today is the day!  Our #CANVASRoomRefresh is complete and our living room now has a brand new look!  First off, a huge thank you to Canadian Tire for helping us with this refresh, we are in love with the new look!

The goal for this transformation was to create a room that felt cozy, welcoming and cohesive.  I never really felt "settled" with this room.  I desperately wanted these rooms to feel a little less formal, but still craved the elegance and beauty.  Well, with the help of some key pieces from Canadian Tire's CANVAS line, we now have a room that truly reflects our style and key needs for a living room. 

So, here's how the room looked before the refresh:


And this is how it looks now!  Eep!




The first thing I wanted to do was to create a focal point.  The Marseille Fireplace was the perfect piece for that.  We moved our old chairs to the family room and replaced them with these beautiful blue Winston Chairs which have a modern silhouette.  It's incredible how much a room can change, simply by adding a few new pieces and switching around furniture placement.  This room begs for you to sit down and relax!




Storage is a pretty big deal to this family of five.  And guess what, the Marseille Fireplace has hidden storage!  I know!  The side panels pull out and feature three shelves for you to store your goodies in.  I love that it comes with a remote and that you can easily adjust the colour of the flame, the temperature and more!  Baskets placed strategically also give you room for extra storage.  I am a huge fan of natural woven baskets, they add texture to your space and are perfect for pillows, blankets and more!

Because our living room and dining room are open to one another, I wanted to ensure that the rooms were cohesive.  We gave our dining room a small update by adding these gorgeous Jax Chairs to the end of the table.  This is amazing because when we have company over, we typically bring chairs in from the kitchen, not anymore!  They once again feature a beautiful modern silhouette, but give a nod to the classic Windsor chair, which is one of my favourite styles!

New dishes with stunning texture bring a touch of glamour to the space, but I love that they can be used everyday!










The Slate Tray Table (with removable top!!) is a beautiful accent to the new chairs and is the perfect spot to display your favourite items and to set down your coffee (or wine lol).  Lighting was an issue in this room before - it wasn't well balanced, which I didn't like.  The fact that the Avery Floor Lamp has three settings means that you can easily adjust the lighting to your needs, if you're reading, sitting with friends, or enjoying a beverage by the fire.  You can also adjust the height of the lamp, which gives you complete control on how to style it!

A closer look at some of the details:
















I know that was a loooong post with lots of photos, but I really do love the new look of the space!  To have it finally feel "finished" after six years is such an incredibly satisfying feeling!  I really like how the CANVAS pieces worked with our existing pieces, versatility is key!

Here is a list of the CANVAS items used for the refresh!


Now, be sure to take a look at the #CANVASRoomRefresh for incredible inspiration and you can also see the amazing transformations designed by Jillian Harris and learn more about the CANVAS Room Refresh Challenge right here!

Cheers,

****This post and room makeover has been sponsored by Canadian Tire.  However, all thoughts and opinions are my own****
 

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