My favorite time of year is right now. The month of December is always a juggling act for most of us, between work and the Holiday parties, events, shopping and family and friend dinners and lunches. I've learned over the years that to get through this time of year without too much stress, I simply have to remember that celebrating the holidays can also occur right after the Christmas holidays also. In fact, I already have lunches set up with 2 friends for after the New Year as well. Stretch the holidays out as far as you need to, in order to enjoy the season. Dashing around in the heavy rain and windy weather (or snow for those of you on the east coast) to get that shopping done or make that lunch date may not be necessary. The gift of grace might just apply here to relieve the stress of a deadline (I like to call them timelines, by the way), and to keep you from winding up "under the weather" yourself on Christmas Eve.
Like the ballet "The Nutcracker" , wouldn't it be better if you just envisioned yourself dancing gracefully along with your dance partners in life (that includes your friends, family, clients, work associates, everyone!) during this holiday especially, all in harmony and synchronization with each other? If you forget a step or two, you bow out gracefully and then back in when you're ready again, and just enjoy the dance of the season? One of my FaceBook friends recently posted a bumper sticker saying on her wall, that read, "what if the hokey-pokey is really what it's all about?" It made me laugh inside. The lyrics of this song are "Put your right foot in, put your right foot out, put your right foot in, and you shake it all about. You do the hokey-pokey and you turn yourself around, that's what it's all about", and so on....with the other foot, each arm, etc. It seems to me that life really is one big stage, where we are learning how to dance and interact with many people successfully. The key elements in the song are 1) first, get up and dance 2) take small steps, 3) celebrate by twirling around each time you accomplish something, and 4) start all over with the next step. For someone like me who is a master design planner who likes to see everything figured out ahead of time, have it all scheduled out to happen, and make sure all drawings and designs are well thought out, I usually don't come up for air to twirl around and celebrate after each small step. My New Year's Resolution is: to do the celebratory dance more often!
In fact, I have a few more design ideas to de-stress this season:
When in doubt, DANCE; When in dilemma, DANCE; When it's delicious, DANCE; When it's done, definitely DANCE! (When you're driving, try smiling...dancing could be dangerous).
I'll leave you with some December images and photos that dance with design. Decorating for the holidays is a joy for most everyone. Add both elegance and whimsy to your spaces. Here's a stunning Tuscan home of my clients' who followed that formula. She loves to add the unexpected touches at holiday time and it is different every year, as I've seen her home a few times. Her style home is perfect for large scale accents as you'll see, starting with the custom designed glass and ironwork front double doors with holly and winter foliage hanging in an "S" pattern on both sides. In the Grand Foyer you can almost hear the elves talking to themselves on the ottoman about the arrival of Santa for her grandchild. What a nice place to sit down and enjoy a cup of cocoa (ho, ho, ho), and chat with a big brown bear with red cap, who looks as if he has had more than just cocoa (leaning over the pot) and an angelic lady sculpture watching over this scene who has donned her new coppery cape for the evening.
We enter into the Dining Room where the music "Oh Christmas Tree" could easily become "Oh Mantel Grand". What a simply elegant adornment. It goes on to my client's inspiration to bling up our existing drapery tassel tiebacks with the winter leaves foliage. I truly enjoy doing Christmas shopping with my clients while they select items as we go through a local holiday boutique full of possibilities. We always manage to get a great lunch in at a special cafe after we've finished the design purchases. This particular client happens to love decorating for all the holidays and has so many more decorations stored away, I almost think of her as Mrs. Claus now.
And if you would prefer a traditional design with a twist, take a look at this wonderful painted metalwork Nativity Scene....it glows and feels as if it's in movement. The small brown candles in the three kings' lanterns are actually chocolate scented, so although they do not smell like frankincense, they are a good subsitute. Look at the interplay of ornaments themes on this sparkling tree, from flying angels and music playing cherubs to hummingbirds and colorful glass balls. Whatever your theme is, enjoy the mixing of ornaments. As long as you keep a consistency in either color, scale, or style, you can achieve a good blend and harmony.
I'd also like to send you into Winter with this glorious image from my favorite photographer, Kevin Sink. A red cardinal on a bough....grace and nobility and a delight to the eye. The red cardinal is a male and the bolder the red color, the longer will be his lineage. He represents warm, vibrancy, and the color red itself is one of love.
Wishing all of you a safe, healthy, happy holiday season. See you in 2011.
Designer4You4Ever
Pamela Farnsworth
AVALLON DESIGN
Visit our Website: www.avallondesign.comDesign Inquiries: pam@avallondesign.com
Our Blog: www.enhanceyourdesignviews.blogspot.com (you're here!)
P. O. Box 1623, Lincoln, CA 95648
Ph: 916 677.6792 Fax: 916 543.8782
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Pamela is an IIDA Professional Interior Designer in Northern CA. Her most current projects are in the Sacramento area, Roseville, Granite Bay, Rocklin, Lincoln, El Dorado Hills, Lake Tahoe, Truckee, Napa Valley and Sonoma. Having had a showroom for 16 years in the SF Bay Area in Woodside and Portola Valley, Pam still travels for clientele as requested from Marin down to Carmel. Pam has also owned a design gallery in North Carolina for 9 years, a design office in Arizona for 4 years and worked in the states of Florida, Texas, Virginia and South Carolina, designing custom residences, vacation homes, luxury model homes, country clubs and reception/sales centers for golf developments.
"I didn't choose this career...it chose me when I first moved to California. It lit a fire inside me that has been burning now for over 30 years and thankfully it is a career that moves and changes with me. Since there are so many branches of design within our industry, it allows me to continually learn new information to apply to my projects. My clients are all unique and their styles are as well. Reaching our design goals for their living environment is paramount, while creating a sound enjoyable design journey for them along the way. We become a design team. With design in mind and desire at heart, we transform spaces into living art."
CELEBRATE DESIGN!
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