Ashley Gilbreath Breathes New Life Into Christmas!

Our Sunday traditions have pretty much taken root as we have gotten more used to being home alone. "Empty Nesters" they call us! Well, it seems to go in spurts but I like it like that! Anyway, after church and lunch we usually go walk the parkway or I go to Pure Barre and Jim goes to Lifetime to workout. Regardless, we always run by my shop so that I can sit in the dark and the quiet and just BE! It is so nice to see what has gone on over the weekend and get my thoughts together! And it's always so nice to find a surprise! The Cottage Journal was a great surprise on my desk today!

 As I've been reading it and re-reading it my heart kept going back to this lovely home owned by designer, Ashley Gilbreath in Montgomery, Alabama. Yes…maybe it is because it's just right down the road from us in Birmingham but I think it's because I LOVE her Christmas decorations! Elegant but understated! Just like I talked about in my last post!

 I knew I would love her for a lot reasons! One being that she resides in Alabama…two being that she studied in New York and started her career with Richard Keith Langham and THREE being she is a Louisiana native! Being that my daughter and her husband live in Louisiana I am always partial to that!

But truly it was her style that drew me in when I first perused the magazine…her seemingly effortless creations that breathed life into her Christmas decor. Sometimes I feel so burned out with doing everything over the top…maybe it's because I have a shop and we start decorating so early and have to truly "showcase" all of our "wares"! 

It is a breath of fresh air to see all of the wonderful and natural greenery that Ashely incorporates in her Christmas decorating. I was so glad they showcased her very own home in Montgomery!

Don't you just love this gorgeous magnolia and boxwood wreath? I truly would kill for that!

( ok…maybe not kill, but you knew what I meant!)

And these beautiful stockings! I'm always searching high and low for these! For myself as well as for the shop! I love these! I love the colors especially!

Her kitchen is stunning…it's calming…it's a place to retreat. I love the candlesticks, the boxwood ball and the mirror! I'm in love with the mirror!

I could wash dishes here all day!!

Ok…maybe not all day….

But it sure is pretty!

And I can certainly picture myself relaxing in this gorgeous family room just staring at the beautifully decorated tree after washing dishes! But what a gorgeous room this is! I would bet that a roaring fire in the fireplace would only add to the warmth we can already envision here!~

The Cottage Journal certainly gave us a great window into Ashley Gilbreath's home.

 As I was researching her I came across this Christmas picture from her website. 

It was too pretty not to share! I love the hide rug as well! And I love a live wreath over a mirror! It is probably my all time favorite way to decorate a formal or informal room!

Meet Ashley Gilbreath! Check out her gorgeous website as well as her portfolio as soon as you can!

You can see her website HERE!

Hope this gave you some wonderful ideas for your Christmas decorating this year! I'm still stuck on selling our beautiful turkeys at the shop so we can enjoy Thanksgiving! 

Nonetheless…it's the most wonderful time of the year for sure!

Let's talk soon!

Fall Is In The Air!

Sometimes it's hard for me to transition from one season to the next when we have to start putting our fall merchandise and decorations out so early! 

Thankfully, this arrived in our mail yesterday and it got my spirits up and I began to see that I WILL enjoy Fall and all that it has to offer!

After all, it is when we get to start enjoying college football games, putting out pumpkins and mums and enjoying some much needed cooler weather!

As well as planning our Thanksgiving menus and guest lists!

I was so pleased to see that this photo shoot taken in the shop by the great people at Tea Time magazine turned out so well and truly showcased some of our most special pieces of antique transferware as well Alison's gorgeous flower arrangement in an antique sugar mold.

I didn't even notice right away that they had also showcased some of our pieces in other parts of the magazine. 

I really like how the pictures turned out. 

I'm loving the rust colored chargers underneath our antique plates! Unfortunately, those are not from our shop! They certainly add a pop of color to the table setting!

I thought this table was really pretty as well. It was in the article right after ours if you come across a copy of this magazine. It is just now out on the shelves.

As you can see we do have a lot of items that work really well with fall tablescapes!

And we even have our twig Acorns out for all to see in our window display! 

Yes…we are definitely trying to get in the fall spirit!

So, the next question is when to start decorating at home? Have you started planting for fall? Or thought about which color pumpkins you will use this year? I'm always so torn! I love the vivid colors but I'm also very drawn to the shades of white, salmon and even green.

No matter which you choose it will definitely signal that fall is truly here once I start seeing the pumpkins on the patios and front steps of my friends houses and in the shop windows that I love so much!

And it will definitely make me thankful for this season in life and for the fact that we celebrate such a wonderful American holiday.

I'm So Very Thankful!

After reading all of your wonderful blog posts and seeing each of you on Facebook declaring your "thankfulness" my heart was truly touched! We are all blessed beyond measure….sometimes it just takes a kind word, a smile, a note of encouragement or phone call to make us realize just how much we've been given!
Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Tables

How will you be celebrating Thanksgiving? Do you have to travel or divide your time between two different families to keep it "fare?" We do! We alternate each year between my parent's house and Jim's  parent's house. On the "off" year of it being at my parent's house my mom insists on us coming over for leftovers that night! (Luckily, both sides of our family are in town.) Trust me, we love it but we sure are full! This year I guess we will have to endure being full because we are having Thanksgiving at Jim's parents house. She sure can set a mean table…and I mean that in the best way possible…make sure you scroll to the bottom just so you can get a feel for it! 

One of these years I want to host Thanksgiving! I want my children to wake up to those glorious smells that I remember as a child!

I want to set a "mean" table and have fun with the decorations! I've loved pinning so many of these and have so many great ideas in my head!

These are actually the plates that I have and my mother and my mother in law have them as well!

I guess I'm taking after my mother and wanting to have all of my children over so I'm actually making a traditional Thanksgiving meal on Monday just because I want to! Miller is home for 9 glorious days and Holly and Brad will arrive tomorrow night. And I can always lure Mitch, Britney and Layton over for a good meal! 

There are so many different ways to set  your table for Thanksgiving. Some like it casual,

Others, a little bit of drama!

 Some keep it simple...

And some a bit more elaborate!

Some like it even a little rustic! This is so charming!

I love the details that are not hard to do but make all the difference in the setting! Simple oak leaves,

or acorns,

 or small pumpkins!

I'm crazy about this wheat tied up with a beautiful ribbon on the back of the chairs!

And I love the use of amber colored plates! I use a lot of amber all year long.

No matter how you like your Thanksgiving Table set, the important thing is to be together with family and maybe even friends and enjoy being thankful for all that we are blessed with!

 This is how we will celebrate this year…two beautifully decorated tables definitely on the more elegant side at my wonderful "In laws" house! 

I hope it never changes!

 I love the traditions we share with each of our families and I'm very thankful for that!

I hope everyone has a wonderful week during this Thanksgiving Holiday season! Just think…right after that we can dive head first into Christmas!