Congratulations Tina!

Congratulations to Tina Steele Lindsey who won the set of pillows through the Charm Home giveaway! Tina is an incredibly talented artist. Check out her blog Living In Art. I'm happy the pillows will be going to good home!

This week has been very busy for me. Lots going on- in and out of the workroom. I plan to take a few days off to celebrate Christmas with my family. My mom, her husband, and my brother are all coming to Atlanta from Boston. I plan to return to the blogging world shortly after Christmas. I hope to be able to report back about many of exciting things happening in 2011.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!

Recently I was talking with someone who wants a French Country bedroom. I went searching for some inspiration and came across some really beautiful designs.

via ihouse-designs.com

via www.genuinestyle.net, photo by decorology

Posh Living

Country Living via Alkemie

Country Living via Alkemie

country home ideas

Do you have a favorite?

Gift Wrapping Ideas

Hopefully you're all done with your shopping and now it's time to get those gifts wrapped. For the past few years I've been using contractor's paper (brown parcel paper) to wrap all my gifts. Unlike "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Birthday" paper, it fits every occasion. I only ever have one roll in the closet. I buy it Lowe's. I'll never go back to traditional paper! Sorry to all those kids selling paper to raise money for their schools- come back when you're selling the chocolate bars.

I've collected a few ideas and tips to inspire your wrapping.

Parcel paper, a band of colored wrapping paper, ribbon and a few branches. So lovely!

hgtv.ca

Go with a color scheme. I also LOVE the letter seal on these packages.

via homeklondike

Handmade gift tags are always a nice touch (Etsy has so many great options.)

Embellished Paper

Finish with a topper like this felt flower from Etsy seller eclu.

eclu

Wrapping paper does not have to be traditional.

Purl Bee via waysideviolet

Furoshiki gift wrapping is beautiful and is eco-friendly. Read more about the practice of wrapping in fabric here. (I hope all my gifts are wrapped in Hermes scarves this year.)

inhabitat

Happy Wrapping!

Canopy beds have come a long way in recent years.

There are many options that are modern, romantic, minimalist or classic.

via The Daily Bed

There are many without tops or panels.

via Little Green Notebook

There are new ways of draping fabric.

countryliving.com

On her blog, Elements of Style, Erin Gates posted this great diagram of her interpretation of the modern canopy.

Elements of Style Blog

Erin's design might turn out something like this...

Veranda

And if you do not have a canopy bed you can make your own traditional-style frame.

Domino

What is your favorite canopy style?

Visit to Carole Bruce Workroom

I spent Thursday and Friday of last weekend visiting Carole Bruce Workroom up in Beverly Massachusetts. Carole's workroom is the sister company to our operation down here in Atlanta. Part of my job is keeping up with the newest and best production techniques. Each workroom does things differently. Having a sister company is a great way to exchange ideas and information. After the new year, Carole will be coming down to Atlanta to see how we do things in our neck of the woods!

Here are some pictures of Carole's work:

Annsley Interiors

Here are some photos from Carole's AMAZING workroom.

I will not bore you with the details of what I learned. Discussions about valence patterns, black out fabrics, and pillow contouring are only exciting to workroom folks! Thanks to Carole and her team of talented sewers who so graciously hosted me last week!

Pillow Giveaway!

image - Cristi Holcombe

Would you like to win a pair of pillows from Taylor Galen Workroom?

Well head on over to Cristi Holcombe's Charm Home!

Charm Home link here

or www.charmhome.blogspot.com

Charm Home is one of my favorite blogs. Today on her site, author Cristi Holcombe will be giving away a set of my pillows. They are a set of 18 X 18 inch pillows with feather/down inserts. They will be mailed to the winner anywhere in the US.

You have three options for entering and increasing your odds of winning the throw pillows.

1.) Leave a comment on Cristi's post; 2.) Tweet about the giveaway and then go back to let Cristi know you tweeted about it; 3.) “Like” Charm Home’s Facebook page and then go back to leave a comment letting Cristi know you did. {If you are already a fan of Charm Home on FB then you can leave a comment letting her know that too.}

The giveaway will be closed at midnight on Monday, December 20th. Cristi will announce the winner on Tuesday the 21st.

Do not forget to tell your friends and family to enter as well!

image - Cristi Holcombe

GOOD LUCK!

BIG WEEK!

I'm very excited about my big week coming up! On Wednesday I am headed to Boston for a business trip. I will be visiting our sister company, Carole Bruce Workroom, in Beverly, Massachusetts. I'll spend two days in their workroom brushing up on best practices and new techniques. Every drapery workroom does things differently and it's a great opportunity to exchange ideas and knowledge. Carole's workroom is so cool and I can't wait to share my trip with you!

Also, when I'm away we will begin our dining room re-do. I posted a while back that we were looking to change our dining room into a more functional space. We are not formal entertainers (although we do entertain quite a bit) and a large area of our house was going to waste.

This a pic of how the room currently looks. I feel kind of "blah" about it. It's not terrible but not great either. Time for a change!

So here is where we are starting.

On the porch?! Yes. To start our re-do we had to sell the table and chairs. I posted them on Craigslist and we have made an arrangement to barter with a contractor. In exchange for our furniture, he will be re-casing our porch posts and raising the railing (among a few other things.) I'm hesitant to write about our arrangement in the event that he never shows up:) But what the heck! I hope the work is all done when I get home and we'll be ready to tackle the dining room.