Written by : Ingrid

Hi everyone – it’s been such a long time since I last blogged.  Life just gets in the way sometimes, and before you know it, so much time has flown by!

Have you all been enjoying this amazing weather?  I sure have but I have to admit, I’ve been away on not one, but TWO trips recently that took me to warmer climates.  One trip was to Mexico for a week with my husband and girls and the other trip was back to my homeland Australia, to spend time with my elderly parents.  On both trips, I was really struck by the amazing colours in the natural surroundings and the brilliant and strong light that accentuated the colours in the landscape.  Of course, I love the tropical plants and flowers and am always amazed at their sometimes gawdy colours and over-the-top enormous leaves.  It’s almost like they are showing off!  Who can blame them really, when they grow in such perfect, warm conditions and in such beautiful places.

It got me thinking about the relationship between the colours and textures in nature and the colours and textures we can bring into our home decorating in the form of furnishings and accessories.  Of course designers have been taking inspiration from nature for ages, but sometimes, if you’re not sure what colours you’d like in your own home you can look to nature to see what colours you are naturally drawn to and go from there.

Some people are naturally drawn to the cool colours of green and blue whilst others love the vibrant colours of yellow, orange, pink and red.   Natural textures and neutral tones are a favourite too, and are often used as a background to the other, more flamboyant colours.

Here are a few ideas and thoughts I had using my pictures from the two trips and pictures of some products we have in the store.

If you love the blues and greens of the tropics,  you can bring these colours into your home with pillows, vases, placemats, rugs and bedding.

If you are drawn to the many shades of coral, yellow, orange and pink that you see in so many beautiful flowers in the Summertime, here are some examples of how to bring these colours into your home.

Of course, during the summer, our inspiration in decorating often comes from the seaside and all the wonderful, natural textures and colours it brings.  Things like pebbles, sand, driftwood, shells, starfish,  textured, neutral coloured fabrics and wicker.

And how could I forget the beautifully coloured plumage of the tropical birds and the vibrantly coloured fish that I saw on my trips! Talk about inspiration!  Here is a photo I’d like to share of a cheeky Rosella parrot sitting on the telephone wire overlooking my parents’ backyard.  He’s holding a stem of seeds and having afternoon tea in the sunshine before a dip in the birdbath below him.  Imagine having all those colours in your house!!  Wow!  Isn’t he gorgeous?

“With glowing heart”, I’m so happy to be back in this beautiful part of the world with it’s soft skies, silvery blue waters and deep green trees.

Enjoy the early Spring and all the lovely colours it brings!

Written by : Ingrid

As this is the last blog post before Christmas day – just 3 sleeps away – Helen and I decided to collaborate on this one to wish all of you a very, very happy Christmas and to share with you some of the decorating we have done in our own homes this year.

We both love to decorate!  Helen has been so incredibly busy with decorating the store as well as decorating several customers’ homes, that I don’t know how she managed to find the motivation to do her own!  I love the simplicity of Helen’s Christmas designs.

Her mantle and tree are subtle, yet elegant.  Her eye for detail is very keen and she sets up her vignettes so that they are balanced in both colour and arrangement.  Helen has used lots of  sparkling clear glass and silver, combined with natural elements like fresh greens and pinecones that she collected on her long walks in the woods with Hana her dog.

Helen’s tree is a pre-lit, narrow, perfectly shaped ornamental tree that she dresses up beautifully to complement the mantle.  It’s full of gorgeous baubles – glass, silver and white.  So pretty and sparkling.   Helen said that next year she would love to have two trees – the one she has set up now with her beautiful decorator theme, and one natural tree with ornaments that she and her husband are starting to collect as a young married couple.

My decorating is a bit different – I have a lot of decorations which our family have collected throughout the years since we were married 30 years ago!  Things that my girls have made and collected over the years and very old pieces that belonged to my husband’s grandmother and mother too.  They are not designer pieces, but mean a lot to us and are like little treasures each year as we unpack them from their boxes to hang on the tree.

Our tree this year is a natural tree that was cut down under the power lines on Salt Spring Island for Cannor Nursery, where we bought it.  It’s really funky and has branches going every which way!  It has 3 leaders, so the poor angel is sitting off centre, which just adds to the goofiness of the tree.  It’s a little bit Dr. Seuss-like.  My husband insists on having coloured lights in the tree, as well as plain white, which I have to admit, look pretty nice!  He also came home last year with old-fashioned bubble lights which add more whimsy to our already loopy tree.

I have a small Charlie Brown tree that I’ve set up in our dining room.  It is decorated with white, green and blue baubles and plain white lights.

I have also decorated our family room/kitchen area in mainly green and white coloured baubles and snowflakes.  My Florist friend, Claudia Logan whose business is called Twisted Tulip, made this wonderful arrangement of greens with red roses, called “the Grinch”.  I absolutely love it!

Every year, both Helen and I and the rest of the staff, find it hard to resist the gorgeous Christmas decorations, ornaments, garlands and accessories that come into the store at this time of the year.  There are still many more to choose from, even this close to Christmas!  Hope I can restrain myself!  If you’ve been inspired to do a bit more decorating before the big day, come in and we can certainly help you with ideas.

We hope that you’ve enjoyed seeing what we’ve done in our own homes.  Remember, we have our competition going (see previous blogs for details) and there are still 3 days to enter!

Have a wonderful, joyous Christmas and a happy and creative New Year!  Best wishes from Ingrid, Helen and The House Dressing Team!

ps.  this picture of Helen, me and my dog Tucker, was taken just before our “Polar Bear” run around the neighbourhood to see all the pretty lights!  We came home to a warming bowl of chili and later, a delicious hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps!  Yummmmmm!

Written by : Ingrid

With the “silly season” well upon us now, you have probably been invited to a number of dinners, open houses or parties to help celebrate this wonderful time of year.  I say “silly season” because I think we really do get a bit silly with the rush, pressure and panic we often feel with the Christmas season upon us.

One of the things I love most about Christmas, is getting together with friends and family.   If I haven’t seen some of them in a while, this is the perfect time of year to refresh the bonds and show them how much they mean to me.  One of my favourite Christmas songs which reflects the sentimental feeling I have about getting together with our loved ones, is “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”. I’m an absolute sap when I hear it sung by Judy Garland, who sang it so beautifully in the movie “Meet Me In St. Louis”.   It never fails to bring a tear to my eye when she sings the words “Faithful friends who are dear to us, gather near to us once more.  Through the years we all will be together, if the fates allow….”  It’s a beautiful song and absolutely timeless.  I’d love to hear what your favourite Christmas songs or hymns are.  Most of us are touched by one or more.

Being invited to a special gathering with friends or family is always a privilege and I feel blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life.  So, when my husband and I get invited to a Christmas do, I always like to bring a Host/Hostess Gift that is meaningful and useful, but can also be a bit whimsical and fun.  Last minute shopping for these things is sometimes what happens, and it’s nice if you can go into one place to get the lot!  At the House Dressing we have everything you need for your host/hostess gift buying.  We will help you put together a special gift for your loved one(s) and will pretty it up for you with cello and ribbon so it’s all set to go!  We already have some gift-wrapped and ready to go!  You don’t even have to wait! All you need to do is put on your party dress or duds and go and have some fun!

We have delicious teas from Tea Forte, which we’ve talked about in previous blogs.  There is a Winter Collection with a wonderful collection of aromatic teas such as Sweet Orange Spice, Winter chai, Crimson Nectar and Apple Pomegranite.  There are other varieties as well – too many to mention but all yummy!

We’ve also got a great selection of paper napkins which cellophaned together with a pretty ornament, a pot of yummy Wildly Delicious jam or olives, a couple of taper candles, or some pretty Maxwell & Williams dish or mugs, make a lovely gift that anyone would enjoy.

Candles are big on the gift list.  Everyone loves candles, especially at this time of the year.  We have the Frasier Fir candles which, if you close your eyes and sniff, you can imagine yourself out in the woods somewhere, surrounded by beautiful, big fir trees.  We also carry white, non-fragranced pillar candles in several sizes, floating candles which look so pretty with a few floating flowers around them in a shallow dish as a centrepiece on your dining or coffee table.   White tea lights and votive candles are also always handy and are a nice add on to a pretty, sparkling votive holder.

Of course, there’s always the wonderful Wildly Delicious products which really make a great hostess gift.  The warm dip and serving sets are a great gift together with one of the warm dip mixes.  And how about something for the host’s/hostess’ turkey?  Wildly Delicious has Cranberry Herb Stuffing Seasoning and an Apple and Thyme Turkey Rub.  Yum.  Makes my mouth water just thinking about it!

Here are some more little ideas – they just keep coming!

When you come in to the store, we can certainly help you with these and many other ideas for your gift giving.  Not just host/hostess gifts, but also Christmas gifts as well.

We’re looking forward to seeing you soon!

Written by : Ingrid

Being the nature lover that I am, I was thrilled when Helen, our wonderful designer at the House Dressing, planned on creating an “elegant/woodsy” theme for one of her Christmas displays.  I was curious to see how this would pan out – elegant, but with a feel of the woods.  Hmmmm….  As usual, she didn’t disappoint, and I’m in love with all the goodies that are in her display.

When I look at the gorgeous pine Christmas tree decorated with warm hues of bronze, brown and champagne coloured ornaments, together with ornaments made of natural materials like nuts, seeds and birch bark, it just makes me feel like cosying up on the sumptous and soft ultra suede sofa and throwing one of the beautiful faux fur blankets over me.  I wouldn’t get much work done, so I resist, but it sure brings a feeling of warmth and comfort when you are surrounded by these lovely items.  All we need is a roaring fire, a glass of hot chocolate and a good book.  Care to join me???

My favourite part of the display, apart from the warm colours, are the little animals – squirrels and hedgehogs made of sticks, seedpods and cocofibre.  So clever and they have such sweet little faces!  I love the deer made of birch bark with twigs as their antlers.  They are crusted in “frost” and look so real.  There are two lovely large bronze deer – well one is a doe I guess!  Even some of the pillows have deer motifs on them – perfect for that cottage-in-the-woods feel.  All these creatures are complemented with gorgeous chocolate and bronze coloured mercury glass balls, sparkling champagne coloured stars, bronze and champagne coloured pinecone ornaments and so much more.  You really should come in and see it.

Of course, Helen didn’t stop there…. she has created a beautiful window.  Not a woodsy theme at all, but fresh green, cream and white.  It sparkles and shines and is so elegant all by itself.  There are gorgeous shimmery white ornaments such as pinecones, ice skates, snowflakes, clear glass baubles and white owls.  Very lovely.

There is lots of silver, red and white this year and of course the traditional gold, which is still a favourite for many.

I can’t decide which is MY favourite!!!  The way they are all displayed makes me want them all!  Coming into the store is a great way to get ideas on how to decorate for Christmas and decide what kind of theme you would like to create in your own home this year.  It’s also a great place to pick up Christmas gifts, hostess gifts and stocking stuffers.  We look forward to seeing you and would love feedback on what your favourite Christmas theme is!

Written by : Ingrid

Birds, birds everywhere!  It’s that time of year again when our feathered friends are foraging for food to fatten up their little bodies before the winter sets in.  There are so many food sources out there right now.  I’m sitting in my family room with its large picture windows, and just watching these resourceful little creatures absolutely demolishing every berry that is on the massive Mountain Ash tree in our backyard.  They won’t stop until every berry is eaten and their bellies are full.  It is absolutely pouring with rain right now but the birds seem to love it!  They are joyfully bathing in the bird bath in between snacking and chasing each other from one tree to another.  If you watch them long enough, you’ll recognise  the “pecking order” that so well describes their system of who eats first between the species as well as within their own family groupings.  It seems the kids always eat last and have to wait their turn!

I love to watch the birds and hear their cheerful chirping and songs.  The Chickadees are such characters and I love the Robins with their orange breasts.  I’ve also spotted a regular Northern Flicker to my suet feeder, some shy little Towhees, the Juncos (back again for the winter months) and lots of song Sparrows.  The Anna’s Hummingbirds are still around and will stay for the winter but the Rufous Hummingbirds will be moving south pretty soon, if they haven’t already.  We also have a regular Blue Heron that comes to the garden and wanders around my pond.  I have it netted, much to his chagrin, and my fish are well protected.  Doesn’t stop him perusing it every now and then though!  He is really quite gorgeous.

Not only can we enjoy watching the birds outside, but in our homes we can decorate with all kinds of bird ornaments - from realistic looking to abstract.  From wood to metal and everything in between.

At the House Dressing Company, we have an amazing selection of all types of bird ornaments that can add to the flavour or theme of your decorating and help bring some whimsy and personality to your space .  For instance, you can use sea birds in your seaside themes to go with your collections of driftwood, pebbles, starfish, etc.

There are gorgeous, silver abstract birds that would look beautiful in a contemporary setting on a mantle piece or table year round.  You could pair them with a lovely set of silver candlesticks and plain, white candles.  So elegant.

Look at these gorgeous owls – we have them in all shapes and sizes and they can be complemented with these wonderful canvas prints.  They are fun for decorating in the Fall and Winter months.

We also have a wonderful array of colourful birds that you can decorate with during the year.  They come in such a variety of colours, that you are sure to find some to fit your decor.  Here are some examples:

And then of course, there’s Christmas!  It’s just around the corner again, and we are getting the store all “Christmassed up”  just for you!  Birds will be a very big theme again this year and honestly, they look so sweet in a tree.  There are clip on birds, glass birds, gold and silver birds, traditional red Cardinals to place in your tree – you just have to see them all to appreciate them!  I know I’ll be adding quite a few to my collection.

Of course, the real birds outside will really benefit from us giving them a helping hand at this time of the year and during the winter months.  If you do start to feed them, don’t all of a sudden stop, as they will become dependent on the food sources you are giving them.  Also, make sure you clean feeders regularly – there are a lot of diseases harboured by dirty feeders, that little birds are susceptible to.  Keep the hummingbird feeders full during the winter, especially if we get snow.  The Anna’s Hummingbirds that stay during the winter, will need a little extra help during really cold weather.  You can make the mix a little stronger in the winter months to help prevent the mix from freezing.  I use a third cup of sugar to one cup of boiled, cooled water.  No need to add colouring.

Enjoy watching birds in your garden, and consider bringing some “pretend” birds into your home to liven up your space and bring nature indoors.