The House Dressing Company

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 : Helen McIntyre

Happy Tuesday!

How many of you read BC Home Magazine?? It’s free and you can pick it up at your local paint stores, supermarkets, decorating stores, home reno stores etc…..

Just thought you would be interested to know that,  The House Dressing Company is featured in October’s issue!!! We are very excited and proud to have the opportunity to share our decorating story with the community! The condo that is featured is a vacation getaway for out-of-town owners and we had complete free rein to create a cozy, contemporary and comfortable living space. This condo has a breathtaking view of the water, the sky and mount baker and we wanted to completely capture this in the decor. Some of you might know already…….this condo is at The Pier in Sidney. We were so fortunate to have an amazing space to work with that had simple, clean lines, an open floor plan, over sized windows and neutral finishes. This is a designer’s dream!

I have uploaded the entire article for you to see, however the print may be a bit small to read – so you may want to refer to this link for the complete online digital edition. It’s very fun to use…Give it a try!

http://www.myvirtualpaper.com/doc/BCHome/bchome_oct09_cwm54518/2009102801/

We had such an amazing time furnishing and decorating this beautiful condo. I hope that you have enjoyed reading the article and are inspired as well as have learned some great design tips! Don’t forget, we are always here to help with your own design challenges. No project is too big or too small!

Wishing everyone a happy and healthy week and a wonderful day tomorrow celebrating Remembrance Day.

Written by : Helen McIntyre

Does everyone reading this know that we, at The House Dressing Co. carry Maxwell & Williams dishes??? We have been carrying the line for a while now and I have to say it’s an amazing product! We are so happy and honoured to be the only retailer in Sidney to have it.

The holiday season is when you may entertain more than usual and require lots of bake-ware, serving platters, dip bowls, wine glasses, serving bowls, serving utensils, tableware sets, tea and coffee service etc……… Well look no further! We just got in a huge amount of stock, just for you!!

We have 4 wonderful tableware collections in stock right now: Piazza, East meets West, Cirque and Cashmere Coupe (which is bone china) They are all very different and great in their own way! Some are square in shape and some are more traditional!

The RED bake-ware came out this year and it is so great for the holidays! We also have lots of white and brown bake-ware as well! I did up a feature table with a combination of the red and white bake ware………..Lots of choice….mini round, medium round, large round, with lids/without lids, large ovals, large and small square, small ramekins, rectangular, etc….

All the pieces are dishwasher, microwave, freezer and oven safe. The mini casserole dishes with the lids would be ideal for individual servings of: french onion soup, baked pasta, souffle, chocolate dessert, shepherds pie etc……I am eyeing a large one myself to make a big lasagna in! Hmmmmm, my favourite!

In addition to the tableware and bake-ware there are also so many different serving platters, small appetizer type pieces, tiny sauce bowls……I could go on and on….Its really a lot of fun looking through it all and finding your favourite piece!

Glassware and cutlery are also a very important part of your entertaining collection. We have open stock cutlery available…and also some boxed wine glass sets! These make great gifts!

We, at The House Dressing, are all very knowledgeable regarding the Maxwell Williams products and we love helping customers choose great pieces that work with their lifestyle! We can offer some great ideas for entertaining pieces, gifts, tableware sets etc…….

Many of you may already know about or are a part of The Maxwell & William’s Club…but for those of you that don’t…allow me to explain -  Every time you spend $40 on M&W products, you receive a stamp on your card.(which you can leave at the store) Once you have 10 stamps filled in you get a FREE $40 M&W piece of your choose! Doesn’t that sound great. A number of people I have seen in the store often pop in to buy an item to add to their collection. The CLUB program would be great for you! Really its great for everyone! Who doesn’t want FREE stuff!

Have a great week……..I’m still busy at the store putting out Christmas! There are new items coming out of the back room everyday!

Helen

Written by : Julie Cove

Today I am soooo excited to share a very special book with you.  But first, I hope you had a great couple weeks!  Did you get to see the torch relay?  The kids and I managed to see it twice on one day.  I know it’s something that they will never forget.

Also, we all had a fantastic family holiday and now we are excited for the coming of the holiday season.  Amelia is already asking when Santa arrives!  I can’t believe it’s November!

The book I wish to share is titled “Gift from the Sea.  My girlfriend Karen gave it to me years ago.  If you’ve never read this book by Anne Morrow Lindbergh I must say that it’s lovely and certainly a keeper and one that you will want to buy additional copies of for close friends.  It is the kind of book that you will read again and again for the special wisdom that she shares for our lives as women.  She wrote it in the 50’s and 20 years later for additional printings she wrote a foreword indicating her own utter surprise that the book still held strong wisdom that was to her, surprisingly timeless.  Here it is now 50 years later and I will probably read it numerous times over the next 50 years should I still be kicking!

I like to read it alone by the seaside, when I can,  particularly the tropical seaside.  We spent our family vacation in the Bahamas for 10 days. So I managed a wee bit of time alone on the beach to take in this lovely, much needed wisdom from her.  This is the beach that we stayed at, absolutely exquisite!

She so eloquently defines the stages of our lives with seashell analogies that make so much sense allowing you to clearly visualize and then remember.  An example is this paragraph below;

“Moon Shell, like a moon, solitary in the sky, full and round, replete with power.  Now it looks like the eye of a cat that brushes noiselessly through long grass at night.  Now it is an island, set in ever-widening circles of waves, alone, self-contained, serene.  How wonderful are islands! Islands in space like this one that I have come to, ringed about by miles of water, linked by no bridges, no cables, no telephones.                    ………We must re-learn to be alone. ( like the moon or the island)  It is a difficult lesson to learn today–to leave one’s friends and family and deliberately practice the art of solitude for an hour or a day or a week.  For me, the break is the most difficult.  Parting is inevitably the most difficult even for a short time.  It is like an amputation, I feel.  A limb is being torn off, without which I shall be able to function.  And yet, once it is done I find there is a quality to being alone that is incredibly precious.  Life rushes back into the void, richer, more vivid, fuller than before.  It is as if in parting one did actually lose an arm.  And then, like the star-fish, one grows it anew; one is whole again, complete and round–more whole, even, than before, when the other people had pieces of one.”

Her seashell analogies and philosophies represent many experiences from the various stages of her life, from a new marriage thru to children leaving the nest, to aging with your partner or alone, while addressing such topics as youth and age, love and marriage, peace, contentment, and solitude.

I keep this book close to me so I can peek at it any time that I feel I need some woman’s wisdom and inspiration.  It is a very yellowed copy that has that old precious book smell.  I found my copy at Beacon Books in Sidney.  They often have copies, if not leave them a request to call when one comes in.  There’s something about having a used copy of this book, knowing that women before me have found wisdom in her words as well.

It’s funny too as I think about sea shells, and what attracts us to them.  Why are we so fascinated with them and have such desire to collect them?

I hope you enjoyed a glimpse of Gift from the Sea.  Let me know if you were curious enough to find your own copy- I’d love to hear your thoughts.  Have a wonderful week.