The House Dressing Company

Written by : Helen McIntyre

Good Morning!

Hope you are all getting into the Xmas spirit, busy decorating your homes and have all your shopping done! (wishful thinking I know!)

My last post was all about 2 homes I decorated for Xmas. I wanted to share some more photos of the 2nd house as the ones I posted were from my Blackberry and they didn’t come out as well as I would have hoped!

I also took some photos of the downstairs family room from the same home. These photos are of their hunting and fishing inspired family room! We used owls, bears, ski’s, fish, wood ornaments and small reindeer’s to fill up the wonderful tree! I just love how unique this tree is and it’s so fabulous how much the whole family just loves spending time in this cozy room!

The mantle is also a great part of the room with a wonderful big picture of  a deer in the forest, 3 over sized candlesticks, a lit garland with a snowflakes, little woodsy owls and some really amazing huge rustic stars! I think of course their yellow lab, Duke definitely makes this picture perfect! He is so adorable!

I changed one particular section in the store just a couple of days ago. Christmas “day” is really approaching fast and we all should be thinking about our dining room tables! How should they look? What colours am I going to use? Do I have enough dishes? Serving Platters? Am I going to use napkin rings and maybe place card holders? Do I want a tablecloth or a runner with some place mats? What do I want my centerpiece to be? Candles? a greenery arrangement? Do I have wine glasses? Red and White? maybe some water glasses? or some kind of container to house water in on the table? …….The list goes on! My intention is not to overwhelm you, but simply get you thinking about your own table and how you might want to set it this year! It is also my goal to get you organized so you have everything you need in advance, to prevent panicking on the last day!

I have set up a table for Xmas at the store to get you inspired and to show you lots of different ideas! It doesn’t matter how elaborate or simple you want your table to be……it’s just nice to have all the basics you need! We would be delighted to help you with any “setting the table” questions you have and help you to put together the best table you have ever set!!

Have a great week!

Written by : Julie Cove

Here’s a peek at what I have done so far.  How’s your decorating going? Are you feeling inspired or are you feeling overwhelmed?  My trick is to put the Christmas music on, make a cup of holiday spiced tea and make sure no one is awake or home!  We did some family decorating with the Christmas village and the kids tree and that was sooo much fun but this part is the best part for me!

This is a close up of our mantle and below is one of my favourite ornaments- a jeweled snowflake I found a couple years ago.

Paper whites are my favourite so I grow them every year along with creating bouquets of greens & white flowers.

These are some gorgeous roses with a dusting of snow on our garry oaks thru the window-how pretty don’t you think?

I truly hope you are brave enough to enter a category for the Ultimate Decorating Contest because there are some really great prizes to win!  We’ve had some excellent entries in the writing categories, homemade cards, living room & tree and even some wonderfully sized food bank donations- this is actually a category in case you missed it!  Enter as many categories or as many times as you wish with a minimum $2 donation to the food banks.  You still have 9 days to pop in with your entry–just don’t leave it to the last minute or you may run out of time with the bustle of the season!

How many of you made it to the play that Karen Elgersma produced?  If you missed The Irrational Christmas I’ll have you know that it most definitely put our family in the Christmas spirit.  Her talented musicians, actors and actresses in that show were fantastic!  It wrapped up last night with a crowd, many holding moistened kleenex!  Amazing job Karen, Congratulations!

We managed to sneak a visit in to see the lights at Butchart Gardens. What a delight especially the brand new Rose Carousel.  Amelia was squealing with delight as we neared the building that houses this magnificent and gorgeous new addition to the gardens.  She beamed with the widest grin as she proudly rode her horse!  This is a memory she will carry for years, her very first ride of many on the Rose Carousel!

Isn’t this sunken garden just amazing?  We visit every year but it ceases to amaze me each time we wander thru.

Eight maids a milking and eleven pipers piping!

This is the inspiration for the trees in our front yard.  I absolutely love white lights so this makes me smile!

And here she is, just loving the carousel!  …..and yes I rode with her–that’s the joy of having a little one especially at Christmas… I get to be a big kid too!

Stay tuned this week for an extra couple posts, one you’ll love with a special offer you won’t be able to refuse!  Happy decorating and don’t forget your contest entries:)

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 : Helen McIntyre

Every year at this festive time, I am very fortunate to have the job of decorating The House Dressing for Christmas. I take great pleasure in making the store look welcoming for all of our customers!

Well, not only do I do that…but I also decorate other people’s homes too! Last Friday, I was out of the store all day decorating two wonderful client’s homes for Christmas!

I had such a great day…….and I am happy to share some of the photos I took of their beautiful trees and mantles!

This first photo you see here is in the more..”modern” of the houses. The tree has a combination of glass, silver and white balls and also some mirrored snowflakes, flocked white snowflake balls, silver feathers and some really great teardrop glass ornaments!. We kept the tree quite simple as the home owner prefers an uncluttered simple look. I absolutely love this tree! It looks fantastic and really lights up the room!

The mantle at this house is also very simple…but definitely  a show stopper! Due to having the fantastic decorative mirror above……it was important to leave the mantle quite simple as not to compete with the busyness of the mirror. We simply strung a whole lot of lights through a garland and placed it across the thick mantle. One large, tall glass hurricane balances the two smaller silver decorative sculptures at the other end! To finish it off we stuck some silvery feathers in the garland and placed a wonderful acrylic NOEL sign at the front! It sure is pretty and sparkles when the lights in the garland are on! You can also see that we placed a set of 3 tall contemporary candlesticks on a large surface stepping up from the living room. To add some interest with the candlesticks, a silver decorative reindeer sits beside them. That’s just about it for this house! Uncomplicated and extremely effective!!!

The next home is just as great, but more traditional and lots more going on! The tree has the same elements as the other with the glass and silver balls…..but we added a lot more! To play up the colours in the room we added some soft sea foam balls and some really light creamy gold balls! This definitely gives the tree some depth and warmth! Also there are silver feathers, mirrored ornaments, large 3d stars, over sized silver bows and some really great mirrored, glittery garlands! This tree looks spectacular!

The mantle sits right beside the tree, so we had to make sure they both worked well together! Of course we had to use a garland with lights! We added a traditional, ornate metal  tree, some mirrored and pewter candle sticks and a lot of snowflake ornaments, balls and feathers! Wow what a sight! It was really fun to do!

The sideboard in the dining room was also part of the decorating and is in the same vicinity as the tree. We simply placed 3 tall candle sticks in a row in the center of the surface that are adorned with wiry silver decorative candle rings! Next we added some green garland, sprays of fabulous burgundy flowers (to match the pillow colour in the living room) and finished off with some sparkly, silver garland for that hit of glamour! The garland arrangement in combination with the two lamps and the silver mirror above really makes a wonderful setting! What shall I call this home……Elegant with lots of personality!

I really enjoyed my day of decorating! It’s not to late to start if you haven’t already! (I haven’t, I am so busy with the store and other people’s homes!…that’s what happens this time of year!)

Don’t forget! If you are feeling overwhelmed, I am here to help!

Cheers till next time! Happy decorating!

Oh…and don’t forget about our wonderful DECORATING CONTEST going on right now! We have had some great entry’s so far! Thanks you.

Hurry in and submit YOUR entry! We look forward to seeing you. Any questions, please call the store for more details or refer to Julie’s “Christmas Decorating” blog post.

Written by : Julie Cove

Look what my husband did to surprise me for our outdoor holiday lighting this year!  I have hinted every year how much I love the Butchart Gardens Display tree at the corner of West Saanich and Keating that we drive by every day during December.  So after many, many packages of lights and a few long evenings of wrapping with the kids pitching in too, we have this fantastic display in our front yard.  Of course with this process the house lights are not up yet but you know, I’d be happy with just this!   He added the snowflakes, silver baubles, spot lights and voila our garry oak trees make us smile every night!  Don’t you love it?  All we need is a dusting of snow on Christmas Eve and it becomes magazine cover photo opportunity!  His deadline for completion was yesterday so that we could share this display with our dinner guests- I’ll explain!

Many of us have friendships that are special with a long history of memories but everyday life gets in the way of nurturing these relationships and fitting regular visits into our busy schedules.  Does this happen to you and your family?  Then along comes Christmas and suddenly we feel the urge to connect with those whom we haven’t had the opportunity to do so in a long while.  I think this is one of the most wonderful things that the holiday season encorages us to do.  Don’t you think?  How nice does it feel when you can make these kinds of catch up visits with friends and family happen during such a festive season?

That’s exactly what we did this past weekend-thus the deadline for a pretty front yard!  For the past 19 years our family along with 3 others gathered for a lovely meal.  We started with 8 adults and now there are 23 of us (seated at very long table indeed at my house) and we had an evening to remember!  We poured over past memories with photos of us all in the 80’s with “big hair” and giggled at our wardrobes!  At the table each of us commented one by one at what we were most grateful for and it was our long lasting friendship and special memories that topped the charts. We were reminded that for our 4th year, 3 of us gals thought we didn’t need to have these big elaborate dinners together and that we could simplify with other small visits but thank goodness the 4th gal absolutely insisted that we do. We have created such a wonderful tradition that we and all the many kids look forward to each and every year.  At the time we didn’t realize the significance of our gatherings but now, looking back and listening to the comments from our teens,we recognize they really appreciated having these friendships nurtured.  I hope we have inspired our kids – I love imagining the possibility of all our kids carrying on this tradition once they have children.  It warms my heart!

It’s still early enough in December, so there’s still lots of time to plan a gathering or even just have a nice hot apple cider with friends.  If it’s too hectic it would be wonderful to plan something for January to ring in the new year and lift your spirits after the holiday hoopla has calmed down. Have you already planned something? If not, give it some thought and catch up with a friend with whom you have been meaning to do so!

On a side note I wanted to share our visit to the Saanichton Community Christmas event on saturday- It was a bright, sunny and crisp afternoon for a horse drawn carriage ride!  What a treat it was!  We enjoyed complimentary hot chocolate and fresh baked cookies, photos of Santa Claus and visits by Jack Frost, The Grinch, Cindy Lou and The Ice Queen with live music and lots of Christmas Spirit all for generous donations for the food bank!  Thank you to the organizers. Well done!

Here is Amelia enjoying the horsey!  And check out the gingerbread village on display at Fresh Cup Roastery in Saanichton!  Have a merry, merry week!

“Gifts of time and love are surely the basic ingredients of a truly merry Christmas.”

~ Peg Bracken.