gilt + nature holiday dining room

For me, last minute ideas almost always end up being the best. I love the challenge of using what's on hand, and making it into something meaningful and fun. Some combination of paint and nature is almost always involved :) This year it was gold spray paint, fallen leaves, pinecones, and branches...

I (with the help of my lovely assistant, Valerie, pictured on the left in photo #3) sprayed the leaves with my favorite gold paint, Rustoleum's gold bright coat, and hung them from the ceiling with scotch tape and fishing line....

The bubbles have been sitting in my office for a year. I got them from HomeGoods a long time ago but never put them to use, so this Thanksgiving they got hung from wire and eye hooks in the ceiling and filled with tea lights for a little sparkle and glow...

It made for such a magical Thanksgiving table...

filled with family....

I think the sparkle distracted from the fact that we were squishing 20 people around a hodge podge table. Once again, Thanksgiving takes the cake for being the best holiday around these parts!

We loved the ceiling additions so much that we decided to keep them up for advent.....

and the added sparkle led to many more sparkly meals. We've used our china so much in the past month, usually mixing it with more casual things like ticking stripe napkins and fancier things like crystal...

Our china (Lenox, Eternal) is one of the things that I really thought wasn't worth registering for when we got married, but I'm so glad my mother-in-law convinced me otherwise. 10 years later, it's still a favorite gift. I love the simple, classic ivory and gold. It looks so pretty whether it's paired with fine linen or rustic wood...

and we've slowly added in some advent favorites like our advent calendar stockings above the fireplace...

and our homemade cinnamon stick and pinecone garland that's still going strong 5+ years later...

 

and occasionally, in this busy season, we're making some time for the things that make home, really home...

Merry Christmas countdown!