1994 Christmas, sort of.....

Since it's that time of year (Christmas), I felt maybe I should post something that relates to the holiday. Since I'm Jewish, this will be on a story published about a job I did for some clients of mine who actually celebrated the holiday both in its true spirit and all its glitz, many, many, many, many years ago.
This was an article in Traditional Home Magazine, and since it was sold in 1994, I accept that the style is a little (hah!) dated. But the story is a good one, so I am going to mine it for all it's worth.
You gots to use what you can in blog land.
HERE'S A PICTURE!!!!!!!

The gentleman of the house was from Scotland and wanted a touch of plaid in every room. Being one to oblige, I smothered him. There was plaid on the walls, there was plaid on the floor, there was plaid thrown over the backs of the furniture. If anything stayed still long enough, I covered it in plaid. He loved it (as least that's what he told me), and his wife Peggy was a real good sport. 
National magazines shoot their stories a year in advance, but it can sometimes take a little extra time to get the photo orders, so by the time the photo shoot order had come through it was the middle of January. Try to find a Christmas tree in the middle of January. Did I mention that this was a story on Christmas we had to shoot in the middle of January???????
We had to find a place that not only had a tree left over, but the other stuff we would need, like garlands and bows, etc. Actually, we just didn't need a left over tree, but one that would look O.K. in a picture. OY! OY! OY!!!!!
We found a place around an hour from me up on the north shore of Massachusetts. I went up there with the Traditional Home regional editor, Estelle Bond Guarelnick, to choose what we needed and cart it back to the shoot location. Now, if you know about real Christmas trees, you know what happens to them after they have been hanging around for a few weeks. THEY SHED!!!!!
So we gingerly strapped the thing to the roof of Estelle's car (she had me drive, I still remember this day clearly) and we went barreling back down Route 95 with it waving jauntily in the breeze. Since I didn't know that much about decorating a house to the nines in Christmas Cheer, I had to call in the big guns.
SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO................................
I had a good friend who was also a designer who just happened to be another Traditional Home Magazine favorite. You might know him. Gary McBournie. He came to my rescue. He LOVES Christmas decorating. We met him at the house with all our greenery and sparkle, and he went to town.
Not only was he kind enough to help, but he brought his plaid sweater vest so he could work as a prop also!!!
Here he is pretending to be at a party at their house.

Every one's laughing 'cuz it's not even Christmas. That's Peggy and Jim, the home owners and happy couple. That's June sitting down, she was my right hand and best friend. She ran my office and went to the movies with me when we had a slow day. Notice how I said  "WAS" my best friend. The @#$& retired on me, just 'cuz she's 13 years older than I am. I still allow her to visit me in Florida, because I am a gracious and loving woman, not one to hold a grudge. 'course, if she hadn't LEFT me, I wouldn't have retired either, and then I wouldn't be writing this blog, and you guys would be missing out!!!
Here's a picture of the Christmas Tree!!!!!!!!

Notice how sparse it is??????
The photographer's assistant knocked it over TWICE!!!!!!!!!
Then we had to redo the decorations and ribbon, AND vacuum up all the needles off the dark carpet. What an idiot. I can understand knocking it over once, I mean, I'm pretty klutzy, but TWICE?????
This tree was cut down over a month ago, it was FRAGILE!!!!!
Look!!! More plaid!!! The rug was custom made to match a traditional plaid called Hunting McLeod that I also covered the chair in. I thought I was very clever. To get a good price on the rug, we had to order a lot of it, so we put it in the living room, dining room and lower and upper halls as well as on the stairs.
Here's the living room, remember, this was 1994.......

For the last picture I will show you the kitchen, it's amazing how my taste has changed in the last 17 (yikes) years. Wait a minute, the only thing I really am not so happy about is the wood carving detail on the plate rack at the end of the island. So the look is a little dated for today, but I guess I still like it.

I like the look of the wreath hanging from the drapery pole. It's a nice way to add some visual warm to a long expanse of window in the winter.
I still like lamp shade hanging lights over kitchen islands, it brings a nice touch of softness to the hard surfaces.

And I still LOVE cabbage roses, always have, always will.


Linking to: Mod Vintage Life
Linking to:  Wow Us Wednesdays - Savvy Southern Style
Linking to:  2805
Linking to:  At the picket fence
http://thepolohouse.blogspot.com/2012/03/join-tartan-parade-here.html