New Years Eve Tablestyling: Silver Black & Gold

Looking back at the pictures I took from last years New Years Eve for two at our home in Florida, made me miss being able to set up our round little table for two here in AZ. I can't really set up the round table with this layout (at the moment) but I can reuse some of the ideas I set our table and home with... and so can you. Since I had incorporated gold with my silver holiday decor last year, I kept it in the mix, added a little bit more bling - with an unexpected find - and tied together a festive look with some black, silver, and gold party favors I picked up at Party City (on sale for half off). Since no year is on them, we'll be able to reuse them this New Years Eve. Here are some of the details...

Since New Years Eve is usually a time for "reflection",

I used a round mirror from HomeGoods as a tray on the coffee table...

I cleared away the pinecone from holiday, and refilled glass cylinders with silver mirrored balls and gold bling ornaments...

For the table cover, I used two 84" in window panels I had - this is a good way to repurpose the shorter panels since I use 96", 98" and 102" panels now...  To add a little height I put the noisemakers into Vodka shot glasses... For the chairs, I brought down the two black & chrome directors chairs I had in the bedroom. For comfort, I added a metallic silver pillow to both chairs. The sparkle top hats were the last two they had and were only $5 each at Party City... The noisemakers were another $5, so the New Years Eve setting only cost $15 + our dinner of grilled steak & lobster Jeff prepared for a fraction of what NYE would cost us out in Miami (an easy $100 per person for dinner anywhere plus drinks)

The unexpected find: The napkin rings are bracelets - my fave to wear: CUFFS.

For napkins, I layered a solid black linen napkins (from HomeGoods) over my NY Skyline linens, showing only the band of NYC.

More mirrored balls in a (Tiffany) bowl...

I've had these since the millennium and I like using them every New Years Eve and the bowl was a gift from our Realtor back in 2006...

A martini glass held Rocher gold foil wrapped hazelnut chocolates and another mirrored ball.

Martini glasses are also great to use to hold crushed ice & sauce cup for shrimp cocktail...

I used a glass candle holder container to hold the ice and champagne... and I also brought down a clock from upstairs to help keep track of the TIME for New Years Eve...

I added a black fur throw to the all white couch plus a my two silver sequin pillows.

For added New Years Eve sparkle, I also draped my pashmina wrap of black and silver...

My thrifted brass candle holders added just enough gold to the table, and held 14" black tapers... Silver mirror mosaic candles (clustered behind the sofa) also added sparkle and a glow to the space... For New Years Eve glam confetti, I curled some silver ribbon I had leftover from wrapping. I used my small disco ball (I got when I worked in visuals) as the centerpiece on the dining table for dinner, and afterwards over on the coffee table with the champagne...

The look of our intimate dining area within the living room had a beautiful glow in all the candlelight, as we watched the ball drop in Times Square on TV... Hopefully one year we'll actually make it TO times Square for New Years Eve...

Cheers to you... whatever your plans may be...

and I hope some of these ideas helped to inspire you...

 Happy New Year 2012!

Thanks for stopping by!



End of the year note of Thanks...

It's hard to believe, the week is not only already half over - But so too has the year nearly ended! It's been quite a busy year filled with new home DIY experiments I've shared with you, some more thrift treasures transformed, client projects, working with David Bromstad & the Colorsplash crew, a trip to NYC for the 911 Ten Year Anniversary, selling our home of five years, and packing up to move across the country! Now that the dust is settling, Christmas has been taken down, packed up and put away, I'd like to take a moment to say a HUGE THANK YOU to all of you who stopped by for a visit, pinned a few inspirations, featured Focal Point on your blog or site, left a sweet comment or tweet, and most of all... Thank You for the thoughtful words of encouragement and hanging in there during my transition / move from South Florida out west to Arizona! 

Image by woodleywonderworks via Flickr

Although there have been some wonderful friends & support on Facebook I'd also like to thank (Lisa, Janelle, Sandra, Linda, Emma, Caron, Gloria, James, Joel, Marcie, Michelle, Brandi & Bonnie)... nothing quite beats those perosnal bonds you make with people through the years. Some close friends back in Florida I miss and would also like to thank for their friendship and support this year are Rosemarie Booz, Rebeca Suarez, Patricia Anthony, Diane Pemberton, and my dear friend Jose Vazquez ~ I especially miss so much!! Thank you also mom, Marcia, Gail, Jeff, & Sephora, for bringing me so much comfort & joy!

A dozen blogs of note I'd like to thank for their referrals & features are:

The DIY Showoff

Between Naps On The Porch

Under The Table and Dreaming

Color Outside The Lines

Homemaker On A Dime

My Romantic Home

Centsational Girl

The Tip Junkie

Nesting Place

Mr. Goodwill Hunting

A Stroll Thru Life

and

Stories Of Home A to Z

Image by woodleywonderworks via Flickr

What are some posts you enJOYed this year?

What are some more topics or projects you'd like to see in the year to come?

Again - Thank You and thanks for stopping by!



Simple holiday gift wrap + arrangement + tablescape tips

Save them for next year, but here's a few details I quickly did for our Christmas table. Before, I had a separate dining area to set for family, a bar counter for get togethers, and I'd set up a round table for two for Jeff and I on Christmas Eve. Since I still wanted to do something quick, easy and festive for us, but to still to be kind of intimate. I off set our center piece at one end of the table and our place settings were at the other end of the table. Using a stack of books, cake plates, and a pedestal bowl added interest and height for the simple tablescape. I just used one of Jeff's scarves as the table runner and various glass & mirrored candles holders added a sparkle and a glow. A folded stripe dish towel added a another layer of pattern to various dishes I used for Christmas Eve, Christmas morning breakfast, and Christmas Day.

Simple everyday items like a B&W dishes mixed with holiday patterns, a scarf as a runner, and a folded stripe dishtowel can add layers of pattern to a tablescape. The napkin here was rolled than folded over and tied with twine.

 

A simple evergreen, twine and candy cane can personalize a place setting.

Books & cake plates can add height and visual interest to a tablescape.





For gifts, I just used simple brown craft paper tied with some left over twine from my holiday decor. I also used some twine on the small stainless tumblers I used to hold some petite fresh greens on the table. I had also used the smaller fresh greens on some of the wrapped gifts. The majority of the greens I used mixed with some lilies I picked up at the grocery store and some eucalyptus from Micheal's. The fresh arrangement smelled great in the crisp, cool winter air! I also some of the craft paper to wrap some of Sephora's cat grass...

Pets are a part of the family too.

Don't forget to wrap their special gifts as well.

A bathroom tumbler can make a great small vessel for a petite arrangement.

Brown paper packages tied up with string really are a few of my favorite holiday things...

What's yours?

 

Thanks for stopping by!

LINKING POST TO:

A Stroll Thru Life - Tabletop Tuesday

Between Naps On The Porch - Tablescape Thursday

(linking later this week)



Our Christmas in a new home & new area

This years Christmas might have been with a few less family and friends (because of our recent move) ~ It was quiet, yet still festive. To create some comforts of home, we cooked, watched movies, exchanged a few gifts and went for a drive around the neighborhood looking at Christmas lights. Some of what we saw here was done a little differently then what we've seen before. Most enjoyable were the neighborhoods displaying luminaries. One area did simple white luminaries lining the streets, and another did mixed colors (we liked the white).  Some others things set differently out here for Christmas was rather contradictory: Grocery stores had an enormous amount of alcohol stacked high or at focal points adjacent to what you could mix it with... And on Christmas eve, several nearby churches were all closed up and dark by 8pm - No 10pm or midnight candlelight services - which we would have liked to have gone to. We'll have to learn more about the holiday church services for next year, but here are some shared Christmas moments in our new area: Arizona...

 

Luminaries...

 

on Noel...

 

Some house really went ALL out!

 

More luminaries, in multi-colored bags...

 

Simple lit walkways...

 

Simple light framed houses with those Arizona Stars!!

For Christmas eve dinner, I was really homesick for a Cuban Christmas eve meal. Since a restaurant near Jeff's store recently opened (from Miami called Feli's Kitchen!!) Jeff picked up roasted pork, black beans, rice, yuca, tostones (fried green plantains) and flan on Friday - I heated and doctored it up some on Saturday night for our Christmas eve dinner. For Sunday's Christmas day dinner, we tried something different: a NY Holiday Roast (think prime rib) that Jeff roasted with potatoes & onions, plus steamed some asparagus.

 

Local grocery store liqueur display...

 

Adult chocolate milk and Southern Comfort  plus rum next to the egg nog...

 

Jack stacked near the beer aisle... And there were others - This was all in ONE store. 

On a personal note: I don't agree with merchandising alcohol in a grocery store. It enables the weak to just pick it up too easily. Great for their profits, but bad for the community - especially when Phoenix was listed as #10 in cities with the most drunk drivers... 

just saying...

 

Sephora's new lounge for the loft - with storage for all her new toys!

 

 

Sephora Christmas Stocking - STUFFED!

 

Christmas morning with Sephora's Toys...

 

Sephora's new bed and some cat GRASS!

Christmas morning was spent watching Sephora play with ALL her new toys Santa brought (she loved them!!) and I prepared a breakfast of French Toast (from a sourdough loaf) scrambled eggs, bacon, juice and hot mint chocolate-coffee. This years gift exchange was one of tech: Santa JD brought me a laptop - plus perfume & boots from Sephora. Santa LQ brought Jeff a Kindle Fire (sorry Steve - this was more affordable!), the Steve Jobs book and a commemorative Steve Jobs TIME Magazine. Sephora filled his stocking with silly sweets like candy canes and kisses, and his favorite hard-to-find breakfast bars. We spent the day yesterday just lounging, watching movies, syncing and learning our new devices.

 

Christmas Eve

 

Christmas Eve

 

mmmmm... Yuca!

Dee-lish side to Cuban roasted pork, black beans, rice & plantains!

 

Christmas Day

 

Christmas Day

Roasted NY Holiday Roast, potatoes and asparagus...

 

Kitchen aisle with sweets...

 

 Lilies I picked up at the grocery store with some fresh cut greens and eucalyptus from Micheal's... Cookies Jeff brought home in a cute tin :)

 

Christmas Morning Breakfast

 

Christmas Morning Breakfast

 

A few tablescape tips coming up in next post...

Jeff had to be at the store early this morning for the After-Christmas crazies. I'm cleaning up around here and contemplating tearing down Christmas to put away. It's weird, after the day is over, I quickly get the feeling of being overwhelmed with clutter and just want to see everything cleared. I love it all the 30 days its up, but come the day after - I'm ready for a clean slate. Although not today, I probably will have it pretty much packed up by the end of the week...

 

Christmas morning...

 

yeah! Ralph & Romance!

 

BIG surprise not under the tree...

 

But a laptop with a sweet message I see!

 

Linking & syncing at the coffee table in the living room...

 

Christmas morning aftermath :)

 

Sephora still lovin' under the tree :)

So how about you? How was your Christmas? Was it quiet or chaotic? Did you do more or less cooking and baking this year? Are you ready to clear the clutter? Are you ready for a new year? Do you keep up your decor until this first week of January?

Hope you enJOYed a wonderful Christmas 
with your family and friends!

Thanks for stopping by!