Alterations: Seaport Holiday Shopping

Gingerbread display in shop window, Lunenburg, NS

Clearly you can tell by the date of my last post,  I'm a Designer not a blogger!  Its hard to believe its been 2 months since I've been back with any updates.  "Alterations" is a fitting theme for this post.  My attempts to write a post always fall to the bottom of my to do list, especially this past year as my personal time has been consumed by our house "alterations".  At this point our alterations don't look nearly as beautiful as this gingerbread house - I love the symmetry and simplicity of this and I'm dying over that bric-brac detail!  On the technical side, I'll be making "Alterations" to the blog and transferring all the content over to a new site in the new year so part of me has been postponing (or procrastinating) any updates until that's done.  I'm desperately in need of a simpler platform for blogging, hopefully the technical changes will allow me to write posts faster and more frequently.  In the meantime, Christmas will come and go before that happens.

I'm always get captivated by the holiday spirit and the natural beauty of the season.  So although I have a back log of projects to post about I'm feeling more in a holiday mode than work mode right now and I can't resist sharing a little holiday spirit while I have the chance....
 

Storefront window boxes adorned with pine boughs and berries.

We're spending the holidays on the East Coast this year and last weekend we went into Lunenburg for a bit of shopping and lunch.  There is no town more charming than the seaport town of Lunenburg (a UNESCO heritage site)  known for its colourful heritage buildings that are tiered up high overlooking the picturesque harbour.  Its not a place that sees many tourists in the winter so I thought I'd share some images of the town all dressed up for the holidays!

The sign taped to the door says, "Merry Christmas we are sold out of scallops".  Not surprising since they are known to be the best scallops in the world.  The back of this building overlooks their fleet docked along the waterfront. Their bright red and white shingled buildings are iconic landmarks of the harbour.

I'm not one for organza bows but I liked the placement of the sprig of berries which gives this wreath a modern vibe.

The Lunenburg Furniture Company. No holiday decor but the red door on its own is pretty festive.

Not only my favorite shop in Lunenburg but one of my favorite buildings too.  This distillery is located in a former blacksmith shop, the late 19th century building is one of the towns most noted landmarks, and has been carefully restored to maintain its original character.  Ironworks Distillery.  (Unfortunately this daytime photo doesn't depict the festive lights in the windows.)

I'll admit this is a favorite place of mine, for the product and the interior.  130 year old timber and beams.  Hand crafted spirits made from local ingredients and distilled on site in a copper still.   The smell of a wood fire…

The still is quite a sight and occupies a prominent corner of the retail shop.  Standing next right to it you can taste sample and purchase some holiday cheer.  Also, their bottles, labels and packaging are so beautifully designed.

With this much colour, you don't need to anything more than greenery and white lights!

The beautiful, Pentper General Shop.  The grey on grey gives this heritage building a contemporary vibe. (sorry for the reflection which obscured the gorgeous pinecone wreath.)  Pentper.

 The shop was closed when I stopped by the other day, this image is from a previous year... a peek at the heritage-meets-modern simplicity inside The Pentper. 

If the buildings aren't brightly coloured, they are high contrast black and white.

Hope you enjoyed this photo tour of some holiday style in Lunenburg!

 All Photos:  Carol Reed

Comfort & Joy

My bedroom 'dressed up' for the Holidays.

As the holidays drew closer I was craving the comforts of my own bed more than ever before.  Having been away for a few weeks on an extended road trip, we arrived home to a house in the midst of construction - it looked like one of my job sites, not my house...and they were clearly behind schedule.  Another two weeks of living thru and around the mess had me counting down the minutes until all the trades would be out the door and I could put the house back together again.  

The sight of our living room upon our return from the East Coast.  Not the welcome home I was expecting!  : /  It took another two weeks for all the work to be finished while we stayed at a brother's house.  When they were finally done, it was just six days until Christmas and pretty much the entire contents of our house were still packed away.

The first room I needed to put back in order was our bedroom.  A little touch of holiday greenery was enough to instantly put me in the spirit of the season and make the house look festive.  Ahhh the comforts of my own bed with all my own things around me once again.....

I plan on spending lots of down time here over the next few days,,,setting goals, making plans and dreaming big dreams for 2012.

To be able to enjoy the comforts of a crack'lin fire with family on Christmas day was truly joyful.

And sipping delicious hot teas from my new Iwachu iron tea set will bring me comfort & joy for many years to come.  I'm absolutely in LOVE with the sculputural lines of this tea pot,  I plan to leave it out where I can see it all the time.  Thank you Santa!

From my home to yours,

 I wish you Comfort & Joy

 this Holiday season and

 in the New Year ahead.

Peace,

Carol

All Photos:   Carol Reed

Christmas Past

Weeks ago many bloggers started sharing photos of their holiday decor,,,but I'm still here scrambling to get some festive touches in place around casa CREED before Christmas day actually arrives!  Ah the joys of running your own design business usually means you don't have any time left to focus on your own home.  So since my halls are still only half decked for xmas 2010,,,I thought I'd share some photos of xmas's past.  These pics are also mostly from pre-blogging days so I'm sorry to say they're not the best quality photos but I think you'll see a glimpse of holiday decor despite the really bad flash exposure. 

My tree this year, looks exactly like my tree last year, as shown above.  Its simply adorned with white lights, hand-blown glass ornaments, glass icicles, dark chocolate brown balls, lots of silver balls and natural pine cones. I'm always on the lookout for new tree ornaments and usually pick up something new every year but nothings caught my eye this time round.....

Like usual I was running short on time last year so out of necessity I kept the mantle simple, these vases are on the mantle all year long I just added some evergreen branches and silver balls.

During the day an oversize bowl filled with huge sugar cones and evergreen branches sits on the coffee table, when guests arrive I move it to make room for food.....

This is what our coffee table looks like all day long on Xmas ,,,,always covered with food and wine! A guest brought the flowers.

Our dining table last Christmas,,,,,and our $2 light fixture from Habitat for Humanity (which replaced an unsightly ceiling fan).  Even though this is just a rental property and is not a 'designer home' by any means it's never stopped me from entertaining here -  I can't stress enough how strongly I feel about this - never hold off from entertaining family and friends because you think your house isn't 'perfect' yet, your guests really won't care.  Make the most of what you have, you can create an inviting and festive atmosphere with simple things and have memories you'll cherish forever.

Our Christmas table in our Condo about 4 or 5 years ago.  I had more hydrangeas,,,but of course they died a few hours after I brought them home, this was only one that survived. : /  The disco balls were from the dollar store, I loved the sparkle they added.

Another Christmas at the Condo, I think about 4 years ago, orchids instead of hydrangeas on the table.  I had hung crystals from the arc floor lamp the xmas before this and I liked them so much they stayed permanently.  

This is a pretty good reflection of my holiday decor style,,,I keep it really simple and as natural as possible. Some fresh evergreen, white flowers, pine cones and silver balls are my essentials. This was a favorite way to dress up the mantle at the condo, one bough of evergreen with a vase of orchids and branches at the end with a few oversize silver balls.  And probably my favorite holiday accessory I own are the 3 white letters, JOY.  I especially love the subtle effect of them on white walls.

My brother and I a couple of years ago.  This was the first Christmas my family celebrated since my dad's passing,,,,he's wearing dad's Christmas Pants - my dad wore these every xmas for about 30 years or more (they're really old!) until he finally outgrew them, and my brother took over the tradition.  Yup, he actually leaves the house wearing those!!

Ah the morning after, this was boxing day morning from 2 years ago here at the house, my most favorite day of the year.  (Seriously it is).  The centre piece on the table is an example of what you can whip up in about 2 minutes as your guests are pulling in the driveway - I can't even take credit for it, my 'handyman' made this literally seconds before the doorbell rang.  He took a glass cake stand, laid some pine cuttings on it,,,,threw some silver balls and pine cones on top.  Done.  I loved how it was elevated but low lying so it didn't obstruct any sightlines or take up table space and it lasted for weeks.  I thought it was brilliant. 

Here's hoping this Christmas will be just as brilliant as Christmas Pasts!