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The Neutral Winter Palette

Hello! Thank you for stopping by my blog. I am eeking out a winter decor post before all things are moss and tulips! Today is March 1st - yippee! I have been busy gathering all my items for the Marche Maison spring window display at the bottom of Allentown's historical Americus Hotel. The window theme will be spring indeed but in a neutral palette kind of way. Speaking of neutral palettes - this is a picture of my winter "mantle display." I call this my mantle because I have no fireplace - sniff sniff. We had one in our old home and I thoroughly enjoyed changing it out every season. So this will do until we have a fireplace again! I had so much fun putting this vignette together this winter. It evolved over time....

I started with two different stick type arrangements and I just wasn't feeling it. I decided to move the sticks with the cute tags to the right and bring the little shadow box over to the left to see if that felt balanced....

I like it much better. You will see that I later changed the burlap out from behind the iron burnt out candelabra art! I felt it was drawing too much attention to the brown squares of burlap and I wanted it to feel more airy, more white - all white! Tell me what you think - better with or without the burlap. I tweaked it one more time when I purchased an amazing old antique door with a rusty latch. It is on its side on the right...

Here are some closer pics of the door. Rusty, worn, cracked and perfect. When I change my "mantle" for spring, I will enjoy finding a new home for this door, maybe I will even be able to display it upright next time.

I also kept adding little things as I stumbled upon them to that shadow box!

I added the little iron miniature chairs, a heart cookie cutter for Valentines Day and my seasonal decor partner in crime gave me the adorable galvanized house/barn - it fits perfect! Here are some other pictures closer up of the vase of sticks with the wooden tags

I don't know if you can read each of these tags? I am squinting to see them on my desk top - time for glasses! They read Cherish, Adore, Wish, and Love. You want to hear something funny? I just thought to myself "I wonder what those words say below Love?" So I went downstairs to look at it and thought, I love these definitions and there is a faint script print in the background that is hard to see in the picture. So I took them off the branches and took them to my dining room for the best lighting because it is night time. Here they are!

So I thought I would walk through these items, tell you where they came from, history, yada yada. This particular picture is my most "liked" picture on Instagram. It is hard to give all the details on an Instagram post - they actually have a word limit!

Here we go from the left ... The show box is from Goodwill $3. The items in the openings are collected over the years - the little iron chairs I got 8 for $6 I think, maybe less at a vintage/junk shop. The flat french wooden chairs are from Michaels - I had a bunch of them on my Christmas tree - they are actually at Michaels right now $1 each or less. The barn - a friend. The mini Eiffel Tower - Paris! There is another wooden tag $2.50, an iron finial that I have had so long I can't recall its origin. Last, there is a mini cloche (redeemed from a broken Christmas ornament) with an old zipper bunched (free) in it.

The round top mirror - a barn sale for $8 with all of its fantastic chippiness. I could not have recreated this color and the worn look - it is perfect!

The arch top window in the middle was free from a real estate client. The rag banner on it I made from different ribbons and scrap fabric. the grey velvet ribbon and poka dot lace are from Paris. If you have old soft cotton sheets that are getting worn, do not throw them away, tear them into strips to use in decor or to wrap or hang things - they have a beautiful fringey edge to them when they are not cut but torn!

I have a branch set in the arched frame that was at the top of my Christmas tree. I picked it up on the beach in Cape May, NJ last fall. I added a little nest with eggs to it. The birch piece is free, it fell off some birch wood we had purchased at the local store and it was too cool to toss! You already know all about that awesome antique door and the vase of sticks!

Here are a few other pics of the neutral winter decor...

Notice the burlap now missing from behind the iron candelabra art. Photo bomb compliments of Pumpkin the cat, my little buddy...

This Friday, stop over to @MarcheMaison on Instagram for this fun Shop Hop loop. Marche Maison will be featuring the beautiful Mountain Sage wreath in the top left corner. a better close up to follow...

This wreath is a large wreath at 24" - a wonderful statement piece. I think it is a beautiful alternative to the magnolia leaf wreath I see everywhere. This Mountain Sage wreath retails for $74.00 and can be found in the online store. THIS Friday starting at 5:00pm, it will be $55 DELIVERED. This price will be available to the first 15 customers!

I have heard there are troubles posting a comment to my blog? Can you let me know? I would enjoy hearing from my readers, where they are from, how they found me, etc. What are you excited about in spring decor this year? If you are not into the seasonal decor thing, what are you excited about?

Thank you for stopping by and reading my blog!