Last week's gold-color items and greenery is displayed on the wall opposite this scene below which is on the other short end wall of our living room. This group obviously picks up the gold theme with the Japanese screen on the wall but that's the only item of that color I used here. I decided to fill an antique glass bowl with the bright new pomegranates that I bought along with a few dried ones and pomegranate tree ornaments.
The beaded Christmas tree is one of a pair that I bought years ago from the Wisteria catalog at an end of season sale. I love the fact that the trees are not a bright red and that, even thought they are solidly covered with beads, they are not particularly glittery or glitzy. It's pretty rare to find anything that is both beaded AND subdued. The tree stands almost 2 feet tall and is quite heavy.
Some years I've wired the artificial pears to a front door wreath along with purplish ribbon. This year they stayed indoors. The sequined berries are antique and I am quite in love with them.
Picture the display I just showed you on your left and last week's brass display on your right side. The images below are on the wall that you would be facing and the wall behind you is mostly glass looking out to the garden. This is the most minimally decorated space in the house in terms of Christmas. All I put out was my giant pine cone on the fireplace mantle. It's 18 inches long!
I didn't want anything to distract from the figures on either side of the firebox or my just-framed collages on the wall above the mantle.
Mark decided it was a little too subtle and surprised me by wrapping the pine cone in mini lights.
Nothing from the garden this week though there is still a small vase of garden greens remaining from my October and November clippings. To see what other gardeners have put into a vase today, visit Cathy in the UK who hosts this wonderful weekly meme.
I love seeing what you do! And I am inspired. I have a bunch of poms we just bought to eat, but why not put them in a bowl? And I have some small red ornaments. Now I just need to find something for some textural and color contrast. Thanks for the inspo!
Posted by: Kristin | Monday, December 18, 2017 at 07:48 AM
Glad to be of help! I tend to buy them more as decoration than to eat. But the seeds are beautiful when added to salads etc.
Posted by: Linda Brazill | Monday, December 18, 2017 at 08:14 AM
Our daughter is a pom fiend. And my son and I will dig out a few seeds every time we walk past one that's been cracked open. The seeds never make it into anything but our mouths! I should snitch some for a salad for our next gathering with friends.
Posted by: Kristin | Monday, December 18, 2017 at 08:18 AM
The beaded tree is very nice and the pomegranate bowl is sweet. Your lighted pine cone made my day.
Posted by: Peter/Outlaw | Monday, December 18, 2017 at 09:00 AM
Perfect! And good eye to find those beaded trees, they're fabulous.
Posted by: Loree / danger garden | Monday, December 18, 2017 at 09:49 AM
Oh I love the sharing of ideas on IAVOM - and I am going to add some battery lights to a pile of fircones as soon as I get some free minutes! AND I have recently bought a pomegranate to dry for future decorative use - not started on my clove covered fruit yet though... Thanks for all your lovely ideas, Linda :)
Posted by: Cathy | Monday, December 18, 2017 at 11:20 AM
You've done another wonderful job with your holiday-themed displays, Linda! I love the beaded tree for just the reasons you described - it enhances but doesn't overwhelm what's around it. As to the lights around the pine cone as an accent for your collages - brilliant!
Posted by: Kris P | Monday, December 18, 2017 at 01:43 PM
The pomegranates are lovely. Enjoy the holidays.
Posted by: Susie | Monday, December 18, 2017 at 07:50 PM
Understated elegance in Christmas decorations is hard to come by, but you've managed splendidly, Linda! I love the beaded tree and sequined berries, too. An 18" pinecone is amazing - it looks like white pine, but is that possible?
Posted by: Eliza Waters | Monday, December 18, 2017 at 09:52 PM
The lights are just the right touch. This, to me, is the season of lights. It is not so christmasy that you can't leave it out until the weather warms. I have a sculpted pine cone that I leave out all winter. No lights on it tho. Merry merry...
Posted by: Lisa at Greenbow | Tuesday, December 19, 2017 at 06:48 AM
We have old white pine trees around us but I have never seen a cone that big. I am guessing that it is from a tree that grows elsewhere. No info on it when I bought it a number of years ago.
Posted by: Linda Brazill | Tuesday, December 19, 2017 at 07:06 AM
I will put the most Christmas-y things away after NY's but you are right about the pine cone. I think it can stay!
Posted by: Linda Brazill | Tuesday, December 19, 2017 at 07:08 AM