mirrors add extra sparkle to Christmas

Happy Friday! The weekend's here and I wanted to stop in one last time to share a few little snapshots from around the house... 

I love how this mirror in the dining room does double duty in reflecting our dear Christmas tree.

That little extra glimmer of holiday lights is always a bonus, that’s why I love having at least one mirror in each room to bounce back those special twinkly holiday lights.   

One tree is all you need, especially when the sparkly lights are reflected from room to room.

These first three photos are little outtakes from Wednesday's photo shoot with Cottages and Bungalows. 

Mirrors are all about reflecting light and adding more dimension to a room… that’s why I love using them so much!

This is a little vignette from last year. You can see that extra glow in the background!

How do you like to display decorative mirrors in your home?

ciao! fabiana

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home style with the new york housewives

“Word on the street” is that the Real Housewives of New York have already been busy filming season 10 and not only that, but a few of them have been busy redecorating their homes and getting their homes ready for the holidays. The best news of all for me is that the entire season 9 cast is back this year!  

So let's get started...

Firstly, I have to apologize for this being a bit of a long post today, but there's a lot to cover! These women have been busy!

One of my favorite things about watching the Real Housewives is checking out their homes, and my all-time favorites are New York and Beverly Hills! 

I also love that most of them own more than one home.

In addition to their city apartments, lofts or townhouses, several of the NY gals have homes in the Hamptons. And then of course, there’s Dorinda with her fabulous Berkshires mansion! 

Luann’s Hamptons home has recently appeared in Architectural Digest so we can take a sneak peek at its recently zhushed-up interior.

As you can see, Luann replaced the red patchwork cow head in her kitchen with one of her antique mirrors.

This really is a favorite spot for her to pose,

isn’t it?

Here’s a little real action in the kitchen with Sonja,

during filming and seen on Instagram.

Here’s Luann, her son and her niece out on the front porch of her Sag Harbor home. This 19th century Greek Revival house is quite a little gem!  

Do you recognize the kitchen from the show? 

I love how bright and airy it is!

Yum, Yum!

Did they take one of these dining room mirrors

into the kitchen just for the AD photo shoot?

Maybe...

Here’s Lu singing and partying with Sonja

in her dining room, possibly during filming of RHONY…  

A peaceful view out back.

Here’s where she sat with Andy Cohen

for her post-divorce interview.

Sonja and Lu single and ready to mingle!

This little sign is so funny after what happened

 last season to Luann in Mexico!

Here's another pretty view of the back of Luann's home.

And now on to Dorinda...

She's been super busy promoting Home Goods 

and with all the excitement of the holidays,

I don't blame her!

Who would turn down getting your whole apartment

decked out for Christmas courtesy of Home Goods?

If you follow Dorinda on Instagram,

you’ve probably seen all of her fun

Home Goods insta-stories and posts.

Don’t you just love her?

Her tree does look very pretty…

Here’s Dorinda’s dining room in the city, but what I really can’t wait to see is her Berkshires dining room. I hope all the ladies get to spend lots of time there this season.

Shopping at Home Goods is always a good time!

Bethenny has great style too, and news broke just this week that she purchased a second home in the Hamptons. She’s becoming quite a real estate mogul as well as Skinny Girl mogul. 

Don’t forget she has a new real estate show coming to Bravo soon with Fredrik Eklund. (BTW, Fredrik and his husband just welcomed twins into the world this week, a boy and a girl!)

Simple holiday décor is the best way to go in Bethenny’s New York apartment. Don't you just love the white tree and fluffy stockings? 

Fabulous “Skinny Girl" red highlights Bethenny’s front door and it also plays a big part in accenting the rest of her Hamptons home.

 Such charm in the Hamptons!

Here’s the front of Bethenny’s new Hampton’s home, not far from her other weekend home. This former bed and breakfast may be a new business venture for her.

I can’t wait to see how she renovates, decorates and designs the inside of this home.

How about making this a vacation home for wayward housewives? Lol.

Bethenny’s a big fan of TJ Maxx and Home Goods too, so I hope she shares some of her decorating tips with all of us!

And we can’t forget about Ramona (and her contractor Mario)… She just renovated her lower east side apartment last season and it was a HUGE improvement. Now she’s working on updating her Hamptons home. This is a little peek she just shared on Instagram.

Carole is always on top of the most fabulous design trends and her home also recently appeared in Architectural Digest.

Tinsley recently moved into her own place after breaking up with boyfriend, Scott and finally moving out of Sonja’s townhouse. We’ll have to see what her place looks like!

I hope you enjoyed this little bit of RHONY. The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills starts up again on December 19th, and until then, I’ll anxiously be awaiting the latest design updates from the BH gals!  Who are your BH  housewives faves? 

ciao! fabiana

photo credit:

Architectural Digest, People, Instagram

project design: spring mantel two ways

 

The latest "Project Design" theme is “How To Style Your Spring Mantel Two Ways”. Mary Ann and Cindy asked ten design bloggers to style a spring mantel two ways, and pictured above is my interpretation. In the green vignette, I wanted to bring out the fresh colors of spring, just using a touch of soft green with flowers and my favorite little cement bunny. 

With the blue-themed vignette, I was going for an "over-the-top" look with layers of my favorite blue and white porcelain. I switched out the mirrors to create different moods for the mantel and gathered some of my favorite things to create two distinctive looks.

Here are other fabulous bloggers that will also be sharing their amazing spring mantel décor.  Please stop by and visit their blogs as well.

Amber B. Design Studio

classic • casual • home

Dimples and Tangles

Garden Home and Party

Katiedid

Lisa Mende Design

Lucy Williams Interiors

Rough Luxe Lifestyle

The Pink Pagoda

Here are each of my my two spring mantels:

White hydrangeas, lime green mums, a cement bunny and a butterfly painting bring together my favorite spring memories. I wanted to keep the rest of accessories white and neutral. I layered a couple of vintage rectangular mirrors to open up the space. 

The picnic basket, the andirons and the turquoise garden seat are also heirlooms from my husband's family. A white ginger jar was found at Home Goods and iron candle holders add much needed height to the look.

The color green reminds me of Spring!

This vintage green bottle is gift from my mother-in-law...   

and my talented sister-in-law painted this beautiful blue butterfly. 

This little bunny caries a useful basket on 

his back that's perfect for holding flowers. 

For my second look, I selected several of my favorite blue and white porcelain pieces as a base for the blue-themed mantelscape and anchored it with a starburst mirror that I love. 

In fact, I love how it looks so much that it is now permanently above the mantel.    

This little lady wearing beads is at the center of the action, 
and I included some of my favorite vintage books 
to surround her in blue.

Little hints of brass and gold were also added.

I have a pair of these cloisonne dragon vases 

that were a gift from my mom. 

 {I was born in the year of the dragon!} 

Fresh kumquat branches from the garden 
take the place of flowers, 

and is an easy way to add a little more 
color to the mantel.

Be sure to check out the other wonderful bloggers’ spring mantels today, and thank you so much to Mary Ann and Cindy for asking me to join in on the fun!

ciao! fabiana

💕

While I’m here today, I wanted to share some of my "Tablescaping Essentials" with you. I have a whole page on the Amazon website with my favorite picks for setting a beautiful table.

Quite often time is of the essence, and I have last minute projects or events to work on, so I turn to Amazon for one or two day delivery. You’d be surprised at how many amazing items they have to offer! And I'm constantly updating this page with my new favorites. 

You can check it out here, at “Tablescaping Essentials”.

so cute!