Sunny days are ahead . . .

We know, there's no red or green, or even gold or silver. But just for a moment, think about your home and how you want it to look for 2009. Are your window treatments out of date? Is it time for an update? Are your pillows tired and need replaced? Would a new area rug feel nice and look nice under your feet?
It's the Holiday season, but it is also that time of year when the skies are gray and the trees are bare. It is also an uncomfortable time economically, too. Every purchase is given a great deal of thought, and we think planning for the new year is very important. Good decorating is done one step at a time. Window treatments can play a big part in insulating your home, as well as being decorative. Come by and let us help you plan your home decor purchases for the new year.

PS. Gift certificates are available! Do we need to tell that significant other?

Jolly Folk

If these little guys don't make you smile, I don't know what will! We are so glad one of our area's local artist is allowing us to showcase her Holiday collection of "Jolly Folk". Each one is a handmade paper mache' original. I'll introduce you to them all:

"Sweetie" and "Blue Snowman"

"Candy Man" and Merry Merry" Snowman

"Steppin' Out Santa"

"Tree in Hand" Santa, "Chimney Sweep" Snowman, and "Deck the Halls" Santa

"Joy" and "Jack the Juggler" with "Snowflake" and "Snowball" in the background.

Christmas Open House 2008

We have silver and gold votive holders and larger candle holders. They are a quick way to add some glitz to your Holiday centerpieces.

And for the nature lovers we have more Havelka Botanicals in the shop! Top off with the Essential Oil spray in a Christmas scent and your centerpiece will smell as good as it looks!

How about putting those glass Christmas ornaments in a safer place this year----if you don't have a lovely glass container, we do! And if you don't have glass ornaments, we have many colors to choose from.

New bedding would be a great gift to yourself! We have everything from the fitted sheets to the dust ruffle, in stock! If you remember a few posts ago, we showed you the newest bedding made from bamboo. The bedding shown is actually 300 thread count cotton sateen. It's very soft and luxurious.

Windows deserve some Holiday cheer, too. We think the red mixed with black and white is a fresh idea for Christmas decor.

Look closely at the white ginger jars---they hold the great smelling rose hips (from our Judy Havelka botanicals).

You know we love these ornaments from Kitras Art Glass. We have two sizes of the ornaments. They also come as oil lamps.

See our Open House hours on the main page of the blog. Come by and enjoy spiced cider and cookies!

Sneak Peak

We've still got a lot to do, but we did get a couple of vignettes set up last week. The door leaning on the cement block wall allowed us to hang one of our Christmas door decorations and display some of the greenery. Did you notice all the boxes under the hutch? They are battery operated candles. Some of them are even operated with a remote control! They are selling fast, so we did order a few more to get here this week. The remote is great for the candles placed too high to reach. We have several styles and sizes.



I wish the camera took better pictures of these glass ornaments. They are just beautiful! We have several colors available. You probably can't see the little bird ornaments on the tree and by the window. Their bright colors look wonderful with all the glass.

By the end of the week it'll all be in place. I'll get a few more pictures posted later, but remember it all looks best in person!

Wall Art Preview

Since we are still in the middle of several big projects, we are holding off taking pictures of the shop. As soon as the Christmas items are all out and the floor is swept, we'll put the camera to good use. In the meantime, here are just a couple of the newest pictures we have in stock. Bunnies just never go out of style. The same could be said for dragonflies. The pictures from my online source are a poor substitute for the real things. The colors are so much more vibrant, and the matting has much more detail. You'll really want to see these in person, along with the others we're not showing you!

Just for fun

Do you know your "style"? Is it important to put a label on what you like?

Do you have a difficult time choosing items for your home?

Do you like taking quizzes?

Are you wondering what these pictures are about?

I just found a fun blog, called How About Orange. I've barely had time to read much, but I've enjoyed what I've found so far. I arrived there via another blog that related back to her fabric. The owner of How About Orange seems so creative and offers a lot of fun things to download from her blog, and other "Time Wasters" as she calls them. One of the time-wasters is a little quiz to help you pinpoint your style. I think you could change your answers based on your mood, so you might take the quiz on different days to see if you really do change your mind. If nothing else, you might learn that you like more styles than you thought. If you find more interesting things on the mydeco.com website, let us know.

OK, now it's back to unpacking and pricing those Christmas ornaments. Check back soon for some preview pictures of our Holiday inventory!!

We have a great variety!

With so much thought going into items for the holidays, it might be nice to see some things that you could use everyday of the week.

Did you notice the upholstered headboard? It's covered in a neutral linen fabric and trimmed in a coordinating twist cord. Very soon we'll have a dustruffle to coordinate which will serve as a great example of custom dustruffle styles. It will show three great pleat ideas---one on each side of the bed. We think actually seeing something in person is the best advertisement. Also on the bed is a variety of pillows we carry and a coverlet from the Chandler Collection. They offer a large assortment of bedding, ottomans, and some lovely smocked curtains. Visit their website for a preview but come by the store to see the actual fabric samples.

Our other bed features a reversible ecru/tan coverlet and matching shams. The large pillow is a custom piece made from the same fabric as the window treatment. The accent of orange is a great punch of color and great for a fall look. Don't limit orange to the fall season, however, it is showing up as an accent year round. Also notice the polka-dot lamp in the foreground. It's one of several we have from the Barbara Cosgrove line of lamps.


This little table wins for the most variety! Although the main theme is for the baby, the lamps and pictures would fit into other areas of your home. The little yellow and white polkadot "suitcase" has a very nice set of baby bath towels.



One more thing that we like to keep on hand at Madison Lane is an assortment of glassware. Many of them are clear, but recently we've added more etched glass. The designs range from damask to botanical patterns. Come by and see the variety!

How to Dress a Window: Finale

As promised, the final results. The golden hued cabinets, accents of cobalt blue glass, and the terra cotta colored tiles on the floor all influenced the choice in fabrics. The treatment was hung as high as we could go to give more height to the shorter window, and to not take away from the view. Out of view is the new light fixture over the kitchen island which also draws your eyes upward and toward the window. A new paint color is being considered for the kitchen---more of a pale golden-yellow.
The addition of placemats from the striped fabric and the blue linen will be the real Finale, and add a real custom look to the kitchen and breakfast area.