wntr House 18
by Beth S. Buxbaum
Decorating your home for Christmas may be nostalgic, displaying family heirlooms, crafts the kids made when they were young, and cherished items you’ve collected throughout the years. Or you may enjoy sprucing up your house with something new each year. A recent trend that has now become popular takes a nontraditional approach. In this approach to yuletide adornment, many embellish their rooms in jewel and earth tones, replacing the reds, greens and whites that are characteristic of the more traditional Christmas motif. Central to this preference is the desire to blend holiday decor with a home’s styling to compliment the colors, textures and finishes of the living space. Instead of the decorations themselves being the focal point in any room, the added elements enhance each room’s design.
For Susan Taylor, owner of Black-eyed Susan in Buckingham, dressing any room for the holidays should blend with and embellish your existing decor. Susan has a standing appointment with many of her design clients to decorate their homes for the holidays. “Many of my clients are moving away from the red and green and want the decorations to match their rooms,” Susan explains. The home featured here is an example of the service Susan and her team provide. “This is a yearly service we offer,” Susan explains, “and our clients have full input, while giving us creative license.”
“Black-eyed Susan is brimming with anything you could possibly need to decorate your home for the holidays,” says Susan. With that in mind, her team comes in with a vast array of ribbons, garlands, glass balls and more to make your home what she calls ‘Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la.’ Susan’s team identifies surfaces to decorate with favorite collections from Susan’s curated Christmas offerings from Black-eyed Susan.
In the house featured here, Susan Taylor’s clients, Denise and Bryan Williams, recently worked with her and the Black-eyed Susan team to renovate nearly every room of their home. “I suggested finishing the newly designed spaces with a custom Christmas design,” Susan adds. Their holiday decor projects are designed around the colors of the client’s home. “For the Williams’ home, it was all about the new palette in gray, silver, gold and white,” Susan adds. Their first step was to consider the shades and colors used in the renovations to assess and determine what each room was going to need. “We carefully considered all the surfaces that could benefit from a little adornment,” Susan says, “and then design the holiday pieces to pull in colors already existing in the rooms.”
After the team assessed the Williams’ home and put their plan in place, they went back to Black-eyed Susan to begin gathering appropriately colored ornaments and garlands to execute their holiday design plan. The custom design included foyer garlands, with an assortment of accents and holiday accessories for the foyer table; a 10-foot tree for the living room along with tabletop accessories, dining room details for the table and console/mirror, accents for the newly designed kitchen and details for the family room. Once they had all the materials they needed they returned to the William’s home for the design phase. “We spent the day with a team of five design experts, led by myself, and ended the day with a beautifully transformed home of holiday splendor,” she adds.
In describing the elements of the Christmas transformation, Susan explains in a room-by-room description, the holiday design execution, taking into consideration the recent renovation of many of those rooms. In the foyer, Susan explains that first they measured the foyer to calculate the number of artificial greens needed. “We dressed the banister with deep swags and a whole lot of drama,” she continues. Susan explains how she selects the finest artificial greens that can fool any eye and give the home owner as many weeks as desired for a fresh look. “Many of these ornaments have been produced with a new technology using injection molded synthetics that look and feel like real greens,” she explains. Susan interjects that a major benefit of using these artificial materials is that she orchestrates these holiday designs in late November or early December.
From the foyer the holiday embellishments continue in the dining room. Susan explains that the Williams’ traditional Empire style dining room was updated with current art, a new console and mirror just prior to Christmas. New draperies in a graphic gray and gold fabric frame the bay window. “To bring a little magic into the room, I hung ceramic gold star ornaments using gold tinsel, in the bay window,” she describes. Susan explains that it was an easy installation by using the drapery rod to slip the ornaments over. The dining table is transformed for Christmas with the addition of two gilded hurricane vases, each filled with a large sugar cone. Susan finishes this vignette by pouring artificial snow over the top for a little bit of Christmas magic. An everyday compote is transformed with specially selected ornaments graced with a small sprig of evergreen. Part of the recent update for the room was a stylish sideboard in a gray painted finish, with satin brass accents. Susan’s signature wreath is hung over the mirror and a bit of whimsy is added with a garland of shatterproof multi-sized ornaments. “Mirrors are the perfect place to drape a garland of your choice,” Susan adds. A large vase of succulents is adorned with an oversized gold ornament. “Another touch is a trio of cone-shaped metallic-finished trees that take center stage on the console,” says Susan.
The great room was recently updated with a large gray sectional and two wing chairs.
“A coat of new paint, fine draperies and a stylish cocktail table set the stage for new Christmas decor,” she continues. To dress the mantle, Susan hangs an oversized wreath on a mirror for extra style. She explains that she just ties the wreath with soft, curvy silver metallic ribbon, to create this mantle design. Oversized 14” to 16” sugar cones are stacked carefully to create just the right balance on the mantle. The mantle vignette is completed with artificial garlands gently draped around the sugar cones. Tall pine boughs and several simple branches grace a tall glass vase on one side, and the other side offers Luminaire candles. The coffee table bowls were refilled with an array of favorite ornaments in colors to match the room.
Moving to the living room, the coffee table is dressed with a collection of sisal trees, a holiday stag and a large glass urn filled with an assortment of the finest ornaments from the room’s Christmas tree. The bar is topped with some of her favorite gold ceramic pine trees, fashioning a virtual small forest with the same tree in assorted sizes.
“A bit of drama on a high surface adds interest and personality,” Susan comments. This room would not be complete without the 10-foot Christmas tree. Susan started with a flocked tree and added an assortment of ornaments in gold, silver, gray and white in a variety of sizing from three inches to eight inches. “We centered the tree in the double window, flanked by custom draperies, so this tree sings with style,” says Susan. Most of her clients desire trees designed with the room colors in mind and this one did not disappoint. When the last ornament was placed on the tree, they added long gold beaded sprays and the final touch was a gray fir tree skirt. Finishing touches to tie everything together included filling everyday vessels with greens to complete the look of the season. Metallic ribbons were tied at key points to finish the placement of the garland.
“Virtually every significant surface speaks the language of Christmas when our team is finished,” Susan adds. “Suddenly, you’ve transformed the living space to a delightful winter wonderland to usher in the season,” Susan exclaims.
Susan delights in the transformations of the homes she and her team decorate for the holidays. Offering special holiday decor services, Black-eyed Susan is a destination for Christmas decor. Susan Taylor curates her new collection year-after-year, from over 40 vendors, to offer the most exciting inspirations including garlands, boughs and sprays, trees (both tabletop and full size), ornaments, gifts, candles, tabletop centerpieces, mirrors and art. Black-eyed Susan also offers full service holiday design and setup service. Her team will come to your home and assess your space and needs, as well as make suggestions for dressing all your surfaces for the holidays. Beginning in early November, she offers evening classes, teaching you how to use her expertise and years of ideas for your own holiday cheer. Her retail staff is always available to design a mantle, dining table or entryway. Susan offers her 25 years of Christmas merriment expertise to prepare your home for the holiday season.
“When Black-eyed Susan is not full of Fa-la-la-la-la,la-la-la-la fabulous beauty, you will find a selection of fine home decor,” adds Susan. The store has everything you need to make your home perfectly designed and unique including furniture, lighting, art, mirrors, and accessories. “We design to inspire and replicate, and all with the help of a capable staff, ready and willing to give you personal attention and help for all your design needs,” Susan adds.
Black-eyed Susan offers full service interior design for select rooms or entire homes with a complimentary 30-minute in-store consultation.” For 30 years, our designers have worked to create beautiful spaces for our clients so they can love where they live,” she says. In demand for transitional design from historic homes to new construction in the greater Philadelphia area, Black-eyed Susan also does work in Manhattan, New Jersey shore points, beach resorts like St. Michaels, Maryland and Boca Raton, Florida, and mountain retreats in North Carolina and Michigan.
The Buckingham, Pennsylvania location is a 10,000 square foot retail store, brimming with furniture pieces and inspiring home decor displays. “Black-eyed Susan speaks the language of style,” Susan adds. Black-eyed Susan is located at 5222 York Road, Holicong, PA 18928. For more information, call 215-794-1800 or visit besusan.com.
Beth S. Buxbaum is a freelance writer from the Philadelphia area.