Glass Hurricanes

It's Wednesday- Time to talk about Interiors!

When it comes to designing what goes in your Interior 

or the inside of your home, 

It's ALL IN THE DETAILS.

Today, I want to talk about using Glass Hurricanes. Glass is a nice medium to use to display just about anything that you want. It's great to because if you invest in some great Hurricanes or large vases, it is easy to use them all the time but to change them up with the Season, Holiday or just because you want to see something different. I think I said on an earlier post that you only need to get one item to transform your room. A Hurricane would be one of my suggestions. The height gives you the advantage to make a beautiful display and showcase flowers, candles or something as pretty as Potpourri.It's the perfect decorator's sweet item because they are an interior design "work horse" as: 

"Glass contains, but yet reveals."

Look at the pictures and you can see how versatile and so many great uses you can have with  one great glass container. Here are some of pictures showing the details of what I used in my Mantle article. You can buy hurricanes just about anywhere, I would suggest that you make sure when you buy one that they are a heavier glass. If it's too thin, being a larger object, they tend to break easier. I am showcasing a just a couple of our Willow House Hurricanes as that's what I have at my home and what I've made my displays with. We have even more in our current catalog, they are all very pretty.

Introducing...
The Coronado Stone Pedestal

The Coronado Stone Pedestal  is shown here with the WH Mediterranean Sage Bowl and a ceramic starfish tea light holder. Multi colored sea glass is used in the glass base and a white pillar candle placed on top. The colors and textures of all of the arrangement together leaves you with the impression of the sea. YOu can find it on page 15 of our Spring WH catalog.

This is our newest Hurricane that we currently offer in our Willow House line. I really love the Coronado Stone Pedestal because it is a bit different than the usual glass hurricane. It has a glass body, but the base is almost as big as the body and it is made out of stone with a detailed design and a white washed finish. If you think the picture is pretty, 
you should see it in person.

 The Hemingway Hurricane

We have had this product for awhile and there's a good reason why! This pretty items is just so versatile, you can use it for almost anything. Look at a couple of pictures and I hope that it helps inspire you to get a little creative too!

By the way, I've got more ideas to share about what you can do with these lovelies. But I'm going to save it for another post.

 I'll give you some more ideas too.

This first Hemingway photo shows how a red pillar candle and
matching potpourri can work from Christmas time through  Valentines Day. Find this on page 42 of our WH Catalog

Version Two Hemingway makes us think Spring with Sea Glass
and lovely soft yellow pillar candle.  You could also tie a ribbon
around the middle of this or at the bottom to give it even more detail.

Our third view makes a spectacular display with Winter branches
and potpourri on the bottom to give a base to the display. 

The Galveston Hurricane

I love our Willow House Galveston Footed Hurricanes.
The ironwork gives these just that extra touch of style.
We carry two sizes & they're on page 37 of our WH Catalog

Here are just a few of the many ideas of what you could do with a Hurricane.

If you use Potpourri, I love the Yankee Candle brand, as they have very interesting lovely scents as well as pretty objects inside of there different flavors. I love Pier One for Pillar Candles, they are very nice quality candles and although you may pay a bit more than if you go to the local grocery+ convenience store, they usually go on sale and they are really nice and last a long time.

Design Style 101

It's Tuesday, Let's talk about Style.

Style to me for the most part is up to your individual taste. Not everything that "designers" suggest is for everyone. It's good to keep up on current trends, but don't let them dictate  how everything in your home needs to look. After all, if we all had the same thing, it would be a pretty boring world. My personal style is a traditional, but eclectic look. When my daughter Alyssa is older, she says she wants to have an ultra modern clean feng shei type home.

 You can however, pretty much combine different looks into a couple of styles types. Next week I'll start to discuss what we at Willow House have identified this season as:

Chic Organic 

Cottage Romantic  

Bright and Bold 

You may like more than just one style type too, like I do. That's okay. It will give your home character. Most of us do not have million dollar budgets to hire top interior designers and custom order the furniture and accessories. I'm going to tell you that you don't need to have that kind of money either to have a great looking home.

My best advice to give you is that you should buy something that :

Really strikes you when you see it, You love it!

It is of the best quality that fits your budget.

Don't spend a lot of money on anything that is a Fad.

I hope you know what I mean by a Fad. It's usually something that is really popular, everyone has got to have it. It's fun to by something that is a hit in all the magazines and in stores, but don't invest a lot in it because 5 years from now, it will look very dated.

Well, that's it for this week. Next week and for a few weeks after, I'm going to explore what the current styles are and how you can get them. 


Note: Special Thanks to our Fabulous Designers at Willow House for all their creative inspiration and coming up with the names to the Latest trends out there.

It's Time for a Change

-Happy February! 

Now that 2011 has been here for a month, 

for February the motto should be: 

It's time for a Change! View this as a good thing :) 

Take a good look around your home and 

figure out what needs to change.

I've done it, now YOU should do the same. Are you asking: I like what I have, why would I want to change it? Also, where is all this money going to come from to make these changes? Let me tell you that, to answer the first question: 

What to change? It doesn't take much to make an impact on a room. 

You do NOT have to change every single thing in your room or spend a ton of money to make an impact on your home decor. It can be as simple as: 

• Giving your room a new coat of paint.
• Changing up a centerpiece on a coffee table.
• The kitchen table with a new item to give you an updated style. 
• Maybe your mantle needs a new focus. 

So remember one nice new something for your home can make your room feel brand new and give you a much needed boost as well.

This is the Viridian Oval Container one of Willow House's brand new products.
imagine this as a centerpiece on your coffee table. To change it up, why put it 
in your kitchen filled with green apples adding a little bit of color to your 
winter while making a nice healthy snack center for the family.

Why do you want to change it? Well, if you change everything all at once, it can be costly and who has the money to do that as well as the time and energy?! 

If you find a new style that you like, make a list and prioritize what is most important. Then buy a little at a time as it makes it affordable to make changes. If you don't take an honest look at least once a year, then suddenly you may find your home a little faded and jaded. Remember just because Aunt Milly gave you that vase, it doesn't mean you need to keep it for 20 years. If you feel guilty about getting rid of it, then give it away to someone that admires it. They will love it and so will you!

-Before you get something new, make sure that you buy something where you can find more than one way of using it. 

-Don't spend the money on something that you will tuck away in your closet for 8 or 9 months out of the year.

-Love products that are not only beautiful but useful. 

-Look at quality. If you do not by something that is well made, it will fall apart before you are ready to change it up and when that happens you will be sad. Believe me, I have learned this the hard way. So it is worth it, to spend a little more.

Have an great day!