Holiday Inspiration: Christmas trees

Embarking on a family outing in search for the most beautiful Christmas tree is always one of our absolute favorite holiday activities. Choosing the right size, shape, smell, color and making sure the needles aren't too prickly is all part of the joy of discovering the perfect tree. Being one of the most popular holiday traditions, the Christmas tree is a very old custom developed in early modern Germany with predecessors dating all the way back to the 16th century! We don't have to spell out every reason why we love Christmas trees, however we will mention that we love them so much so that we like to decorate the house with not just one tree, but a whole forest's worth! We don't mean a living room full of ceiling scraping trees, but trees of all sizes, from 2 inches to 2 feet. Whether they're hand carved from wood, dappled with snow, sparse or fully decorated, it's the variety we love most! Our favorite way to decorate is to mix several shapes and sizes, making a personalized collection to help liven up a mantle, tabletop or shelf with all of the holiday cheer the traditional Christmas tree has to offer! Happy tree hunting and decorating!

Available at The Paris Market.

Holiday Inspiration: Mercury Glass Ornaments

Always a Paris Market favorite, silvered "mercury" glass is considered one of the first true "art glass" types, that is, glass that was made for display and for its inherent artistic value rather than for utilitarian use. Originally produced in the Czech Republic dating back to roughly 1840, mercury glass quickly became popular throughout Germany and England before making its way to the United States. In order to create mercury glass, a glassblower must make a double walled glass first, while adding silver between the layers with a liquid silvering solution, which is then sealed. Although mercury was originally used to provide the reflective coating for mirrors, elemental mercury was never used to create tableware. Nowadays, traditional techniques are no longer implemented, including the double wall and solid bottom found in authentic mercury glass decorations. Call us old fashioned, but mercury glass ornaments never seem to go out of style! Eternally classic and always beautiful, the silvery shine of mercury glass always adds that extra Christmas glint to the rest of our holiday decor!

Holiday Inspiration: Bird Ornaments

Bird watchers beware, there's bird ornaments everywhere! Now's the time of year when we all get ready to decorate our homes for the holidays, and what better resource to have at our disposal than our very own Paris Market. Hidden in trees and nooks all over the store, we've got more ornaments than we can carry in our arms! As with most things however, a select few really stand out, and this week we're all about the birds! Not only is there a variety of bird species to choose from but there are so many material choices as well. Whether it's feather, wood, glass or gold, if it's a bird it's bound to be on one of our trees!

Ornaments available at The Paris Market.

Weekend Inspiration: Halloween Decorations

With Halloween now only a few weeks away we're more inspired than ever to get home and start decorating! Transforming the homestead into a haunted house can be challenging ordeal, but with the right tools in hand it can just as easily be a fun weekend activity especially with decorations like skull bottle openers, spider napkin rings and beetle candles at your disposal. Have a great weekend!