On the Table: Winter Wonderland

Even though it may not snow in Savannah, we still enjoy the beauty of a winter wonderland! Utilizing our favorite vintage dishes, we've created a tabletop color story of white, gold, soft grey and blue. Adding to the holiday spirit, our snow covered Christmas trees intermixed with our serving dishes creates a delightfully picturesque vignette of a frosty wintertime landscape. Accented with our Mercury glass ornaments, you can almost feel the crisp mountain air of the Swiss Alps as you dine with all of your friends and family. It may look like a chilly meal, but with the warmth of loved ones at your side you've got nothing to worry about! Bon appetit!

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!

Roland Pine: The scent of Christmas

One of our favorite things about Christmas time is all of the wonderful scents that are notorious with the holiday. Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, coffee brewing in the kitchen, gingerbread houses baking in the oven and of course, the ubiquitous smell of a Christmas tree's pine needles. With our Roland Pine candles, the scent of pine is no longer exclusive the room where we decorate our tree, but can now be enjoyed anywhere our hearts may desire! Over the years we've found that unfortunately holiday candles can run the risk of either smelling too strong, or too artificial, but light a Roland Pine candle and you'll swear you're hiking through a dense forest in search of the perfect Christmas pine! Available in various sizes, including triple wicks and votives, these soy candles make perfect Christmas gifts and stocking stuffers!

 Available at The Paris Market!

Postcards from Paris: { ...au Jeu de Paume }

One afternoon last week as I was walking along boulevard saint Germain des Pres, waiting for a certain hour to pass. I was in search for an interesting distraction because even though the sun was shining I was too focused on the numbness of my fingers and the smokey vapor of my breath. I walk into a charming bookstore, quite frankly in this neighborhood it's difficult to not find a charming bookstore, but this particular one caught my attention because there was an illustration by Erwin Blumenfeld in the window. Skewed face and interesting colors, I was drawn in and captured by a series of drawings and portraits by the German-born American-Vogue photographer. I noticed that the book was an extended glance from the current exhibition at Le Jeu de Paume.

Le jeu de paume is top. The exhibits are always fascinating, modern, and revealing. Which inspired a visit, and another interesting distraction. 

Blumenfeld is most recognised for his often surrealist-inspired fashion photography. He shot many covers for Vogue and Harper's Bazaar between the 1940's and 1950's. Along with fashion photography, he also produced a large collection of drawings and Dada-esque collages.
It was so interesting to be amongst such a varied body of work. From simple ink drawings to clean, modern portraits of celebrities from the era. Erwin Blumenfeld seemed like he stayed forever true to himself, while still able to impress and inspire the French, wink.

Bisous,

Reba

Stocking Stuffers: gifts for him

It's no secret that everyone loves opening presents on Christmas morning, and if you're anything like us then you get equally as excited about running over to the fireplace, tearing down your stocking and spilling it open to see what delightful treasures are hidden inside! We know it can be a challenge deciding what treats should be nestled together in the hanging oversized socks, so we thought we would pick out a few holiday favorites! For our first stocking, we've collected several of our very best masculine products that are sure to make his Christmas morning even better! Just imagine him waking up in the morning, opening his stocking, and finding it filled with miniature beer steins, almond soap, whiskey stones, and a wooden pipe! Now that's a stocking worthy of skipping over the first cup of coffee for! Filled with all of these treasures and plenty of other manly goods, you can rest easy knowing our stocking stuffers below are sure to bring him joy on Christmas morning. Check back soon to see our stocking stuffer ideas for the Mrs. and the little ones!

Available at The Paris Market.

Setting the Table: White and Gold Tea Party

When it comes to decorating the house for the holidays, lining the dining table for a festive feast is right up there with decorating the Christmas tree! Mixing subtle tones of white, gold, silver and alabaster, we've set the table for an elegant evening filled with cups of hot tea and plate after plate of delicious holiday fare. Running the length of the table and unifying the centerpiece, we've placed a garland of white cotton that not only adds an element of nature but helps offset the metallic dishes and flatware as well. Utilizing our holiday wreath placemats and snowflake ornaments, we've turned each table setting into a meal filled with Christmas joy. And, just in case anyone at the table happens to look up, we've taken it upon ourselves to add some holiday cheer and decorate the chandelier above with some of our favorite Christmas ornaments! Each day that passes we get more and more excited for Christmas, especially when it comes to dining with friends and family. Thankfully, we've already set the table for the delicious meals ahead! Bon appetit!

It's a Wrap!

Yesterday we had a delightful morning presenting several of our gift wrapping ideas for all of the ladies attending this year's A Gracious Christmas event. Hosted in the beautiful First Presbyterian Church right here in Savannah, we made sure to keep the atmosphere as cozy as Christmas morning! While the ladies attending enjoyed sipping on our freshly made hot chocolate, we jumped right into the presentation, offering all of our Paris Market gift wrapping trade secrets! One of the most important points we wanted to stress this year is that you don't have to spend all of your money to make something look beautiful. For many of our gift wrapping options we chose nature as our main theme and several items included on our gifts are natural pieces that can easily be collected in your back yard! Also, it was very important to us to keep the wrapping paper simple. We chose a warm grey kraft paper as our main paper of choice and then let the ornaments and ribbon do the rest of the work. For us, one of the most fun aspects of the presentation was coming up with different solutions for different people. We made sure to showcase options that we felt would be exciting not just for your children but for the husbands of the ladies attending A Gracious Christmas as well! We hope everyone who attended feels inspired to wrap some beautiful gifts this Christmas and until next time, that's a wrap!