decor – Casa de Berry

2016, costume, craft, decor, halloween, holiday, october, parties

Our Halloween Bash

October 31, 2016October 31, 2016by casadeberry1 Comment

This is the first time we have a) thrown a Halloween party, and b) co-hosted an event with another couple. Our friends J & H are pretty awesome people — and she knits, like me, so you know she’s cool — and we decided to combine our party lists and have a joint bash at our house.

If you follow me on Instagram you’ve seen several of the details Steve has made, and it was pretty cool to see our decor “in action” during the party.

Now, let us welcome you to our party:

We chose a pretty iconic couple as our costumes:

Our boys were Sans from Undertale and a (not so) terrifying T-Rex:

Our guests ranged from Futurama characters to the villainous Joker, to Luigi and Diet Coke to Khal Drogo and his beloved Khaleesi. We also had Egyptian royalty, Indiana Jones, Nemo, Harry Potter, mad scientists, Frankenstein and his bride, groovy chicks, Miss Scarlet in the library with the rope, the Tardis, Walter Sobchak, Rosie the Riveter, and many other friends who made our party so much fun.

Word has it that the mysterious Lord Stonehouse, ancient owner of our home, made an appearance at midnight, but it remains a rumor.

Steve worked super hard to transform our home and I think he did an amazing job, and H made delicious food for everyone to fill their bellies – thanks to everyone, friends old and new, for coming to our party!

2015, autumn, candle, decor, fall, halloween, living room, wisconsin

Halloween table

October 1, 2015October 1, 2015by casadeberry1 Comment

Being in a bigger house – three times the size of our house in California – means that we need more stuff to decorate it for the holidays. This year we’re going to focus on expanding our Christmas stash, so for Halloween we’ll decorate smaller areas in our home, such as the sofa table in the living room.

The center lantern is one Steve has had forever, as is the marble chessboard. I found the striped candles at World Market and loved the pattern play, so I added them. Then I thought we needed a little dose of glam.

I saw these adorable mini pumpkins at Target, polka dotted black and white and metallic gold – perfect.

The spooky cloche is from Michaels, and I added some suitably horrifying books from our book collection to complete the scene.

It’s a nice little spot in our living area and makes me feel like I have accomplished my Halloween decorating for the year 😀 I also managed to score those blood-dripping candles from World Market so I might change it up at some point.

We are enjoying the first days of fall here in Wisconsin, some of the trees are already sporting flashes of bright reds and oranges. I can’t wait to experience this season!

2015, bath, decor, flowers, home, house, ikea, paris, wisconsin

Master Bathroom

September 23, 2015September 21, 2015by casadeberry2 Comments

When I came to Wisconsin to narrow down our choices for homes, there were some outstanding bathrooms in the houses we toured, but undoubtedly, the one that left me speechless was the one we dubbed the Captain America shower.

Either we would go in as ourselves and come out mutated in some way, or I’d end up pressing the wrong button and launch the whole thing into space. The master bathroom in our home, while still gorgeous, is a bit more normal looking. This is what it looked like at first:

It has a double shower, a separate alcove for the toilet, a sweet soaker tub and a lot of storage. A mirror that spanned both sink areas was added before we moved in, as well as light fixtures. We added cellular blinds to allow light in and retain privacy, and a few touches to make it more pleasant to get ready in the morning.

I brought my Georgianna Lane framed photos and Steve was sweet to placed them above the tub for me. The Paris map also made the trek, and lives on my side of the vanity. We purchased the same towels we had in our apartment in Paris last year. Six months later, they’re still like new.

Hope you enjoyed this little tour of our master bathroom, we’re certainly very happy with it!

2015, decor, holiday, july, living room, wisconsin

My 4th of July mantel

June 29, 2015by casadeberryLeave a Comment

I am keeping my holiday mantel simple – I found a couple of items at our local vintage store and added items from IKEA, Walmart, and World Market.

The metal stars are something I’ve wanted for a long time, and I got them for a steal at Roost, and I love that the red in them is pretty close to the red of the mantel. The fabric banner is from World Market.

The wreath is from WalMart — I added a small banner that I found at Roost, it is the shape of our new home state of Wisconsin, with a heart to denote Lake Country, the area where we live. And yes, that is one of those ubiquitous IKEA lanterns, I always swear I won’t get more and then they come out with new colors and I grab a bunch.

A closer look at the little paper banner, I had originally grabbed it on impulse, but it looks perfect on the wreath, marking our first 4th of July here.

And that’s it. Like I said, I kept it simple, but I do like to mark the holidays and put out some decorative pieces. My next two projects are the guest room/office, and my walk-in closet. The closet is such a dumping ground right now and I’m over it, so it’s getting some TLC. Wish me luck!

2015, decor, home, wisconsin

Roost at Lynndale Farm

June 8, 2015June 5, 2015by casadeberry4 Comments

There are many places written down on my list of Must Visit around the Milwaukee area, and one of them is Roost at Lynndale Farm. It’s a collective where sweet vintage goods are sold next to beautifully crafted items, it was my first visit but I can say with confidence, it won’t be the last.

It is less than ten minutes from my house – hello! – and there is a gluten-free bakery next door. I know, right?

From the moment you step out of your car, you see beautiful items for your home that will make you smile.

Inside, there are many little shops next to each other, lots of furniture that I had to tear myself away from (for now!), some pieces that I could not tear myself away from 😀 There are homemade decor items, soaps, candles and cards, jewelry and knitted pieces, and so much more.

I bought the earrings shown above plus three items for my home – you will get to see where I used them in my home in a couple of weeks.

The lady who was working there was very helpful, there are two floors full of treasures, and many of the vendors do custom work. If you’re in the area, I highly recommend you stop by Roost.

2014, decor, dining room, green, kitchen

Nomad Flower collection at World Market

March 5, 2014by casadeberryLeave a Comment

I was recently lucky enough to win a $50 card from World Market. I took a couple of days to browse before choosing what to buy, and in the end I was charmed by their new Nomad Flower collection.

Isn’t it lovely? I have wanted to purchase a cake stand for a while but I am glad I waited. The colors are beautiful, bold and vibrant, and the collection also includes mugs and bowls.

I also picked up two of the mugs, the ones with olive green and teal handles, and a set of oasis green buffet napkins. The green goes very well with the greens in the Nomad Flower collection, and I had wanted a set of olive green napkins for a while.

My boys love plain vanilla flavored cake. They don’t even need frosting 😀 I made some cake for them today and my oldest, who is not into home decorating at all, told me how pretty the pedestal was. I agree. It will come in handy all spring and summer, for Mother’s Day, even Christmas since it has reds and greens, Valentines Day, etc. I’m so glad I had the chance to get these pieces for my home.

2013, decor, glam, holiday, house

Exterior love

December 11, 2013December 10, 2013by casadeberry5 Comments

We finally put up our outside decorations this past weekend, and now it truly feels like we are ready for Christmas. Which is good because there’s two weeks left – eek!!!

The only unfinished business is that little white urn my beautiful friend J lent me, I might get a little evergreen for it.

All our outside decor is from past years, this lit wreath is a favorite, it makes me happy.

Our front door wreath is one I made eons ago, I’ve added a few bits to it here and there since every year we lose a couple from all the door opening and closing.

And since I’m in a totally sappy mood, I’m leaving you with this modified version of our first picture 😀

2013, decor, glam, holiday, living room, mantel

Glam holiday mantel

December 9, 2013December 9, 2013by casadeberry1 Comment

Our holiday decor “stash” is one that we add to every year. Also, I love to use things that we’d ordinarily have around the house anyway, and add them to our holiday decor. A couple of pieces in this mantel are a good example.

The two lanterns you see are part of our every day decor. The lovely one on the left is from Pier 1, we paid a couple of bucks for it because one of the pieces of glass was missing. The red one on the right is from IKEA.

I wrapped a couple of bottles in green yard for contrast to all the red and gold, and stuck a variety of branches in each. Steve had the WISH stocking holders since before we met, they’re from Pottery Barn, I think.

Our tree is also a forever work-in-progress. We started with many generic ornaments and over the past few years have been working on replacing them with more meaningful ornaments:

When our tree topper broke a couple of years ago, Steve (of course) rigged a star I had from Pier 1, and we’ve been using that as our topper. People have asked where we got it and love it because it’s so bright and cheerful.

That is our living room all decked out for the holidays, along with the village Steve put together. Next time I will show you our outside decorations – have a great week!

2013, decor, display, husband

Our Christmas Village

December 6, 2013December 6, 2013by casadeberry2 Comments

Steve took something that we had for years and brought it to the next level. I woke up at 2 in the morning to let Foxy out to do her doggie business and found this loveliness:

Isn’t it magical?

Some close up shots:

We absolutely love it. He had been wanting to create the shadow effect of the line of trees in the background with lights behind them for ages, and finally did it a few days ago. He painstakingly cut out the tree line and also built the mountains and snow banks. Just a few additions but they’ve made the little village so much more charming.

Hope you enjoy our miniature wonderland!

2013, autumn, decor, fall, home, living room, orange, september

’tis fall in our living room

September 9, 2013September 6, 2013by casadeberry3 Comments

And nowhere else, apparently, given the 100-degree weekend we just had. But in the spirit of “if you decorate for it, it will arrive”, I added some fall touches to our living room.

We had everything I used, although some of the garlands have seen better days and didn’t get used. I love groupings of candles at varying heights, and I made the little candle with cinnamon sticks last year:

The brown vase in the back is from IKEA and the green bottle held liquor in its former, non-decorative, life. The two lovely glass pumpkins are very dear to me and I will share why later in this post.

On the TV console, I used a fabric runner my mom made a few years ago and used decorative pumpkins, our LED candles and real candles, a miniature chest a friend gave me long, long ago, and a fall floral spray on top:

The other side continues the theme with more small candles. Even though it was like 90 degrees when I took this picture, I have to admit I love candles. Their glow is just magical.

Overall view:

Now on to the glass pumpkins. These were given to me by my dear friend Kat.

I can’t believe it’s almost been a year since she passed. I miss her every day and although I am super busy, the mornings I used to spend with her still feel empty. Thank you for making me a better person, Kat.

So that’s our living room with some touches of autumn throughout, I am hoping that the matching autumn weather is here SOON!!! I dream of long walks with my sweet Foxy, wrapped in sweaters and scarves — both of us, ha ha – while the wind blows and the leaves turn golden. For now I just have super early walks because anything after 10am is too fricking hot and I am sweating like a pig 30 seconds into the walk.

I have a couple of fall projects I am working on and hope to share with you all soon!