decorating – Francois et Moi

5 Ways to Keep Garland Fresh Longer

francoisetmoiblog@gmail.com — Fri, 06 Dec 2019 13:18:09 +0000

Love fresh garland, but hate how fast it dries out? Steal these 5 tips to keep garland fresh longer indoors throughout the holiday season. The number one thing I use to decorate for Christmas is fresh greenery: garlands, wreaths, branches in vases, sprigs nestled in bowls, and of course, our Christmas tree. It’s delicious scent, authentic look, and old-tyme charm are just a few reasons it’s my favorite. And the number one thing I hear from you guys is that you love fresh greenery, particularly in garland form, but it drys out so darn quickly, looks dead, feels crunchy, and makes a mess. Ugh, I know! Fresh sprigs tend to dry out especially quick when brought inside our cozy, warm houses, with that unforgiving dry air this time of year. Just ask my skin! So what can we do to slow the drying process and help our garlands look less wilty throughout the season? Here are my best defenses against dead-looking garlands: Tip 1: Soak Your Garland or Wreath Before Hanging Essentially, give your greenery a long, cold bath. Put the garland in the tub and fill with enough water to cover the greens. Let soak for 12-24 hours. There’s […]

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Toddler Friendly 3D Paper Spiders for Halloween

francoisetmoiblog@gmail.com — Wed, 02 Oct 2019 12:00:19 +0000

Looking for ways to involve your little ones in Halloween decorating? Make these 3D paper spiders which use little hands as the template. Click on over! It wasn’t until my daughter, Sylvia, came along that I really began celebrating Halloween. Becoming a parent has helped me see the cooky, spooky fun through her eyes. Now it’s become a bit of a personal mission to find ways to make it special for our family, especially this year. She’s 2-1/2 and is starting to grasp the concept of dressing up and all the “eerie” things that make up Halloween. I say “eerie” in quotations because, come on. She’s 2, and it’s more about fun than actual fright! BTW, she told me she wants to dress up as a ballerina kitty cat, which I think sounds super doable, so hopefully it sticks until the big night! As I was scheming what I could make with Sylvia to decorate the house, I came up with 3D paper spiders that use toddler fingers (or anyone’s fingers!) as the template. She loves helping me with projects, and I love sharing my love of making things. We went to Tuesday Morning for supplies because I knew they’d […]

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Nordic Christmas Home 2018

francoisetmoiblog@gmail.com — Wed, 05 Dec 2018 21:01:12 +0000

Come tour my Nordic Christmas home. Fresh greens, candles and texture galore: It’s dressed to the nines for the Holiday season. As with so many of us, decorating for Christmas is my absolute favorite time of year, second only maybe to early May when we finally shed our heavy coats and boots—oh the boots–after a LONG winter. Christmas is a close second though. It’s such a happy time of year! The funny thing is, I don’t actually go ‘all out’ decorating as compared to some. We do a garland on our living room arch, a tree in the corner of the living room, and then little additions of fresh greens, berries, potted amaryllis and candles throughout the house. No décor in the bedrooms. My decorating game plan definitely skews Nordic with a focus on bringing outdoor elements in, celebrating light during this dark time of year, and overall just creating a warm, cozy place. We mostly use the same decorations from year to year with a few additions and tweaks here and there. What is your decorating M.O.? Do you go all out? Use the same décor every year or switch things up completely? I’d love to hear your traditions! Okay, […]

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Talking Holiday Decor at Holi Go Fabulous

francoisetmoiblog@gmail.com — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 18:05:27 +0000

I’m popping in quickly this afternoon to share that I’m going to be talking holiday decor and entertaining with Kelly Kegans of MSP Mag and Lea Johnson of @creekwoodhill at the Galleria’s Holi Go Fabulous event THIS Sunday, 11/11 at 10am. Specifically, I’ll be sharing Nordic holiday decor ideas, and Lea will be covering vintage modern decor ideas. It’s going to be a blast! Session Tickets are $5. Go here to purchase tickets! The first 100 peeps will receive a swag bag. Woo!

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Christmas 2016: Meaningful Holiday Home Tour

francoisetmoiblog@gmail.com — Sat, 03 Dec 2016 13:36:34 +0000

Happy weekend! I’m excited to invite you in for a tour of our home decked out for Christmas as part of The Meaningful Holiday Home Tour, hosted by Laura of Meaningful Spaces! The tour runs Dec. 1st – 4th, so make sure you check out the rest of the homes on the tour with the links at the bottom of this post. Ken and I were traveling for nearly a week, 6 days to be exact, over Thanksgiving, so it wasn’t until this week that our Holiday decor went up. For time and budget reasons, we kept our decor pretty simple this year, by using decorations we already had + mixing in some every day decor into the Holiday spread. The only things we purchased new were the fresh cedar garland and flowers….And of course, those gifts under the tree; those are new too. One of my favorite non-Holiday specific pieces to mix in with the decor is my Grandmother’s plaid wool throw that she passed on to me a few years ago. I love the meaningful, Holiday touch it adds to our otherwise neutral space. As a nod to my heritage, Scandinavian pieces like straw ornaments, angelic candle chime […]

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Guestroom Office Makeover: Get the Look

francoisetmoiblog@gmail.com — Tue, 15 Nov 2016 14:54:00 +0000

On the coattails of yesterday’s big reveal, I wanted to breakdown what specific pieces we used to achieve the overall look. There were a few accessories that I DIY’ed myself, like the pink floor mirror, Ikat lumbar pillow, message board and indigo-dyed shams, but most everything else is shoppable. I also tried really hard only to include links to the EXACT accessories you see in the reveal. The only exceptions to this are a few of the DIY’ed pieces and the insanely gorgeous, one of a kind vintage rug from Woven Abode. In this case, I linked to the most similar rug available. Where to Find Everything: A. Murphy Bed | B. Tall Shelf | C. Gold Vase | D. Alarm Clock | E. Woven Basket | F. Shams (similar) | G. Sconce | H. Blue Printed Rug | I. Ikat Pillow (similar) | J. Coverlet K. Desk Lamp | L. White Baskets | M. Rolling Cart Desk | N. Desk Chair | O. Sheepskin | P. Vintage Rug (similar) Some affiliate links are included. Think this post is worth a read? Please share the love! And don’t forget to pin for later. Guestroom Office Makeover: Get the LookClick To Tweet Follow

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Housekeeping!

francoisetmoiblog@gmail.com — Mon, 13 Oct 2014 12:45:53 +0000

Hello and Happy Monday! I apologize for the radio silence this past week. Things have been absolutely car-eh-zay over here. Lots of changes. In addition to Ken and I moving to a new place, Francois et Moi also moved…over to a self-hosted WordPress.org site that is! You might notice a few tweaks to the site design which hopefully make it easier to browse more content on the homepage with one swift scroll of the mouse. WordPress.com was a fantastic and user-friendly blogger’s jumping off point, but it was limiting in many ways, so I’m pumped to be able to stretch my little blogger legs and introduce different types of posts and additional plugins on to Francois et Moi. And also be ad-free for awhile. Eeek! So exciting. As for our physical address, we’re not totally settled, i.e. we still need art on the walls, but here are a few shots of our new place. More wide angle shots and bedroom images will follow as soon as the last of the boxes have been cleared (moving is a freaking lot of work!). Check back on Wednesday as I’ll be sharing the DIY process behind how I made our new, danish inspired coffee table. Have a great start to the […]

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