If there’s one thing I learned living in our quiet patch of country, it’s that a house is so much more than rafters and beams, windows and doors, wallpaper and paint. We go to such great lengths, you and I, inspring ourselves and others to decorate our homes more beautifully that sometimes, we forget to stop and share them, graciously and openly, with the friends and family we love. The holidays are stressful enough, people say. Expensive, too. Why bother entertaining when you can just go out? Let someone else do the work. In my experience, the very best memories, the ones I replay in my mind time and again, tell to friends for years to come, are made at home.
Millerton was a Thanksgiving house. Those old wooden beams and crooked walls. That sizzling, spitting fire in the dining room and the smell of embers over my grandmother Dottie’s brown-sugar buttermilk pie. In the two years Jaithan and I lived in that quirky farmhouse in the woods, blogging furiously because it was new, I set more Thanskgiving tables than I ever had before. Of course, the one we did for Lonny’s anniversary issue, with gilded pumpkins and Imari porcelain, I loved the most. For our own Thanksgiving that year, I re-created the table just as it was, down to the last detail. And while the fire sputtered and hissed, our guests carrying on with one story after the other, I would tell one of my own one day.
If Millerton was Indian corn and herilooms gourds, Norfolk was all fraser fir. Now this was a Christmas house. White and grand with modlings and mantles, a wrap-around porch for wood. I loved that house even more than the first, especially now, when Jaithan and I would decorate not one, but five delightfully little trees, each trimmed to complement our decor. It seemed like every evening in December, when the snow fell in pristine flakes and lingered for a while, friends would drop by the house for drinks by the fire and a sampling of my holiday baked brie. Are you home, they’d ask? Can I stop by? No sooner had I hung up the phone than I’d plunder the buter’s pantry, mixing and matching new and old servingware for impromptu cocktail parties for 20. Sometimes, all I’d have on hand were pigs in a blanket, but served on a vintage brass tray with egg-and-dart detailing ($2 at the Goodwill) and polished to a shine, pigs in a blanket looked like Jean-Georges could have cooked them himself. In the country, and in this house for the holidays, my most cherished memories of decorating and entertaining—indeed of living well—were born. Welcome.
I love it ! You are so right it is the memories from home gatherings and holiday happenings that I replay the most ~
I’m taking a break from working on my tree that’s all gold and turquoise (and all the blue-greens that fall between those two colors) vintage ornaments and feeling very on trend.
Nice article. I love see the holidays done in nontraditional colors.
Merry Christmas to you both!
Dear Eddie and Jaithan,
I believe you both have made a huge change in American decor and tablescaping. The High-Low is now completely acceptable and mixing it up, so natural.
Thank you for your friendship and I hope you come to Kansas City again soon!
2012 Artists Series,
xoxo
Karena
Absolutely love the blue, cream and gold tones of your holiday decorations ! Beautiful, elegant
and inviting.
A traditional look well done without red & green. .
Thanks for inviting everyone into your lovely home.
Diana@107Vintage.com
Cashmere Interiors
Love this post, Eddie. I can tell that even the unexpected guests and friends are always happy additions in your home. Very sweet post and glad I popped in! Merry Christmas to you, Jaithan, and yours!
xx
sharon
A Blog Post!!! I am so glad to see you back here, I miss your blog post so much. It is wonderful seeing you in magazines as in the above story, but this is where I discovered you so it feels like you are back HOME to me. Beautiful article that showcases your talents and warm, inviting personality. I loved reading through this post and seeing all the images.
Merry Christmas, Eddie& Jaithan!
xo Kathysue
Really loved reading this feature and the one in BHG. I decorated with turquoise, silver and white this year. So elegant. Merry merry!
The love you have for
your home and for each
other just shine in these
words and pics……!
Congrats for the feature
in CL, one of my very
favorites. It was really,
really beautiful!
xo Suzanne
SO GLAD your back. I love the color scheme. I noticed the chairs at the dining table match some advertised at one of this week end estate sales here!
Welcome back!! I was about to write to make sure you were just too busy to post.
Love your decorations, You guys are the best!! Talent unlimited.
Merry Christmas and have a spectacular New Year!
PLEASE share your Mom-Mom’s Buttermilk pie recipe.
i loved each of your homes and what you both did to enhance their individual splendor combined with your personal touches.
having just slowed down, i sat this morning and opened my CL magazine, what a thrilling surprise!
America does indeed look to you both for inspiration and new ideas, all attainable. missing your presence. when you do surface it is a present for us all
loving christmas blessings to you both
debra
Hi Eddie and Jathan,
I am a periodic reader of your blog and certainly a big fan since your appearance on that first TV show. We thought you should have never been disqualified. WHAT were they thinking?!
Once in a awhile I have been back to your site and I have to say your blue Christmas feat is by far your best. You continue to grow and expand and create without bounds.
I can relate especially as a designer and owner of an antiques shop (I since decided to close), and a lover of thrift stores, estate sales, as well as trade shows, sources, the usual designer haunts: open to all sources when looking for good design. Your aesthetic is much like mine as well, something I call American Romantic: appreciation of traditional, tasteful, eclectic, with some gorgeous knockout pieces, sometimes antique, strewn about.
You know your stuff, that’s obvious, and it has been fun to see you grow as a designer and to get the recognition you really do deserve. Delighted for you, for you both! Happy Holidays,
Owen and Louis, San Francisco Bay Area, CA
miss having you near by. xoxoxoxo
fabulous article.
I was so happy to see this! Happy Holidays.
What a nice article and such a beautiful home. Merry Christmas to you both. xo
I didn’t know you were blogging again! I’m back on board as well… just needed some time off. Thanks E&J for reading my blog despite my periodic updates. I LOVED this look into your beautifully airy home. Would love to spend a few nights in your gorgeous guest room!!! It’s gorgeous 🙂