AND THEY LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER

I don't know if I will ever live happily ever after as that just seems wayyy to easy, and way to easy has never been an expression that describes my life. However, that doesn't mean I can't decorate like I live in a fairy tale right?


Once Upon a Cottage
•A gingerbread cottage in the woods is a summer house for a princess or a playhouse for young flower fairies with gauzy wings. A small shed, decommissioned chicken coop or any simple structure with a few windows and a door borrows magical enchantment with coats of white paint on floors, walls, ceiling and trim. A flea market chandelier garlanded with paper flowers looks pretty hanging over a second-hand loveseat re-covered in a flouncy, faded chintz. Mismatched white and flower-painted china plates and teacups, old lace tablecloths transformed into window curtains, and a salvaged fireplace mantel crackle-glazed and white-washed turn a tiny retreat into a castle chamber. Suspend a white net or cheesecloth canopy from the ceiling in one corner, drape its floor-length fabric around a huge, squashy cushion with a pale cotton cover and stack a collection of fairy tale books inside for a reading nook. Fill window boxes with white petunias and keep found treasures like smooth pebbles, perfect pine cones, shells and old birds' nests in a glass front cabinet, distressed and painted white.
Fairy Tale Holiday Decorating
•This holiday season, invite the fairies to visit by creating an original seasonal décor using sparkle and bits of nature. Fill the whole house with fragrant potted white narcissus; use pots of them in every room. Add some showy pale cream and pink amaryllis in white-washed or moss-covered clay pots. Hang a long, curvy branch of white birch or aspen over the dining table, wound with strings of tiny twinkling lights and dressed up with a few clear glass baubles. Silver spray paint a collection of leathery tree leaves, pine cones, nuts, knobby decorative gourds and anything else picked up on woods rambles. Pile the shiny treasures in small heaps on side tables or use them as the centerpiece on the dining table. Wrap fallen tree branches in silvery and white organdy ribbon; anchor the branches in glass jars filled with glass pebbles from the craft store and decorate them with very small ornaments, silver jingle bells and gauze butterflies. At night, eat meals and read fairy tales aloud by candlelight.
Doors to the Imagination
•If you cultivate a sense of whimsy or communicate frequently with the little folk, give them their own front doors in your home. Some of the finest fairy doors are built right into a bookcase or the frame of a fireplace. A fairy door can be so private it cannot be opened; it has a door frame, a hinged door and doorknob, sometimes a fan window, and always an attractive paint job. It's usually less than a foot tall. Some fairy doors are located right next to the front door and look like a miniature version of it. Others have furnished rooms hidden behind them that can be glimpsed through the window in the door or examined when the door opens. Still others mysteriously light up at night. A warm, inviting glow shines through the door's glass panel or around the door jamb, although the inhabitants of the space behind the door are never seen.