The beauty of an event resides in the tiniest of details. Here, at her open house featured in St. Louis AT HOME magazine, Julia even tended to the coasters! An old Santa postcard (scanned), some cork cutouts, and a little
The food at Julia’s 2008 holiday open house was purposefully kept small and simple in order to allow guests to freely graze and greet, while still having some free hands! But small doesn’t imply lack of big impact. Quite the
It’s worth repeating this wreath image just to explain a few more things! First, note the repurposed Christmas gift tag. Others were strategically placed about the table to help guests identify the treats. And, second, you know that saying that
Personalizing party elements always helps to connect guests, be it to one another or to the hosts. At her holiday open house featured in St. Louis AT HOME, Julia wove personal touches throughout, starting first with the invitation and continuing
“God is in the details,” another of Julia’s favorite mantras. For this lovely lid (the top of her husband’s homemade apple butter), she pulled both personalization and repurposing tricks out of her hat, leaving no detail untouched in the process.
“Easy, but striking eats” was the motto for Julia as she prepped for her holiday open house for St. Louis AT HOME. Of course she wanted the party to look great (after all, it was being featured in a magazine),
Décor can also be simple without sacrificing the element of surprise. For her holiday open house in 2008, Julia clipped vintage Christmas postcards to an old order-rack in her kitchen and also scattered them on tabletops and within centerpieces throughout
Guests won’t want to exchange gifts like these – even if forced to at a party like Julia’s Yankee gift swap in 2008. Decked with vintage ornaments, shiny foil candle underliners, and boldly colored ribbons, they are likely more of
Who would think of using an old grocery cart to collect and store the presents at a Yankee gift swap? Julia, that is! She’s always thinking out of the box, trying to create that unexpected ah-ha moment for her guests.
Guests got not one, but two take-home gifts after Julia’s holiday open house! With her typical eye toward repurposing, Julia spotted these three vintage paper cornets when scouring a local flea market one autumn. Come party time, she decked them
For this party featured in St. Louis AT HOME magazine, Julia blinged out her dining room and then threw a stylish cookie swap to ring in the new year! Because Julia drew her party recipe and décor inspiration largely from
Julia loves the look of vintage gift cards – in fact, so much so that she incorporated a copy of this one (lower right) into the menu (left) that she made for her New Year’s cookie swap featured in St.
A-ha! This bird’s eye view of Julia’s cookie swap table reveals the partridges in her centerpiece, which were purposely picked to tie into the birds in her repurposed menu. (Quite the attention to detail!) It also reveals her penchant for
Julia likes to apply what she calls her birds-of-a-feather principle to party design. By grouping like things together, such as the birds under this crystal-and-ornament “tree”, one can create several high impact focal points throughout an event. And more focal
Julia loves vintage and repurposed décor, but it can sometimes look drab and dull without proper counterpoints of color or sheen. As the occasion for this party was New Year’s Eve, Julia added shimmer throughout her party, starting first with
No worries! How about a crystal tree?! Oftentimes a variety of unexpected elements can make a more exciting arrangement. Julia used gilded twigs, mercury glass ornaments, and spare chandelier crystals to create this centerpiece for her New Year’s cookie swap.
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