KTLA 5 Morning Show!

Decorating for the holidays is fun, but if you're limited in space it can be very challenging! Loralie Orr showed how you can still take part in all the fun of Christmas decorating even if your room is spatially challenged. Check out the segment from KTLA 5 Morning News!

Watch! 

We'll be posting more Easy Holiday Decorating tips on upcoming blogs to give you more information on how to make some of the things featured on the show and share even more easy decorating ideas! (psst... if you sign up as a subscriber to this blog you'll be notified when new blogs are posted!) But for now, here is a list of where you can find the products shown:

Wall mounted deer trophy: "Buck Jr." from CardboardSafari.com
Pillow covers and Stocking: West Elm

Happy decorating! 

Team Spirit! ...In your home.

Forget the foam fingers, bright signs, and tacky team decor. Whether its you or your spouse that wants to adorn the house in team spirit, you can do it tastefully and while still upholding a respectable style by following these simple tips.

This room screams team in all the wrong ways.
Lets try to avoid this, shall we?

1. Be inspired by the colors rather than restrict yourself to them. Use small doses as accents against a more neutral palette. Or use one of the team's colors as your backdrop, but don't necessarily stick to their other color as you accent. Some team colors just don't translate well to home decor... sorry. But I promise your point will still come across.

2. Incorporate subtle accents into your existing space that represent either a team color, player, coach, or an ode to stadium. A throw blanket (or two) that represents one (or the second) color of the team can be easily worked into a room without throwing off any working color scheme. A framed photo of the coach, player, ticket, or stadium can be an accent on your bookshelf. A game ball, token from a game, or even a bobble head could work as a bookend. Coasters, picture frames, dish towels, or a single pillow can all be subtle nods to your favorite team. The idea is to use them thoughtfully and sparingly to keep the tribute subtle. Too many of these objects or too blatant of a display will make your room look like shrine.

These Crate & Barrel throws are a great
way to bring in your team's colors.  

This vintage ice bucket from To Hell in a Handbag Shop on Etsy
is a fun and subtle way to show your love of golf.

3. Adorn your walls with a images and objects of your team to create a gallery wall. This is a great way to contain the love by concentrating a large quantity of memorabilia into a controlled space. A gallery wall can be as small or as large as you want and can showcase your own photographs, others art or photos, game-day tickets, players cards, and great vintage items.

You can use both images and items to create a great gallery wall. 

Gallery walls work well in any place!

4. Simplify things... sometimes the mascot (or even a silhouette of it), the block letters of a name, or a team motto can make a bold impact. These are usually super easy to do yourself by printing out and framing or stenciling onto a plain pillow or blanket.

Go Bulldogs!
Silhouette pillow from ElsaBeta Shop on Etsy 

Letter Pillows from Jonathan Adler can easily be
 customized to represent your team's initials and color. 

So go ahead and invite your team into your home without compromising your home's style. And keep these additional tips in mind when shopping for and incorporating team spirit into your decor...

Vintage items are a great way to show your love for the team because people tend to "respect" vintage items over newer items. This work for you because they won't automatically pin you as a die-hard fan... and a tacky one at that. There are tons of vintage posters, postcards, souvenirs, or even vintage "how to play the game" books that you can use in your home (use them as a whole on your bookshelf or take out and frame individual pages). Check out local garage sales, antique shops, and online shops like Ebay and Etsy.

This great print from a 1940's dictionary would be an
awesome addition to a boxing fan's collection.
More sports available from Folie Dujour Shop on Etsy

Vintage John Elway Comic Book from Leftys Leftovers Shop on Etsy

Photographs are something else that people respond really well to, especially ones done in black and white. An old photo of you and your pop at the game or a new one of you and your buddies. Artistic shots of your stadium, a local bar that goes hand-in-hand with your game day tradition, or generic game or stadium shots can be a fantastic complement to team-specific shots. Look through your own photos and ask your friends, Etsy and other online sites are great for finding artistic photos.

Jessica Morgan's photo of Dodger Stadium

Photo of Busch Stadium by Gemini Complex on Etsy

This image of stadium seats could be a great "generic" image to
round out your own gallery wall or collection.
By HHHillaryyy on Etsy

Frame your items to make it look more thought out. Rather than tacking up a team photo to your wall or flag (al a my husband... and hanging these things crooked I must add) frame it, hang it straight, and add to it (thats right I said 'add to it') to make it into a gallery wall.

This collection of team pennants could have looked like a huge mess,
but grouped together and framed make a great impact on a space.

To sum it all up... Use your pieces thoughtfully and sparingly to create a tasteful tribute to your team, and let the colors inspire you rather than dictate you. Remember, you can still represent the team while also representing stylish interiors.

Go team!

Ellenor

Furry Family Wall

Most of us are familiar with the modern “Gallery Wall” in today’s homes. It is the personal gallery that showcases one’s beloved photos, paintings, life mementos, art, and collectibles in a creative and artistic way to create a single visually striking piece of art. Gallery walls have moved out from the hallways into more prominent rooms of the home to become both a conversation piece and a personalized backdrop to our lives.

At Ellenor, we believe that today’s gallery walls should not only showcase photos of dear ol’ mom and pop, grandparents, siblings, etc. but they should also include our “furry families,” i.e. our beloved pets. Because they are as much your family as the two-legged kind!

Even more daring would be a complete Furry Family Wall! A gallery wall dedicated to those photographs of the member or members of your family with the most personality... the one wagging his or her tail at you right now. We recently met up with Kim and Sarah, founders and artists behind Bark Pet Photography. Bark Pet Photography does a brilliant job of capturing the personality and essence of our furry loved ones. These unique images are the stand out pieces that will push your gallery wall from good to fantastic! Just look at some of these incredible images!



Creating any kind of gallery wall can seem daunting, but with the right photos it can be stunning! What are the “right photos” you ask? They are the photos that make you truly happy. You should select the photos that speak to your personality. Without personality to your photos, your family wall will fall flat, so fill your wall with things you love... Your pet included! If you do this, your family wall will be something that makes you happy every time you see it.

With that being said, a few key rules do apply to gallery walls. Whether it be a Furry Family Wall or not, here are the most basic guidelines to creating a fantastic gallery wall:
• Having a good balance between staged photographs and artistic or candid photographs on your family wall is key. Mix in a few non photographed items as well (framed or not).
• All photos should be hung in close proximity to one another, 1 ½” – 2” is best.
• Mixing different frame styles is fine, but don’t select too many frames with “stand out” features (i.e. something very ornate, or colored should be kept to a minimum, otherwise the wall becomes too busy)
• Have fun with it! Lay all your photos/items on the ground in front of the wall and play around with the layout. Something will catch your eye and you'll know when it's right!

Take a look at these great gallery walls…



What makes these galleries so great? Where they all read as a single statement, each wall has those few “wow” pieces amongst the rest. You can achieve an equally stunning family wall by making one or more of your photos into a piece of art. This can be done by printing certain photos on a canvas, taking a particularly artistic photograph and printing it in a larger format, or even varying the balance of colored photographs to black and white.

Bark Pet Photography is able to make these special pieces for your wall by printing “triptych” images of your pet that are reminiscent of the old photo strips. By hanging several of these close together, a very simple Furry Family Wall can be made. If you’re feeling a bit more adventurous, hang one of these in combination with other smaller photos. See this sketch for the variations you could do using a triptych image...

There are many variables in creating a successful family wall. You need to have patience, a fun personality, a good attitude, and of course great images to pull from. If you only have one of the listed qualities, then you need to rely on the experts… Ellenor and Bark Pet Photography can help!