In 2006 we decorated the upstairs hallway of the Simon Perkins Mansion:
Our theme was "Christmas Morning"...the packages on the staircase were to block guests from going to the third floor...clever, aren't we?!
Then in 2007 we got a ROOM at the mansion...although I cannot find photos of it right now (go figure...I've been looking for the last 20 minutes to no avail- oh well...)Last year, 2008 as an office, we decided not to take part in the Tales of Christmas Past. Which meant we had all these decorations in the basement of the office, but nowhere to put 'em!
While driving into work one morning, the radio station I listen to was talking about how their studios weren't festive, and they wanted Christmas to come visit their office. I called right away and said, "I'm a designer! I got decorations!" and so I drove up to their Cleveland studios bright and early last December and decorated their studio. (Of course, I don't have the photos now...but when I find 'em, I'll post 'em, I promise!)
Okay, so enter last Thursday. I was thinking, "gosh, our office is really sad looking..." and then it hit me like a ton o' bricks, THE DECORATIONS ARE IN THE BASEMENT! Yippy! Although, this meant I had to go into the basement.
Lemme run it down for you like this, our basement at work is "that" basement that you see in photos under the headings "Worst basement ever: too much water not enough room"...its gross. Our office (which is an old farm house) was built in like 1890-something and the basement shows the age. Its dark, damp and someplace you never want to find yourself on Halloween (or any other day to be honest).
When you descend the stairs into the icky space, there's a plant that greets you. No, we didn't put the plant there. No, we didn't plant a seed and it grew. This is some kind of mutant plant that found a weak spot in the foundation and forged ahead to make its new home on the staircase. No lie.
So I wiggled around the plant-from-hell, jumped over the Nile, and avoided spiders and found the fun decorations from Christmas past.
Although I could have setup the big tree, I decided it was best to have room to WALK in our office, so I setup the tiny Charlie Brown Christmas tree I found...and I stuffed it with so many decorations, I had to keep angling it stand up straight :) hehe...
Close up of the fancy decorations:
...and one of my favorite decorations I put together in 2007 was the red carnation tree...(upon completion of the tree, all the craft stores in two counties hadn't a red carnation in site...)
Ahhh, I love decorating for Christmas; it just makes me happy!!
