Phase 2 of The House Behind The Trees ~ The downstairs #TeelsBuildaHouse

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So we are starting the downstairs ... I HATE to say basement because we had a basement in our old home, where you opened a door and went down stairs separated from anything else. It was a finished basement complete with a bedroom, craft room, family/game room and we spent a lot of time there ~ our oldest son moved down there in jr high and stayed through high school ... until we finished the master suite in the attic then he moved back up to the bedroom floor with his brother and sister.  So here our downstairs is open to the rest of the house, you can see through to the outside from the top of the stairs going down because we have a wall of windows down there as well.  We really didn't plan to have a kiddo down there but since we are having to do a switch-a-roo with rooms (I'll explain later) he is moving home soon and will be downstairs. Anyhoo, our downstairs will house our main family room, our middle sons room, a full bath and kitchenette.  I thought it would be fun ...
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A Sophisticated New Year's Eve Party.....At Home

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Easy elegance on New Year’s Eve. That is what most of want when we are prepping for a party - whether it’s for four guests or forty. The big secret to achieving this? Creatively using what you have on hand. You really don’t have to spend a lot to create an elegant New Year’s atmosphere - just be creative with the pieces you have!

Fringed garlands are a huge trend right now. With a pack of tissue paper and a little bit of string and glue, you can have a dazzling backdrop in minutes. For our “Happy New Year” banner, we went simple. 4.25-inch circles were cut out of glittery cardstock, letters out of black glitter cardstock and tied everything together with some shiny curling ribbon.

A sprinkling of sparkling lights and candles always helps to set the mood at a party. We brought out a few of our white pillar candles, and to dress them up for the occasion, we banded them with some glittery paper. Quick and easy! We even added some glitz to our champagne bottles to double as a wow-worthy centerpiece.


Champagne glasses are also dressed up with a bit of sparkle; a quick snip of ribbon glued around the base of the glass brings special to spectacular! The serving trays were painted with chalkboard paint and doubled as labels for the food.

You can take these few ideas for a serving table and add more trays, more candles and more garland to fit any size party you have. The tablescape reflected the silver gold and black theme of the buffet. Using some glittered wrapping paper, a quick runner was placed over top a plain white tablecloth. Dramatic, and cheap! Plus you don’t have to worry about washing errant spills out of glittered cloth.

Standard florist vases were painted to match the décor and filled with grocery store roses. A few tea lights added to the atmosphere. This simple yet sophisticated centerpiece idea added a dash of elegance to the decor.

Each place setting was created from pieces we had on hand. Gold chargers (usually available for a dollar or so if you don’t have them) held plain white dinner plates topped with gold salad plates that were found at a thrift store. A piece of wrapping paper cut to ribbon size banded the plates together. Accenting the place setting was a sparkly brooch, but use whatever sparkly piece of costume jewelry you might have to make this idea work for you.

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