Christmas Chandelier

For this year's tour, I am doing an outdoor tablescape. It's an opportunity to have one more space that someone might see and say, "Hey! I'm hiring this guy!" It's nothing elaborate - just a simple tartan plaid, Ralph Lauren inspired table - but it involves an ugly brass chandelier that I picked up on craigslist for $40.

I've never been a big fan of decorating chandeliers for Christmas ... but then I saw a few Mary McDonald options that made me re-think it. For instance, this dining room in her LA guest house:

design by Mary McDonald

Gorgeous, right? I mean - if you're going to decorate this space for Christmas why would you touch the chandelier? Just plop some Christmas plates on the table and voila, right?

Coordinating ribbon to the tablecloth and some simple cedar really jazz up the chandelier without taking away too much from the beauty of the fixture.

From what I can tell, the ribbon was tied around each of the candle arms of the fixture and the greens were tucked into the basket between the crystals.

When Mary decorated her foyer in peacock for the Veranda article in 2010, she adorned this gorgeous crystal chandelier with a simple kissing ball ... 

Now - granted. This ugly $40 chandelier needs a lot more than a kissing ball strung from the bottom of it. But leave it to Mary to start changing my mind about the look of greens on fixtures. 

And finally ... now, lets see what I can create on 4 hours of sleep and an ugly chandelier. Pics up next week!