Redefining Style Here: The RSH Catalog Blog

Our Favorite Christmas Tradition

Santa Claus is coming to town. This we know. But have you ever wondered how he "knows if you've been bad or good"? It's Elf magic!

The Elf On The Shelf is a beloved Christmas tradition that sprinkles magic into every December day. The gift set includes a vintage-style elf doll and story book. The story reveals that once a family gives their Elf a name and places him on a shelf, he becomes magical. Every night, the Elf flies to the North Pole to deliver the "naughty or nice" news to Santa, then flies back home. Each morning, the family searches high and low for where their Elf has landed - it's a different place every day. So much fun for the whole family and a gentle reminder to children that being "nice" is important - and can be lots of fun!

For many years, RSH has been proud to offer The Elf On The Shelf to our customers. This year, our little Elf is going to be huge! CBS will broadcast The Elf On The Shelf: An Elf's Story on Friday, November 25 at 8:30 ET/PT. The holiday special is sure to become a classic and every kid or kid-at-heart in your life will love sharing in this beloved tradition.

We hear from our customers year after year how much they love their Elf and they have shared the tradition many times over with extended family and friends. Just ask your friends what they named their adopted elves - we've heard everything from Chauncey to Rudy to Elton to Artie! What is your Elf's name?

 

Peacock Crazy

Have you noticed the peacock trend in fashion and design this fall? We are seeing peacock images and peacock color inspiration everywhere. In fashion, we've seen runways loaded with feathers and saturated colors.

The influence spills over into everything from eye make-up and jewelry to wedding themes and tattoos! Who doesn't love a design element that is both playful and dramatic? We are wild about the color trends this fall and they just reinforce - and complement - our peacock obsession.

Add fabulous dishes, luscious pajamas, or just one new accessory to your life this fall and get in on the peacock craze.

Decorating With Mirrors

 

The best thing about decorating with mirrors? No rules! There are no rules but there are loads of options! We use mirrors everywhere - in every room and to great effect in these various ways:

On The Wall: The key to getting the most impact from wall mirrors is choosing an interesting shape and style to fit your space. It’s all about the frame. We favor large mirrors with elaborate  frames or groupings of small mirrors for an interesting gallery effect. They are true art pieces that draw the eye while achieving the magical effect of doubling the light and visual space in your room.

On Tabletops: The reflective quality of mirrors gives dimension to flat surfaces, doubles the visual impact of objects placed on the mirrors and if those objects are candles, all the better. Flickering light reflects off the mirrored surface like moonlight on a lake. Romantic, high-impact -- but so easy. 

On Furniture: Our favorite new piece to bring you this year is the Mirrored Chest. Hollywood Regency meets Versailles in this high-quality statement piece that has mirrors intricately applied to three sides, bringing life, light and movement to any corner of your home. Charming with any decorative style, it is a hallmark of effortless glamour.

 

Fall Color Trends For 2011

Source: pantone.com

Gold. Purple. Teal. Rich, deep, vibrant. This fall’s most important colors from the fashion runways are gracing our homes. No literal autumnal palette, this spicy combo is exciting enough to give those “changing leaf” colors a run for their money.

We love to add an accent to our living and dining spaces for a feeling of both warmth and adventure. Evoking the romance of Morocco, our textiles and vases mix colors and patterns while retaining a cohesive style. A little shimmer in everything keeps it fun. 

Celebrate the changing season with a refreshing update you can enjoy year-round.

Let’s Play!

 

Our brand new catalog is set to hit your mailbox any day! We are so excited to show off our playful side this season. We believe in sharing with our customers the finest decorating and gift items available in the marketplace. We also bring you an opportunity to celebrate life, friends and good times with our most playfully stylish catalog to date.

Our pages are chock full of:

Color, Color, Color
  Update your decor with pops of our favorite colors for fall

Party Essentials
  Eat, drink, entertain and decorate

Kids Playroom and Sleepover Must-Haves

  Fun for babies, toddlers, big kids and teens

Fabulous Gifts
  All new gift selections to delight everyone on your list

Christmas Decorating on a Fantastic Scale
  Choose the latest styles and colors or vintage favorites

Want to see more?

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Home Office Advice

As a full time working mom of two I am often asked how I stay organized and not feel overwhelmed by  the mounds of paperwork.  My response is usually the same, pray, laugh, keep a healthy stash of m&ms handy and create a home office that you are happy to spend time in.  Make sure your home office reflects your personal style and is organized for optimum productivity. 

(Love this book.  Great ideas with a bunch of inspirational images.  Courtesy of Amazon)

When I am asked about decorating a home office my reply is always the same, make it your own!  If color inspires you, make the space colorful.  If you are motivated by your kids, position big pictures of your kids on your desk or a bulletin board, if you love the feeling of being organized, setup an easy to follow organization plan.  Just remember to keep it personal. 

One item I think is critical in any home office is light; make sure your space is well lit. Whether you are working at 11 am, or 2am it should be light and bright. Your productivity will go up and the work you produce will have fewer mistakes.

Over the next few weeks we will share with you some ideas and pictures our readers have shared with us about creating the perfect home office.  So send in your pictures and ideas we would love to see them.

A new desk accessory collection that is perfect for organizing essentials:

The Advent Tree Tradition

With Thanksgiving almost upon us the calendar will soon turn to December, and with it one of my favorite winter traditions, Advent.  I am always surprised at just how many people commemorate the tradition of Advent with a calendar.  I also enjoy hearing about the vast range of styles that Advent calendars come in; from finely crafted, ornate wooden spectacles to cardboard cut outs with perforated doors containing chocolate morsels.  In the end however, their purpose is the same.

This sends me back to what the Advent Calendar meant to me and my family.  Every year at Thanksgiving my Grandparents would give me and my sisters an Advent calendar.  We received the simple disposable kind with a nice holiday decoration upon a slim cardboard box with little doors that could be peeled back.  My Grandmother was careful to get the calendars safely into the hands of our mother, because if the calendars were given to us directly, our personal tradition would start too early.

The tradition in my household was slightly different and unique to me and my two sisters.  Not being blessed with an abundance of patience, we would wait until we were given our calendars on the first of December, and then promptly eat the 25 days worth of chocolate by December 2^nd. 

I remember one year when one of my younger sisters, the most disciplined and organized of the bunch, was determined to follow the tradition to the letter and eat a single chocolate each day.  Her intention was noble, but one that did not make it past the first year, because me and my other sister stole all the chocolate and then carefully resealed all the doors.  The ruse was up shortly the next day and the following year she decided not to break with our little tradition. 

 

Remembering that tradition is why our Advent Tree is one of my favorite items in our holiday collection. 


Shaped like a tree, it is bright and cheery and is versatile enough to house anything from sweets to little trinkets to personal notes.   I also like the fact that it is reusable so you and your family can create your own unique and lasting traditions that will be cherished for years to come.

Our Thanksgiving Tree Tradition

The Thanksgiving Tree has become a part of our family tradition for the past ten years; it offers a creative way to give thanks for the simple blessings that occur every day. It helps us turn thankfulness into enough; and appreciate all we have.

  

How this tradition started for our family is a blessing in itself.

  

  

Our youngest daughter Jillian was born on January 31, 1997 with several complications.  I found myself wallowing in the sadness of having a sick child instead of looking at the countless blessings of having a new addition to the family.  We had moved to a new city, friends were scarce; days without doctor appointments and worry were few. 

 

November 1 rolled around, and I created our first Thanksgiving Tree.  I found an old branch in the yard, fixed it into a large white pumpkin and placed it on our entry table. Every day I would write down little blessings of the moment, thankful thoughts.  I often look back at our Thanksgiving Tree cards from 1997 and I am humbled. 

To put this into perspective, here are a few from our first Thanksgiving Tree:

 

· Jillian made it through the night

 

· Jillian ate a full ounce of formula and wasn’t sick

 

· Madison fell asleep holding Jillian’s hand

 

· We didn’t have to see any doctors today

 

· My check to the pharmacy didn’t bounce 

 

· I had a full day without tears, Yahoo!

 

  

The Thanksgiving Tree tradition:

  

November 1 we put up our Thanksgiving Tree, layout the hang tags and write down our first thankful thought of the season.

  

Every day in November our family writes down little accomplishments, things we are thankful for, daily successes and hang them on our Thanksgiving Tree.  Friends who come over are often inspired to write down thoughts and hang them on our tree.  On Thanksgiving morning, before the turkey goes in the oven or the parade begins I take down the hang tags, pour myself a cup of coffee and read all of the tags off of the tree.  It is then that I am reminded of how much I have to be thankful for.

 

 

I am thrilled to introduce the Thanksgiving Tree to a wider audience.

 

“Be Thankful for what you have and you will end up having more” Oprah

Clearing Clutter

Clutter is the beast that pops up most just when you don’t need it, when things are hectic and you don’t have time to get on top of it.  But clutter can rob you of peace of mind just by its existence at a time when you most need calm.  Another name for “decluttering” is “space clearing” – making space for yourself – space to breathe and to enjoy your surroundings.  It’s hard to do that when you are constantly surrounded by too much stuff.  In my experience as a home organizer, I find many people who have chronic “tms” “too much stuff”.  But getting on top of that can be as easy as one- two- three. 

 

Here are some tips to help:

 

1. Get three large boxes – one for things you want to give away, one for trash and one for things you want to keep but don’t have a home for yet.

 

2. Start with one room at a time.  Taking on too much can be overwhelming.  Finish one room before you go on to the next.  It will be good motivation to go forward.

 

3. Decluttering is all about decision making.  What do you love and  need – what is yesterday’s news.  A good rule is : if you haven’t worn it or used it in the last year – out it goes.

 

4. Release any guilt about items that should be sentimental but aren’t.  You don’t have to keep all those greeting cards unless they really mean something to you.  The feeling is in your heart, not in the object.

 

5. Don’t feel guilty about keeping some things that seem ridiculous.  If it speaks to you and you love it, then it should stay.  Don’t worry about what anyone else thinks. 

 

6. Once you have decluttered, create a system to keep the clutter at bay going forward. For example: I will put all my papers to file in this basket, when the basket gets ¾ full, I will file them all.

 

7. One of the biggest clutter hazards is the daily mail.  If you don’t have a system for how to deal with it, it can pile up quickly.  For example, coupons go here, bills go here, anything I’m interested in but don’t have time to read right now goes in my inbox, the rest in recycling.

 

8. Invest in storage if you need it.  It will be worth it in the long run.  A chest, bookshelf or set of drawers could make all the difference.

 

9. Have a friend help you.  Sometimes this can be a lot of fun and help you get the job done when you’re dragging your feet.  Just make sure you make the decisions about what stay and what goes so you don’t feel resentful afterward.

 

10. Going forward, resolve to buy only what you truly love.  It is better to buy quality and keep and enjoy it, than to continue to buy things that don’t quite do the job or aren’t what you really love.   Sometimes if you add up how much you spent on the “imposters”, you could have bought the real thing instead.

 

Once you have de-cluttered, notice how much freer you feel.  I think you will find that you enjoy your space more and appreciate what you have more without all the other things clogging up the space.  Go easy, letting go of things can be emotional, but the benefits are huge.  You are free to enjoy the things you love and less encumbered by the “other stuff” .  You may find that you are less stressed , more productive and generally a lot happier. Try it and let us know how it goes!

Almost that time...

September is fast approaching and with it, another school year. For those of you about to drop off your baby boys and girls at college, we can help.  Any move-in requires organization and planning, but college is truly a whole different ball game. There are no hard and fast rules, but I have compiled some quick guidelines for making this process as painless as possible! I like to think of myself as a seasoned mover as  I will be entering my fourth (and sadly, final) year of college at Vanderbilt University this fall. I won’t lead you astray, I promise!

New clothes, bedding, closet organizers, bulletin boards, a printer, and more will all need to be moved into an 11’ x 15’ room while other nervous parents and students do the same. Elevators? Only for the lucky (my mother and I once pulled a refrigerator up three flights of stairs on towels. We have since invested in a dolly…).  The good news is that it only gets better from here. Once you make peace with the cinder block décor  that will likely drive you to buy a can of paint from the nearest hardware store (although I don’t advise it, universities tend to frown on that sort of thing) there are a few tricks you can use to give the room a little personality.

 First on the list? Pictures!  Especially for those girlie dorm rooms, invest in as many pictures frames, wall hangings, and craft boards as your heart desires. They will be a nice reminder of home for those days when homesickness hits and will make the room instantly bigger and brighter.

Second, extra shelving. Most dorm halls promise hanging shelves for each resident, but in my experience, they are never enough. Whether moving in myself or my younger brother, my parents and I usually find ourselves making a last minute run to Lowes to pick up another set of shelves. They take up space on the wall and will relieve some of the storage pressure from elsewhere in the room. For the shameless plug of the day, galvanized Block Letters can pull together a room and look great sitting atop white, wooden shelving.

 Last but not least is a bedside table with drawers. It is yet another space to store the myriad of knick knacks your son or daughter has deemed that they simply cannot live without. They are also a nice way to fill in awkward spaces between bed frames, desks, and dressers.

The trick is to stay organized. Make lists, have a schedule, and talk to your child’s university whenever you have questions. Good luck and have fun shopping!

P.S. To help you get started, I have made a list of some RSH essentials that are soon to be found in my own dorm room (or are at least on my wish list! Mother, this is my not-so-subtle hint).

Isabelle File Totes and File Folders

Designer Bulletin Board

 Chalkboard Organizer

Blanca Office Organizer Set