an Bowm Annie
AT HOME
Holiday Style at Home Two local designers share their decorating traditions and tips text by PJ Bremier / photography by Trevor Henley
H
olidays signal a change. Collectively, we tend to slow down more, stay inside longer, and focus on matters that mean the most to us— traditions, family, friends, and home.
A home that is thoughtfully decorated for the season makes these special occasions even more special. Here, two Marin designers share their family decorating traditions for the holidays and offer tips for yours.
Ann Lo wengar t
Keeping it natural Growing up in a family with a military father who moved frequently and a mother who knew how to set up home quickly, Annie Bowman, owner of Sunrise Home in San Rafael, learned early how to create a pleasant home under a deadline and on a budget. She also learned how to make the holidays special. “My mom always brought out my grandmother’s china and silverware. They weren’t used everyday so we knew they were temporary and celebratory.” Wherever they were living, the family mantel was covered in seasonal greenery, a tradition Bowman upholds in her own Greenbrae home, stringing lights through branches of evergreen or magnolia and tucking in dried fruit and gilt or silvered pinecones. On her front door, she hangs an evergreen wreath enhanced with glued-on pomegranates and sprays of holly and, on a foyer table and mirror, she suspends an angel and twin potted evergreen topiaries or boxwood balls. Bowman creates a round centerpiece for her dining table filled with fragrant greenery, potted blooms, votive candles and mercury glass objects. Instead of color, she brings in “tons and tons of white— white lilies, white tulips, white roses!” she says. And she brings on the shine, too. “This is the season, more than any other time, to use metallic and glistening surfaces, whether it’s a candlestick or a bowl of gleaming orbs,” she says. >>
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