Quarterly Newsletter 

CHRISTMAS 2022

Read about our news and latest updates.

🎄 Season's Greetings Allured Loves!! 🎄

 

At last, it's that warm and fuzzy time of year that we all love.

The time of sprinkles and sparkles, fresh balsam and holiday aromas in the air, good holiday food, delicious cocktails, snuggling up by the fireside, cheesy Hallmark Christmas movies and so much more.

 

For me personally, this is my absolute favorite time of the year. I'm a December baby celebrating my birthday on December 5th, so I love the holiday season for so many reasons...including being able to celebrate my birthday at the beginning of the season.

 

Yet, overall I just love keeping the festive feelings and celebrations going through the end of the year and even into the New Year.

 

This year for the first time in a couple of years, I was able to get a head start on decorating and sprucing up my home for the holidays. Many of you may recall, my creative work schedule in the film industry in these last two years had me working with such an intense and demanding schedule, that the Allured By Design® holiday content was delivered to you all much later in the season.

 

Much later as in right in time for Christmas, literally the week of. For most content creators, including bloggers and designers such as myself...that's really late in the game. However, I must say there was also something very poetic about delivering my holiday content to you all the week of Christmas...on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

 

It made it feel as if I was truly gifting you, my audience with the gift of my holiday look and reveal as a present. A very dear present I'd worked very hard to execute (amidst of my hectic schedule) to ensure the extended delay would all be worth the wait.

 

I'm never 100% sure how you all will receive the holiday looks I execute in my home each year, but I always hope to leave if only a few of you with loads of inspiration. It truly warms my heart in the biggest way to share and lend design inspiration to you all, especially holiday inspiration.

 

And, it means even more when many of you email or direct message me your gratitude for my content, including my newsletters. Please know that I'm humbled by your messages and forever thankful.  

 

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 For those that are first time email subscribers and may not be familiar with who I am. Allow me to introduce myself...

 

I'm a full-time, multi-hyphenate creative working in two creative fields,

both Film & Design. I've been a professional Filmmaker for the past nineteen years having studied and finished my film degree in October 2003 from Full Sail University in Winterpark, Florida, which is a smaller city right nearby Orlando. I'm hired as a freelancer by various studios, networks and production companies to either produce their non-scripted projects in the reality television realm, or to coordinate their scripted projects in the non-reality television and film realm.

 

Simultaneously, I absolutely LOVE to stretch my creative wings by decorating and styling my home known to many as "House Piazza."

My love and passion for design and beautiful interiors led me to the launch of my very own Home & Lifestyle brand, Allured By Design®

in 2016. My brand has evolved and grown by leaps and bounds since its debut year, now being a legally registered trademark brand as of last year. Yet, there is still soooooo much uncharted territory to explore.

And, I'm truly looking forward to that in the New Year and beyond.

 

I'm always and forever thinking of new ways to elevate my brand and to stay true to my creative heart. I much prefer to stay in my own lane where there is far less traffic and do what feels good to me and what feels like a great fit for my brand.

 

However, a continuing constant for me as a creative in two different fields...has always been to merge my love and skill for both film and design under my platform. Thus far, the biggest merger of both of my creative talents is my upcoming web series next year.

 

More to come on that later.

 

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While I don't riddle my social media pages with a plethora of reels, as Instagram seems to be strongly pushing all content creators to do so...

I do pride myself on producing high quality video content. For me it's always quality over quantity. And, my Christmas videos have become a fan favorite for my loyal followers, and even new ones as well.

 

It simply allows me the opportunity to tell both a Christmas and a design story all in one. And, with Christmas being my most favorite holiday of all, it's of course a story I love to tell. This year, I worked with my

Behind The Scenes Director from my web series, Joshua Bluford and I really love what we created as a visual holiday story.

 

And, of course...I truly hope you all will too.

 

Last year's holiday video was more of a throwback to the old school and playful home style videos. You know the ones that most American families have all shot at least one holiday if not every holiday on the family video recorder.

 

This year's video is pretty much a combination of my original holiday videos, yet still with some fun, playful and candid moments caught on camera as well. Yet, the visual highlights of course includes all of the holiday details and decor and I'm super excited for you all to see it.

 

I now present and debut to you all my 2022 holiday look and story

in my latest video titled...

 

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House Piazza: A Gilded Glimmer & Royale Bleu Christmas

 

Without further ado...

PRESS PLAY!

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Play Picture-in-Picture
00:00 00:00

CREATIVE CREDITS:
Interior Design & Holiday Styling: Allured By Design®
Creative Direction: Tachic Hickman-Piazza, Joshua Bluford & Stacy Marks
Videography & Editing: Blu Print Media Productions, LLC
Music:
Christmas Paradise (Ballpoint, Cushy, & Dylan Sitts)
Videographer: Joshua Bluford

Photographer: Stacy Marks

Hair: LaShanda T. Johnston

Makeup: Javetta White
Location: House Piazza
Handsome Italiano Husband: Charlie Piazza
Produced By: Tachic Hickman-Piazza

 

Share & Download the Video Link: https://vimeo.com/777021887

So let's dive into the details shall we?

 

But first and foremost, I need to be completely honest with you all.

Now as much as Christmas is my favorite holiday, like many of you I to have to be very conscious of space and storage every holiday season.

I don't ever want to be that person that's not being realistic with my audience. Because I live in reality and not in a fictitious social media fantasy.

 

As a design blogger and content creator, I'm often sent a variety of free products by various brands to promote their products. But, products can oftentimes turn into clutter the more you collect and consume.

 

So I definitely went into this year's holiday season knowing I'd be using a wealth of holiday decor, including ornaments, stems and picks I already owned. I made an intentional decision to not overcrowd my home with things I didn't need, knowing I'd be repurposing holiday accents from previous years.

 

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I did however add some new things to the mix of course to create a fresh look. Yet, soooooo much that was used to create my 2022 holiday look was provided by simply "shopping my home."

 

Most of you know that I absolutely LOVE to design a full Christmas look in my Master Bedroom. It has indeed become my favorite room to style for the holidays. And, for this year's theme in my bedroom, I'd say 90% of the look was created from holiday decor I've collected over the years.

 

I was heavily inspired by the Gilded Glimmer ornament collection from Frontgate, which is annually featured in their holiday catalogue. After doing a blue theme in my bedroom for the past two years, I really desired a fresh new look that would highlight my love for gold and beautiful metallics.  

 

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The best part of it all was that if I didn't have a stock of anything else, I most certainly had a full stock of beautiful metallic holiday accents and ornaments. I did add a few new ornaments to the mix to really elevate my own Gilded Glimmer look. But what truly changed the game was the addition of my gold magnolia stems from Frontgate.

Talk about a show stopper!!

One look at these bad boys and I knew this would be the statement piece for my tree and for the garland above my bed.

 

They provided such a sense of regal elegance to my holiday look and I was here for all of it.

 Additional new stems and picks came from my favorite holiday discount store, Hobby Lobby. No one can beat their sales and markdown prices during the holiday season. Generally, once I know what my theme will be, I always make my way to my local Hobby Lobby first to grab what I need.

My bedding this year with the exception to four new pillows, were all existing pieces I've used before in previous holiday shoots. For a quick second I considered buying new bedding...but then aborted that idea when I realized I had all of the main colors I'd be using in my tree also in bedding pieces I already owned.

 

My 2022 Master Bedroom Holiday look was all centered around...

 

Gold

Silver

Ivory

Winter White

Grey

Neutrals & Metallics

 

These colors allowed me to customize and create my very own Gilded Glimmer Christmas look in my bedroom. However, once I was all done, I must admit it felt a bit surreal to see me and my Husband's bedroom void of any color. All of my day one followers will know that I truly love a neutral themed bedroom in general. The very first reveal of my Master Bedroom was neutral in theme.

 

However, the holiday season is typically where I take advantage of the festive energy and add color to my bedroom. Yet, I ditched the color and kept it gold, gilded, serene and neutral and I really love how it came out.

 

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Three of my new pillows, which anchored the rest of my pillows came from a brand new local vendor whose actually been a loyal follower and supporter of my brand for years. Indeed this woman is an Allured Love and I now had an opportunity to reciprocate the love by supporting her new venture, which is her pillow line known as...

The Olivia Home Collection.

 

Owned and operated by Shanquell Wilson, The Olivia Home Collection of pillows are not only beautiful but they are AFFORDABLE!! Do you hear me? Let me say that again, they are AFFORDABLE!! Decorative toss pillows are costly, especially pillows that are feather filled, quality made with beautiful high-end fabrics and textures. And, usually the larger the pillow, the more expensive the price.

 

Shanquell is designing pillows that are high-end, luxury pillows yet selling them for half the price of what I typically pay for pillows. So yeah, it was a no brainer that I'd support her line considering the investment that toss pillows really are.

 

My exact pillows from The Olivia Home Collection line

are the Elegance pillows.

 

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My gorgeous Verona Ivory & Gold lumbar pillow is from the On Cloud 9 home collection. However, I always get a lot of my On Cloud 9 pillows from one of my favorite local trade boutiques in my area,

V Home & Interiors.

 But the cutest and most glamorous pillow that was so hard to pass up was this shiny, bedazzled accent pillow I found at Home Goods.

 

I call it my Christmas Disco Pillow because it reminds me of a glamorous disco ball from the 70s. 🪩

Ya'll already know throws are a big deal for me for any bedding look I style and create. A beautiful soft and plush throw simply provides that added layer of texture. In addition, it can also add a splash of color...or compliment your existing colors.

 

For this year's holiday look in my bedroom...I fell in love with the softness of this gorgeous winter white and taupe throw I found at

TJ Maxx. The taupe color is on the backside of the throw and interwoven underneath the winter white.

 

That's honestly what drew me in, the two tone colors which really complimented my overall theme of winter whites and neutrals. And, to style it all up...I love the way all of the gold holiday accents paired with my beautiful new holiday throw.

 

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Now, every year for the holidays...I always have to figure out not only what my overall Christmas theme will be, but also what me and my Husband's wardrobe will be. And, let me be the first to tell you the latter is always the hardest for me.

 

One day, I envision my life being so grand that I will have a stylist for both me and my Husband. Not because we need it, but because your girl is laundry fresh TIDE!!! You hear what I say? I'm TIRED, OK!!!

 

It always works out in the end but Lord only knows my exhaustion level be at an all time high running around from place to place, store to store figuring out looks for the both of us. And, it doesn't help at all that my Husband wants nothing to do with fashion. Don't get me wrong, he's Italian so he definitely LOVES to look good!!! I mean a desire to look good is part of his Italian DNA.

 

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But he also doesn't want to be bothered with the minutia of planning and figuring out looks and instead loves to tell people that his wife is his stylist. Pray for me ya'll because I'm about ready to fire myself and hire him a stylist, lol.

Initially, I was planning on both of us rocking something shimmery and golden. But I really wasn't feeling some of the pieces I tried on. They just weren't flattering on my frame. Likely because for the past several months, I've been up and down with my weight. Yet, one day I'll be happily where I want to be. But it most certainly wasn't going to be this holiday season, sadly.

 

I was beginning to run out of time, as it was getting closer and closer to the day of our shoot and I needed to make a decision fast. I remembered that I had this beautiful blue dress, which is the same dress I rocked in orange for my web series that many of you fell in love with. I'm sure you all remember all of the behind the scenes photos and footage I shared with you of me in that particular dress and color.

 

Many of you commented and messaged me about that dress because ya'll loved it so much.

 

I also have this dress in black and rocked it for the celebration of my trademark registration dinner party last year.

 

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Clearly, I love the style of this dress so much, I bought it in three different colors. I hadn't rocked the blue color yet and was initially supposed to wear it during the filming of my web series. Scrapped that idea and rocked the orange one instead, now leaving me with the blue one to wear whenever for a separate occasion.

 

Source information on this dress can be found in a blogpost I wrote this past Summer. To access, click here.

I started thinking that BLUE would actually be such a beautiful pop of color amongst all of the gilded gold and metallics in our bedroom. In addition, I knew the blue would highly compliment what I had in mind for our main living room theme and the holiday tablescape I'd be doing this year.

 

So, for the first time ever in a #HousePiazza holiday photo shoot...Charlie and I rocked our favorite color BLUE. Oddly enough, it was not my initial idea for us to wear blue but I must say I LOVE how gorgeous we looked rocking our color. And, I definitely loved how stunning our shades of blue paired so well in a sea of holiday neutrals, golds, winter whites, ivories and loads of glimmer and metallics.

 

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 Gilded Glimmer Christmas In All Of Its

Golden Glory!! 

 

 Moving Onto Our Royale Bleu Living Room Theme...  

But first and foremost, all of the little details...

As I've shared with you all many times before...

Almost everyone that's familiar with my style of design, knows that I'm very BIG on details!! I believe in paying attention to the smallest detail, as it all works together to create the larger picture. In addition, it ultimately carries the overall vision through.

So for the very first time in the history of my holiday looks, I'm debuting to you all a brand new tree in my living room. Just as I partnered with King of Christmas back in 2019 for the tree that's found its home in my Master Bedroom...

 

I've once again partnered with them for the current 2022 holiday season. I now own two beautiful flock trees from the uber popular Christmas brand known for having some of the most coveted trees in their inventory by all Christmas lovers, bloggers, content creators and designers.

 

For details on each of my trees, which are currently all on sale this holiday season...see the information and links to purchase below.

 

  • MASTER BEDROOM TREE:

    • 7.5' King Flock, Slim Artificial Tree w/650 LED lights

 

  • LIVING ROOM TREE:

    • 7.5' King Flock® Artificial Christmas Tree w/800 Warm White LED Lights

 

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For me, not only are King of Christmas trees beautiful...but they are sooooo easy to work with. The ease and convenience of their trees is what honestly inspired me to partner with them once again.

 

While I absolutely love my original glittery green tree, because I really do still love a traditional green tree...my original tree had become quite problematic to work with and it was really starting to stress me out each and every year. There were always a lot of holes and gaps to fill and while I love a very layered and well dressed tree...it's also very important to me for my Christmas trees to always have some kind of rhyme or reason going on.

 

Last year was the most challenging year for me to really get my living room tree to a place where I was happy with it. It stressed me and my Husband out so greatly that we both knew it was more than likely time for a new direction.

 

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 An artificial flock tree fills in many of the gaps by default from all of the flock on the tree consuming space. This makes it much easier to add ornaments and holiday decor strictly for the purpose of beautifying the tree, without the stress of having to figure out how to hide or diminish gaps and holes.

 

However, don't get me wrong, the mid section of any tree whether a flock tree or not...can oftentimes be the most problematic area to fill. Yet, it's still much easier to style and decorate a flock tree overall. So for as much as I love having at least one green tree in my home, I'm also very happy I didn't have to fight to the bitter end to beautify our new living room tree.

 

But, if I can have my way next year, I may just put our traditional green tree in our formal dining room. I'm thinking about purposely styling it in a less is more kind of way to relieve myself of fighting with it. Sadly, Charlie is NOT bout that life of helping me put up three Christmas trees, lol. But oh well...he'll live because I really would love at least one green tree to always be up and running in our home.

 

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Many of you are already familiar with my blue sofas in my living room, especially with blue being me and Charlie's favorite color. But believe it or not...I'd never done a blue holiday theme in our living room. I've done blue mixed in with other colors but never have I had blue as the focal point for our main tree.

 

Since I did winter whites, golds, grey and metallics in our bedroom...this gave me the perfect opportunity to allow BLUE to be the color star in our living room theme. With our wardrobe selection further complimenting all of the beautiful rich hues of blue.

I loved even more that I was able to add into the mix my favorite blue and white ginger jars from Williams-Sonoma Home as part of my holiday decor. I usually have these jars out for the Spring and Summer seasons. Yet, since blue was the holiday theme...I was so happy to simply update my table with just a sprinkle of Christmas. All while keeping my blue and white jars as the centerpiece with the gold and white one as the focal point for balance.

 

Typically, I'll style my coffee table a bit more heavy with holiday accents. Or, shall I say a bit more holiday pronounced. But, I really wanted the new tree to be the focus of the room, so I kept the coffee table Christmas styling simple by allowing my jars to shine the most. Yet, having the beauty of the tree still be the reigning star in the room.

 

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Also, because I'd already done a blue theme in my Master Bedroom two years back to back...I had more than enough blue ornaments and stems to fill the new tree. But to create a fresh look overall...I added a few new ornaments from my friends over at Niche Modern Home.

 

New blue and gold stems were added as well. But the show stopper I believe was the ornate blue and gold, jeweled cathedral velvet ribbon from Frontgate. Although I did work with so much that I already had for both of my trees, ribbon is indeed something I always refresh each year for the holidays.

 

When it comes to the Christmas season, I'm obsessed with it all, ornaments, picks, stems, garland, wreaths, holiday candles, etc...

 

But my one true obsession is gorgeous holiday ribbon. My heart swoons every time I see beautiful Christmas ribbon. I knew I wouldn't be buying a lot of ornaments this year, but new ribbon would definitely be something I'd add into my themes. In all truth, beautiful holiday ribbon can be a total game changer for a tree.

 

Velvet ribbon in general is my favorite ribbon to work with during the holiday season as far as texture and richness. But I also just love beautiful ornate ribbon with patterns or anything sparkly and shiny. Basically anything that just looks and feels like Christmas.

 

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In addition to a new tree, another new surprise I added this year was a holiday tablescape. I don't do tablescapes often, but when I do...I work to put my best foot forward with every detail being paid attention to.

 

This came about very organically, as I was shopping in Kirkland's one afternoon in early Fall. At the time the store was already beginning to debut some of their holiday decor and they had some of the most inspiring tablescapes out on display.

 

I couldn't stop staring at how gorgeous everything looked in the store. And, just like that I decided I'd put together one of my own this year.

 

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 Every single item on my kitchen table for my holiday tablescape are all existing items I already own...including my dinnerware, flatware and glassware. The only new additions to my table were the

cedar leaves placemats from Kirkland's, which heavily inspired my look.

 

I absolutely LOVE how it all came out!! So much to the point I want to leave my holiday tablescape up all season long. It's far too pretty to dismantle. But there's always next year. 😉

As I now begin bringing this newsletter to a close, I'd like to remind you all to make sure you're following me on my social media platforms both

Facebook and Instagram where I share daily and seasonal design inspiration. Also, because I've gotten into the flow of producing both a video and a photo shoot for my holiday content, it's become far too much material to share in one single blog post.

 

So as I've done these last two years, my Christmas Newsletter debuts both my holiday video and the first batch of photo stills accompanied with my thoughts, source information and details on the inspiration behind my holiday look and theme.

 

My 2022 Holiday Look Book will follow behind my newsletter dropping right before Christmas with a gallery of additional photos. The gallery of photos will be a mixture of images shown in this newsletter and also a host of new ones as well. So it'll still be fresh and new content.

 

Speaking of content...I know we all have our preferences of which social media platforms we prefer to consume content on. Some of you strictly follow me on Facebook, while many of you prefer Instagram. Some of you follow me on both, while some of you much prefer to simply catch up on the latest Allured By Design® content in my quarterly newsletters and blogposts.

 

It's always best to follow me on all of my platforms because I often share things on one platform that I may not share on the other. Especially in this day and age of reels.

 

Also, I do indeed have a TikTok page under the same @alluredbydesign handle as all of my other social platforms. BUT, I am not yet active on TikTok. In truth, I have no interest or desire to be on TikTok. Between managing and juggling both of my highly demanding creative careers, being active on another platform sounds even more time consuming and extremely exhausting to me right about now.

I did mention earlier, ya girl is tired!!!

 

However, since my brand name is now a registered trademark, I grabbed my legal handle before anyone else could grab it, all in an effort to avoid any kind of legal situation. Because sadly so many people in this world, especially in this current digital age have no clue how copyrights, patents and trademarks work.

 

Both the internet and social media can truly be the Wild Wild West with no regard for creative infringement on someone's work or their brand name and the consequences that follow because of it.

 

Perhaps in 2023, I will finally make my first TikTok, which will likely be something related to my upcoming web series. Earlier in this newsletter, I mentioned more on that later...The more is I'll share an update with you all in my New Year 2023 newsletter, which usually drops sometime in January.

 

In an effort to focus strictly on the holidays for this particular newsletter, I'll wait to share web series updates with you all next year.

 

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And, since the focus of this newsletter is all about the holidays...

I must say this year was a bit of a challenge to get everything together in time for my shoot. Mainly because I'm juggling and managing a few different creative projects all simultaneously. So shifting in between all of my projects daily and weekly does require a lot.

 

Also, as much as I love the holidays, the preparation and logistics that goes into getting my house ready to be filmed and photographed, as well as getting me and my Husband together can be quite stressful.

Yet, somehow, like I always do...I managed.

 

As always, I truly hope you all enjoyed my holiday look this year, including the video. I hope it gave you all some inspirational ideas for styles you may want to work into your own homes either this year or next year for the holidays. Or, even just colors you may want to consider throughout next year as well.

 

I definitely hope you all enjoyed the BLUE this year, because after three consecutive years of working blue into one of my trees...I may finally be ready to retire blue for a minute. Yep, you heard that right and you heard it here first!!! But, let's not get too carried away...My blue sofas, blue and white artwork and blue decor aren't going anywhere, as my living room will remain true to blue.

 

Yet, my holiday theme will likely take a break from blue as I'm already contemplating going with a completely different color theme next year for all of my trees. You'll have to stay tuned for that.

 

Also, for the last three years I've purposely not installed garland on my mantle. Why you ask? Well because one year, I made the decision to keep my mantle clutter free of holiday decorations. And, the joy that came from not having to deal with the mess my garland leaves behind put me on such a high, that I've been opting to forego garland on my mantle ever since.

 

Well guess what? Ya girl may jump back into the trenches next year and install a new, less fussy garland above my mantle. I miss the look, I just don't miss the mess. But I believe I've figured out a solution to help me achieve the look I want to execute without necessarily dealing with the labor of the mess. Something else ya'll will have to stay tuned for.

 

If you'd like to view my previous holiday videos from the past few years, click here, here and here. Or, you can always see all of my video content on either the home page of my website or directly on my

Vimeo Channel.

 

And, finally links to all of my previous newsletters can be found here.

 

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas, as well as a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.

 

From House Piazza to Yours.

 

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Until next time...

⚜️Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler⚜️

 

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To read more about me and my journey into the world of design, please visit my ABOUT page by clicking here. For the ultimate design inspiration or to view my home tour, click here. Stay safe, healthy and sane everyone.

 

Tachic Hickman-Piazza

Founder & Creative Designer

 

 
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