Janeen and I count our blessings every day for so many reasons. If you have your health and your family, then everything else can fall by the wayside.

Having a business that you enjoy in beautiful, historic downtown Geneva is one of those details that puts a smile on our faces every day. As advertised, downtown Geneva is as pretty as a postcard. Many of the colorful flower beds on the parkways and outside of the historic churches that fill downtown Geneva are maintained by volunteers. There are a lot of Geneva residents donate their own time and energy to help create the beauty that makes this such a memorable town.

Like most merchants in town, I proudly sweep my sidewalk and curb with pride. Every day, I hear from visitors in the store how much they are enjoying their day in Geneva. The interesting independent shops and great places to eat make Geneva a favorite destination for visitors from all over the Midwest.

Downtown Geneva shops invite you to learn how to create, grow and maintain your garden. Saturday, May 19 is Gardenology, there are activities for the whole family from 10am until 4 pm. Many stores and restaurants have special garden themed offers that day. We are having garden specials at Janeen Home Decor that day. Janeen is giving a floral demonstration at the speaker tent on Third Street at noon.

It is wonderful way to get into the gardening mood.

If you want more information, check out the Gardenology Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Gardenology

Clients loved the way Janeen would come over to their house, help them with furniture placement, aid in color selection and give many helpful decorating ideas. After taking careful notes and measurements, Janeen would come back to the store and create custom silk flower arrangements and select accessories for the client. Then Janeen would wrap the items, pack the car, deliver and unpack the merchandise at the client’s home. She would place the lamps, pictures and floral arrangements in the home blending it in with the homeowner’s possessions. When Janeen was done, the clients were thrilled with the transformation that had taken place in their home.

When Janeen decided to go into business on her own, she was busy right from the beginning because she had developed such a strong following for her in home decorating services. Clients get a chance to live with their new purchases for a week; they can return items during that time. Now thirteen years later Janeen is still doing homes and making new friends along the way.

Having a retail store of her own, Janeen Home Décor in historic downtown Geneva is a great opportunity for Janeen to use her interior decorating talents. She is constantly redoing and changing displays as the merchandise is always changing. Clients often bring in pictures or their smart phone with pictures of their design challenge needs. All of our designers jump at the opportunity to help out with ideas.

A typical in-home visit from Janeen lasts about two hours, a lot can get done in that time.  The cost is $95 an hour.  Home must be within 25 miles of Geneva.

Janeen has been playing with the colorful mesh material for a several seasons. Right now we are displaying bright yellow netting for Easter and spring. That made for a sunny new look when we put it up in February to replace the metallic red poly mesh that was part of our Valentine Day display.

The mesh material is available for sale in our store. We stock many colors and several sizes. The hot color now is the “natural burlap” that works so well with the natural look. We are creating wreaths out of the material and we will be teaching a hands-on wreath making class this summer. If you can tie your shoes , you can make a wreath.

The material is produced in Asia, and has been imported to the U.S for several years now. Florists in Europe have used it in wrapping floral bouquets for years. Our main supplier is a direct importer. Janeen has a lot of fun plans to use the netting for the autumn and Christmas holidays.

Big fluffy white bows at the bride’s parents house where the girls are getting dressed, pink netting tied around the necks of the stone lions that flank the driveway entrance: our clients are constantly coming up with new ways to use the netting.

Step 1:
You will start with a large, clear glass vase.  If the arrangement was being made with fresh branches, the water in the vase would give the container the weight needed to anchor it down.  Our project is made of dried branches and silk flowers so we added pebbles to the bottom of the vase.  You could vary the look by using other materials in place of the pebbles, including shells, beans, decorative rocks or sand.

Step 2:
Then we added angel vine to the inside of the vase.  This helps support the stems and gives another layer design element that adds texture and interest.

Step 3:
When arranging stems, it is best to work with the largest branches first.  We are using 5 river birch branches that are about 36” long.  The same technique will work with flowering branches like apple and cherry blossom.

Step 4:
The next step is to add the stems of forsythia.  This adds color to the bouquet and will provide a beautiful contrast to the other flowers we add in the next step.

Step 5:
We finish off by adding the feature flower, giant orange poppies.  This works because it is a complementary color to the forsythia and a different shape flower that is large enough to have an impact on this design.

Ta-Da! A beautiful flower arrangement in only a few simple steps. If you’d like more tips or would like to even take a class on how to arrange flowers, stop by any time and I’d love to talk with you.

Enjoy the video and come on in to see the real deal!

Janeen and Jackie putting birds on it!

DISCLAIMER: No birds were harmed in the making of Janeen Home Décor’s bird themed store.

Janeen Home Décor has exciting things afoot. We’ve got a raffle for a $100 gift certificate to our store. If you want to enter, be sure to do so at our website before February 29^th. You are able to enter once a day. You could use that gift certificate towards so many new items in the store. Janeen Home Décor is now stocked up on bird items to celebrate spring being on its way!

We are so thrilled to announce that Janeen Home Décor is now carrying Nora Fleming. We had the opportunity to meet Nora and are so excited to carry her product line. She is a local artist with a love of beautiful things.  We are the only store offering her items in Geneva!

Janeen and Nora Fleming

Her line includes platters and bowls for serving. The twist is that there are mini figurines that attach to the platters (different ones for different parties). There is a ‘mini’ for every occasion. It is a great concept as you only need one platter/bowl and just switch out the mini for each event. We are delighted to offer her line in our store!

Swing by on February 19^th for a bit of practical advice by Janeen on how to stage your bookshelves. Janeen and the designers will be giving helpful tips on how to make a shelved space your own. Give us a call if you would like more information.

Whether you need some great platters and bowls, want a sweet bird to inspire your living space, or are out in Geneva enjoying the coming spring, we hope to see you soon!

Cost: $15 includes one bow to take home

When: Tuesday, October 18th 10 am – 11:30 am and Tuesday, October 25th 6:30 pm – 8 pm

Where:  Janeen Home Decor – 215 W. State St. Downtown Geneva IL

Call the store at 630-232-7885 to sign up today!

When:  June 16, 2011
10 AM – 11:30 AM

Where:  Janeen Home Decor – 215 W. State St. Downtown Geneva IL

Cost: $50.00
Space is limited so RSVP today!!

630-232-7885

You will create a beautiful permanent mixed foliage arrangement ($50 retail value) embellished with your choice of flowers, fruits and berries.  This will be a fun and instructional 90 minute class with all materials, tools and refreshments provided.