Happy New Year!

If you are getting ready to entertain for the big night, let us inspire you to mix it up. Adding a few vintage items to your tabletop will show off your creative personality, and create an enviroment that is as warm and welcoming as you are.

Antique stemware and silver never fail to bring a special sparkle, especially when lit by the warmth of candlelight. Think creatively about how to use items - a silver ice bucket used as a vase, filled with pure white roses or tulips, is a gorgeous centerpiece.

Just one or two small new items, such as these 'Crown' cocktail forks by Pewter Graphics, bring the latest style to your party. Hopefully by now, you know that Crowns and Tiaras are a girl's best friend!!! Use them on candles, napkins, and other simple additions to your existing décor. This oh-so-trendy design motif works with any style.

Candlelight is flattering to rooms, complexions, and moods….so light it up! Whether you use pillars, battery-operated candles (like our Twilight Luminaries), tapers, votives, or tealights, find interesting containers to hold them. This black damask pattern votive cup will give your table swanky style!

Speaking of black - black and white, mixed with silver and crystal, is the perfect color scheme for your New Year's Bash. Whether it's a block party blow out or an intimate tete a' tete for two, English transferware in black & white sets the stage for a classic look. Add in crisp white (or black!) linens, cut crystal glasses, silver flatware & serving pieces, and you'll ring in the New Year with an elegant flourish.

We wish you all a most wonderful and prosperous 2009, and thank you for your continued support of our store and other independent local merchants.

Merry Christmas to All...

As 2008 draws to a close, I am overwhelmed with the blessings that this past year has brought to Faded Elegance. I want to take this opportunity to extend a heartfelt Thank You to all of our wonderful customers… you have been so loyal!

By following us as we made the move from our long-time home in Everett to our new location in Snohomish, bringing your friends & families in to our gorgeous new setting and to our events, and supporting us by shopping here, you have made our continued success possible. I cannot adequately express the gratitude that our dealers and I feel for each of you - in the face of the economic state of things, you continuously choose to support independent local merchants. Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!

We are committed to continue to bring you a wondrous selection of antique, vintage, handcrafted, and new items presented with flair at Faded Elegance. And we are already working on some terrific events for the coming year, so stay tuned! We look forward to all that 2009 will bring.

Faded Elegance will be closed on Christmas Day. I'll be snuggled up with my family, and I hope that you, too, will be enjoying a day filled with love, laughter, friends, and family. More than the gifts, more than the decor, Togetherness is what this season is all about...

Beginning on December 26, come in and enjoy a 40% discount on all Holiday decor merchandise!

Welcome to Emily's Garden

Oh, ladies, we have a FABULOUS gift idea for you!

Emily's Garden is a collection of luxurious bath & body amenities, handmade in the USA. These are like nothing you have ever seen – or felt, or smelled! Think soft. Think luscious. Think comforting.

Perhaps the 'mink' texture fur Back & Body Massage Wrap will be what you crave. Made from soft faux fur in both warm chocolate and creamy vanilla colors, and filled with lavender, you pop it into the microwave for two minutes and it stays warm for half an hour. Imagine the fragrance of lavender calming you as warmth relaxes your muscles in neck, shoulders, or lower back. You can feel the stress melt away!

How about 'Aromatherapy for Feet'? Add a pair of the soft fleece Booties, which also warm up in the microwave, and your feet will be warm and toasty, too. Wear these lovelies to bed on a cold winter night, spray your pillows with scented Pillow Spray, and you'll drift off to dreamland on a cloud!

For the ultimate luxury, we girls know that chocolate is always right. How about chocolate with no calories?! Emily's Garden Massage Oils & Body Butters come in Chocolate Almond and Dark Chocolate Raspberry scents… and these fragrances will make you swoon, we promise. (We suggest having a few delicious real chocolates on hand when using these products, for a completely decadent chocolate experience!)

Perfect as a gift for a special someone (oh, yes, men will love the chocolate body butter & massage oils, too!) or as an indulgent way to ring in the New Year for yourself, Emily's Garden is pure luxury - at wonderfully reasonable prices.

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

Western Washington is turning into a Winter Wonderland...It may be snowy and cold outside, Baby, but it's warm and wonderful inside Faded Elegance! The sparkle and shimmer around here is due to an array of fabulous decor & gift items.

We invite you to come by and see the beautiful vintage and antique treasures that await you... grab a cup of hot chocolate or a latte from Snohomish fave Java Inn, our neighbor, and give yourself the gift of a few moments being inspired by beautiful decorating inspiration in our store.

And let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!!

Twilight Luminary Candles & Evening Shopping

Faded Elegance would like to extend to you our warmest Holiday Greetings, and offer you a special evening of shopping...

V.I.P 'After Hours' Shopping Night
Saturday, December 13th from 6-8 PM
10% off
VIP Shopping Pass

Enjoy Hors d’ oeuvres and Bubbly

From 6 to 8 PM, enjoy a very special Trunk Show by Twilight Luminary flameless candles. You'll love their selection of beautiful designs for gift & home!

CRAVE-ing Faded Elegance?

Are you craving some excitement, some fun, or maybe just a nice girly 'time out' this month?

On Wednesday, December 10, join Kimberly McIlrath, owner of Faded Elegance, at the Seattle CRAVE Holiday Shopping Party. From 5 PM to 9 PM at McCaw Hall in Downtown Seattle, you'll be able to shop, sample, and spoil yourself and friends as you enjoy a bounty of beauty from fabulous merchants.

So Grab Your Girlfriends! CRAVEshow! ’08 is Seattle’s premier holiday shopping event for women. They're showcasing six themes for smart, urban-minded women. To empower and inspire you, CRAVEshow! ’08 features lifestyle experts, a fashion stage, fitness studio, décor design stations, spa services, cosmetics counters, travel desks, culinary delights, a connection café for friendship and networking, and much, much more. Above all, CRAVE means enjoyment, enlightenment, indulgence, health, fashion and sophisticated, feminine fun!

Kimberly will fill her space with some of your favorite items from the store, including 'Pure' candles and diffusers, 'Pure Sanctuary' jewelry, luxurious Emily's Garden bath & spa products, and much more. She'll also have drawings for more of our fabulous giveaways. We are thrilled to be involved, and know that the Faded Elegance selection at the CRAVE Holiday Shopping Party is sure to satisfy all of your cravings this Holiday season!

For more information, visit the CRAVE blog here!

Letters from Home

Or perhaps Letters to Home...or Letters that spell 'Home'....Faded Elegance has your letter!

These fabulous gilded letters, paired with our Austin Press Letter Press Monogrammed note cards and the book 'The Art of the Personal Letter' by Margaret Shepherd, make a perfectly personal gift idea for that special someone on your list who has everything.

Austin Press is a San Francisco company owned by Kimberly Austin. Kimberly makes all of her products by hand on her 8 X 12 Chandler & Price old-style letterpress. Beautiful details!

'The Art of the Personal Letter' reclaims the lost art of letter writing, giving you the gift of leisurely expression and allowing you to write beautiful, enduring letters to the people you care about—be it by hand or on a computer. For any occasion—whether you’re reaching out to connect with a long-lost friend or you want to express condolences with grace—author Margaret Shepherd gives you both the inspiration and the tools to write a memorable and meaningful letter that will be cherished by its recipient for years.

Photo Credits: Random House

Sparkle & Shine

Like everyone else, we are decking the halls!

If you are looking for some wonderful elements for your own decorating this season, stop in and see the wonders that we have in store for you. Vintage, Antique, and New products to make your home a Haven for the Holidays.

New items arrive every day!

Happy Holiday Wishes

Wishing you a wonderful and happy Thanksgiving...

We look forward to seeing you all this weekend at our Holiday Open House event!

Faded Elegance Holiday Open House

Friday Nov 28 10 AM - 8 PM (Special Extended Hours!)

Saturday Nov 29 10 AM - 6 PM

Sunday Nov 30 11 AM - 5 PM

Discounts, drawings, and refreshments all three days - don't miss it!

On My Elegant Bookshelf

With the dark evenings and stormy weekends of winter now upon us, it's the perfect time to replenish our souls. Curl up in a chair by the fire, sip a cup of tea, and lose your cares in the pages of a beautiful book... ah, yes - 'ME time'!


I'd love to share my favorite new books with you... the ones I've recently added to my 'Elegant Bookshelf', and find myself drawn to time and time again.

French Chic, Vintage French Decor, and New Entertaining in the French Style

Bringing Paris Home, French Country Hideaways, and One Hundred and One Beautiful Castles in France


Paris Chic & Trendy, Markets of Paris, Chic Shopping in Paris, and Love Poems & Love Sonnets. (Hmmmnnn...Paris does indeed seem to be the theme, doesn't it?!)

All of these books are available for purchase in the shop, as well. Don't forget to come in and enroll in our Elegant Gift Registry, and add some of your favorite books to your Wish List!

Happy Reading...

All She Wanted for Christmas...

We are excited to introduce a new service for our customers:
The Faded Elegance Gift Registry 'Wish List'
While visiting our store, fill out our gift registry and we’ll email your wish list to your loved ones! What a wonderful way to make holiday shopping easy, while giving those 'subtle' hints, so that you'll recieve everything you want for Christmas. (Yes, we know it's a bit sneaky....but really, a girl's gotta' do what a girl's gotta' do!)

Customers enrolled in our Gift Registry will enjoy a special VIP after-hours shopping event on December 13th. From 6 to 8 PM, champagne and hors d'ovures will be served amidst the sparkle of Holiday finery. Receive 10% off all items listed on your wish list. Hurry in and sign up now - don't miss this special VIP event!

We will be wrapping your special gifts in our elegant signature gold and black shopping bags, ensuring that the packaging is just as beautiful as the gifts inside. Make Your Holidays Elegant!

By the way, girls, you should see the store...it is filled with Holiday finery in every space, sparkling and twinkling and ready for the Holiday Open House next weekend! Make sure you plan to join us: Friday 10 AM to 8 PM (Special extended hours), Saturday 10 AM to 6 PM, and Sunday 11 AM to 5 PM. We'll have refreshments, giveaways, drawings, and discounts all three days. You are going to be SO inspired....

Our Annual Holiday Open House

It's that time of year again, and the annual Faded Elegance Holiday Open House will be here before you know it! Mark your calendars and plan to join us for this very special event in our new Snohomish location.

Our vendors are all bringing in a fabulous array of vintage & antique finds for you, and we continue to offer the finest new and limited edition gift & decor items for your discerning tastes. We are certain that you'll find endless inspiration for your own Holiday decor and a selection of unique gifts for everyone on your list at Faded Elegance!

Faded Elegance Holiday Open House

Friday, November 28

10:00 AM to 8:00 PM - special extended hours!

Saturday, November 29

10:00 AM to 6:00 PM

Sunday, November 30

11:00 AM to 5:00 PM

Friday only:

Free gifts while supplies last!

Friday is the annual Snohomish Historic Business District 'Home for the Holidays' event night, with many special attractions and events ongoing on First Street - including strolling Dickens Carolers and photos with Santa!

All three days:

Enjoy a 20% Discount on all store purchases!

Enter our drawing for an indulgent gift selection valued at $250.00!

We offer gift certificates and a new 'Wish List' gift registry!

Cookies & cider served to fortify your shopping day!

Things To Make You Happy...

October isn't over yet, and neither are our Pink Pumpkin events to raise funds for breast cancer awareness. We have one more giveaway!

Come into Faded Elegance through this weekend and enter the drawing! You'll be entered to win a wonderful gift basket with a retail value of over $250.00, for just a one dollar donation to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Drawing will be held Monday, November 3rd.

This basket is loaded with luxurious, pampering amenities that fit the theme 'Things That Make Me Happy'. From books to bath items, jewelry to decor, all of these marvelous products have been donated by the following shops:
Beehive Day Spa
Inside Out
Speckled Hen Country Store
Faded Elegance
BeeBops & Lollipops (located inside 'Inside Out')
These independent merchants are all located in Snohomish.

We're in the Pink!

Gifts & Goodies Galore were the name of the game on Saturday, at the Pink Pumpkins for the Cure event. Each attendee received a goodie bag filled with samples & coupons for luxurious amenities from participating merchants. The bags (pink, natch!) were handed out with a smile by Valley General Hospital Foundation Director Lin McIlrath.

Everyone had a chance to enter for some FAbulous gift basket giveaways, too! The Valley General Hospital Foundation in partnership with the Western Washington Oncology Group donated this beautiful selection of products for a free raffle.

Every vendor wore pink, and most tables had pink products to further the theme. Everyone also offered a great selection of merchandise at deep discounts - this was a great chance for some early Holiday shopping, and some savvy women did just that!

A huge thank you to all of you who attended, and to our wonderful participants:

Lynda from Speckled Hen Country Store.

Karen from Java Inn came by with her famous Java Inn blend coffee served in pink logo cups! She kept everyone fueled up on caffeine - thank you, Karen! So sorry we didn't get a picture of you.


Deb from retreat (one of our dealers at Faded Elegance)

A beautiful selection from Lodge Podge

Faded Elegance had a table, too

Tonya & Nancy from Busy Bee Spa

Paula from A New Beginning came in and offered complimentary hand massages!

Kathy offered up colorful fabric childrens' products and handbags.

Allison, Jackie, and Halle of Inside Out

Angela of BeeBops & Lollipops

Located downstairs, just as you entered the library, was Maureen. Her buttons and jewels and antique linens were a perfect sight to behold as you came in the door!

We would also like to thank Mayor Hamlin for proclaiming October 'Pink Pumpkins for the Cure' month in Snohomish. All of the participating vendors extend their thanks to you for attending, and for supporting your independent merchants while contributing to breast cancer research funding.

This cause is very close to my heart...I have lost loved ones to cancer. It touches us all, in one way or another. Thank you so much for your support of cancer awareness.

More Savor Snohomish events will be coming your way soon!