Christmas Tour | Holiday Housewalk 2015

Hello and WELCOME!! I’m so glad you are here, and joining us for our Christmas House Tour this year. To say we are thrilled to be apart of this tour is an understatement. I can still remember everything, as if it were yesterday, when I found out I was going to be apart of this years tour! Our lovely host Jennifer Rizzo started these dreamy christmas tours just as I was starting to get into blogs. So you can imagine my dream as a new blogger to one day be apart of such a beautiful tour. I look forward to them every year, and after linking up last years christmas tour with fingers and toes crossed, I about fainted when I found out I had been chosen. Well maybe not fainted, but there were definitely a few tears shed. I think I have been looking forward to this day ever since then. So with a heart FULL of gratitude I am so excited to be joining in this year’s Holiday Housewalk partnering with Joss & Main, and Good Housekeeping magazine.

We are stop #11 on the tour, if you are visiting from the lovely Jeanne Oliver, stop #10, I’m sure your creativity is fully awakened by Jeanne’s effortless style to welcome you in, and make everything feel cozy and beautiful. Of course you can always stop by Jennifer Rizzo’s to start at the beginning with Day 1.

I love working with neutrals. So decorating for Christmas is like a reason to get dressed up. Like going to the prom, it’s ok to put glitter in your hair, or in your makeup, or on your dress, well you get the idea. And if you’d rather not remember your prom, and all it’s tacky glory, I totally get it!! I love to dress up though, maybe more so, because when you stay at home, yoga pants and a top knot become the norm. I’m one of those crazy people that starts listening to Christmas music in October. I know, I know say what you will, but one month is not long enough for me to soak in all the seasons magic. I have such fond memories of visiting my grandmothers house as a kid, and when she decorated for Christmas, there was no surface left untouched. Every flat surface, bookcase, table and shelf was covered with seasonal decor. It was magical!! You instantly felt like you were taken away to a festive Christmas village, and trust me you did not want to leave! So when I decorate for christmas, even though I don’t decorate like my grandmother did, there is a lot of nostalgia floating through my mind. Every detail is carefully thought of, and placed in hopes that it will spark a little Christmas merriment to all who see. So welcome to our Christmas home.

I don’t usually show the outside of our house that often, but it was so festive for Christmas I had to share. The outside of our house is decked with THESE beautiful wreaths from Lynch Creek Farms. I was so impressed with their quality, they literally took my breath away!

I kept things simple on our porch this year, because I really wanted the wreaths to take centerstage. A small table and some smaller table trees do the trick, and add just the right amount of greens for outside.

So make sure whatever hot beverage your drinking is nice and warm, and come on in!

When you enter our house from the porch you actually come right into the kitchen, but we’ll come back to that later in the tour. I’m going to start with our living room which is in the front of the house.

This year was all about those winter whites. If you are a regular to the blog, than you know it’s no secret I love white. The kids love to play the game of guessing each others favorite color, and they always end with “and we know mommy, you love white!” they know me so well.

Contributing to the white this year, is our beautiful new flocked tree from Joss & Main. It’s the first time we have gone faux, since well ever, and I couldn’t be happier!! You guys it is a breathtaking tree.Along with the handsome pair of wooden skis from Joss & Main so are these beautiful tannenbaum ornaments, along with the bark ornaments too. The black reindeer are from the $1 section at Target, meant to be chalkboard gift tags, but I loved them as ornaments. The black and white ribbon I picked up from World Market, and desperately tried my hand at my friend Kristen’s ribbon tricks for your Christmas tree.

 

Even though my main feel is winter whites, I love balancing it with wood tones, neutral tans and grays, and of course a pop of black too for a little contrast.

I scout for ribbon all year round. My top places to look are always HomesGoods or Marshalls. I just grab ones I like, and then hold onto them for just the right occasion.

To the left of our tree is our front door and staircase leading upstairs. 

I splurged this year and got a fresh bayleaf garland from Williams & Sonoma. I’ve been dreaming of it every year since we have been here, and this year I finally purchased one, along with two wreaths you will see in our kitchen, and oh my the smell heavenly!!

To keep with our winter “whites” I brought out the same H&M window pane pillow covers I bought last year, and then added this new yummy ivory/tan fur throw from Target, along with this fun Reindeer Postcard throw pillow from Joss & Main. My kids fight over the “new” pillow and they say he’s one of Santa’s reindeer. 

I didn’t go overboard on Christmas decor this year. I feel like every year it becomes less and less. Well maybe more ornaments on the tree, but less overall everywhere else. 

If you are sitting on the sofa, then you get a lovely view into the dining room. 

We recently did a mini-makeover on our dining room, you can catch all those details HERE. For the dining room table this Christmas I had one thing in mind, and one thing only. Tree slab chargers. So when we cut a tree down in our yard this past summer, it was the first thing I told the hubby I wanted from it. He looked at me, and then laughed and said “I won’t ask, you always end up making it look good”. So when I finished this Christmas tablescape the one comment he made was “Those tree chargers really make it” – the apprentice is learning, LOL!

I dressed up the table with my fine china set, and lots of mercury glass! You can never have enough. 

Last year I was only able to find one of these glitter reindeer, so the minute they started bringing out christmas decor this year, I was there, and grabbed a few more for this years decor!

My talented friend, whom I refer to as the guru of all things flowers, made this beautiful arrangement for me. If you’re local she is Twig & Tulip, and always comes up with the most amazing arrangements! She is probably one of the only ones I completely trust, and tell her to just surprise me, and she never lets me down!

Of course one of the funnest christmas crafts I did this year was making these easy bottle brush tree favors. 

I found the bottle brush trees at Micheal’s this year, and they come in variety packs in an assortment of colors. I’ll be sharing more how I made those next week. 

A few weeks back I got the privilege of having Rachel from Maison de Pax and her hubby come and stay with us for a few days! We had so much fun, and she brought me the sweetest hostess gift.It takes center stage on our dresser turned buffet in our dining room. Scattered around her beautiful hand painted sign are these gray weathered Christmas trees, that I about died when I first laid eyes on them. You can find them exclusively in our collection at Painted Fox, just in time for Christmas. I love that even though they resemble Christmas trees you could keep them out well into January because of their neutral patina. I also used some on the half wall between the living and dining room, they have such a great vintage feel to them as well. 

You will also find in our line, new for the holidays, are these glass cloche’s with fairy lights. I love adding white lights at christmas time, and any way I can add more I will. I filled mine with some christmas decor, but after the holidays I plan to just leave the lights in them for winter decor.

Moving into the kitchen, I told you we would end up back there 🙂

Simple Christmas touches were carried into the kitchen to carry the holiday spirit throughout the house. I spend the majority of my time in the kitchen. Which I would bet most moms and wives would say. So whether we are doing some Christmas baking, or holiday cooking, I still like to look around and be reminded of the season. 

Remember those bay leaf wreaths I mentioned I bought with my garland. I hung one in each window in our christmas, and I love how they smell. I also added another faux tree from our collection. You may remember seeing her twin on our porch. I love the quality of their sturdy branches. 

Our Advent calendar comes out every year, and ends up in this spot. I tried it in a few other places this year, but it just seemed to fit here. Not to mention my kids are starting to get to the age where they remember where things were last year, and so lovingly remind me when I’m not doing it right, because it goes over here 🙂 I love that they already have traditions. 

I kept things minimal on our open floating shelves, but I will be honest I’m going to have a hard time taking down the decor. I love how subtle yet merry it feels.

Bottle brush crafts seemed to be the theme this year. I purchased these mini bottle brush trees in the same section at Micheal’s and had no idea what I was going to do with them, I just loved them. Then this happened:

I used gray and white backers twine to just tied them around the base of each tree, and made a little mini tree garland. 

I used a few more bottle brush trees on my favorite pedestal stands, and a pewter nativity set I inherited from my mom years ago. Sadly baby Jesus got lost one year, but I still love this sweet set so it gets put in a safe place each year 🙂

On the bottom shelf more antique silver, fresh juniper, and a sweet little turtle dove. Across the kitchen I used simple garlands I strung up on jute roping on the window over the sink.

You will often find me standing at this sink, or at the island making something, and at Christmas time I’m always humming a Christmas song. My favorite one to sing is “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”. I think of the season we are in, the holidays that surround us. The year that’s coming to an end.

All the countless hours I’ve spent at this sink, in the everyday grind just taking care of my family, and all the memories that go with it. The family that isn’t here to spend the holidays with us, and then I smile thinking of how nice it will be when one day we can all spend the holidays together. I soak in every moment, and every thought that follows, and everything that the holidays mean to us, and the traditions we’ve started with our own family.

I picked up these checked kitchen towels from Target when they were on sale from their fall line this year. I got them for $1.99 each! So I used them on my dining room table, I cut one in half to use as cafe curtains above my sink, and hanging here as an extra towel that’s on hand.

I love adding subtle touches in the kitchen, because for us, the kitchen is the gathering place. It’s the first place we meet in the morning, and start our days. It’s the place we all come back to when we’ve just gotten home from the days activities. We do home work, and projects, and cook together, and talk together, and hang out. It all happens in the kitchen for us.

If you are new around here, maybe this is your first time visiting. First off Hi, I’m so thrilled you are here. Here are a few posts you might like to see more of our home, and sources for our everyday decor items and furniture.

Home Tour | Living Room Sources | Dining Room Sources | Kitchen Details | My Story

Next stop on the tour is Paige Knudsen! I absolutely loved her tour from last year, so I can’t wait to see what she has in store for us this year!!

Sources from this years tour:

 Bark Ornaments | Glass Tree Ornaments | Reindeer Pillow | Glass Cloche w/ Fairy Lights | Gray washed Trees | Mercury Glass Votives | Mercury Glass Garland | Black Antlers | Copper Bells | Burlap Wrapped Trees

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