Thursday, December 3, 2015

Christmas Home "Tour"

I have to laugh at the thought of showing y'all our Christmas decorations and calling it a tour because I basically can stand in the same spot and spin and boom...done.  But we'll pretend it's bigger than a shoe box.

Let's do a spin of the house.

Of course you guys saw this already but my friend was quite impressed with it when she saw it.  I suspect when my mom sees it, she'll ask when I can make her one.  (To which I will laugh heartily and wait for her to forget)


This half olive bucket was my purchase from Antique Farmhouse a few months ago.  I knew when I saw it that I could have fun decorating it for fall and winter.


You remember this from the crate decoration tutorial earlier in the week.  It sits beside the Tannenbaum sign.


The decorations stayed pretty much the same on the armoire from last year but there was an addition or two.  The mercury effect deer on the top shelf is from Lowes for $10.  I love it!  On the stack of books is an antique hot cocoa tin from Holland I picked up at the Traverse Commons in Michigan.  I picked it up and put it down 3 times before committing.  I'm glad I did.


(Sorry the pic is blurry, it was dark)  Of course Grandma's gumdrop tree is displayed on the bottom shelf.  If anyone is worried about the candles in precarious places, they're Luminara Tea Lights.  The best investment we ever made.  So many places we can now stick candles that real ones would burn.

Then we have the mantel area.  Lots of greens, a vintage ceramic tree and Christmas carol book and a coal bucket with birch logs.


The skis that I stripped hang nicely above the couch with some greenery swags from Trader Joe's.  The smell is so lovely...I'm smelling them as I type.  I love the Winter Wonderland lumbar pillow from Pottery Barn and am glad I got it because I don't think they sell it this year.


Of course our main attraction.  I love having it lit up at night.  It's so relaxing.



Have you guys decorated yet?  Real tree or faux?  What colors?  If you don't celebrate Christmas, what decor do you use for your holiday?

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16 comments:

  1. The house looks amazing and you've outdone yourself even from last year when you raised the bar. Great job!

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    1. Thanks hon. I know it was a little hairy trying to cram so much in a short time with decorating and holiday prep but I'm hopeful that we learn the lesson to not have to do a full clean job on the house in addition to everything else next year. Matter of fact, I think I'll do a calendar reminder for us next year! :-)

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  2. I love love love it!!!
    One of our yearly traditions was to amble on down to the local vets annual tree sale with a bag of non-perishables to donate and spend an hour or two looking at every tree and then choosing the first or second one we looked at. Well, hubby is not with us anymore, brother in law is too sick to venture out, and both the kids have moved away. So, I saw a cost-saving opportunity at Menards, frazier firs for $30! I brought my tape measure, picked one out, and couldn't find anyone to help me trim it down. So I hoisted it on the netting table, got it through at which point an employee showed up. She chastised me for attempting to do it by myself, dragged it back out of the netting and chopped off the end for me. I asked for help at the checkout line to get the tree on the vehicle. A nice kid threw it on top of the truck and walked back into the store leaving me to figure out how to secure it to the vehicle. Well, I guess I never paid much attention to the guys that would tie the tree to the top of the truck with twine. I spent about 40 minutes in the freezing cold looping twine through the luggage rack hooks, thinking I did a good job. A final pull test indicated that I did not. So, as many able-bodied men passed me in front of the store, as I , not so calmly proceeded to untangle the tied up mess i had just done. My fantasy of a handsome single stranger stopping to help me quickly faded. I threw down the seats in the 4runner, open the back window and threw the tree in! I got home, I got out the stand and somehow managed to center of the tree and get it stable all by my lonesome! At first it appeared that perhaps Charlie Brown lived here looking at the sparseness of the tree. Now that it's had some time to relax, I think it'll work. Although this all seems pretty mundane, it brought back rushing memories of the way things were. First time in a while that I have really thought about how alone I really am sometimes and also how much my husband spoiled me when he was alive. I cracked open a beer and hosted myself a pity party. This morning my perspective has changed, because 5 years ago, I will not have thought that I could do that by myself. So now I am in full holiday mode and looking forward to decorating the tree Saturday morning and decking the rest of the halls. I know the first question both sides will ask when they arrive home for the holidays as if I went to our usual place. Not sure how I will answer them lol.
    Have a great day

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    1. Aww sweetie, I wish I'd been there to help! I'm proud that you did it on your own regardless of how it got home. I wonder if those moving straps would help. I'll message you the link to them. I'm glad you have a new perspective this morning and are ready to hop into the holiday spirit!

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  3. We use 2 faux trees, one small white one, and one huge green one. I switch out the lights every year between colored and white. The green one is a mix mosh of all the hallmark ornarments my husband got as a child, along with a few things my moms passed to me, and those we've purchased together since we've been together. It looks a little crazy, but its full of fond memories.

    The white one is the one I get to theme decorate, which the past few years has had a blue/pink/teal theme with snowmen.

    THis is the first year we've put wreaths on all the windows, though we have fixed pane, so I had to use suction cups and I've already lost two to a heavy rain a few days ago.

    With as crafty and as DIY as you are, I'm really surprised you haven't bulked up the trim around your fireplace. I don't know the layout of the room, but it feels like it could be an amazing statement piece on that angled wall if it had more trim around it.

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    1. Sounds like you have a great scheme going on there and how nice to have two trees to decorate in different colors! Hopefully the rain will be nice the rest of the season and leave your wreaths alone! ;-)

      I did trim for years and it was more hassle than it was worth to me. If we ever move into a bigger place and I have a more substantial fireplace I might consider it.

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  4. I have an artificial tree. I've done real trees in the past, and that's what I actually prefer, but they've gotten so expensive. There is something to be said for the convenience of an artificial tree though. I'll be decorating this weekend, last weekend just kind of got away from me so I'll do it Saturday morning.

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    1. Gosh you know, I haven't even priced real trees! We bought our faux tree in 1995 on clearance for $50. Next year will be its 20th year then we're looking at buying one from Balsam Hill next year. Maybe if you get some greens to tuck here and there you can get that fresh tree smell. The weekend has a habit of doing that, doesn't it? :-)

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  5. Absolutely beautiful!! Everything has a perfect place and it really does look like a tour house. You have phenomenal taste and your love for this particular holiday really shines through with such authentic pieces. I just love it! I doubt we'll do a tree this year (although I see the hubs has his 10-ft santa in the box in the middle of the kitchen -- good grief). I do have the Charlie Brown tree that I'm thinking of putting up (I bought it last year) and if I do, I'll take a picture of it for you. The hubs put up our tree last year and did the lights around the bay window as a surprise for me, but I don't think that'll be happening this year. I just might really go the Chuck route. =o)

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    1. Thanks so much! My friend was on the phone with her mom as she was taking pics of everything (literally every wall) and said "I want her to decorate my house! You would love it all, it's traditional vintage rustic!" LOL So apparently that is my Christmas style!

      That little Charlie Brown tree is also fun. If I had a true guest room, I'd get one for that. Tell hubs to get on it and decorate the big one. I think after all you've been through this year, you deserve a nice Christmas surprise!

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  6. Love your decorations, especially the antique items that you have decorated and displayed so beautifully. I am finishing up my decorating, once again, it's as if Santa Claus threw up in here, especially my tiny main floor bathroom. But I love it, and since it's MY house, that's about all I care about.

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    1. Thank you! Girl, I hear ya! I look at it sometimes or see people's reactions when they're like "WOW it's definitely Christmas in here!" But I love it all and it makes me happy and that's how we should all decorate our spaces, in a way that makes us happy and our hearts smile!

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  7. Very beautiful. Im decorating tomorrow. You've inspired me to change a few things. Yay Christmas

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  8. Oh and a faux tree. We have cats and a few years ago they got very sick drinking the water and munching on pine needles. Miss the tree but love our furry kids.

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    1. Ooh, I'm intrigued!

      Oh no! Poor kitties. Some greens in a vase or something can help give you that fresh tree scent without enticing the furry ones!

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  9. It looks beautiful. You did a great job mixing a lot of,vintage in there. I am in the midst of decorating. i am not really feeling y Christmas decor this year. I think next year, it might be time for a change. We have an artificial tree. It's brand new as of Monday morning. Our previous tree was in bad shape.

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