Friday, December 5, 2014

Oh What Fun

The Christmas season is in full swing and with that "Holiday Home Tours" are aplenty.  Come on in and take a gander at what's happening around here.



Let's start with my favorite, the dining room. I've been so excited about this space since the first time we walked through the house and it just keeps getting better.  Our latest addition are the West Elm curved upholstered chairs in dove gray, they are so handsome and so comfortable.




I kept things pretty sleek and minimal in here and I think that's why it ended up being my favorite.  I added live greenery to the buffet {free tree clippings from Lowe's}, mini ornaments on the tiered serving stand, and a bowl with champagne bottles for a festive touch. The WE manzanita branch is always down there, but it looks especially holiday paired with everything else.




I also strung several large tree clippings on a red ribbon and hung them on the mirror.  These branches are gorgeous and fragrant, this room smells so good.  





The West Elm bar cart is always one of my favorite things to play with. I cleared out the gourds that used to be in this vase and added blue and orange ornaments to echo the rug, chair pillows, and chandelier; then stuck some more clippings in it.  There's also a little WE reindeer ornament.  



Note about this candle: I highly recommend it.  It's like a $3 Glade candle and it smells like citrus and pine needles.  I don't like the heavy sugary smells of most holiday scents, this one is fresh while still smelling like Christmas.


Moving into the kitchen...


An oversized ornament along with a Christmas tree plate in the window and an ornament garland adorning the pot rack.



Over to the kitchen shelves, now that we have the new captains chairs I used an extra dining room chair and an old Target ottoman to make a cozy nook in front of the window.


This little deer's tree stump was another freebie from the Lowe's tree clipping bin and the framed print is a Christmas card some friends sent us last year.






And now the living room...


 The mantle: white lights, multicolor and white garlands, silver reindeer, and Christmas tree candles.


If the framed "art" looks homemade that's because it is.  I cut up one of West Elm's shopping bags and stuck it over the print that usually in there.  I happened to do this on the same night that Matt mixed up the most delicious drinks consisting of bourbon, lemon juice, and maple syrup, so let's just say the lines could be straighter.  I'm calling it folksy.


 I love our stockings, my mom got them for us the Christmas we were engaged.  



I put some more live tree clippings around the TV.  Let's face it, this TV is an awkward behemoth poking out into the room.  

I think the only way it would look good was if it were mounted, but it doesn't make sense to mount it because we're planning a living room overhaul in the not too distant future which will include a new TV and new media console then this set-up will move down to the basement and so on and so forth etc etc.  


So for now it gets tree clippings and a fake fire.  I do what I can.



The Christmas tree pictures will be kept to a minimum and that's mostly because I hate it.  I always had a real tree growing up then for some inexplicable reason I decided once we got married to get a cheap fake white tree.  

I think it's because at the time we were living in Fayetteville, AR and in broad terms people there love to decorate for Christmas with deco mesh and tons TONS of bright glitter.  That's all fine, but that's not my style these days.  

To be fair, I really have enjoyed it the past 5 years and didn't realize how much I was over it until I was putting it up this year.  


Next year, I'm going back to a real tree with lots of white lights and minimal natural themed ornaments, hopefully ornaments from West Elm that I get on sale in January.  I might spray this one gold and stick it down in the basement living room, if we've made any progress down there.  I'll just have to see.

**With all these West Elm mentions you'd think they were sponsoring this post {a girl can dream}.  Considering only my sister reads this you can be assured they are not.  I just happen to be passionately in love with a retail store.**





The good news is fake white tree or real green tree, the reason to celebrate this season is very much alive.    

Merry Christmas! 

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