Wednesday, December 30, 2015

The Christmas Aftermath ...

Greetings, friends!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

Now that Santa has come and gone, have you taken your Christmas down yet?

We have ... and, I must say that I miss the lights already ... like these in our foyer that I forgot to share with you.


And, while the lights on the inside are gone, we're still lighting up the yard until tomorrow ... anyone else get sucked in by the "star shower" laser lights this year?  We did ... a perfect alternative for folks like my husband and me who can't manage to get on a ladder to hang lights on the top of our house.


As much as I miss the ambiance and warmth of Christmas goodies, I love having a clean, blank slate now ... like here in our great room, where I can add a bit of a "Winter-y" look.  Do you decorate for Winter?


But, before I "play" with the fun stuff, I have to face the yucky stuff ... such as this room (might want to cover your eyes)!  This is one half of our storage room ... before adding back in Christmas decor we used this year.  There is no excuse for this!  Soooo, to keep it real and hold myself accountable, I'm sharing this ugliness ... hope to post a more tolerable "after" picture soon! 


If you don't hear from me within a few days, please send help (and a bulldozer)! 

Thanks for stopping by!
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Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Our 2015 Christmas Kitchen

Let's see ... in 48 hours, this room be a big mess ... wrapping paper strewn everywhere, and Christmas breakfast in full swing!

Before that happens, I wanted to share our Christmas kitchen, nice and clean!


Since this room opens into our great room, I kept with the same red, green and white palette.  A festive red runner anchors our table (that I recently painted the top "Pure White" to match the base).  And, since we were having holiday get togethers, I removed the rug for the season to prevent any accidental trips or slips!

Have I showed you our new chairs yet from Restoration Hardware yet?!  I waited for them to go on sale ... glad I did ... they are pretty comfy and so easy to clean!


And, to tie in with our new chairs, I added a couple of mercury trees ... I love the contrast with the other holiday colors in here.


Even faux apples are easy to "dress up" by just tossing them in a bowl filled with pine.  


In this little corner, which used to be empty, we mounted a corner cabinet we had removed from the other side of the kitchen when we added shelves.  To fill the void below, I found this little piece from IKEA.


This year, I took away everything from on top of the cabinets and just added simple white icicle lights.  



I love their ambiance and just might have to leave them up awhile longer!  Down below, a cute "pie" sign from World Market with a bit of leftover garland sits ... flanked by matching lamps from Target that I filled with cookie cutters.


Ready for waffles?!


Here's our little tree which keeps me company when I'm pretending to whip up dinner ...


it's our little whimsical tree, filled with cookie cutters ... "candy" ... gingerbread ... and other cute ornaments I've collected (or have been thoughtfully gifted) over the years.


Pretty simplistic ... I look at it as "less to have to take down," right?



Our shelves didn't change much ... just a few candy canes added to our greenery as a little temptation! 


Hot cocoa, anyone?



Thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy day to visit!

Merry Christmas!

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Monday, December 21, 2015

Our 2015 Christmas Sunroom

Happy Monday!  

I can't believe Christmas is this week ... it's "crunch time!"

Before I get into "panic mode," I wanted to share our little Christmas sunroom.


Since I had to find a temporary new home for our Ektorp chairs (which are usually in the great room), I thought they might be comfy in here.  Red and white outdoor pillows (from Lowe's) help give them a bit of holiday color.
  

Behind the chairs, I hung these cute pieces from Home Goods ... love their reflective mirrored backs!


A little bar area greets you ... juuuuuust in case you need a little "toddy."  A pretty star (from IKEA) shines above.




With our walls now being Palladian Blue, I knew I needed to mix blue into our tree, annnnd red and white ornaments seem to be a fun complement to it.  I'm really enjoying this color scheme!



These sweet "vintage-y" ornaments are usually on our "main" tree, but they had the right colors for this tree, so I had to "steal" them for this one.


I love the star lit up at night ... think I could just keep this up all winter?!


I've taken quite a few holiday naps in here ... is that bad?


As always, thank you for visiting ... I'll be back to share our Christmas kitchen before the big day on Friday!


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Thursday, December 17, 2015

Our 2015 Christmas Dining Room ...

Greetings, friends!

Are you done shopping yet?  You'd laugh if you saw my list of all that needs to be done!  

Before I get busy, I want to share our Christmas dining room with you!  This year, I strayed away from my usual silver and gold theme and thought it'd be fun to add in lots of color.


We also have new companions in here, too ... nutcrackers!  Our fellas are usually spotted on our mantel, but, this year, I brought them in here to stand guard.


Thankfully, these handsome gentleman have stood the test of "storage time" despite having been tossed around quite a bit in their bins over the years.


Their sequins have stayed put and still glisten beautifully when the sunlight streams onto them.



Although, there are hidden drops of hot glue where they've had other "injuries" here and there.


Over on our table, I added a few, as well, along with another one on our mirrored accent chest across the room.  Gotta spread the nutcracker love, right? 


Since my table runners are MIA, I turned to an old shutter to do the job. 


I then layered a simple garland, faux grapes, cheese, corks, ornaments and cheese knives on top.


In order to give these new little guys a bit more presence (and height) on the table, I perched them on top of a glass hurricane filled with holiday nuts ... he's ready to crack one for you when you're ready!


As for our tree, last year, I did a smaller tabletop top tree, but this year, I opted to bring back a taller tree and fill it up ...


adding corks, wine bottles and mini wine glasses,


along with a few mini nutcrackers, too.  


I'm really enjoying the jewel tones in here this year!


Maybe ... just maybe ... we'll eat Christmas dinner in here with our wooden friends!


Thanks for stopping by ... I always appreciate your company!


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Monday, December 14, 2015

Our 2015 Christmas Sitting Room ...

Can you believe Christmas is next week?  I'm almost sad about it because this season has gone by WAY too fast!

Before the big day, I've got lots more of our holiday home to share ... today, I'm dragging you into our front sitting room a/k/a the reindeer room.


While this seems to be the year of plaid, it also seems to be the year of the reindeer!  Well, at least to me.  So, who am I to not celebrate such handsome and beautiful creatures for the season, right?


You can see our flocked tree right there in the window in between the black and white curtains (fabric from IKEA).  I'm happy to say that the only thing that I purchased for this tree was the fun reindeer "Joy" ribbon (at 40% off from Michael's).


Okay, wait ... I lied.  I bought these cute black and white gift tags (turned ornaments), too.  Other ornaments I had on hand, like these pretty reindeer, both frosted and white, dressed in red bows.



If you glance on over to the right, you'll see our new faux fireplace, which we are really enjoying!  I kept our black mirror here on the mantel and simply layered a pretty feather wreath (that has been buried in a box, along with its matching feather trees, for a few years) on top!  Thankfully, I had just enough reindeer ribbon left from the tree to hang the wreath ... you know me, things have to "tie together" in some way.  


Silver mercury trees I had on hand helped to give a bit of bling and contrast with our black and red pieces.  And, in order to give them a little height, I put a drop of hot glue on glass candlesticks and plopped the mercury trees on top.  


I have to say that this flocked garland is a MESS!  You look at it, and it drops "snow" everywhere.  It almost stayed in the bin this year because I didn't want to bother with it, but I knew it might look pretty paired with the flocked tree ... so, out it came.  


Down on the hearth, large silver reindeer and candlesticks (that I painted black and hot glued glass hurricanes to the top) stand guard by the *warm* fire.  


The floating shelves beside the fireplace had to get a bit of attention (and reindeer), too.  


I added festive plates from World Market, along with greenery and ornaments.  And, to tie in with the black and white checked curtains, I added cute black and white acrylic plates (Target) ... gotta love their "dollar spot" bins!


Speaking of Target's dollar spot ... I'm "pretty" sure that almost everyone has one of these cute red and black checked pillows with the reindeer overlay.  They said that they couldn't keep them in stock ... I can see why and was glad to have scooped up a couple.


The black and white blankets (which reverse to red and black) are from the "And That" store ... they had such a great selection of Christmas decor this year (and their reasonable prices are right up my alley)!


The other chairs have red and white holiday pillows from IKEA.  I wish they would've brought that pattern back this again year ... but, then I guess it wouldn't have been named their "Vinter 2014" pattern, now would it?  Darn.


With all of the "snow" in here, this cutie has to keep warm!


All aglow as the sun starts to set.


Goodness, I have "no" idea what I'm going to do in here once Christmas is over!  


Thanks so much for taking the time to visit!
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