Christmas at My House

First I would like to thank Jenny from Evolution of Style for including me in this years tour.  This is the first year that I have not been knee deep in our local tour of homes (it has been discontinued). We also have a lot going on in our life with elder care so I was aiming to tone it down. If Jenny hadn’t contacted me The decorating would have been very minimal at our home this year. Christmas for our family is very traditional.  I don’t buy new décor every year or change things up much.   For those of you new to my blog we built our home ourselves and have lived here for almost 30 years.  Beau is our crazy dog.  

 This is the spot I really had fun with.  The garland going up the stairs is a mix of greens from my yard with a faux berry garland that I have had for probably 15 years. This mannequin had another life at Berries and Branches here.

Her "vest” is fashioned from a vintage paisley fragment.  The wreath to the right was on my front door for fall. I am big on transitional holiday décor that can be reused.
The beautiful pine cones that adorn her belt I purchased at one of  my favorite haunts Tancredi & Morgen. This was the only Christmas décor I purchased this year other than a few wreaths from TJ’s & Home Depot.   The belt is an old relic from my closet and the pin is one of the vintage ones we used on Jenna’s bridal bouquets.

If you have a mannequin these are super easy to fashion.  All you need to do is wire the greens around her waist and go to town!! It makes it a lot simpler if you have big branches.  You can see her other incarnation in the post prior to this one.

If you travel through the archway you will reach the great room.  My kitchen on the right is decorated minimally, with more fresh greens and pomegranates from my yard. Our kitchen got a mini redo last year, with a new backsplash of Tabarka tile, concrete laminate countertops and we painted the cabinets. 

The little Romanian pot is filled with holly from my neighbor’s tree and more greens, surrounded by vintage wicker bottles that have been collected over the years.

My Christmas décor reflects my overall design style of layers, inspiration from the past, with a nod to nature.  I have had this tool caddy (that houses my olive oils etc) for over thirty years.

In the family room area I used all dark greens on the fireplace , so it was really hard to photograph.  I think my mantle is the prettiest it has been in years but it just doesn’t photograph well.  The wreath was $15 at Home Depot.  I added a few greens to the outside to beef it up a bit and added a bow. 

Our house was originally designed to have a living room off of this hallway.  For a long time we had an antique door in the opening ( known as the door to nowhere).  After many years passed we realized we were never going to do the living room addition (we have enough house) so Steve created this arch and put a French door that opens to the side garden area.  For some reason it never occurred to me to put our tree in this opening until this year. 

Our tree is not a “decorator tree”. It is filled with the same ornaments from year to year. Some are  made by our kids (now 35 & 32), most have been collected over the years and hold special meaning for us.  There is something about opening up the boxes of ornaments every year and remembering where each came from. The tree was so pretty this year with only white lights.  It was very tempting to leave it bare, but I didn’t. The tree is faux by the way.  I know you are probably thinking she uses fresh stuff everywhere and she has a fake tree,you are right!  They are much easier to decorate!

The presents are wrapped in paper and ribbon from Marshalls (my favorite source for quality wrap and ribbon) Tags are made from Vintage Postcards and printable animal tags found online

Here is a view from our family room into our dining room. 

  

Behind the sofa is a grain painted box filled with part of my collection of belsnickels that I started collecting in 1994. The white one in the center and my favorite to the right were broken years ago when a mirror above our fireplace came crashing down. 

I  had a really hard time getting any good pictures of my dining room.

The centerpieces are old sap buckets (from my daughter’s wedding) filled with Trader Joe’s Amaryllis that are just beginning to bloom.

The chargers are from Pottery Barn last year.  The paisley napkins are from PB as well a few years ago.  

The monogrammed napkins are by Trish from Cottage by Design.  Each place setting is marked by a different ornament that we have collected over the years.

This little niche is one of my favorites.  The painting was a gift from my friend an artist Pat. You can find more of her wonderful art here.  The pot was a gift from one of my husband’s employees many years ago that he brought us  from Romania. The German glitter stars are from the wonderful Wendy Addison that are at least 10 years old.

Anyone local I am sure recognizes the lady below.  She has made many appearances on the Berries and Branches tour.  She resides year round in this spot.  Her wings and any other finery only make an appearance over the Holidays.

My game room is in the midst of an update so I will just show a couple of snippets. These shutters are from Patine another of my favorite local haunts.  The mini wreaths are from TJ’s.

Thanks for stopping by today. Beau kept photo bombing all of my pictures so I decided to let him wish you a Merry Christmas as well.

Please stop by and visit Simply Sarah Style today and click on any of the tours you may have missed.

12/1: Evolution of Style  |  Dixie Delights

12/2: Life & Home At 2102  |  Provident Home Design
12/3: Simple Details
12/4: The Pink Clutch Blog  |  This is Happiness
12/7:  Bless’er House  |  The Tale Of An Ugly House
12/8:  Classic Casual Home  |  This is Our Bliss
12/9:  Primitive and Proper
12/10:  Shine Your Light  |  Driven by Decor
12/11:  Suburban Bitches |  Our Storied Home
12/14: Simply Sarah Style  |  Rough Luxe
12/15: Tour Highlights
12/16: YOU in our Link Party