Peyton Wolff
As of yesterday morning, I still didn’t know if I would meet my own deadline, but here I am, coffee in hand, determined to get things wrapped up to welcome you in for my 2017 Christmas Home Tour. But, December hasn’t even started yet and we are finally and officially in perfect-for-Hallmark-movie-marathons twinkle light Heaven.
Well, it may not be the North Pole, but after literally saying “Done, except for just a few things” prior to our Thanksgiving trip and then walking in the door after our trek home to more than two more full days of decorating, on a scale of “winter wonderland to Charlie Brown”, I feel good about saying we are closer to the former 😉 We’ve got champagne, wine and other Christmas color schemes and some first-year themes for our home. Note: a full room source list and details is provided at the bottom of the post.
I actually forgot until I saw them in a dark corner under a pile of pillows in the basement (I’m pretty sure Dave tried to bury them there to make me forget about all our previous, well intended Clark Griswold plans). I mix mine with some faux pine and berries but there is so much you can do with those fresh clippings (think mantel, table decor, light fixtures…) I also get this question a good bit – I fill my urn bottoms with bricks.
😉 I have a few “moments” happening in here but pretty much prefer to let my treats and more Christmasy entertaining pieces bring in the holiday vibes. You don’t even have to set up an entire hot cocoa bar; you can bring out some copper mugs and keep them displayed and ready to go on a tray. I always get live garland (from Costco) to mix in with the faux for the banisters and mantel and then trim the more drapey cedar limbs to adorn the little chandelier in here. I went to the grocery store at 6 a.m. the other day in search of some flowers to pull together a winter mix centerpiece for my little wooden planter (I have the medium). When I was pulling all of our Christmas decor out of boxes, I was trying to go lighter in areas and change things up from previous years. I realized I had all these cone and bottlebrush trees without homes and gathered them to to take inventory on my breakfast nook buffet.
I went back and forth between “how cute!” and “oh my word, this is obnoxious” before pulling a couple, reconfiguring, and adding a thin strand of twinkle lights for whimsy. The copper in the kitchen warms things right up, too 😉 GET THE LOOK | SCROLL & TAP Turn on your JavaScript to view content FYI- these more satiny ribbons are from Hobby Lobby BUT, I had the hardest time finding a deep red wine color and champagne!
There will usually be additional sections near fabric and floral 😉 I actually relied heavily on using ribbon to change entire looks.
I also came across a small box of unopened pinecone ornaments from two years ago and tied them onto the backs of our bar stools. Hey, my house can be filled with those things any time 😉 I can’t tell you how much I’m enjoying our classic Christmas tree.
Try mixing a few special baubles with some inexpensive “filler” ornaments (like the boxes from Michaels and Hobby Lobby- I use those everywhere!) With the addition of the sound bar (a “surprise” when I came home from a business trip earlier this year haha), the mantel garland was a little trickier and stocking hangers were out of the question.
I hot glued balls, wove in some ribbon, nestled in some pinecones, mixed in some live garland, and then strung in some battery powered twinkle lights.
I don’t think I’ve ever been more happy to have snagged this wooden bowl from the PB Outlet as I was when decorating this season. With all the glittery and shiny objects everywhere, I wanted to tone it down a little and the gold bowl I originally had these ornaments in was a little too “whoa!” Having something more earthy brings in some of that coziness and compliments the live greenery. Even more than when I first completed my master bedroom and shared the reveal earlier this month, I fell in love with it all over again when I brought in some wintery touches and switched the red pillows to these velvety green beauties.
If you are contemplating decorating any room in your home besides the main living area, do yourself a favor and add some sparkle to your bedroom. By “hibernating” I mean, binge watching Hallmark Channel Christmas movies while working, wrapping gifts. The only new Christmas decor I purchased this year (besides a few rolls of ribbon and a couple boxes of balls) were these little flocked trees. Before our trip, I totally thought this tree was going to be a snowy, naked forest goddess but changed my mind after we walked in the door a few days ago. I stuck to silver and white and used all ribbon, ornaments, and picks I already had on hand that I’d boxed and sent back down to the basement. If you decide not to use ALL of your decor, don’t feel guilty about making selections and returning the rest to storage.
Another way to use leftover ornaments , even after you’ve filled vases and sprinkled them on shelves and tables, is underneath your tree. You’ve already seen glimpses in my “Fake It, Don’t Bake It” holiday entertaining post and my Christmas tree decorating tutorial. Because I used moss, I stayed away from snow; I used a scarf as my runner base, sprinkled in some candles and leftover ornaments, and declared these “meadow” reindeer 😉
For this topper, I stuck in two branches (pull them apart and spread them out so they aren’t just a straight bundle), and trickled a few blue floral stems in that I broke apart.
