My Home for the Holidays

 

Welcome to my home for the holidays!  I love getting a sneak peek at other people’s homes. There are many Christmas Home tours going on right now in the blogosphere.  As the years go by, I’ve tried to simplify a little more. I have a lot of stuff and I’ve run out of storage space.  I’ve tried to use what I have and just add a few new natural elements.  I needed a new front door wreath and instead of buying a fresh one this year, I opted to create a door decoration with things I had.  Monograms are very popular right now.  I had purchased this wood P awhile back, but hadn’t gotten around to using it.  I painted it white and added a little gold rub n buff around the edges.  I had purchased the wood frame at an antique store years ago. I  hung my P from it with some ribbon from Hobby Lobby and found the sprig of greenery in my Christmas stash.  The evergreen shrub in my pot is from last year.  I kept it in a pot on the side of my house and it survived 2013.  I added some silk poinsettias from a past Christmas and a nest with a stone bird.   It felt great to shop my home and to not have to purchase a lot of new items.  Most of the things I already owned, I just repurposed them in a different way.

 

 

My dining room is to the left of my front door.  I  think I’ve used it a handful of times in the 15 years I’ve lived in my house.  My dining table makes a great spot for my Santa collection since it rarely gets used.

 

 

An easy way to add touches of Christmas to your home is with ribbon.  I gave my bust a little holiday cheer!

 

 

I love these little elves I found at an antique store years ago.  We used to have some on our Christmas tree growing up prior to the whole  elf on a shelf phenomenon.  They make me smile.  Not only do you find elves on my bookshelves,  but as my son tweeted, “Where else can you find Ozzy Osbourne’s biography along side John Adams?”  We like both rock stars and historians in this house.

 

 

I may have sharpened this image a little too much so you can see dust particles.  I took a lantern class awhile back which inspired me to add a Christmas scene to mine this year.  I love this ornament of a car totting a Christmas tree from Pottery Barn.  I used a piece of wood on the bottom to give it some height, covered it in fake snow and added a few bottle brush Christmas trees.

 

 

This is my hearth room and where I spend most of my time each day.  I compose most of my blog posts from this space.  I added a little Christmas display to my tray, but usually it has a bunch of books and notebooks on it.  Unfortunately, I also need a pair of reading glasses handy.

 

 

One of my new favorite things is this little cypress houseplant I found at Home Depot.   I wrapped it in some burlap and tied it with a piece of twine.  I placed it in a tray and added some red ornament balls.  I have three of them throughout my house.

 

 

I set up this little coffee station on my kitchen counter. I love my retro Santa and my Keurig. My daughter loves that hot chocolate is readily available.

 

 

This is one of my most prized possessions.  I won it at a white elephant gift exchange over 18 years ago at my husband’s office Christmas party.  The owner’s wife didn’t know he needed a gift and at the last minute put this autographed print from It’s A Wonderful Life in the gift exchange.

 

 

I’ve had this Christmas wreath from Pottery Barn for years.  I love the square shape.  This year I decided to hang a frame I had in the middle of it.  Instead of putting a picture in the frame, I printed out a letter P on my computer and added peace on earth underneath it.  This hangs from the door leading into my sunroom which is a recent addition to our home and one of my favorite spaces.

 

 

Thanks for visiting.  I’ll be sharing how I made the above JOY display on my blog next week along with my Christmas tree and some gift wrap ideas.

In other news, my gingerbread house was featured on Taste of Home’s facebook page.  My house might not be winning awards, but at least my gingerbread house got some recognition (insert happy face).  For more gingerbread house inspiration check out Taste of Home’s website.

 

Linking to: Inspire Me Please, I’m Lovin’ It Party, Time To Sparkle Link Party