Christmas Around The House

One thing I often say about Christmas decorating is that there is not such thing as over-decorating.  The saying “less is more” is not necessary applicable during this time of the year and any extravagance is well accepted! For years and years, I was collecting the most beautiful items, but everything is now stored overseas. So, five years ago, I had to start decorating from scratch. Everything I have now is mostly inexpensive and hand made decorations which I’m so happy to share. And year after year, I find myself adding a box or two to store my new creations!

The one place in our home that is heavily decorated is the entrance where two Christmas trees dominate the space. Instead of buying a very large and expensive artificial tree, we decided to go for a pair of two more affordable and smaller ones,  and I just love the grandeur and the symmetry that they add to the space.

This year, the trees have one more element: the diy copper-scaled glass ornaments. If you missed the post, you can find the instructions to make yours, here.

Once again, I filled a vase for the pedestal table in the entrance with the diy faux pine branches, The branches were stored upright in a wardrobe moving box for a year and they came out in perfect condition. They are so impressive for such a low cost!

For the formal living room mantel, this year I switched things around. I added a rich red pomegranate garland with a matching wreath that I used to hang on a door, both from Restoration Hardware. That was our first Christmas purchase five years ago.

On the coffee table, a real tree branch (found after a storm)  that already had a few real pinecones naturally attached to it, gets some color with the addition of green faux pine and red faux Christmas berries attached with garden wire. In the glass bowl, the candles are LED votives for safety.

In a corner of the room, the decorative Christmas trees are showcased on the piano.  All of them are hand made, you can find their tutorials here and here. This year, I added a few oversized pine cones to complete the scene.

In the family room, the oil on canvas painting gives the tone and bright red is the ruling color. The mantel is decorated with the “floating ornaments” that I put together last year for the first time, and that everyone absolutely loved!  The whole setting looks magical, both during the day and especially when it gets dark.

Each shiny red Christmas ball is simply sitting on an inexpensive glass jar, and when illuminated from the back with a string of Christmas lights, the ornaments look as if they are floating in the air. As you can see, the jars are from just about anything (jam, honey, pickles etc.).

A light string swirled in a large vase with more Christmas ornaments is another easy decorating idea. This type of arrangement has to be close to a wall to hide the plug. At night, all you see is illuminated and shiny objects in a vase shape.

In the same room, the console table behind the sofa has more bright red elements; the poinsettia is real and is well taken care of to last for the entire holiday season. I was glad to find a use for the bronze cauldron, a $3 thrift find which happened to be the perfect size for the pot. The 29″ long basket has a new role: instead of holding a line of bread rolls, it is now filled with red ornaments, real pinecones and pieces of artificial pine cut from a garland and has the rustic and informal style that fits well in the room.

In the girl’s room, the Christmas lights on the recently finished desk give such a warm feel and brightness in the space.

The wood ornaments were bought at a fraction of their original cost when the craft store was having a huge sale. With their natural look, they belong perfectly in this room.

In the boy’s room, the HO HO HO wooden letters, a Crate&Barrel knock off, looks still amazing.

This year, I’m affixing these wood letters onto the wall with Uglu Dashes, as I found that the restickable dots that I used last year damaged the wall in a few spots. You can find this easy project, here.

All over the home, more little unexpected details pop up, such as a battery operated string of lights that I placed into the the basket with the wood logs.

The car ornament, an inexpensive purchase of this year, is a piece of decor on its own, on a side table.

I knew that the colored vintage glasses that I started collecting would look glorious when illuminated with a tea light, but this is really gorgeous.  For $1 each, you can’t find a better votive candle holder. I placed the three of them on the $2.50 silver plate tray, all came from the same thrift trip!

Maybe you found some new ideas for your home today!

Have a wonderful, blessed, full of smiles Christmas!