Christmas Home Tour 2014

I am SO excited to be writing this post, yet totally terrified at the same time. Have you seen all the amazing homes on the tour, I am so honored to be able to join this tour with this group of amazing women!!!

If you’re hopping over from The Nester’s house then welcome, I’m so glad you’re here! I had so much fun decorating our home for Christmas this year, but it was also a little overwhelming because it was my first year really decorating it. Last I decorated a little but we hadn’t been in the house very long so December was a month of ripping up flooring and installing new ones. So basically any decorations that were out were usually covered in dust or being moved around so we could install the floors. 🙂

When I started setting out the decorations this year I realized that I didn’t have nearly enough because this house is much larger than our last couple of houses. More rooms = more decorations = time to go shopping/time to craft. I also called in some favors and got to use some decorations from friends, that they weren’t using this year.

Without further ado, please come on in! It’s been super rainy here so this picture of our front porch was snagged with my cell phone, I promise to post more on my front porch when we get a sunny (or at least not pouring down rain) day, but I didn’t want to leave it out of the tour because I love it!

When you walk into our home you walk right into the main living space that’s open to our living room, kitchen and dining room. Instead of shoving our Christmas tree in a corner (like I did last year) I put it right smack dab in the middle of the room so it’s the first thing you see when you walk in. I wanted people to be able to see it right when they walk in because I love walking into someone’s house and seeing a pretty Christmas tree.

One of my favorite things about this house are the really tall ceilings and this year I picked out a 10′ tree, it’s the tallest tree we’ve ever had! I wish I could somehow freeze it so it would last forever, I think I’m going to have a hard time taking it down, after Christmas, because I might be just a little bit in love with it (or maybe a lot). 🙂

I was excited when I found shimmery wrapping paper at Tuesday Mornings and Target, that totally matched the theme of my tree!

In the kitchen I kept it pretty simple because I don’t like to have a lot of clutter decorations in the kitchen. Sometimes I think less is more, if it’s done right.

I love having open shelves in the kitchen because it’s so fun to switch out the decorations on them for each season. Most of the snowflakes in my kitchen were ones I bought for Malea’s Frozen-themed birthday party last February. 🙂

This time of year we love to have people over and in mid-December we host a Christmas party at our house every year. So Creating a festive dining room is important to me. This year I kept it simple on the table because there are so many other pretty decorations in the room.

I love this tree in the dining room because it’s decorated with all of the childhood ornaments my aunt gave me when I turned 18. I added a few new ones this year too but my old ornaments are my favorite because they all hold so many memories. (See the one of me as a baby at the very top?)

On the other side of the room my friend and I also had a fun time decorating my new buffet. It’s such a great color that it goes perfectly with my Christmas decor!

This year we also have a Christmas tree in our bedroom. When we remodeled the front rooms we had to take out the fireplace, but luckily we have one in our room so I still have a mantel for our stockings. When we were kids our stockings were always placed on the mantel by the fire, so it’s a tradition that’s special to me.

I put our little manger set in here for Malea to play with, and this year I made a “stable” for them. I thought it would be more cozy for them with a roof over their heads. 🙂

The tree in our room is fun because it’s decorated with my favorite borrowed decoration. These vintage-style Christopher Radko ornaments, from my friend Kathie, are so unique and beautiful (I wish the pictures were as good as in real life).

One of the other things I love about this decorated corner of our room, is that it’s the perfect place for our family to gather and read Christmas stories. Malea is such a good reader these days that I have her read me a story and then I read one to her.

Back out in the main living space of our house here are a handful of my other favorite decorations. I’ll stop talking and let you just look around.

 

I love that I was able to reuse this galvanized basket in our entryway. In the Fall it held our umbrellas and now it holds pretty Christmas decorations.

Thank you so much for stopping by to see my home all decorated for Christmas! I loved having you and I hope you will come back and visit soon. The next stop on the Holiday Home Tour is over at Not Just a Housewife and I’m sure you’ll have a great time because Stacy is awesome (I got to meet her this summer)!

If you’d like to start the tour from the beginning please click HERE. Have fun touring all the homes!

 

Monday, December 8

Just a Girl
The Inspired Room
Kevin and Amanda
Home Stories A to Z
Décor Chick

Tuesday, December 9

Thrifty Décor Chick
Eleven Gables
Hi Sugarplum
Tidy Mom
Beneath My Heart

Wednesday, December 10

Sand and Sisal
Nesting Place
Ask Anna
Not Just a Housewife
My Blessed Life

Thursday, December 11

Tatertots and Jello
320 Sycamore
Jenna Sue Design
DIY Showoff
Pretty Handy Girl

Friday, December 12

The Hunted Interior
Four Generations One Roof
A Thoughtful Place
Southern Hospitality
Songbird