Christmas Home Tour 2024

It's been a busy month! We went on two ski trips starting the day after Thanksgiving. I barely had time to photograph my house decorated for the holidays, which is why this post is so late. It's been fun, but I'm looking forward to a quiet New Year's at home to recuperate. 

This year, I decided to decorate my foyer in blue. I really wanted to use my blue and white ginger jar ornaments again. It also goes with my blue and white china I used in my dining room for Christmas dinner. 

I went with traditional red in the family room. I love the gold and white from last year, but I missed that cheery Christmas feel. The key is to only add red in small doses. I only have about seven red ornaments in the tree and the rest is red berries, which I matched in the garland. Then just touches of red are spread throughout the great room. It doesn't take much!

And on to Christmas! 

Christmas Eve was a little quieter this year. My parents come over to celebrate with us every year. My oldest son, Dylan, went to his girlfriend's grandparents home in Beaumont (about 3 hours away) and weren't back until late that night. My middle son, Ryan, came down dressed to go to work late that afternoon. We were shocked! He said he posted his shift and thought someone would take it, but didn't. I guess he didn't realize most people do not want to work Christmas Eve. We still had our traditional dinner of appetizers and opened gifts from each other. My parents came over the next night for Christmas dinner so it was fine. 

Christmas morning was fun! I didn't think the kids would be excited since they knew almost all of their gifts, but they spent all day hanging out downstairs with us instead of running to their rooms afterwards. I guess they are growing up! I think Dylan only hung out with us because his girlfriend was here lol. I love having another girl here. I can't wait until we have two more to celebrate with us. 

I spent most of the day hanging out with the family here until it was time to set the table and make dinner. 

After dinner photos with the kids and my parents. My in-laws left early so we didn't get any pics with them. 

That's a wrap! Here are a few pics outside too.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! It was a fun holiday season here, but I'm looking forward to some restful weekends in January!

Happy New Year! Plus Christmas 2023

Happy New Year! I believe this might be the first time in 11 years that I haven't posted a Christmas Home Tour. I'm going to make up for that right now! The decorations were a little more neutral this year. I'm still not sure how I feel about it. Every time I tried to add a bit of red, it just didn't feel right for some reason. I'm pretty sure I'll have more traditional color next year because I did miss it even if the gold and ivory were beautiful.

I lost my decorating mojo this year when I got to the stairs. I just left he garland plain, but no one seemed to notice. 

The mantel appears much more simple, but the garland is so layered it isn't even close to simple!

I guess I was feeling gold this year because my outfit matched the tree. 

This gold velvet ribbon is so pretty! I found it at Wal-mart of all places!

My favorite photo! 

Christmas morning

The best Christmas Day breakfast! The skillet potatoes with sautéed onions, bacon and cheese are my favorite. My husband has been making it since our college days.

I promise Ryan is happy or he would have not let me take this photo. He's just being cool.

I'm so bummed Dylan missed the family photo. We didn't think to take one until the end of the night and he had left to go to a friend's house. Can you believe how tall the boys are?! Aidan is 6'1 and Ryan is 6'2.

The New Year's Eve table looked elegant, but I was in sweats and we played cards with friends here. It ended up being such a great night! My son and his girlfriend joined in now that they are 21. It's weird, but fun to have your kids quasi adults.

I put away all the Christmas decor on New Year's Day. I ordered a new throw pillow for my sofa to have something to look forward to before I started cleaning up the decorations lol. I think looking forward to a vacation or a new project around the house always makes me feel a little less sad about the season ending. It's getting harder every Christmas because I feel like it's a countdown until the kids aren't under our roof any longer. Of course with the cost of housing these days they may be here longer than we think!

Before Christmas I ordered a new tray and burl wood box for my coffee table. I love the way they look here. 

That's a wrap on 2023! 

Everything is linked here on my LTK page!

Christmas Home Tour 2022

It's a Classic Style Christmas this year with traditional red making its way back into my decor. I was looking back at past photos and missed the red, especially paired with the blue and white ginger jars. I love how festive and cheery the house feels by incorporating red. Thankfully, it complements the blue and white I already have in my home. 

Let's get started at the front door with one of my favorite new things this year, these topiaries! They are real so I plan on having them around all year round (unless they don't make it which is a possibility with my black thumb). I love how cute they look with these red bows I added. It's also a hint of what is to come inside. 

I love the little peek at the Christmas tree from the front door this year. 

Classic green garland and red bows 

I kept the dining room neutral because that's what I had on hand. Actually, the centerpiece came about because that's what was sitting on the table waiting to be put somewhere. I just left it there and grabbed a few picks to intersperse between the tree topiaries. I later realized that I did the exact same table a few years ago. I guess it was still there in my brain somewhere!

Here is my new framed Gracie wallpaper panel. I've always wanted one of these. Are you surprised I chose green? Me, too. It just spoke to me. The buffet lamps are new as well. 

I happened to have a green ribbon on hand to give my horse a bow to match. I also added roses to my magnolia garland. It's such a pretty, romantic look. 

These pictures aren't the best because I tried to brighten them up, but made them look green and washed out instead. One day I'll figure out how to take photos of windows!

I will change it up for Christmas Day dinner because I have to put the leaves in the table to accommodate all twelve of us. I also prefer to have real florals as low centerpieces so we can see each other. I usually have three arrangements, roses with cedar. I'll also have cedar pieces as a garland interspersed with votive candles. Maybe I'll throw some ornaments in there. I will put it together the day before Christmas Eve and just do whatever strikes me in the moment. I'll also put my champagne and dessert bar on the buffet again soon. 

Let's go into the living room so I can show you not only my Christmas decorations, but my new DIY project! We built this wall of wainscoting the weekend before Thanksgiving. We started on Friday afternoon/evening and I finished painting it on Sunday night. It's the first time that we didn't do faux wainscoting. We actually put wood on the wall first instead of just adding trim boards over the drywall. In case you're wondering, the entire project cost $650 with paint. Not bad! It's much better than the $4000 quote I received from a contractor. 

This wall has been an eyesore since before it was even built. I hated the corner fireplace and asked the builder to center it on the wall so we could have a bigger living room and a more symmetrical look. I knew that it was going to be a two story blank wall with zero architectural detail. Well, the builder wanted an astronomical amount just to redraw it (which I should have just paid in retrospect) so we lived with it. I considered knocking out the fireplace or adding a media center. The five figure prices for both had me doing nothing. 

However, once I got the Frame TV last month I realized I didn't need a media center any longer. I just needed architectural detail. I played with several options, particularly the vertical shiplap like we did in the laundry room. I decided it was too casual for everything else in the room. This wainscoting is a classic look that goes with every style. We're actually thinking about doing the fireplace next and maybe even painting it a color. I'm still undecided on that. We definitely need someone to come in and frame that window because we don't have a tall enough ladder. I would show you a photo of how this wall looked before, but I rarely photographed it because it was such an eyesore. 

The Christmas tree is in a new spot this year because it blocked the TV. I was disappointed at first, but I love that I can see it from every room now. If the lights were to go out, I would buy two slender trees to go on both sides of the window. Considering this is the second year we've had it that probably won't happen. 

Mario enjoying the fire. 

The mantel with the blue and white jars is a similar look I did years ago. I did change out the magnolia garlands because they were getting a little tired. I chose a 9 foot garland that fit perfectly, but I should have gotten two 6 foot garlands because the needles all go in one direction so they kind of flail out on the left side. Oh well, I'll reuse it somewhere next year and buy two six foot ones. I do love the look of it though. 

This chandelier doesn't really go in the house any longer since I redecorated, but I still love the look of it all lit up at night. 

The garland is very realistic, but it definitely needs to be layered with either a second one or it needs picks. I happened to have eucalyptus picks on hand so I just stuck them in there for a fuller look. 

A closer look at the wainscoting and the Frame TV. I bought the gold frame separately. The finish on the TV is matte so it really looks like a piece of art. 

This tree was such a balance of red and white. I wanted a touch of red so I added and took away until it was just right. There are only three red ornaments on the tree. The rest of the red colors are ribbons and picks. I also added in mini blue and white ginger jar ornaments and tied them with red ribbons. 

I found ginger jar wrapping paper in red and blue on Etsy. I actually didn't buy any of it with a theme in mind. I just thought it was cute. 

The walkway looks tight here, but in person it's actually quite wide. 

My kitchen always looks best with pops of red. I didn't do much differently from a couple of years ago because I loved it so much. 

Isn't this tree cutting board the cutest? I found it on sale at Hobby Lobby for $7. It had a hole at the top for hanging that looked weird to me so I added a bell to it. It's even cuter now!

I didn't do much to the breakfast room. I just added dried boxwood garlands to match what was in the kitchen to the new buffet. The centerpiece is the same as last year. This room is still a work in progress, but it has come such a long way. I didn't even photograph it for years! I love it now even if there are still things to be done. 

It's fun to see the changes I've made over the last year in addition to the Christmas decorations. I didn't realize how much I have done. I can't wait to see what 2023 will bring!