A Little Christmas Project Nostalgia

Hey Ya’ll!  We’re decorating the new pad for Christmas today and I’m totally stoked about it, too.   It’ll be a day full of decorating in our pajamas while watching Elf and eating cookies.  Living the dream, people.  Plus, the fact that we’re in our new house just MAKES IT for me.   I’ve always thought that this house would be great for the holidays and this was unexpectedly confirmed when my Aunt Terry walked into our living room for the first time and stated (with zero prompting) “This is a great Christmas house.”  BAM!  That’s right.  It’s not just me!!!

Anyways, being the nostalgic sap that I am, I decided to cruise through some of my Christmas posts from last year for inspiration.   Since this is a new house with different decor needs, looking back at old projects helps me visually inventory what I already own in one fell swoop (and provides me with ideas for new ways use these items in our new home).  So, in case these may benefit ya’ll as well, here are a few snippets…

Our Christmas trees.

For our larger tree, I stuck to a silver, burgundy and green theme last year.  Lots of glittery snowflakes, garland and wire ribbon.   In lieu of a tree skirt, I just used faux sheepskin rugs.  I love that look.  It’s like a little snow mound beneath the tree.

Our “Charlie Brown Tree” is a simple silver tree that I purchased on clearance from Walmart years ago (Humph… that cord makes me twitchy.  Just try to ignore it.  Or tell me you don’t see it to make me feel better.) …

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I stuck him in this painted basket for a bit of style, then added some stockings and wood ornaments with burlap bows for style.   These guys adorned our hallway nook in our last house, but need a new locale and look for this house.   Hmmm…. Wheels are turning…

Adding pizzaz with free Christmas Printables

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This was one of my favorites.  It was free, easy and added a touch of whimsy to our Christmas decor.   I ended up using four different printables throughout the house.  I still have them and will likely reuse them again.   See the other printables that I utilized here.

Christmas centerpiece ideas, PLUS, creating inexpensive snowflake window hangings...

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A few simple, cheapo purchases lead to a sophisticated “winter wonderland” feel.   The window hangings tied in perfectly to the trees and centerpiece and really were the icing on the cake!  At least I think so.  😉

Some quick, low-maintenance outdoor decor...

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I reused my DIY frame wreath and jazzed it up with a few simple tweaks.  Plus, I used a gorgeous live wreath in a non-traditional way to add a little Christmas spirit to the seating area on our covered porch.

And lastly, this isn’t Christmas decor necessarily, but since gift ideas are always a good thing, here’s how I created simple busts of Lucas on burlap for gifts.  We gave one to each of the grandparents last year…

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So, now that I’m officially in the Christmas spirit, I’m gonna go get my decorating on.   Ya’ll have a great weekend!!  Let’s start this holiday season off right!  🙂

TDC Before and After

Time for a tour!

So, the other day I realized that I’ve been a bad blogger. We’ve lived in the house for almost 2 months and I haven’t shown you many of the rooms as they currently stand. Now, I’ll tell ya… We have a TON of work to do still. But, really in the time we’ve lived here we’ve done a lot. New windows were installed in the bedrooms last week, new insulation and radiant barrier before that, new flooring in much of the house prior to move-in, etc. So, now that some of the Need-To-Do things are checked off, we’re finally reaching that sweet-spot where we can start focusing on style and decor.  I’m going to break up the tour into a few posts to keep it from being too overwhelming.  This time around I’m going to show you the kitchen/breakfast nook, the foyer and the secondary bedrooms that you haven’t seen yet.

So, here’s where we started with the kitchen…

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And here’s we’re at now….

All we’ve really done here is accessorize. Obviously, this room needs plenty of work down the line. The appliances are old, mis-matched, and builder-grade.  Our black fridge sticks out like a sore thumb.  Plus, the stove works only part of the time. We literally have to jam the burners in and smack ’em around to get them to heat up. These will be replaced eventually, but we’re trying to make them last as long as possible to allow us to really consider what we want to replace them with. Oh yeah, then there’s the rest of the full-reno.  😉

On the other side of the room, we have our breakfast nook, which started here…

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And now is here…

The large red painting was created by my mother in law, Mac. You’ll see several of her pieces throughout the tour. The table is off center to allow better flow of traffic (although looking at this pic, I can definitely move it a bit closer to center.  Noted.).   The lighting fixture is off center in the opposite direction, which drives me batty.  Plus, it’s way too close to the french doors to allow a table to sit directly under it, so we plan to relocate the lighting fixture over the table (I’m lobbying for a chandelier.  Joey remains unconvinced.).  Speaking of the table, I really think the space is screaming for a round pedestal table to allow for better flow.   I’m keeping an eye out for potential candidates.

Over in this little area by the French door….

We have a charming Ride print that Joey purchased a long time ago. I framed it with a $4 poster frame from Target. Below that we have my chicken-wire Ikea hacked cabinet with the painted baskets that I adorned for our previous mudroom. The baskets hold sunscreen, bug spray, and other outdoor must-haves so we can just grab-and-go when swimming.

A little view from beyond the breakfast nook (You can catch a glimpse of the dining room… I’ll have another post for that)….

And don’t even get me started on that fluorescent light.  It will be so very gone.  One day.

Moving onto the foyer, we started with this…

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Which now looks like this…

I’m not convinced that that art will stay which is why I haven’t hung it yet.  I’m still marinating on that.

The other direction…

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I’ve simply added a vase with sticks and another awesome painting by Mac (that hallway leads to the kitchen)…

Here’s the view of the painting from further down the hallway… \

I’m still at a loss for what to do with the wall that’s directly across from the front door (this pic is from before we moved in)…

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It’ll come to me eventually, I’m sure.

The next two rooms I have done absolutely NOTHING to decor-wise. They both currently boast the same scuffed-up, flesh-colored paint that’s just BEGGING for a change and ZERO style.  But, in the interest of keepin’ it real, I’m showing you guys anyways.  I figure, every room has to start somewhere.  Both spaces have had carpets replaced and new windows installed.  So, they’ve got that going for them.  Which is nice.

The first bedroom looked like this…

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And currently looks like this (brace yourself)…

Pretty bad, right?   This is the room where the pipe burst.   You can see the sheetrock work that was done behind the bed.    This room holds a haphazard bed, my beloved desk chair and every wall art piece that I own that has yet to find a home (they’re all unceremoniously leaning against the wall next to the door). It’s kind of a glorified storage room/office right now. I have a bunch of work to do here. Like, a lot.  I’m still deciding how I wanna proceed in this space.

The other bedroom started off here…

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And now looks like this….

Again, blank slate. A flesh-toned blank slate that mocks me every time I walk past. This room is going to be painted a similar tone as the rest of the house. A nice, light grey. Since we plan to make this a secondary entertainment space I thought it’d be nice to extend that common-area color into this room as well.  Then, curtains, art, TV will be hung, etc.  Again, I’ve got my work cut out for me here. Lots to do.

Ill show y’all the hall bath and mudroom soon. And once I repaint the master bath AGAIN (finally), I’ll update you on that as well.  Oh yeah, and the dining space has had some changes… and Lucas’s room.  OMG.  You guys.   I’m so behind.  I’ll get you up to speed soon.  🙂