Virtual Holiday House Tour Featuring Emily Clark, Tamara Matthews-Stephenson, and Everything LEB

The Virtual Holiday House Tour wraps up today with Emily Clark, Tamara Matthews from the Nestnestnest, and Lindsay from Everything LEB!

Emily writes, "I took a simple approach to Christmas decorating this year, simply because there is no time around here to do anything elaborate.  I used a lot of natural elements (greenery, pinecones, etc.) and added some sparkle with silver and white Christmas ornaments, candlesticks,  etc."

 
Tamara writes, "Decorating for the Holidays is a fun family tradition in our home.  Since we have many hand me down and homemade ornaments we enjoy unwrapping them every year and reminiscing their history.  Some of the traditions we keep the same every year on our tree:  baby’s breath tucked within the branches, a faux sugared cranberry garland we bought on a trip years earlier and bows tied on the edges of the branches (my German grandmother’s tradition).  This year we used gold bows.  Something new this year is we spray painted leaves and holly gold-colored for our Thanksgiving table so we used it on our Christmas tree to recycle.  I infused a bit more silver and gold this year than other years and was inspired a “Winter Wonderland” theme I saw throughout New York --Holiday House showhouse, magazines, store windows and the new Ralph Lauren store on Madison Avenue.

Since my children were very little each year we attend the Nutcracker Ballet at the NY City Ballet, so the music and decoration of the ballet inspires me a great deal every Christmas.  I have a large nutcracker that graces the bottom of our tree (made out of paper mache), as well as dozens of small nutcracker place holders that we use in various places:  this year we used them on our fireplace mantel alongside antique Blue Willow plates and red coral candlestick holders.  We have collected many beautiful ornaments over the years and I especially love mercury glass -- so I place extra ones around the house in large bowls – you can see here a McCoy shell inspired bowl houses a mixture of ornaments.  This year we opted for a single boxwood wreath on our front door.  I made a burlap bow with a gold ornament to adorn our red door."

Linsday from Everything LEB is super busy this year planning for her New England wedding, in just a few short months!  Check out her festive mantle, and those fabulous gold sconces!

Enjoy your holiday weekend!

Becky and Deb

Virtual Holiday House Tour with Traci Zeller

Our "Virtual Holiday House Tour" continues with the super talented Traci Zeller.  Check out her timely "rustic French luxe" Christmas theme!

"This year is the first time I've done a "designer" Christmas tree.  Usually, I decorate with sentimental ornaments collected over the years ... but I decided to step it up a notch!   I was very inspired by decorations around the blogosphere -- in particular, Tobi Fairley's Parisian "Breakfast with Santa" table setting (which I had the pleasure of seeing in person) and Kirsten Krason's Etsy picks. I then settled upon a theme of "rustic French luxe" and a color scheme of red, white / cream / silver, and burlap / brown.  I minored in French in college, spent time studying in La Rochelle, and fell in love with my husband in Paris ... so it seemed perfect for our holidays.  I combined a bunch of things I already had with a few new Etsy purchases, and voilà! 

 

Here are the decorations for my twins' room.  They are four years old and unbelievably excited about Santa!   Their beloved godmother made the Advent calendar, which actually works beautifully with the bright colors in their room.  I let them pick out their own little tree and ornaments at Target, and this was the result!

Thanks so very much for including me in this fun series!

Happy Holidays!
Traci

Virtual Holiday House Tour: Holiday Decorating on a Dime featuring Courtney Lake!

Courtney Lake from Courtney Out Loud has taken a slightly different twist on his holiday vignette. It was all done for under $25! Can you believe it?  Who would guess that a combination of Ikea, The Dollar Store and the Compost bin would wield this?!?!?  Take a look, it is amazing and proves that lovely does not have to cost a small fortune!

Courtney writes:

1) The entire console vignette was constructed from items found at the Dollar Store minus the lanterns which I found at Ikea.
2) The greenery is real and was found in our condo compost bin - it was trimmings from our neighbor's Christmas tree that I sprayed with a coating of white paint to simulate snow.
3) The whole vingette cost $25 to complete
4) The flowers in the vase are paperwhites I was trying to force but have yet to quite bloom (hence why I waited to the last minute - hoping for a Christmas "miracle").  The bulbs were $0.50 each at our hardware store and there are four in the vase.

Thanks for sharing Courtney!

My Holiday Decor and Paperwhite Update!

In the spirit of the season, I thought I'd share my holiday decor with you.  I wanted to keep it natural and love to use greenery and plants to decorate for the holidays. My husband is Norwegian and grew up with his home filled with Norwegian Nisse or Santas.  I am a big fan of family traditions and have tried to incorporate his family traditions into our home - it doesn't hurt that I am also of Scandinavian descent!  Our tree is filled with sentimental ornaments and I have left all the ornaments where the children have placed them.  So the majority are hanging at a 5 year old's height when standing on the couch in front of the tree :)

On the mantel I used cedar bunches, pine cones, gold jingle bells and flameless candles.

This year I also tried something new - a Scandinavian Cedar Wreath.  I found it on Martha Stewart and knew I had to make it. The only advice I have is ask your local florist/nursery to make the actual wreath for you - I did it myself and it was tedious hence the single version and not the double that Martha shows!

The Scandinavian wreath calling attention to the dessert buffet at our holiday party.

You may remember that I planted Paperwhite bulbs to force for Christmas...well they are here flanked by some of our Norwegian Santa's and they are beautiful! 

And as a follow-up note, I did end up adding alcohol - vodka to be exact.  I do think it helped.  The stems are still tall, but not unruly and there was no stale water smell - just the aroma of martinis as I relaxed on the couch :)

I kept it pretty simple in my dining room.  More cedar in the chandelier to give the illusion of a Scandinavian wreath with navy plaid ribbons and white flowers.  Traditional red and green just don't go with my dining room!

My new armoire dressed up for the holidays....do you see the Santa perched on the "bonnet"?

 And my 5 year old son's contribution to decorating for the holidays - Q-tips in the bathroom candles!

Cheers!
Becky

Virtual Holiday House Tour Featuring Maria Killam

Our Virtual Holiday House Tour continues with Maria Killam of Colour Me Happy.  If you don't know Maria, you need to! She is a professional colourist with amazing grace and style.  She has wonderful explanations about colors and how they interact. Her blog is delightful and I encourage you to check it out!

Thanks for inviting me to be a part of your Holiday Bloggers Christmas Tour!

We just moved in May and my old furniture was almost 8 years old and tired, so this year I chose an entirely new colour scheme for my new house, which meant that the Christmas Tree would need to coordinate.  I have never spent any real money on Christmas tree ornaments, the existing ones had been collected over the years but the colours were primarily red and gold.

Since my new colour scheme is sunflower yellow and raspberry, my new decor had to fit in!

When I was in Portland in November I found my first raspberry balls walking by a florist in the Pearl District (above)! And here they are on my tree along with some others I found at Target and Pier 1.

Here is my dining table all dressed in raspberry and green!

Have a happy holiday!