Our 2015 Christmas Great Room ...

Happy Friday, friends!

Thank you for your kind comments about our great room Christmas mantel that I shared earlier this week ... I'm back today to share the rest of the room.

I know I sound like a broken record when I say we still love our IKEA Ektorp white slipcovered sofa ... it just sets off seasonal colors so well, no matter what color palette you use!  

Speaking of IKEA, we now have a new set of twins because of that "dangerous" place!  Yes, I'm afraid these cute chairs made their way into the back of our SUV not too long ago.  They are really comfy, especially when you lean back against the added faux fur rugs. The cushions (purchased separately) are the same color and fabric as the sofa slipcover, which is a nice bonus.  I have a feeling these chairs will be making their rounds in our house!

Over on our sofa, a pretty holiday "noel" pillow from Home Goods dresses it up a bit ... Home Goods has the best selection of festive pillows this year!

Remember this oversized tray I found at Home Goods a few months ago?  Weeeeeell, I decided to give it a bit of an AS Pure White chalk paint "wash" and add it to our coffee table, filling it with candles, garland, an ornament filled canister ...  

and this cutie, also from Home Goods.  I really like the large size of the tray (it's perfect for adding lots of goodies AND for keeping my hubby's feet off of the table, too)!  Ha. 

Now that we're back in Virginia, it's seemed only fitting to add this pretty cardinal (our state bird) pillow to our holiday decor!

If I pan on around more a bit to the right, you'll see our Christmas tree,

which I decorated in lots of colors and filled with sentimental, whimsical and "filler" ornaments.

And, since I am NOT a bow maker, despite watching countless youtube tutorials, I go for crazy toppers instead, where I just stick things down into the top of the tree ... much easier! 

Now, over on this wall, I'm really excited to show you what we've been working on ... it involves IKEA (no surprise) and a couple of "Billy's!"

BEFORE:  I really like our buffet, but it just seemed to get lost a bit on this long wall:

AFTER:  TA DAAAAAA!  

What a difference ... still have a bit of tweaking to do, but we're really enjoying the change.  While the Billy bookcases are awesome "as is" when you put them together, we decided to "beef" ours up a bit by adding molding, black knobs and picture lighting (which really helps to brighten up this otherwise dark part of the room).  I'll share a more detailed post about the bookcases soon.

You know I love having more places to add "stuff," like our cute clothtique Santas and holiday plate from Wal-Mart.

We also really like how the height of the bookcases balances with the height of the windows on the other side of the room.  

And, speaking of the windows ... this year, instead of adding wreaths to them, I thought it'd be a nice change to add garland to the tops of them, resting them on the curtain rods.

Back on our sofa table ... since I added blue ornaments to the tree, I kept our blue/white vase here to tie in with it all.  Extra wooden trees (that match the ones on the mantel) help bring a bit of red to this side of the room, as well, and tie in with the fireplace.

And, there you have it ... our little great room dressed up for the holidays!

I hope you'll come back as I share more of our holiday home in the coming days.

Thanks so much for visiting!

I'm joining:

A Stroll Thru Life/Inspire Me Tuesday
Nesting Place/Annual Tour of Homes