Adventures in Decorating

Monday, December 14, 2015

Our 2015 Christmas Sitting Room ...

Can you believe Christmas is next week? I'm almost sad about it because this season has gone by WAY too fast!

Before the big day, I've got lots more of our holiday home to share ... today, I'm dragging you into our front sitting room a/k/a the reindeer room.

While this seems to be the year of plaid, it also seems to be the year of the reindeer! Well, at least to me. So, who am I to not celebrate such handsome and beautiful creatures for the season, right?

You can see our flocked tree right there in the window in between the black and white curtains (fabric from IKEA). I'm happy to say that the only thing that I purchased for this tree was the fun reindeer "Joy" ribbon (at 40% off from Michael's).

Okay, wait ... I lied. I bought these cute black and white gift tags (turned ornaments), too. Other ornaments I had on hand, like these pretty reindeer, both frosted and white, dressed in red bows.

If you glance on over to the right, you'll see our new faux fireplace, which we are really enjoying! I kept our black mirror here on the mantel and simply layered a pretty feather wreath (that has been buried in a box, along with its matching feather trees, for a few years) on top! Thankfully, I had just enough reindeer ribbon left from the tree to hang the wreath ... you know me, things have to "tie together" in some way.

Silver mercury trees I had on hand helped to give a bit of bling and contrast with our black and red pieces. And, in order to give them a little height, I put a drop of hot glue on glass candlesticks and plopped the mercury trees on top.

I have to say that this flocked garland is a MESS! You look at it, and it drops "snow" everywhere. It almost stayed in the bin this year because I didn't want to bother with it, but I knew it might look pretty paired with the flocked tree ... so, out it came.

Down on the hearth, large silver reindeer and candlesticks (that I painted black and hot glued glass hurricanes to the top) stand guard by the *warm* fire.

The floating shelves beside the fireplace had to get a bit of attention (and reindeer), too.

I added festive plates from World Market, along with greenery and ornaments. And, to tie in with the black and white checked curtains, I added cute black and white acrylic plates (Target) ... gotta love their "dollar spot" bins!

Speaking of Target's dollar spot ... I'm "pretty" sure that almost everyone has one of these cute red and black checked pillows with the reindeer overlay. They said that they couldn't keep them in stock ... I can see why and was glad to have scooped up a couple.

The black and white blankets (which reverse to red and black) are from the "And That" store ... they had such a great selection of Christmas decor this year (and their reasonable prices are right up my alley)!

The other chairs have red and white holiday pillows from IKEA. I wish they would've brought that pattern back this again year ... but, then I guess it wouldn't have been named their "Vinter 2014" pattern, now would it? Darn.

With all of the "snow" in here, this cutie has to keep warm!

All aglow as the sun starts to set.

Goodness, I have "no" idea what I'm going to do in here once Christmas is over!

Thanks so much for taking the time to visit!
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I'm joining:

A Stroll Thru Life/Inspire Me Tuesday
Nesting Place/Annual Tour of Homes
Savvy Southern Style/WUW

Friday, December 11, 2015

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

Monday, December 7, 2015

Our Christmas Great Room Mantel for a Merry Little Christmas Blog Hop

Hi friends!

I'm happy to be joining several ladies as we share part of our holiday homes ...

all as part of a "Merry Little Christmas Blog Hop," hosted by the fabulously talented Pamela from "From my Front Porch to Yours."

While I *wanted* to share our entire great room today, a project involving IKEA Billy bookcases within camera shot prevents me from doing that. Sooooo, I'm simply sharing our mantel, in all of its holiday glory!

As always, I was a bit stumped how to decorate this year. Do you ever get "decorator's block?" I sure do, but thanks to Dollar Tree and Target (and the love of plaid this year), I was finally inspired.

And, here it is ... dressed in crisp and classic red, white and green.

How cute is this plaid stocking from the Dollar Store?

Plaid culprit no. 2 was this fun "Merry Christmas" banner from Target ... it came in one long banner, but I decided to separate the words and stack them to give it more "presence" in the center of the mantel.

These felt ornamental skates have made their rounds in our home for several years ... this year becoming a focal point layered over our mirror. A white snowflake garland up above help to tie in with the snowflakes both on the skates and those that I tucked into the garland on the mantel.

And, then there are the festive, glittery deer down below, paired with a glass demi that just "had to have" fairy lights floating around inside.

I've really enjoyed having our newly made DIY "mdf" white backdrop this year! I think it really helps all of the colors really stand out.

Oh, and I can't forget this cutie ... I love vintage trucks and have seen them shared several times by bloggers, but they were truly "vintage" and hard to find. That is, until Target came out with their own version (yay)!