It’s holiday home tour time! I love seeing how other people decorate. Call me nosey! So I figured that if I enjoyed seeing other homes that maybe you’d like peek into mine.
It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of a neutral, soft color palette but once I year I deviate from the grays and blues and creams and add in some color! In my mind Christmas is all about red so I try and add pops of red here and there along side more natural elements….greenery, metals and wood. So with no further ado here’s my holiday home tour…
entry way
This is what you see when you enter my home. Be careful if you stand around too long…the mistletoe is right there! LOL!
Here’s a close up of this years Christmas chalkboard. Buying this old door (years ago!) from a salvage place and slapping some chalkboard paint on it, has been the best purchase ever! I love that I can add personalized sentiments whenever I want. I typically stick to seasonal stuff, but occasionally add in a birthday or sometimes a more general greeting. I think I probably change it around 6-7 times a year. It’s quite a bit of work (depending on how intricate the design is) but I always love the end result.
I found this cute sign at Home Goods a few years ago. It’s takes the place of our growth chart for the month of December.
This is the kids chalk board. It may say Merry Christmas right now, but before I blink I bet I’m going to see pictures of butts and other mildly inappropriate drawings! haha! #mykidsareweird 😉
kitchen
A holiday home tour wouldn’t be complete without a look into the kitchen! I was so happy to see that my wreath still fit even after we added in the new microwave above the stove. I love the look of the slim line microwave now if we could get the electrician to show up to wire it properly then I could actually use it instead of just looking at it. 🙂
Something about these dopey little birds lighting up the corner on my counter just makes me happy. My Aunt Audine (gone almost 4 years now…god I miss her) would come to visit us here in Maryland and was always giddy when she would see cardinals. You see they don’t have cardinals in Northern California, so she would get so excited to see and hear them. I used to call her just so I could hold up the phone so she could hear their beautiful song. Whenever I see cardinals I think of her. Having these little red birds up around my house is like having a little piece of her here with us during the holiday season.
You can’t see it very well. but there’s another tiny wooden cardinal sitting on my plates. Because there’s a small wreath around his neck, the black part around his face is cut off a little and so it just looks like he’s wearing sunglasses….he’s the cool cardinal. 😉
oh look…there’s Eddie the Elf. I’ll be honest, Eddie didn’t come last year. I was hoping that the kids were past him. I only have one Santa believer now BUT he missed seeing him and asked all month last year where Eddie was. So this year I decided to bring him back. Joshua was SO excited to see that he had returned. If he wants to keep believing than far be it from me to keep that joy from him.
dining area
Santa and Mrs. Claus have been around for decades but the countdown runner is new from Target this year. Such a cute way to countdown to the big day.
Little stockings add a pop of red to our eating area.
This countdown guy has been with us since Meghan was tiny. It’s seen better days…the little present on a string that used to mark the day has gone missing so now we are using a poker chip…don’t judge! LOL!
We are trying something new this year. These advent cards were mentioned in a recent edition of Magnolia Magazine. I thought they were super cute. Each card has a bible verse along with questions in three different levels of maturity. Preschool, Elementary, Middle school and beyond. Our intention is do one card a day at dinner, but lets face it, life gets in the way, so we are looking at doing 2-3 cards at one time. So far my kids are enjoying these.
Sorry this is dark, but I wanted to show you were we are hanging the advent cards once we have completed them. I think they look really sweet hanging garland style and is a nice reminder of the verses we studied.
powder room
Our powder room is right off the entry so I try and gussy it up for the holidays.
All the cardinals. All the time. 🙂
I use some of those 3M strips to temporally hang these sparkly words on the bathroom wall. You can’t have too much sparkle right?
You can’t have too much poo pouri can you? We have a bottle in every bathroom. This “Secret Santa” scent is particularly lovely during the holidays! LOL! 🙂
master bedroom (and bathroom)
Simple, simple. That’s the name of the game for our bedroom. I just add in a touch of greenery and call it done.
I love our little tree but it sure looks like I need some kind of tree skirt…the bottom of the tree is ugly isn’t it?
No red here! I stick to my classic colors in my bedroom. I thought this “joy” pillow added just the right holiday touch without being all up in your face with Christmas. 😉
Ok, this isn’t pretty but it sure is functional. I set up a wrapping station in our room every year. Having one central place for all of our paper, bows, etc. make getting things wrapped up super easy. Once wrapping is done our card table is pressed into service as a puzzle table downstairs. I’m not sure how it got started but every year, after Christmas is over we set up jigsaw puzzles for the family to work on. It’s a nice way to spend a cold winter day.
I made these super easy little trees a number of years ago. They seem to find their way into one of our bathroom each year. Such an easy way to add a touch of Christmas in a room that often gets over looked in all the holiday decorating.
You knew I had to sneak in an “A” somewhere right? 😉 Next up…the kids bedrooms!…
kid rooms
Each kiddo gets their own tree to decorate each year. Oh and a wreath on their door. Don’t let the Minecraft in Johsua’s room distract you! LOL!
Sarah and Sofia’s room. Uh-oh…kitty face is covered up! haha! The girls tree has mostly sparkly, dance related stuff…super cute. Meghan’s room is not fit for viewing. I swear it’s like her closet threw up all over her floor. I just closed the door and moved on. LOL!
Ok…that’s it for today. Stay tuned for part two of my holiday home tour where I’ll be featuring the living room…there is so much going on in there I figured it needed it’s own post. 🙂
Lookin good!