Christmas House

I cleaned our house today, finally putting away all the Christmas gifts, recycling all the boxes we don't have storage for, and dusting off all the crumbs that have accumulated over the last few days.  We've got cookies, candies, and sweets up the wazoo, and it seems we've made it a personal mission to finish every last treat... thus the crumbs!

Anyway, the light was so pretty, I decided to get out the good camera, and snap some shots of our Christmas house this year...

This photo was taken from the archway between the living room and the dining room.  As much as these two love seats have bugged me since we moved in, they don't grate on my nerves nearly so much with a few pretty throw pillows.  For winter, we've got some white faux fur in the mix, along with the navy and gold floral pattern, and some neutral linen.

Taking these pictures, I realized that I haven't documented our house much since we got this rug.  One of my new years resolutions will to be better about that, and this is the start.

Notice how the faux fur throw I got from Cost Plus has made a home for itself on the wicker chair?  This chair bugs me to no end, so I guess I figured covering it up with cozy blankets would solve that?  No idea, but we now refer to this chair as the abominable snowman, since it looms in that corner fairly ominously...

For all it's modern lines, Kris' black love seat somehow blends in more to me with that snazzy striped throw blanket - $30 from Ikea - heck yeah!!

And here is our pretty tree.  Kris keeps saying it's the prettiest tree in the world.  He's a keeper.

It really does look nice with a mix of new and old.  I have my favorite old ornamants I've collected over the years, with some bright colorful  balls from Target (I am loving those hot pink and lime green ones), along with our new tree topper (which is crooked in this picture... dang it!)

So, it's clear to me that I need to figure how to work our camera in manual, since this shot above is way overexposed.  I could not figure out how to capture the tree, and the room, at the same time since the sunlight was streaming through the windows.

Ohh well - possibly another resolution for 2013... figure out how to take better pictures.

Now don't make fun of me, those presents are not actually presents...  I wrapped the boxes our ornaments get stored in.  Yup - we have ZERO storage for these, so since they were in plain sight, I wrapped them to camouflage their function.  I don't know about you, but I thought I was pretty clever!

And I couldn't resist a close shot of my pretty white roses.  We had some deep red roses here a few weeks back, but I am loving the white just as much.  Also, I am loving how I was able to get a little bokeh effect going on with the lights on the tree.  Holla!

Target is seriously my favorite place on earth.  The faux amaryllis bulb AND that feather tray were both huge scores from Target - the feather tray was on sale for $9.99 last week, and a quick note on the fake flowers... they look so real in person, I've had several people ask how I was able to grow them.  Kind of amazing...

Finally, our desk got a few small additions - these birch wrapped bark candles are pretty and wintery, and I plan on keeping them around through February.

Pottery barn sells them for an arm and a leg, but Cost Plus has them for cheap!  Run and get them before they are gone!

Oooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhh...

Aaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh....

Also, this candle got a little greenery from a tree that blew down during a storm earlier this month.  Luckily, the branches and leaves dried out perfectly, and retained their green color.

This tray had lived on the coffee table for a long time, but moved over to the side table next to the TV - it got a little snowflake wrapping paper on the bottom to Christmasify it (new word?), and the vase on it was stuffed with faux berry branches.

I was never fully happy with this little area, but it does the trick.  I still want a taller table to go here - perhaps that's why I think it looks odd...

I took this photo standing in front of the tree looking back at the gallery wall that never happened (remember this ambitious post??).  I was gung ho about the gallery wall for about a week, and then I chickened out! We still have all the art and frames I'd assembled sitting in a little stack, but I just can't pull the trigger.

I've been toying with the idea of hanging two larger frames here, so it's less manic and crowded.  First I'll need to find some frames, and then some art that I love...

For now, these three black and white (and crooked) frames will have to stay.  It's not THAT bad... right?

This little guy is one of my favorite holiday additions to our space - he is jaunty, and so cute, just chilling below some mistletoe that hangs from the inside of a lamp.

God that crackle finish kills me on the lamp... the faux finish is just gross, but it stays for now.  Perhaps some rubbed bronze spray paint is in that lamp base's future?  Or should we get crazy and throw some navy in the mix there??

And finally the Christmas card display... I really debated not adding this picture since it's not the best execution of an idea.  I was trying to make a tree shape out of the cards we received... a glorious idea I saw on Pinterest.  Whelp... I'd pretty much call this a Pinterest fail.

I'll still give myself an A for effort, but we'll have to find a different way to display the cards next year...

So that's it - a quick recap of all the simple Christmas Decorations we had this year in the living room - and don't forget the pretty boxwood wreath we have hanging in the dining room, or the Christmas ornament garland I made for our hallway.

Cheers to the last few days of Christmas decorations!!

xo