Traditional Holiday Home Tour 2019

Anyways …let’s start from the beginning!

Holiday Home Tour

This is our front door. This Christmas Swag is real and was picked up from my local grocery store. They have the best selection of natural wreaths and swags this time of year.

So come on in! Let’s start with the living room, shall we?

Our Living Room

We live in a small craftsman, so we don’t have a formal entryway. You pop right into our living room! Hello!

Since we use our ottoman tray there for drinks and food, I keep the decor pretty minimal. I’ve been rotating between this mercury glass candle holder and antler set up and our red berries.

The driftwood was picked up on a beach walk with the family. And the antlers are real! My Dad collects them and finds a bunch on his walks in the woods. I love sprinkling these antlers throughout the house. I like things pretty natural, I guess! (My dog Sasha also seems to like them. Gee, strange.)

The garland on the mantel is faux and I used my favorite command hooks to hang the garland and the Christmas stockings. There is one stocking for each of us in our family of five, including our pup Sasha. She’s part of the family after all.

To add a bit more layering this year, I designed and printed this hand-lettered Christmas print to lean against our vintage mirror.

I wanted it to feel very whimsical but also be printer-friendly (good ol’ black and white). I’m happy to say this 8×10 print is yours for the taking! It’s in jpg format and you and you print at home or print at a store. I printed mine at Target. Head right here to grab download your copy! It’s the most wonderful time of the Year!

I made an assortment of Christmas ornaments this year, with help from my two beautiful kiddos, Hannah and Tyler.

This one below is our wood bead ornaments. Oh, I wish I would have made more of these because they look fantastic on the tree! They really do make a statement. Next year, for sure!

Here’s a full picture of our tree this year. As much as I love a professionally decorated tree, my family won’t let me get away with that! LOL. We like to adorn our tree with all the sentimental and handmade ornaments, including the ones from our childhoods.

By the way, if you need a tree skirt, just take a simple faux fur throw or blanket and wrap it around the base of your tree. This is so simple and easy and it looks like a blanket of snow. Plus, you don’t have to store a bulky Christmas tree skirt every year.

I try to collect an ornament from every place I have traveled to. The glitter starfish is one of my favorites from a beach vacation in NC. The middle ornament is our cinnamon applesauce ornaments (they smell totally out of this world amazing.)

And the last one on the right there is an ornament that I’ve had for years and years and years. It always brings a smile to my face when I open it up every year. Don’t you just love that about Christmas decorating?

Our Christmas Star this year is special to me as well. This gold glittery star is from Whidbey Island Star Store. Whidbey Island is a beautiful place to visit and one my family and I have really taken to since we moved out to the PNW. It’s a short drive and ferry ride from Seattle.

I’m so happy I snagged this pretty Christmas star when I was there!

Finally, these macrame ornaments are one of my favorites! They remind me of little macrame icicles.

Kitchen and Dining Room

Moving right into our kitchen area! I tend to keep my kitchen counter decor understated. I’ve tried to add more things to it at times and it simply feels too cluttered to me. I like more intentional decor that looks like I’m not trying too hard.

I’ve had this red dutch oven for so long and I keep it out all year round. You can also get a little peek at my late grandmother’s ceramic tree there. My kids love to put in the colored lights.

This year I decided to hang small wreaths on our sliding glass doors in the back. I suppose I should have added a fourth – but only bought three wreaths. Darn! Next year I will tackle that last door.

These wreaths are faux too, and I added a simple, loose red ribbon to give them a little more color. I tend to like little pops of red with lots of greenery.

I absolutely love red berries! These ones look pretty realistic and all you need are a few here and there to fill out vases and give that touch of Christmas to spaces.

This bench area holds all our shoes! I was thinking about throwing a Christmas themed pillow here but ultimately decided against it. The bench lifts up and the pillow ends up getting in the way of the shoe bin.

My solution?

An inexpensive faux fur rug. Amazon sells them, IKEA has them, Homegoods has them, Target and Walmart, too! Basically, you can find them just about anywhere. I bought this one from Amazon. It’s amazing quality for the price, so soft and washable too.

Buy more than one, though! Ok? I ended up using them in a lot of places. It helps give softness and texture to your spaces and if you use them throughout your home, it helps every room to feel more cohesive. A simple decor touch!

And when the holidays are over, you can still use them! They look great all year long. I should do a post on that actually …

Besides the faux fur, this trio of vintage bells completes the space. These bells are also from Amazon and one of my favorites too. It seems like I have too many favorites!? LOL.

See this wreath above? I snagged it for $8 from my grocery store last year in January. It was 97% off. It’s very heavy, full and realistic. A steal! So don’t forget to hunt for those after-holiday bargains for next season.

I hung it on the window above my kitchen sink. It helps to block the neighbors and it doesn’t feel like too much. I didn’t get a chance to make my dried orange garland yet, but that will go up somewhere in this area by Christmas.

This bar area of our kitchen has changed so much it’s ridiculous! Sometimes I want to scrap the open shelving for an empty wall with statement art. Sometimes I want to add another shelf and make a trio. AHHH. I decided to keep it what it is – functional space for entertaining and a coffee bar area.

I loosely draped two faux garlands on each wood shelf. I added a sprig of red berries, a candle, and an antler to the counters and I called it day on this bar area! This area is still a work in progress for us for sure. But we are getting there.

Well, it’s getting late here. That about wraps up this holiday home tour. I’m so grateful that you decided to stop by.

I hope you enjoyed our Holiday home this year! To continue on your way on this awesome Holiday Blog Hop, please head on over to visit Nancy and her beautiful home at Simply Styled Inspo.

Thanks again so much for visiting today!

xo Karen