It's Christmas Time: The Dining Room

Yesterday I showed you some of the living room decor. So, today I figured I'd show the dining room decor too. It's my usual blue, white, and silver winter theme. I never tire of it. And since winter lasts a while, the decorations can stay up too.



The table is set with my Noritake china. You know, the kind of china you use a couple times a year and then put away for a while. And the snowflake tablecloth is still my fave. Wish I could find another just like it (but in a bigger size).



The simple centerpiece is a trifle bowl with faux snow, pine cones, and ornaments. There are some mercury glass votive candles set around it.



And the chandelier above the table has the same silver ornaments hanging from it.



The left wall has an assortment of my blue Wedgwood china and more ornaments (I love ornaments in case you didn't know). The white platter at the top has a silver "Merry Christmas" ornament hanging from it. Underneath the 2 side shelves, I hung some icicle ornaments and a glittery candle ring from a nail.



The center shelf has a bottle brush tree sitting on top. I LOVE bottle brush trees, yet I can't seem find them anywhere. I got this one from my mom, and she had it for quite a while. Anyone know where to buy pretty ones? When I find them eventually, I'm stocking up!



The right wall has a shelf full of snowflake-themed items.



The snowflake platter is new from Target. I set it vertically to add height to the space. The white pitcher on the opposite side of the shelf keeps things balanced.



I hung a snowflake ornament from the center of my glittery wreath.



The center of the shelf has a variety of items sitting including a book with my favorite poem by Robert Frost (and beautiful illustrations).



And lastly, a few pretty ornaments hang from the pegs below the shelf. Of course, a couple ornaments have to fit in to my snowflake theme.



So, there you have my wintery dining room. Hopefully, by this time next year, we'll have new window treatments and a new area rug in this room. We'll see what 2012 holds for us!

It's Christmas Time: The Living Room

The other day, I shared some pictures of our Christmas tree, but I thought I'd share a few pictures of the living room, which I finally finished decorating last weekend. I kept it pretty simple - using just some reds, greens, and golds to add a touch of color and that Christmas feel to the room.



The fireplace and built-ins got the most attention. Even though I can't place a lot of decor on the mantel (since the TV gets in the way), I loved hanging the garland down around it this year. Your eye tends to focus on the fireplace and garland rather than the TV when sitting in the room.



And I must say that I still have no regrets about painting the fireplace white this past summer. It's the perfect backdrop for all the red and green. On top of the mantel, I placed a bunch of individual picks across the top. Then one continuous strand of garland hangs on the bottom.



I bought the red and gold ball picks for a few dollars and stuck them in throughout the greenery. They look like ornaments even though they are just plastic balls with a green wire attached to them.



The shelves to the right of the fireplace were just layered with a few simple items. I left the baskets I normally have sitting there. I added some Christmas place mats as a colorful surface for setting the lantern, candles, magazines, and glass hurricane on. I hung the pretty glass ornament from a thumb tack I hammered behind the ledge.



The top shelf has a big poinsettia my parents gave us (we have to keep it up high so the cat won't eat it). I also added one of my favorite Christmas books and pretty candles I got last year. The 2 candle holders I recently bought at Target.



On the right wall in between the windows, I hung a new canvas print I purchased in November. I'm getting a coordinating print from my mom (it's wrapped under her Christmas Tree). The prints are beautiful for hanging during the Christmas season. There are actually about 8 prints total in the Christmas set.



Here's a view of the living and den from the other direction. I love having the tree centered in the doorway.



A few accessories I placed about the room are Christmas pillows, a Tree snow globe, and a Christmas wreath that I made in about 10 minutes using a grapevine wreath, winter-y picks, and a little nest and bird candle in the center. It hangs on the front door in the living room.





So, tell me, what is your favorite thing to decorate at Christmas time? The tree? The mantel? The staircase? Share, share!

The Tree

And 2 weeks after my last entry, I (finally) have some pictures of our decorated Christmas tree. So, I thought I'd share them with you. Nothing extra special or fancy. It's just an "us" tree.

I do tend to decorate the tree in layers. I use the same method every year. After Joey strings the lights around the tree, I string the gold beads around the tree. I don't try and get the beads even and perfect. I like them a little "sloppy". I find the beads help fill in the gaps between the branches. Sometime I'd like to string popcorn or cranberries and see how that looks. But for now, beads work.



After the beads, I add all my plain red and gold balls (both big and small ones) so that they are evenly dispersed in and around the tree. I also add my glittery gold snowflakes (for bling) at that time.



Next I add all the other ornaments just making sure things look balanced with no bare spots. I hang the light ornaments on the small branches and the heavy ornaments on the larger branches. I'm smart!





Last to go on is the tree skirt around the bottom. I love the colors and patchwork pattern of this skirt, but I would really like something that is more full and layered looking. So, I may have to look into something different next year.



Oh, I forgot... the star at the top is actually the last thing to go on the tree. I always love the pattern it casts on the ceiling. Sorry the pic is a tad blurry...



This year I purchased some new ornament hooks from Hobby Lobby. They are gold S-shaped hooks. They are pretty and sturdy and won't lose shape. You can probably see it best on the bell ornament in the picture below. I changed out about 50% of my hooks to these and love them. I need to change out the rest before putting the ornaments away after Christmas. They only cost about $2 for 50 hooks (based on my memory).



We're enjoying the glow of the tree every evening, and since we were a bit late in getting it up and decorated this year, I may leave it up until about the middle of January (which is much longer than normal) as long as it doesn't dry out and start dropping needles everywhere.



More pics to come of a few other decorations around the house. So, stay tuned.