Home for the Holidays Tour

Part 2 of our 2015 Christmas Holiday Home Tour

A rousing 11-pipers-piping “thank you” to Home Decorator’s Collection for sponsoring this post as part of the 2015 #HDCholidayhomes tour.

You can be assured that all favorable opinions of their gorgeous products, as well as horrible jokes and cheesy song references are 100% my own. *See my full disclosure policy HERE* I am SUCH a sucker for all things Christmas. I get as merry as a maid neath some mistletoe at this time of year.

Big bowls of cranberries, titanic tinsel-tossed trees, colossal batches of Christmas cookies…usually our Christmas decor is lavish and loud. Over the top. Insane, really. But as I said in the first part of our 2015 Christmas home tour, this year, we toned it down BIG TIME. Now it’s SMALL TIME. And I’m loving the decor all the more, now that it’s less.

Outside the snow is falling, and I’m here calling “You Hoo”!

Your cheeks are nice and rosy,

But you’ll feel much more comfy cozy inside. Before we head in…truth in advertising, the above pictures are of our old house. It’s a 1950’s cape cod which we adore, but that is not the residence Santa will be visiting us at (fingers crossed) this year. At any rate, come on inside…

Welcome home for the holidays, friends! This is our foyer, and I’m loving the more simple, rustic look we have in here this year.

That gorgeous pre-lit greenery on the stairwell is the Martha Stewart Living Collection’s “glittery bristle pine garland”. It is slightly flocked, and has a hint of gold glimmer to it. It’s gorgeous in the evening light, and so much fuller than any faux garland we’ve had in the past.

And coupled with the flocked faux tree we “spruced” up…(literally), I think it’s such a pretty, simple combo. The tree turned out so nicely considering where it started. We added real pine/evergreen trimmings to make it fuller and give it more color and texture variety. It made for a really great change.

The tree has a woodland theme with just simple silver and clear glass balls, a few snowballs, some white birds, and a lot of DIY wood slice ornaments decorated by our three kiddos.

We added some gorgeous wood slice garland. And bird ornaments, mushrooms, more pinecones and all kinds of items for a rustic, woodland theme.

We re-used our red and white buffalo check outdoor curtains as a tree skirt, since we take them down for the winter, and they’d just be sitting in storage otherwise.

A simple mason jar with some fake snow, and greenery.

We toss pine clippings here, there and everywhere.

A one-minute no-sew bolster cover wrapped with twine to make our burlap settee pillow a little more festive.

How rude of me. I didn’t ask to take your jacket. We’ll hang it here in our mudroom.

If you haven’t noticed, I covered just about everything with plaid scarves this year…including my mudroom bench, to make it look a little more seasonal. It’s cheap and easy. And I like both of those things.

Let’s head into the living room (AKA the kids’ playroom).

Stockings hung by the chimney with care, hoping, pleading, bargaining and begging that Santa will soon be there. And I’ve gotta tell you guys, this is the cleanest this room has EVER looked.

Just out of eyeshot though is the truth. Toys EVERYWHERE. It’s a disaster area. But for one minute in time, I’m singing “Hallelujah” and “joy to the world” because this room doesn’t look like a complete and utter crime scene. #winning

In this room, we have our Lionel train layout, and my DIY ceramic Christmas village set up.

The stairway with the boob light upcycle that leads to the guest room gets a simple wreath on the barn board mirror. I know, we’re gettin’ a little wild and cray cray.

And our “we’ll never be royal” powder room (read this post if that makes no sense to you) gets the bare minimum for decking its halls. Prepare to be underwhelmed. Errrr…I mean, AMAZED!

I give you pine needles balanced ever so delicately ON TOP of fancy soap. And the requisite blogging soap shot has now been included. I’m gonna call this ensemble a little sprig of Christmas decorating magic, folks.

Does sarcasm get one on the naughty list? If so, I need this information STAT.

At any rate, as the song goes, “we need a little Christmas”. And we really took that seriously this year. For the spirit of the season isn’t big and bold and gold and glittery so much as it is small and humble and understated.

Like a wee baby in a manger. I am loving this toned down, “little” take on decorating this year. It is calming to me, and puts the focus more on what counts.

So, the real tree is almost up.

Here, the three most important men in my life…husband, father, and father-in-law work together to get that monster situated.

It’s not chock-full of ornaments yet, but I’m kind of digging the naked look right now. Less is more, right? Thanks again to Home Decorators Collection, and I hope you’ll enjoy all the other wonderful #HDCholidayhomes on the tour!