Holiday Home Tour 2016

I was a little torn in posting this;

I LOVE my home. 

I love it in all it’s messiness and chaos – as far as I’m concerned this is my ‘forever home’…

but it’s not to the calibre of the images I see of other bloggers’ homes. At the very least, my photographic skills (while I am working on them) are not to the calibre of my favourite bloggers, so I feel self-conscious in showing this Holiday Home Tour to you.

On the other hand – I love Christmas – and capturing these images for both you and I, makes me smile and gives me a page to reflect back on through the years.

So here goes – in all it’s “this is me, and that’s okay”-ness.

Holiday Home Tour 2016

Our home doesn’t have a living room – we wanted it that way. I always remember the living room as being a formal room with fancy furniture that you were never allowed to go into for fear of death. All of our living is done in our open-concept family room.

This is a new tree I bought this year. It’s a narrow 7 footer, but with the size of the furniture in the room, it was the only thing that would fit and still allow us to use the room. The tree is set up on top of my blanket box which is covered with a fluffy throw to make it look wintry.

This is the tree that holds our advent calendar ornaments and the rest is decorated in silver and champaign. Fairies, snowflakes and a few floating words fill out our “little man”.

I’ve been pining for a white Christmas village since last year, but the price tag on the ones I was looking at was a little exorbitant, so instead I picked up a few ceramic houses from Michael’s and then spray painted them in a gloss white. The little snowman in front is the first Christmas gift Hubby ever gave me and he now sits proudly out in front.

When the snow falls and the lights are low, this room really is magical. The village and tree light up, and we snuggle in with the cozy fireplace and the faux fur pillows.

My favourite blogger, Ms Craftberry Bush, created this adorable pillow – you have probably seen it everywhere on the web, and I am no exception. My little VW is both rustic and whimsical and perfect for my style.

In the centre of our oversized coffee table I have a small reindeer vignette. Here you see him standing amongst pine branches and cones, but he is now snuggled in with my faux mercury glass votives (created since this photo).

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blockquote>According to tradition, the nisse (Scandinavian troll) lives in the houses and barns of the farmstead, and secretly act as their guardian.^{[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][3]} If treated well, they protect the family and animals from evil and misfortune, and may also aid the chores and farm work. However, they are known to be short tempered, especially when offended. Once insulted, they will usually play tricks, steal items and even maim or kill livestock
Tricksters or not, these little tomte were too cute to pass up.

The next room in our Holiday Home Tour 2016 is the dining room: I moved our large tree here – which limits us on space – but creates a beautiful glow out of the front window.

The furniture in here is black so we went with a red and gold tree to complete the trifecta.

One of my favourite decorations is this Old World Santa Claus. My Mom and I picked him up at a craft fair over a decade ago, and he still stands in a prominent spot every single year.

The same Artisan also created these singing angels (there are three), and because of their neutral colour I tend to leave them up for the entire winter.

Just outside the dining room is our entryway – which is more function than form being the main drop spot for shoes, coats and backpacks. Our home doesn’t have a front closet, so we have this small cubby to store as much as possible – which got a small taste of Christmas with my photo wreath. It doesn’t hurt that with the recent snow in South Western Ontario, the cubby is flanked with our winter boots and parkas – not formal decoration, but definitely in the theme of the season.

The master bedroom is where I have my corner office – really just a desk and filing cabinet in the corner – but it’s also my sanctuary. I purchased an ice blue duvet set in the fall and have it draped with a cozy off-white throw. Our nightstands each house a whimsical reindeer.

Opposite to the bed is a dresser and on top I have our owl trio and the Let It Snow sign from last weeks’ tutorial.

My main decor piece in the bedroom is my photo tree. It’s a 7.5′ pencil tree that I leave up all year…

because it is decorated with images of the most important things in the world – my girls.

Each year I add another photo of each of them in a dated frame, and every time I stop and look I’m filled with the warmth of the Season. It now has 20 photo ornaments on it (10 for Maddie, 9 for Chloe) with the youngest photos at the top and the most recent at the bottom. On top of this, I have a collection of Swarovski snowflakes dating back to 1998 that I’ve received from my Mom, my Aunt and my Grandmother…. one each year and I treasure each and every one.

Sigh – I love this tree.

I know I should do more with my ‘reading nook’, but most days my little recliner serves as Hubby’s laundry valet. Getting a photo without piles of laundry draped over it really is a Christmas treat.

That’s all of the Holiday Home Tour 2016 I have for today – if I ever get the kitchen in any state of orderly, I’ll show more of the house – but given it’s the Season for baking, I’m not confident orderly will be easily accomplished.

Hope this little tour brought a bit of inspiration, or at least a look into the behind-the-scenes that is me.

Have a great one!

Linked to:

• Between Naps on the Porch

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