wilsie cottage tour – christmas 2k10 edition

so we finally got around to documenting this year’s christmas festivities.

we kept it simple this year, very similar to last year:  extra pine branches on the mantle with a few silver snowflakes and a smaller than usual tree, which is nice since we already have to rearrange the furniture to get a tree to fit at all.

i love this little door hanger my mom gifted me a few years ago

i went for bright and slightly chaotic on the dining room table this year

the server has somehow become the home of many nativity scenes:  one i’ve been collecting pieces on since high school, one we just received as a gift this year, and one from a christmas card last year hand drawn in africa

how cool is this? a nativity scene carved out from a slice of a tree

and the cherry on our christmas sundae:  a handmade advent calendar just like the one i grew up with at home

and that concludes our christmas tour.  merry one-week ’til christmas, everyone!!

wilsie cottage tour – christmas 2k9 edition

Time to decorate for Christmas!!

On decorating day, we woke up to several inches of snow, and it continued to snow all day, so it was the perfect atmosphere to turn up the Christmas tunes and really get excited about transforming the house. 

This is what my christmas decorating starts out like:  every Christmas-related decoration gets pulled out and spread around in utter chaos, so I can get an idea of exactly what I have.

Then I’ll sort things out by room.  Since I only have two rooms to really decorate (the dining room and the living room), this isn’t a very difficult task. 

Dining Room:

Last year I went with a super monochromatic look, so obviously this year, I wanted to bring in a lot more color.  I also wanted to keep it kind of rustic and unfussy.

a simple round glass vase, filled with silver christmas ornaments and a few sprigs of red berries that I’ve saved from past christmases.  barely seen behind that are two crystal candlesticks with two white taper candles…

I combined some bright orange tangerines (from our thanksgiving trip down to florida), faux apples used in our wedding decorations, and a few cinnamony scented pine cones in a wooden fruit dish that my great-grandfather made…

Another clear round vase with wooden cranberries as filler, topped with a simple white pillar candle.

By the window in our dining room I put out some red and green votives in the windowsill, brought down a skinny table from our guest bedroom and layered in some fun ornaments, textured balls, and a few bright, beaded cranberry napkin rings in a tall glass canister.

Some extra mini ornaments in hammered silver bowls on either side of the glass canister.

I leaned a matted print of the many names of Jesus in the other windowsill.  This was a gift from my mom last Christmas.

Since this green rocking chair, which usually lives next to our fireplace, got displaced because of the Christmas tree, I moved it into the dining room and jazzed it up with a painted metal star, a houseplant for some greenery, and a Christmasy wine bottle chiller turned pot.

The top of the buffet – some simple holiday festiveness and our nativity scene.  My mom started this collection for me when I was in high school.

So sweet, yet so unhelpful…

Living Room:

The finished living room complete with rearranged furniture to fit the tree in, decorated mantel, and other various christmasy touches.

This year’s tree is much wider than last year, which we didn’t realize until we were trying to cram it in.  But it fits.

I went with live greenery on the mantel this year – given to us FREE from clippings at the place we bought our Christmas tree.  I’ll definitely remember this next year.  Then we just decorated the already hung grapevine wreath with red christmas ball ornaments, cream porcelain ornaments, and a few glittery snowflakes.

My super cool yarnball wreath.  Because my mom is such a devoted Starbucks attendee, an employee gave her this wreath when they were taking down their Christmas decorations last year.

A few detail shots of the mantel decorations…

Ross’s grandfather used to be a glass blower, and these were some of his handmade glass ornaments.  These are super special to ross because his grandfather passed away over 15 years ago.  This was the first time we’ve used the ornaments on the tree and I was so nervous everytime one got put on – I would hate to break any.

that’s about it for the wilsie cottage christmas decorations tour – hope you enjoyed it – and merry christmas!

wilsie cottage tour – christmas edition

i have a confession:  i started decorating for christmas a bit early this year. i don’t know, for some reason i was really feeling the christmas spirit round about, ohh, mid-november.  so i held off until the week before thanksgiving and then broke down and decorated the dining room and our living room mantle.  i won’t apologize – it was fun.

so come on in and enjoy the festiveness.

the dining room

i’m usually one who loves a lot of color around christmas, but this year i decided to take the dining room decorations in a different direction.  partly because it’s really cool and partly because i didn’t have enough stuff to go totally monochromatic, i used a white/cream/silver color palette in this room.

i paired a white tablecloth with a cream one (also because neither really fits our table correctly), then stacked silver chargers, cream napkins, white salad plates, and silver bread plates for place settings.  some people think that setting the table when no one’s coming for dinner is kind of lame, but i thought that as a Christmas decoration, these could get a pass.

i also layered in some taper candles (in crystal candlesticks that we got for our wedding that i totally didn’t like at first – 2 years later they’ve definitely grown on me) a cream cakestand, a silver hammered bowl, and some cream vases from ikea.

inside the bowl are a handful of small gourds i scored for cheap at the beginning of fall – two months later and a little white and cream spray paint and presto, christmas decorations.

a simple arrangement on our buffet table.  it doesn’t hurt that my 20-pound cannisters of flour and sugar play into my white/cream/silver theme pretty well.  the long wooden trough i snagged at a local antique shop.

the living room:

this year, ross decided that a dining room was no place to display a Christmas tree.  so this is where our petite little pine finally found a home.  it took swapping the loveseat and the sofa and inching the loveseat a bit to the right, but it works.  this room is where i decided to let loose on the color.

on the left:  an arrangement repurposed from our wedding reception.  still goin strong after two years – not bad.  on the right:  the red votive arrangement was a christmas gift from ross’s grandmother two years ago.  i love the bright cranberry red, especially when it’s lit.

the other side of the mantle.  i’ve been collecting this Italian nativity scene set for several years now.  too much more and it’ll outgrow this spot.

the star i grew up putting on my tree.  this was my mom’s when she was growing up too.

our stockings are hung by the chimney with care…

the kitchen:

and finally, the kitchen. the christmas spirit even leaked into this room, but this is about as festive it gets.

our wall of handmade ornament magnets to hold up all of our christmas cards.

thanks for taking our little christmas tour.  i’ll have another post soon about some of our outdoor decor.

merry christmas!

come have a look around

The moment is finally here.  I can finally show you how our little house has made a few changes in the past year.  Let the tour begin. 

p.s. – you should be able to scroll through the pictures by clicking on the next picture “in line” on the right hand side.  look at the captions and the picture titles to keep all the rooms straight. enjoy.