Holiday Housewalk Featuring My Living Room, Kitchen and Dining Nook

Hello, friend! I am so happy you have stopped by for my second year of being on Jennifer Rizzo’s Holiday Housewalk. (You can find last year’s here if you want to see more- I tend to change things up a bit every year.) This year I will be taking you on a tour of my kitchen, living room and dining room, and each space is decorated simply while staying on a budget. I love to bring naturals, string lights, vintage touches and simple DIYs into my holiday decor, and I believe that decorating for the season doesn’t have to break the bank.  You can remix things you already own to create the feel you want. I am a homebody at heart, so I am all about those cozy warm and inviting vibes, and I hope that when you leave this tour, that’s exactly how my home has made you feel. (Click here to start this tour at the very beginning. This post contains affiliate links.  I appreciate your support!)

If you are stopping over from Nina Hendrick, welcome!  I absolutely adore her New England style, having grown up there myself. Her home has all of the charming and natural feels that are quintessentially Colonial New England. Head to her blog to see what I mean.

And now that you are here, welcome!  I’ve chosen to share my kitchen, dining, and living rooms with you today because these three spaces together make up our primary living area; it’s within these walls that our family gathers together the most to watch cheesy Christmas movies (Happiest Season is my new fave this year!), bake and sample cookies, and it’s even where we assemble to work… as you will see, I have a desk area in the living room, and we also use our kitchen nook as an at-home school and work station. Before we begin, I want to share one note with you… I had photographed my entire tour on the only day that I had time to do so…. and when I removed my camera card, it failed on me and deleted everything. I sprinted faster than Santa’s reindeer to reshoot everything. I wish these were a little better quality, but I hope they convey my home well to you.

Let’s begin in the heart of the home, the kitchen. As you can see, I kept the seasonal decor to a minimum. Simple touches for the win!  By the way, underneath the last photo of each room, you will find a shoppable gallery. I’ve tried to get all of the sources for you, but let me know if you can’t find something.

Our kitchen is fairly modern and neutral, and I love to change it for the season by restyling our shelves.

We like to keep our shelves filled with things that we use on a daily basis, but I squeezed in little vintage bottle brush trees as well as amber bottles filled with fresh greenery I picked up off the ground from the Christmas tree vendor at the farmer’s market (with permission!). I found all of these trees years ago at a yard sale, and they are the real thing. The letter boards in my home also get a little holiday flair, as you can see. ILED string lights with stars add some sparkle and help hide my aloe which is barely hanging on.

The miniature deer is also a vintage yard sale find, always my favorite way to decorate no matter the season.

To the right of the stove sits a major element of my daily morning ritual, my coffee station.

For the season, I’ve added some teas, hot cocoa pouches and marshmallows.

Mugs hang from hooks for easy access.  Many mornings, I find Emmy making herself a hot cocoa in this corner. I am fairly certain she drinks it as an excuse to enjoy melty marshmallows, just as I did when I was her age.

More vintage finds such as brass deer adorn these shelves for the season. The pottery Christmas tree bowl was actually a wedding gift, and I love to use it to serve salad this time of year.

And of course, the essential canister of coffee sits in a forest of vintage bottle brush trees.

As we follow the kitchen around to the right of the sink, our shelving holds our everyday dishes. Sometimes I think I want one of those houses out of a Hallmark holiday movie, where snowflakes hang from every ceiling and garlands adorn every possible doorway; and other times, I sit back and am pleased with how simple and comfortable my home feels at Christmas.

Again, more bottle brush trees and amber bottles of greenery paired with my vintage cookie jar complete these area.

Just behind our sink sits a modern white vase filled with greenery and a vintage flocked deer.

Before we head into the dining room, I want to give you a little lay of the land.  As you can see here, our kitchen sits just off of our entry, which is why that brass sink was so important to me… it’s the first thing anyone sees when they walk in our front door.

 

Opposite the wall with our oven, the kitchen opens up to our dining space, which looks totally different than last year since I painted a new mural.

This year, our toddler is old enough that we can have a tree in this space- hooray!  Of course, that being said, I didn’t do any breakable ornaments, and instead did all DIY ornaments.  You can read all about the tree itself  here.

Other than the tree in this space, I added simple table decor, seasonal pillows and fresh garland to the window. By the way, I found my garland for an amazing price at our local farmer’s market- much better deal than big box hardware stores. I don’t know what it is about fresh greenery that feels just so magical during this season, and it makes the house smell like Christmas.

To the tabletop I’ve added vintage glass Moravian star candlesticks, and a gold leafed wine bottle with an evergreen sprig. (You can learn how to make the bottles here.) By the way, these candles were tall when I started shooting round one, pre-camera card fiasco.

On the banquette, I have added a terra cotta velvet striped pillow, a mud cloth pillow from one of my favorite shops, and a deer pillow (not available anymore, but I love this one!).

A new addition to this space is this wall hanging from my friend and owner of Ore&Wool, Tarah.  She made this terra cotta beauty, and it was just what the wall needed.

As you can see, the color and texture really complement the tree which features chunky tassels in a similar shade.

Now we are going to head right past this tree and into the living room which sits between our dining space and entry.

 

We painted our living room a soft pink earlier this year, and I love how the color has worked through the seasons, especially fall.  I wasn’t sure how these warm earth tones would translate into winter or Christmas, but I really am loving the warm glow of this space.

The tree that sits in the dining room corner was planned so that it would bring together all of these spaces for the season, with touches of pink, cinnamon, and orange.

As I mentioned, our living room is where we gather for our weekly movie nights, all snuggled up on the sofa, minus the toddler, Wilder, who is already in bed at that point. This room is small but mighty, and serves many purposes… movie room, office, fitness studio. My yoga mat sits in a basket in the corner, and you can see my gear under the TV stand. Because of that, I decided to go with a humorous Noelle quote on my letter board…

I also added a little tinsel tree to the corner of the TV console.

I kept its decor super simple with a strand of LED gold balls, and Moravian star ornaments I found at a flea market years ago. I love how the colors of the tree mimic the colors and textures of the pillows.

On the coffee table, I simply filled an acrylic tray with shatterproof ornaments in pink, gold and silver.  I bought these last year, and they’re perfect for this space since we have a 2 year old who likes to throw them. 😉

I also filled a vase with more greenery.  If you’re sensing a theme, you can see I like to fill all available vessels with free greenery. It’s the best way to fill your home with seasonal touches on a budget.

Also in the mix, I added a couple of sequin bulbs my friend made for me years ago. She sells them in her shop here.

On the sofa, I added a tree pillow I found at TJ Maxx this year, some fur and velvet pillows, a gold sequin pillow and two fluffy dogs.  If you look hard, you can see the white dog.  She looks like a pillow. 😉

Aaah, there she is. 😉

Behind the sofa sits my little office, which is getting much more use these days.

This space is 100 percent about function, but I added some fun lights and decorations that make me smile, like these little white houses and a winter scene painting my oldest, Sawyer, created for me years ago.

As I mentioned, this space has been working extra hard for us as I’ve taken on a new job as the digital content manager for this little magazine right here…

I put it on the end table just so you could see it. O.Henry is a local arts and culture magazine, and I handle the digital content for that, Seasons (a local design magazine), and O.Hey which is a shameless guide to Greensboro, and my personal favorite part of the job.  I just started last month and I am loving it.

 

As you can see below, our living room sits adjacent to our entry, which I will be sharing with you on Friday, but here’s a little peek into it.

Well, friend, that concludes my holiday housewalk.  Thank you so much for joining me today. Be sure to head over to Sheila’s next.  Her home is filled with beautiful French-inspired decor, and I know you will love it as much as I do.

Thank you again!  Be sure to check back for more of my holiday decor in the next two weeks, and subscribe to my monthly newsletter below!