It’s My First Holiday Housewalk!
Christmastime in blog land is a long time favorite for me. I just love seeing everyone’s homes decked for the holidays, cruising for fresh and creative ideas, and just basking in the joy of the season. For years, I have especially drooled over the homes in Jennifer Rizzo’s Holiday Housewalk, so you can imagine my delight when I was invited to be a part of it! (Ok, delight and self-doubt… me?!?!? really?!?!? What if I let them all down?!?!) Truly I am honored to be a part of this tour this year and excited to have you here to end day two of the tour. Not only is this my first time on the Holiday Housewalk, but it’s also my first time decorating this house for Christmas since we just moved in at the beginning of this year. To be honest, I was feeling uninspired and stumped, but a trip to our local farmer’s market was all I needed to get me in the right mindset. If you are just hopping in today, make sure to start at the very beginning at Jen’s house to check out her beautiful and creative home. (This blog uses affiliate links).
If you are visiting from Kindred Vintage, welcome. Susan has one of the most fun and eclectic homes that you don’t want to miss.
Now I am excited to show you my own home. As I mentioned, this is my first time decorating this home, but what I didn’t mention is that it’s the first time in a long time we have a toddler running around the house which means things have to be kept minimal where little hands can reach. Additionally, after renovations, braces for the kids, and other expenses, our budget is really tight this year. However, I won’t let that stop me from decorating! You can bet that this tour is going to be budget friendly, and simple.
Let’s start on the porch which is one of my favorite spaces to add seasonal touches. One of the only places that I actually spent some money this year on decorations was at my local farmer’s market where I scooped up fresh garlands, a miniature fresh Christmas tree, and pink rose cabbages which should last until spring in North Carolina, I am told. Of course, I already killed the ones I had on my fall porch, so we’ll see.
I just loved the beautiful pinks of the cabbages and knew they would look great with our pink door.
I never was a pink person until I painted that door last Spring, and now I am totally converted. One of the other items I purchased this year was shatterproof ornaments in pink, gold, and silver. As I mentioned, toddler fingers abound in our house, and these seemed safe and pretty. I actually bought them for inside the house, but had plenty left over so decorated the little farmer’s market tree.
I added some lights, a white ball garland I already had, and I used my $5 rug from Five Below as a little skirt just to cover the stand it was in.
On the white wall, I added a snowman made of grapevine wreaths. I have seen some pretty elaborate snowmen wreaths in my time, but I truly prefer the simple look with just a few grapevine wreaths and a scarf. All I did was wire a few of these wreaths together. I actually made him a few years ago, and he traveled with us here to our new home.
On the door, I added some brown vintage skates I found at a yard sale years ago. I loved that they were brown and different, and I really love how the brown plays off the snowman.
They have so much character, and I can only imagine the miles they have skated in their time.
Now let’s head inside where the theme of black, white, pink and natural continues behind that door.
I am actually going to give you guys some huge sneak peeks of our newly renovated kitchen today, too. You can see it just beyond our entry there, but we’re going to check out some other spaces first.
Our entry is rather small, but I will say that I am grateful we have one. So many ranchers built around the same time as ours (1966) have front doors that open right into a living room, and we at least have a tiny dedicated space. One of the first projects I did in this house was stenciling the walls here and replacing the light to suit the home and our style.
I also added this fun rug remnant from my friend Ed’s shop. I love the quirkiness of the shape since it was salvaged from a damaged rug. And the colors could not be more perfect for our home! He has a whole collection dedicated to remnants and they’re such an awesome price… it’s a great way to get a vintage look at a fraction of the cost.
Now, I am not going to sit here and pretend our entry usually looks like this. Typically, there are slides and sneakers on the bench. 😉 But for today, let’s pretend that I just got home from shopping for wrapping paper.
I do always use my Apolis bag for any shopping. It’s so sturdy, can hold a ton (not literally, of course), and it’s cute! I added a Beatles line from a special song to mine. I do realize winter hasn’t officially started yet, but “Here Comes the Sun” has meaning to me.
I’ve also added my favorite ponytail beanie, and this pair of black boots from J. Crew that I have had since 2002 and they are still going strong! I actually have two pairs I bought that year and both are doing well. They’re worth the investment!
As I mentioned our entry is rather small with limited wall space, but there was enough room for me to add these bells. For the holidays, I added a fun little wooden tag to them. On the other side it says “nice,” but let’s be honest… naughty is more fun.
I love that I can see these bells as I come down our hallway. I painted the hallway last spring as well. What can I say? I am a fan of black and white pattern.
I also changed the ribbon on my pom pom wreath to suit the black and white color scheme. I scored this black velvet ribbon at Homegoods and just loved it!
We’re going to skip over the kitchen for now (saving those peeks for last!) and head into the dining room which recently received a makeover as part of the One Room Challenge.
Before we head into this space, here’s a closer look at my Christmas letter board. As you can see, I’ve added more fresh farmer’s market garland between our living room and dining room. I had to hang it a little higher off the ground in here because of Wilder. I wish I could drape it on the floor, but I also know if I did that I’d be cleaning pine needles and sap off of that kid for days.
The biggest change to our dining room was creating a banquette that works well for our family, gives us more space, and makes this corner cozier. We had a custom cushion for it made by Naptimes & Notions, and pillows were made by Victoria Sturup. I didn’t change the pillows for the season because these suit our holiday colors perfectly this year.
We typically have an end chair which holds Wilder’s seat, but I wanted to give you a better view of that gorgeous table that was custom made for this space. As you can see, I also added some fresh garland above our windows. This particular garland is a cedar from Lynch Creek Farm and it smells glorious! We have some in our bedroom as well, and I love falling asleep to that fresh smell. (Thanks to Lynch Creek for gifting me this garland).
In the window I added a Christmas countdown that was a gift from a favorite etsy shop. Autumn makes these as well as many more fun things! As you can see, I shot this photo in advance so I hadn’t yet moved the clothespin… oops! 
One of the new features of our dining room is a gorgeous mural from Anewall, and I took advantage of the sun/moon in it to add a little Santa sleigh and reindeer silhouette. And I mean little. I totally misread the size on etsy when I ordered it…. OOPS! I would have made my own if I had a Cricut, but alas, I do not! (Santa, I want the pink one!)
I hung Santa up and Emmy laughed at my mistake, but I still think he’s cute. I should not place orders when I am rushing to make the most of nap time- lesson learned!
As you can see, I also hung a disco ball I already had from my chandelier (which by the way, is less than $50!) I simply hung it with ribbon and added some greens from our one evergreen tree in our front yard.
On top of the table, I created a little tablescape using all items I already had plus the addition of those shatterproof ornaments I also used on the porch.
I thrifted the pink goblets, and the black flatware was a gift last Spring from my friends at Craft & Kin. The gray dishes are our every day dishes from Ikea.
In the center of the table, I added a copper vintage tray a friend handed down to me. I filled it with my DIY log candlesticks, ornaments, and then added a few vintage glass star candlesticks I found a few years ago to the table just to get more candlelight. On each plate I added a healthy flourless gingerbread muffin. These things are delicious, and so soft and not full of junk! Everyone in my family loves them so we’ll be making them again, I am sure. I baked them in these fun elf on the shelf cupcake papers. 
Now, I won’t yet be revealing the kitchen because we still have some tweaking to do, but I am so excited that I finally get to share some real shots of this space!
The star of our kitchen is easily this brass farmhouse style sink which is a total showstopper. This is the biggest peek you are going to get, so enjoy it. 😉 On the window behind the sink I hing some greens and holly from my yard that I bunched together with my black velvet ribbon. Oh, and side note… if you love that awesome mat in front of my sink, I am giving one away on instagram! Enter here.
Beyond the greenery, I simply added some of my existing holiday decor and fresh snips to my kitchen shelves. I didn’t buy anything new for this space, because hello… we just bought a new kitchen. Luckily, I had a whole bunch of vintage bottle brush trees I found at a yard sale years ago. The vintage bug was also a yard sale find!
The sequin bulbs were a gift from a very crafty friend who just reopened her etsy shop after a several years long hiatus. Wahoo! Aren’t they so cool?
I bought these white village houses at Target years ago, and found the vintage white deer at a yard several years back as well. The vintage lustreware on the counter was found last Spring at a yard sale and I knew it would look great in this kitchen eventually.
Three years ago, I had a really cool opportunity to partner with cookbook create and make my own holiday treats cookbook. I’ve put mine on display for the season. Also, in case you are wondering, I will be sharing more details about the countertops soon, but they’re fabricated here in North Carolina by Terrazzco, and I couldn’t be happier with the final product.
I also added a little hot beverage section to this corner of our kitchen. Each morning I use my electric kettle to make hot water for my french press coffee. I look forward to that morning ritual every night when I go to bed. 😉 I also added some hot cocoa pouches (inside the bird dish) and candy canes. Oh, and as you can see I added another tiny Santa and sleigh silhouette… they may be really small, but I got a bunch of them. 😉
I have one more set of shelves to share with you… we opted for a lot of open shelving as you can see.
To the right of the sink, I added more bottle bush trees and fresh sprigs of greenery. How cute are those sconces from Sazerac Stitches?
In between the kitchen and dining area we have a door which heads to our back yard. I’ve also added a fresh green wreath from the farmer’s market there. I just love the life that all of these greens bring to our home.
Finally, I have one more little space in our kitchen I want to show you. I am planning to add a large family calendar to this wall, but for now it was the perfect place to hang Emmy’s handprint tree from years ago. And yes, we need a new microwave but it’s not yet in the budget. Hoping to get the cafe one to match our other appliances once we’re ready!)
Thank you so much for coming by to check out my tour today! I truly appreciate you taking time to spend with me today and I hope that I’ve shown you that you don’t have to spend a lot of money to have a cozy Christmas home that is perfect for your family. Be sure to come back tomorrow when Jen from Tatertots & Jello will kick it off with her happy colorful home.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!
