Home Decor 889: Christmas

Senin, 15 Desember 2014

6 Ways to Decorate for Christmas for Next to Nothing

Greetings from Nashville, Tennessee! This weekend, we have been visiting my husband's side of the family for an early Christmas, so I'm feeling my usual holiday spirit but on hyperdrive.

Yep. I'm blogging from the road, complete with a toddler singing her own version of Jingle Bells from the backseat of our SUV, but since I had given y'all the full Holiday Home Tour of our 1 year-old builder grade house, I felt like I should give you the scoop of how I decorated on a nonexistent budget for this year's escapades.

So if you have hardly enough mulah for presents to put under your tree, let alone enough to deck your halls with lovely decorations, then this is the post for you, my friend.

1. Check thrift stores year round.

I visit my neighborhood thrift store fairly regularly, and I would always find the coolest holiday decor at the most odd times of the year. Our NOEL stocking holders for our mantel were 50 cents each. I even found a pair of ice skates for $5 in the middle of July. I can't even tell you how many lovely wreaths I saw this year.

2. Find ways to make everday items more festive.

I love shopping my own home for decorations, so I was really excited to find a way to make our office typewriter more Christmas-y. Got a pickle jar? Turn it into a snow globe. Look around your house and try to think of unique ways to use what you already have. Most of the time, it won't cost you a penny.

3. Use greenery and natural elements wherever you can.

Since we bought a real tree this year, I made sure to use every little sprig of the trimmings. Even if you don't buy a real tree, many tree lots will give up their cuttings for free or for very cheap if you ask. Use them on your mantel, on tabletops, in centerpieces, on shelves, wherever you want to add a little holiday spirit. Use clippings from magnolia trees and holly bushes or collect pine cones to put around your home.

4. Accept hand-me-downs with open arms.

This year, probably half of our house was decorated with hand-me-downs thanks to my mom and grandmother who were cleaning out their attics. My mom wanted a new wreath for her door this year, so I put her old one to good use on my entry mirror. My grandmother generously gave us an old tree, ornaments, and a snow village she no longer used. One gal's junk can be a thrifter's treasure.

5. Believe in the power of paint and Mod Podge.
We had a few boxes of old, chipped gold ornaments that I wasn't very fond of in the beginning, but once I wrapped them in old sheet music with Mod Podge, they had a whole new life.

6. Make it personal.
One of the beautiful things of DIYing decorations is it makes them an expression of your own family. Make your own ornaments from old photos, build a gingerbread house together, make those cheap plastic decorations become something special.

I guess I could put tip #7 on here and say to shop the after-holiday sales, but really I'm terrible at planning ahead like that. If I'm out of my food coma on December 26th and somehow get the nerve to set foot in a store, it'll be miraculous. So have fun early birds! I'm with you in spirit. Send me an 80% off Christmas tree, and you'll be my friend forever.

No matter what though, don't get caught up in making your home magazine-worthy because, in the end, the most beautiful home of all is one full of laughter.

Be thankful for what you do have. And remember that a Christmas filled with loved ones is worth a thousand times more than a Christmas with just pretty decorations.

What ways do you decorate for Christmas for next to nothing? I'd love to know!

Blessings,

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Jumat, 12 Desember 2014

Holiday Home Tour 2014: A Cozy Eclectic Christmas

Merry Christmas, dear friends!

I'm so excited that you're here today! Come on in and pour yourself something hot to drink.

But wait...I guess I'm getting ahead of myself.

If you're visiting from Joy In Our Home's Holiday Home Tour, welcome! It's so nice to "meet" you.

Luckily for you, if you've escaped from the blistering cold of the north, we have sunny skies and 50 degree weather here in South Cackalacky ("Carolina" if you're giving me a crazy look right now).

It's very rare that we get to use this sled on our porch here, but it has a special place in my heart. It was my mother's when she was little, I enjoyed it during the "big snows" as a kid (all 10 inches of it usually), and it is now being passed down to my daughter.

But anyways, we don't have to stand here on my porch all day. Come on in.

If you haven't meandered over to my corner of the bloggy world before, our little family of three just moved in to our builder grade cookie cutter home exactly 1 year ago almost to the day. You can see our full progress tour here. And as we've been decorating for Christmas, it blows me away how much we have done on such a small budget (with thanks mainly to thrift store and Craigslist finds).

Exactly one year ago, this room was a plain white box. No furniture, paint, fireplace...nothing.

We are so giddy to even have a mantel to hang our stockings on this year.

Even though we usually don't get a white Christmas around here, there is one thing about nature in the South that I absolutely love. Fraser Firs grow here! And they smell just as amazing as they look.

Since we have mainly invested in tons of home improvement projects this year, we really didn't splurge much on Christmas decorations. So we ended up making ornaments by printing photos from the time Robert and I got engaged to present day.

I have to say, even though it was an idea for "tree filler" on the cheap, I think I want to keep this tradition by updating our tree with photos from the year. I loved every second of decorating our tree because we got to reminisce a bit. I want to squeeze this squishy little newborn Olivia here!

We busted out a few Christmas arts and crafts last week too. Pinterest, you rock my world with your amazing ornament DIYs.

Okay, giving you the grand tour of every single ornament could take days, so I'll move on.

I'm so psyched about actually having this mantel to play with. It is no easy feat trying to decorate around a TV above our fireplace (there's really no other place to put this monstrous thing), but sometimes necessity is the mother of invention. Making decor practical is just as important as making it beautiful, right?

We don't actually have a working fireplace (we built it for less than $600), but we don't usually need one anyway. We'll pretend these logs will keep us warm. ;)

I know I mentioned we have a family of three, but shame on me...I forgot to count our nutso dog Lola. (She thinks she's human, so we might as well give her a stocking too.)

Can you tell I'm obsessed with our fireplace? I'll stop now. I guess you get the idea.

My absolute favorite spot though is actually this cozy little corner.

You caught me in the middle of writing a letter to Santa. I can explain. Really, I can! Eating dessert before dinner and staying up way past your bedtime is totally acceptable. I think he of all people would understand.

Although, my mom and I might be on the naughty list for picking leaves from a magnolia tree to make into this wreath. But we were just doing someone a favor by pruning it for them, right?

Oh, by the way, if you're liking that vintage map and Ansel Adams print for super cheap, you can check out how to DIY them in those handy little links there.

Of course, it wouldn't be Christmas without curling up in an easy chair with our squirmy toddler and reading a story. Dickens might be a bit much, but we'll give her the short version.

You might have already seen our rustic entryway from earlier this week. It's still a work in progress, but I had to dress up our fabulous Craigslist discovery- that reclaimed wagon bench.