It’s the most wonderful time of the year…! Anyone else got holiday music on already? I love this time of year, can you tell?! One year I started listening to Christmas music in September, hahaha! But, it was Michael Buble’s Xmas album, I can listen to that guy any time. *sigh* He has the voice of an angel. It definitely gets me in the mood for the holiday season. Apparently I’m not the only one that’s getting into the seasonal decor. Let me share with you some of the other, more famous bloggers out there that have already got their tree/decor up:
So much inspiration out there right now! As you can see, I’m loving the rustic and natural look for Christmas this year. What got me thinking to go with this theme was when we took a trip to Vermont for Labor Day weekend, we stopped by the Vermont Country Store and I saw this twig ornament that just stopped me in my tracks. I don’t know why I didn’t take a photo of it because I just adored it so much! I can’t even find a photo online of something close to it that justifies the one that I saw but here is something just to give you an idea:
It’s not even close to what I saw but it will have to do, haha. Anyway, a light bulb came on when I saw that ornament because over the summer, we cut down these large bushes in front of our house. We haven’t thrown away the branches because our town is not picking up our yard waste. And since we just didn’t have time to borrow my brother’s truck to get rid of it, it’s been sitting on the side of our yard. I’ve been wanting to get some use out of the branches and I figured it would have to be for the holidays. So it was perfect when I saw that ornament. Plus, with seeing all the rustic theme decor that’s so popular right now, that’s why I was so excited to get started on decorating, haha!
I wanted to keep it as simple as I can but with a little bit of gold for the “glam” because I NEED to have something shiny, haha. I used mostly bare garlands and wreaths. I decorated with gold ornaments, burlap and gold ribbons, pine-cones and, of course, branches. I reused some stuff I used for last year as well so it helped cut down on the cost. I like to switch it up each year for the look and theme but what I try to do, instead of buying all new stuff EVERY year, is reuse some old stuff from the year before. Last year our theme was red, gold and silver. The decor that I used last year will be used for outdoor decorations. Gotta use all that I have since there’s a lot of space to decorate! This week, I will be showing you what I did to the living room, dining room, and stairway. Here we go!
I love how the tree came out! I am sure I will be adding a little bit more to it as we head into Christmas but I’m so happy with it as it is. I want to make ornaments with the kiddos. You can see the branches sticking out, those are the ones from our yard. I threw in some pearl branches that I had from my wedding decor. Evey and Prestyn helped me decorate and Evey kept putting all the ornaments on one branch, it was so funny. You can see the sign that I made last week as well as the pom-pom and garlands above it, and our little blanket ladder that I got from a country shop a few years back. We rearranged our living room a bit to accommodate the tree to be in that corner. I kind of like the layout the way that it is right now, we may keep it like this for a while, haha. We are going to be holding a couple get-together’s the next couple weeks so I’m hoping this layout will work best! 
Next up is our media station. You know, I really wished our house had a fireplace. But with our dresser, I guess we came close to it, haha. I always wanted a mantel to decorate with all these candles so that was the look I was going for. I got these 3″x6″ candles at Christmas Tree Shops for $2.99 each, which was the cheapest that I found locally. And I loved that they had a gold option too! The thinner tall candles are from the Dollar Tree and I got those metal white candle holders at the Dollar Tree, too! Aren’t they so cute? I haven’t had a chance to light them all up yet but will share that photo once we do, hehe! And those little gold holly picks in the glass vase on the coffee table I got from Michaels! They are on sale for 60% off right now so they were a steal at less than a dollar each! I love how the two window garlands frame the dresser and TV! It was so simple but it makes it look so grand.
We have this archway that connects the dining room and living room and I wanted to highlight that by adding lights to the garland. And as you can see, I used branches to decorate the ceiling. I was a little worried about not being able to pull off this look but I’m so glad I tried it! I saw this one photo on Pinterest a while back and I was hoping I can recreate the look and I am so happy with the result! I was able to achieve this look with just some clear scotch tape, clear command hooks and fishing wire. This is the photo that inspired me.
Of course I had to add the garlands to the windows and over the mirrors as well. I don’t now if you can tell but I love bows! They’re so simple to make and adds a touch of festivity to the overall look. It’s probably because bows are representative of presents, which is a major part of the holidays. You just can’t go wrong with a bow to dress something up.
And the final room for today’s transformation is the staircase. You can’t get any simpler than a bare garland and bows! I think the extra long tails makes it look more elegant. It makes up for not having all these crazy ornaments on it. Here are a couple more photos of the room to leave you with!
We’re enjoying the decorations so far and can’t wait to finish with the rest of the rooms and outside! I am working on a couple projects as well and look forward to sharing them with you! Hope you enjoy the rest of your week and that you were able to get some inspiration for your holiday decor with me today! I’ll see you Friday!
Stay lovely,
Jeap