Christmas Home Tour

Hello there :),

I hope you are feeling calm and with all the preparations for the big day finished. And if you are not, relax it will all get done and it will be just perfect.

Today I want to invite you all into our humble home all decorated for Christmas. I LOVE Christmas and I always like to go to town with my decoration. I am definitely a more is more girl especially this time of the year. Our home is small like many of the UK  houses but is cosy and very comfortable. And there is nothing in this house that we are precious about if  it got ruined or broke so this makes it a very relaxing environment to be in.

Ok so come on in I will put the kettle on and we’ll have a smooch around.

As you come through the front door this is what you see. The hallway is not wide enough for a console table so a radiator cover gives me a bit of room do create a bit of interest. This space has not been decorated for the last 10 years so I stick with a silver white and black  theme because of the black and silver wallpaper, I am dying to change it up, maybe next year :)

Ok so I am simply in love with the two paper houses inside these glass hurricane lamps. I cut them on my Silhouette using a free file from this site. (please consider making a donation if you use them though, the files are just beautiful). I cut them in natural white card stock from Stampin'Up!. Plenty of dazzling diamonds for the roof and over the windows and doors. I used packing tape over the windows and doors then I rubbed more dazzling diamonds over it. Battery operated tealights and voila( they took about 30 minutes to make. Oh and I couldn’t get fake snow anywhere so I used Epsom Salts for the houses to sit in.

As you enter the living room the first thing you see is THE TREE :) For the first time in my life I have decorated a fake tree. Real is usually the way for me but I LOVE the look of a flocked tree and finally bit the bullet and here it is :).

Do I love it ? YES !! 

Will it stop me going real? I DON’T THINK SO !! I love the smell and feel of a fresh tree and I can see myself going for real again, but not for a few years. I love all the snow on this tree, yes is huge !! do you play musical furniture at Christmas time? we had to move a huge cabinet into the conservatory to have the tree up, we do it every year and its worth it!!!!

I went for gold's, silvers and whites together. I love mixing metals in spite of what the rules say. I do it with my jewellery and definitely I do it in my home. Also I just knew that an all white and silver combo would have been lost amongst all the snow tipped branches. Can’t wait to see it with a red combo. But for now is perfect !!

A different angle

And looking the other way

At the other end you can see the fireplace and the windowsill behind the blueberry (the world’s comfiest sofa), it looks tiny in this picture but is whooping 2.3 meters long.

See that little drink table? I work on that all day long unless we are entertaining. Normally the table is covered in my paperwork and laptop :), oh and please pretend I hid the lights cable :). The windowsill behind the sofa hosts an enchanted forest with sparkly reindeers :)

We have two beautiful bottomless glass lamps in this room and I love the opportunity to decorate them seasonally, so I shoved a mini tree in each one this time. Yes the shades  gets a little Christmas love, tiny wreaths made in a snap using fresh eucalyptus branches. The silvery leaves go with my snowy theme.

And here’s the other wall, bits and bobs from around the house get pulled together. And while you are judging my art taste I just need to let you know that its temporarily here and she doesn't belong to me :), although Breakfast at Tiffany’s is my fave movie :)

Ok so looking from the living room into the kitchen, and a little table top tree in the conservatory beyond.

My friend Julie made me the gorgeous table arrangement, now this is big news as this is one of the first crafty thing she has ever attempted so it has special meaning as she made it just for me. I might get her into making cards next :).

I am sorry about the naff table runner, is a heavy duty (read plastic – fantastic) one that we use for everyday and I forgot to take it off, I should have set the table but I already had to clean the whole house before this shoot so I was done by then :), yes just keeping it real for you.

More mini wreaths from fresh eucalyptus leaves, they smell divine. My beautiful table is a French Antique which I lovingly painted  and distressed !!!! I have also stripped the brand new chairs and refinished them to suit my battered style. Yes only done two so far, the other 2 are still shiny brown (nice).

I hate the lights in our kitchen, but I hate poor lighting even more so I put up with them, still looking for the perfect ones. This year I decided I am going to pretend I have fancy chandeliers so I added some twisted willow from the garden and to disguise the uglies further I suspended a collection of mercury glass ornaments,sparkly snowflakes, mirrored hearts and garlands. This is my favourite makeover for sure, the whole thing sparkles and twinkles and I will find it hard to take it down :(

Another  radiator cover, another opportunity to add some festive decor all year round not just at Christmas.

Love those little ice skates which you have seen here on my blog before, and did you spot the burlap fat bows? I made my own minimums this quarter by buying burlap ribbon for my home decor, I am sure of it :)

Sweet details, the bird house was £3 in TK Maxx and it fits in with the birdies on the Ikea fake trees. The birdies are looking a bit tired they have been with us for at least 10 years so their feathers are a bit worse for wear, ruffled shall we say :).

Another vignette in my kitchen is actually my favourite one, and the real reason we celebrate Christmas :).

I am still looking for the perfect nativity set :(

I did the chalk board sign by hand drawing using the chalk marker from Stampin’Up!. Yes I know, I need more practice!!! you wouldn’t believe that I took calligraphy classes in school.

Next a view from the kitchen back into the living room, love to catch a view of that snowy tree from another room :)

I only wish I could have the luxury of a separate tv room so that the big black box wouldn’t exist about the fireplace :(

One more look at the beauty (well, at least  I think it is), have you spotted the peacock feathers? I added them as a nod to the blueberry, we are not finished changing this room so things are not completely pulled together colour wise just yet. The tree has 1600 lights on it and hundreds of baubles. Really cheap plastic ones in the background and special fancy ones at the front :)

There are peacocks perched on a garland on the mantelpiece :)

   And remember the windowsill? well here it is again this time at night.I had these reindeers a good 5 years now and they usually go by the fire. I fancied a change and tried them in the window then I ended up cutting up a flocked garland to create a little forest for the reindeers to roam in. Clear lights and a few feathered birds were enough. I am loving the starburst effect on some of the lights in this photo :) I am wondering if I am the only one who likes to look at the lights on the tree with squinted eyes LOL.

So that is all, I do decorate the bedrooms as well(even the bathrooms) with tiny little touches but I couldn’t cope with tidying the whole house in one go. It was more fun trying to capture fun pictures of this lot for you all, as I  know you are just as nosey as I am when it comes to looking inside at peoples homes.

Well thank you so much for popping round, it was lovely to have you here.

xoxoxo

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