HAPPY CHRISTMAS 2018 HOME TOUR

Hello there :),

By the time this post goes live hopefully you will have enjoyed a wonderful dinner, and you are still busy celebrating a wonderful Christmas Day.

 I started this blog post wanting to share my home tour with you all a few weeks ago. I kept adding photos as I grabbed a few minutes here and there, but then I totally ran out of time leading up to the festivities to finish it off and publish it.

So I decided that I would schedule it instead for the evening of Christmas Day in the hope that you might enjoy reading it as you sit down after a full day of celebrating with your nearest and dearest.

So Welcome to our Home this Christmas, grab a drink its picture heavy

The front door got a traditional look again this year, if you are a regular reader you know that we had the porch and front door remodelled last year (you can see our last year tour here ). Unfortunately the beautiful lanterns couldn't be fitted before Christmas ( the builder literally left On Christmas eve) so I jumped at the chance of adding a festive eucalyptus wreath to them this year.

And instead of a wreath for the door, I opted for a fresh pine and holly berry filled pair of ice-skates. It's been a few years since they've made an appearance but I love how they pop on the dark door.

Please, common in :)

As you enter, you catch a glimpse of our hallways tree ahead and to the right is a small cabinet in our porch section which got a little festive attention.

I usually have a red theme in our reception hall but I changed the rug in here this year so I decided to go neutral. 

The small tree is decorated in white and silver mercury glass ornaments. The cute antlers are from Hobbycraft , the stars I made myself out of dry porcelain, burlap ribbon from my SU stash and the tiny snowflakes are 22 years old, I bought them when I first came to the UK. 

And a view of the other side,  faux succulents I bought on my recent trip to US fit in quite happily. I love it when the everyday vignettes I have can be transformed with ease, so I do not have to find home for all these extra things when I decorate for Christmas.  The bird house was a gift from a dear friend years ago, I love using it every year with a few bird ornaments .

And of course. lights !! Little white lights which add a wonderful glow at night time ..

The tree in here was decorated in whites, silver and brown this year. 

This tree is soo glitzy and sparkly in real life. I took a little video of it and posted it on my Facebook Page here if you want to see it, I just love staring at it...

 These two  reindeers along with the lights on this tree are the only things I bought new this year. I usually add a few ornaments decorations to my collection each year, some years I make a load it all depends. And I always buy the bulk of my decorations in the sales after Christmas. 

 The console table got in on the action as well. This is a big, heavy wood piece so a natural decor fits it best.  All the woodland creatures were displayed on top of it amongst some pussy willow branches, and those Ikea trees, which  I've had quite a long time now.  A few sprigs of fresh eucalyptus on the lamps and fairy lights of course , the essential items for a bit of magic.

My Fox is KING this year Hee heee :)

Look who's here??? how cute is my darling Olly Pooh Bear ?? *heart eyes*  Olly is a 4 year old cockapoo and my shadow.. Where I go he goes.

Here's another view of the tree,  as you exit the sitting room so let's head there next :

The tree in this room is HUGE, seriously big but if fits into this corner really well and doesn't make our room feel in any way crowded. We had it five or six years now and so far I have no desire to replace it. Flocked trees are magic, I just love them.  I went for sparkly white, gold and copper this year in here.

The coffee table got a simply makeover and let me tell you this was the picture that I only added this morning after breakfast.

Again I kept as much of my regular items I have on this table as I could, and only added a few festive touches. Some fresh pine from our daily walks and a few sparkly stars. The bowl with bauble houses all of our regular junk ( I keep Olly's comb and brush there, my manicure set, odds and ends we need. I like that I have it all on hand but the baubles hide everything away.

 At the other side of the tree is our drink cabinet, well it started life as a TV cabinet when we first set up house together and when TV's were of a reasonable size, now it houses our drinks and my printer ( haha the reality of it all )

I added simply little green wreaths to my collection of white pots and carried it through to the mantlepiece.

The little white houses are from Hobbycraft and provide the perfect backdrop for my Italian Nativity set. Oh and check out my Aloe Vera plant !!! Doesn't she looks wonderfully Christmassy??

I love that you can catch a glimpse of the hallway tree in the mirror ( and the hoover behind the door, but I'm not looking at that), and if you look really closely there's that pup again snoozing on the other sofa  LOL

The dining room got its Christmas dressing as well. The big sideboard was kept simple as it usually doubles up as a bar or holding bay for
dishes and stuff while we entertain.

This next shot clearly indicates what I mean, here it is piled with presents we received on Christmas Eve.

For the table I placed my collection of Mercury glass single stem bottles and filled with fresh pine and some sparkly branches. They were corralled on a big tray draped with a garland of twinkly lights so that they can be easily moved to set the table. I add thin tapered candles to them for dinners 

And talking about setting the table, this is ours this year. I set it on Christmas Eve late at night after a little soiree, we tend to host our neighbours every Christmas Eve if we can, and it was a truly wonderful evening.

There is no secret that I love miss-matching my decor and I also love to do so with my table setting too. I purchased some vintage Royal Doulton white and blue china this year with a bonus I earned through my business and I loved using them for Christmas for the first time. 

And here's a picture I snapped in the candlelight. Yes a little tree resides here as well :)

 Phew, we made it till the end !!! that is all I have for today, sadly 2018 wasn't the year we got to start work on our extension and the kitchen is in no state to be showed off, but here's hoping 2019 will be the year that will make that happen.
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Happy Christmas my dear reader it was wonderful to have you here today. Thank you for visiting

Much love Monica and Olly :)