Christmas Home Tour 2017

Hello there,

Its Christmas Eve and we have started the relaxing and enjoying our family this season. As I type this everyone is watching a Christmas Movie, my sister is putting the finishing touches to our favourite desert, then we will hit the local Christmas Market for a hot mulled wine and a mooch round the busy stalls.

I promised you a Christmas Tour and I am afraid that in the end I was beat. Beat by the delays with our building work. We embarked on a 2 week remodel of our front porch on the 6th of November and today our builder is still finishing off the brick around the glass roof we had installed.

Nothing is painted yet, we have holes in the plasterboard and I was still cleaning the mess yesterday afternoon. As a result, I only managed to add a little bit of decor but I am happy and it looks festive and wonderful.

Let's start with the Entrance !! This is what we had before we started.  I hated that front door with a passion and we lived with it for 3 whole and very long years.

Ugh, it was brown, plastic, drafty, it leaked when it rained but maybe what I hated the most was the not symmetric windows. I dreamt of the day we would have it changed and thank Goodness we did this year.

This is what we have now,  I couldn't wait for the paint to dry so I can deck it all out. And if you partook in my picking a colour drama, we chose to paint the door in Farrow and Ball *Railings* after much deliberation.

You can just see the glass roof peeking there at the top, its a wonderful addition that let's so much more light into our hallway (well it should do, once the light returns to the UK, it feels like its night time all the time at the minute)

I was so excited to make one BIG wreath this year. I foraged the local woods and our garden for greenery and bought some fresh eucalyptus for a good mixture.

And I just couldn't resist taking one of those magazine type styled pictures with my gorgeous Olly the Cockapoo pup. I shared a better one on Facebook, but I want you to look at his back legs in this shot LOL

As you open the door now a full view of the hallway tree emerges. I absolutely love that we have room for a tree in our hallway. Its such a treat and the colour here is always red. I don't think you can get better than red for Christmas, some years is rustic and some years is modern but the red is a constant. We have the rustic version this year and I am kicking myself that I haven't got a better picture of it but here's one mid way before I fund the star. 

You go past the remodelled porch ..

The large console is a new addition and I added all of my woodland animals to it. 

I bought these cuties from a fab Interior Shop in Brussels a few years ago. I carried back on the plane a hand luggage full of creatures. 

Aren't they cute? made from fur and tree bark on light polysterene shapes. The tall lamps got a wreath each, topped with the same chunky Tartan ribbon bows that are on the tree. Oh and the puppy is always watching my every move.. can you spot him?

To the right is our cloakroom, and this gets a simple festive touch each year as well. We decorated this room two years ago and I still love it, that sea green marble sink on stainless steel legs makes my heart happy every time I go in there. 

Right ahead from the hall is the kitchen but that is not fit for any kind of photographing. We are eagerly awaiting our new extension so hopefully next year I will be able to share that space. 

The to the left is our lounge and this year tree has touches of copper, orange and browns. 

The lounge is fairly neutral in decor, and I like to change the cushion colour each year, this year these orange ones dictated the scheme. 

I get asked all the time about my extensive collection of ornaments. I absolutely LOVE Christmas, and I love trimming the house, it makes my heart truly happy to walk into my home and see every space transformed. I do it for me and my own pleasure first and if others enjoy it as well that's a massive bonus. I collect ornaments, I buy really cheap plastic ones for the base of the tree and have special ones at the front of the tree. I have a constant base of gold and silver then add a few extra in my chosen colour for the year. Most of them combine together so almost everything gets used every year. 

My favourite tree is our bedroom one I don't have pics of that either but check back I will take some these next fee days and update you :)

I hope you have enjoyed these snippets of our home, I want to thank you for visiting my blog and for all your support as always. 

Much love Monica 

xoxo