Holiday Home Tour 2017

Happy Holidays! I can’t believe the holidays are here once again. This will be my seventh holiday home tour shared with you. I honestly can not believe I’ve been running this little old blog of mine since 2010. (These are my holiday home tours from 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016.) You may have noticed there was a gap, because in 2012 I was up to my ear-plugged ears building our kitchen back after a water leak. But, enough about moldy messes and termite damage, won’t you come in for the annual holiday home tour.

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In the past I’ve dressed up my faux wreaths (with less than $20 in supplies) for the front doors, but this year a pair of live pine wreaths whispered my name at Lowe’s. Obviously, I caved.

I’m participating in a group tour with several other fabulous home bloggers.

You’ll definitely want to see inside each of their homes:

Just a Girl
Home Stories A to Z
Honey We’re Home
Tatertots and Jello
Hi Sugarplum
A Thoughtful Place
Not Just a Housewife
Centsational Style
The Inspired Room
320 Sycamore
Thrifty Decor Chic

Be sure to go see Sawdust Girl’s holiday home tour tomorrow!

Because I consider you a friend, why don’t you come in through the mudroom entrance. That’s the door we use, only solicitors come to the front door.

Feel free to take your coat off and stay for a while.

I’m brewing some fresh coffee and would love to offer you my own version of a mocha latte. Or you can make your own specialty coffee at the coffee bar I set up.

The table is set for the holidays. This year I chose to decorate with blue Spode plates and pretty blue-green eucalyptus leaves.

In the corner I set up a vintage Flexible Flyer sled under the winter words chalkboard art.  If you like my sign, I have a free printable you can download for yourself here.

Now that you have a hot drink in hand, let’s head into the living room.

This year I decorated using rustic accents and neutrals. The camellias and rose hips are picked fresh from the yard. Nothing beats free greenery!

I did purchase some pine bough rope, a package of paperwhites, and eucalyptus leaves on the cheap for the rest of my natural decorations.

The wreath over the mantel is a combination of two wreaths and some eucalyptus leaves tucked into it. I love the natural feel of this casual green wreath.

I’ve been anxiously awaiting the paperwhites to bloom. It should be any day now.

Let’s head into the heart of the home, our kitchen.

This room was a labor of love for certain. It took me 13 months to build the kitchen back after a water leak and subsequent mold left us with an empty room down to the studs.

But, the upside of all the damage was I was able to make design changes to the room. One of those changes involved building a built-in window seat bench with storage inside. This freed up room in the kitchen as we can push the table up against the window seat.

I don’t usually add much to the kitchen except some simple touches like a beaded garland on the chandelier. I admit, I like it so much I’ve left it on the light well into late January sometimes. Can you blame me?

Adding the wreaths to the window this year seemed like a fun way to reuse these little faux boxwood wreaths.

And of course, one wreath on the custom range hood I built.

I always enjoy adding some winter decor to the built in desk and wall-mounted hutch in the corner of our kitchen.

Blue Mason jars with epson salt and a votive candles bring a little snow vibe into the house.

The front foyer is where we keep my boys’ advent calendars. I was thinking there will come a day when they are off to college and it won’t seem right not having the advent calendars here. The thought makes me a bit melancholy, especially since our oldest will be a freshman in high school next year. That leaves me with four more years having both boys under my roof. *sniff, sniff*

I hope you are having a wonderful Holiday season and are able to avoid all the rushing around. Thank you so much for visiting my home today.