I think it’s fun to see the process of Christmas decorating. Unfortunately, the season speeds by so fast that most of us have no choice but to rush to get a few decorative things up before it’s time to take them down again. I’m a right after Thanksgiving till right before New Years kind of Christmas decorating girl. Which means I’ll have about 4 weeks with our Christmas decor.
So here’s where it is right now. I’m shooting for a natural, rustic, sparkly, white, textured Christmas feel. So I have poinsettias, fresh greenery, a white Christmas tree that I found for $5 at a yard sale years ago, and lights and such so far. Right now I think the mantle looks creepy with the garland dripping down like that, so I’ll be playing around with that over the next few days along with getting the mantle decor just right. Or righter.
Our breakfast/dining area could use a little umph. I’ll try to umph it up over the next few days.
Backing up. Note to self, buy white on white lights for the white tree.
I’m a horrible tree decorator. The tree is always the decoration in our house that I like the worst. Here’s the process where I just look at it and decide if I want to go with burlap or the book page theme. Or both. But the book pages make me feel as nervous as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs as my husband would say. It’s one thing to put a bunch of light bulbs on dying, drying out combustible tree~but adding paper kindling all over it? I should just go ahead and douse it in lighter fluid.
And of course, we all have them, the dreaded Christmas bins. I’m not sure what I’m doing up there with the garland on the stairs, I never know where to stop the other side once I start because the railing wraps all the way around like a big box up there and I don’t want to spend the time or money to do that part. But the ungarland railing is totally jealous of the garland railing. I’ll probably take that garland off and use it on the mantle. Or not. Or maybe I’ll just do that first part of the other side. Or not.
So, nothing spectacular here. Just normal chaos in decorating~it always looks worse before it looks better. Please tell me your house isn’t perfectly decorated for the holidays already?
Your house looks amazing. I can guarantee you my house is not perfectly decorated. The tree is up but that’s it. I plan on pulling the rest of the stuff out tonight and tomorrow nite after work so we can get those lovely Christmas bins put into the attic and out of the way. You’re way ahead of me and better at it. Thanks for sharing.
Dear Nester, I love your house. It has inspired much of the way I am decorating for my Christmas wedding. Where do you get your burlap?
That is always a crazy process, and yes, for only a few weeks? This is why I start decorating before Thanksgiving. I wish could just hire someone to come decorate for Christmas, too much work. Your house looks lovely, and I like how your mantel looks, don’t kill yourself, you’ve done good!
miss nester. I am thinking that it looks sooooo good already. I don’t know… maybe you are done!!!??? love your mantle with lights… going to copy :)
LOVE your treeskirt. Tell me, is he real {no. I have zero issue with that. I am just hoping he was cheap…. so I can run and get one, k?}
{{hugs}} and hope your thanksgiving was wonderful and blessed!
I love all the garland everywhere! It’s my favorite….I love the look, smell. I take the cutoffs from our tree and any scraps I can get from the tree lot and place them all over our house–even the toilet tank lid gets some with a candle and splash of red ribbon! Have you considered putting garland on both newel posts and letting it hand down, but no go up the hand rail? When I looked at the picture that’s the idea that popped into my head and would solve some problems you were having–just a thought! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for keeping it real. I KNOW it is going to be stunning when you have it all up and tweaked. I can tell….can’t wait to see it all done so get busy! lol
Hi! I am new to your site and love it! I really like front door decorations….can we see how you decorate your door? :)
My stairs are shaped exactly like yours…..I always put the garland on the bottom and wreaths on all of the doors that are visible from the entrance. I still have a few of those dreaded Christmas containers still sitting in my dining room just waiting to be unpacked. Happy decorating:)
PLEASE do tell…where did you get your chandelier?? :)
One thing I did that was inspired by you was put reddish fall toned leaves from my yard in a vase by the door. They died within a few hours (didn’t anticipate that), but they look great dried. They’re holiday without being overkill. And I’m in the process of making a yarn wreath for my front door. Colors: mustard, charcoal, and red. Christmas-y without being Christmas-y. Seriously, woman. You’ve turned me into a house person little by little. Like I decided to make my wreath last night instead of baking cookies. That’s, umm, kind of a big deal around here. If Kaz gets mad at me for neglecting the food, I’m blaming you.
You take down the Christmas decor BEFORE New Years? Why?
Oh, well, althougth I am getting earlier each year, I am a Dec 20thish til 12 days after Christmas (Feast of the Epiphany) girl and that drives some people crazy.
I got some white on white LED lights at Lowe’s, I like the LEds a lot! And I am looking forward to the front door decorations also!!
Me, too! Christmas comes down AFTER the 6th! :D Plus I get to enjoy it longer because it usually takes me until the week of Christmas to get everything up – once finals are over I kick into high gear. Lol
You make me laugh! I didn’t even get a chance to get the boxes out…. poo. Thanksgiving is right at the end of the semester. So it is most definitely an as-I-go thing. Sigh.
I’m cheating by being on here at all. Projects to finish.
Love your process – and you made me feel better! Lol :D
I’m doing the less is more theme, yet again this year, maybe even this weekend. However, I do like the white and twinkly. Fits my theme better than the “typical” Christmas deco I have acquired or rather inherited. I love the bright, spacious and flowing floor plan of your home. You have what I consider a “charming” home. Thanks for the sneak peek.
Because my brand-new (OK, 113-year-old and now 2-months-after-purchase-but-you-wouldn’t-know-because-it’s-still-a-disaster) house is still in the throes of getting its everyday decor done, and I really really want to get all the wallpaper, molding, and paint (OK, some of the molding and most of the wallpaper, and most of the paint) done by the end of 2011, I told myself I didn’t need to think about Christmas decorations AT ALL this year. Especially since decorating a whole new space means I have to start thinking from scratch. Pine garland on the banister or hung from those hooks in the ceiling along the staircase? Real or fake garland? Garland on one mantle or both? (Note: neither houses a working fireplace. Sniff.) Do any of these locations also get ornaments hung from the garland? Which door gets a wreath? Both? Creche – where? Lights outside, and if so, where? Pretend outside doesn’t exist until after the Great Curb Appeal Rehabilitation of 2012? Buy extension ladder? Where does the tree go? Is it really possible to decorate one’s kitchen for Christmas, and, if so, is this advisable?
But then, when I started thinking about having NO CHRISTMAS TREE (especially since now I can finally have an 8′ Christmas tree for the first time ever without it bending in half), I felt so unbelievably sad that I realized I was just going to have to give up sleep for Advent, and finish the house AND decorate AND lose five pounds AND figure out how to make Christmas cookies without a working oven. But I probably won’t actually get any further than the tree itself.
So I am going to take out my excessive energies on others :). My opinion, for what it is worth: if you wrap ribbon (or burlap?) around the garland on the mantel, it will not “drip.” (I cut, but did not serge, ivory crepe from the fabric store remnant bin into frayed-edged “ribbon” for my wreath last year and it worked pretty well.) I love the book pages but I think they overwhelm the tree a bit. What about a second tree out of 100% book pages, and leave the book pages off the tree? The ornaments on the tree look fabulous – I can never get mine to look that good. And, what about garland just on the angly parts of the left side of the banister? Also, what about pine garland as swags across the tops of the windows in your dining area? And maybe…little battery-powered candles in the windows?
OK, I’m done plaguing you now. But you are further than I will ever be, so, feel free to ignore me :).
You are fun! i like your openness to show your dilemmas. I have a thought about your stairway. You could whack that garland into 5 pieces and attach each to a beautiful bow and whatever else you want. Hang them at the joint spots of your railing…2 on the left and 3 on the right. The 2 on the bottom of the stairs could be fuller, etc. You make me want to do my garlands to.day.:)
I have a 1 and 2 year old so I’m having to be creative about decorating this year! Thankfully my buffet table that I use as an entertainment center/ fake mantle is masking tape color so that worked out well. I love everything you do, by the way :)
Are you kidding? I haven’t even started yet. Hopefully tonight or tomorrow I can actually get started!
Well I am just gonna send a little love and thanks. I just read your post to my son, and just how much I like your blog. I do the same. I liike to start a little mysteriously, basically with whichever bin comes out first. But yea after Thanksgiving until Jan 6ish. We have these cool love letters we put up in the front yard, and our neighbors across the street will say, “we’re feeling the love”. :). Right now a pumpkin is still on the front porch. I feel like I’ve been chasing the whole year since about March. Just can’t catch up; it’s like did Thanksgiving already come and go-boo hoo. Anyways, luv ya.
It’s looking beautiful so far! My boys decorated our tree this year. So, there is a massive clump of 100 ornaments in a 2 foot radius at the bottom of the tree, and the rest of the tree is totally empty. Usually, I would not have let it remain that way for longer than 5 minutes, but it’s been 3 days. I’ll fix it tomorrow, maybe.
I personally love the way your mantle looks. I am so jealous of ppl who can have fresh greenery in their homes. My husband has severe asthma and we cant have it.
I would do your railing up to the landing where the door is.
Thank you for posting this and for being so real! I had literally just finished decorating for Christmas and looked around and thought it looked so ugly, with my bins everywhere and the house looking messier than it had before I decorated, so retreated to the computer and saw your “real life” post. Thanks for never putting on a facade that your house is immediately, perfectly decorated. Gives hope to the rest of us who feel like we are always very much in progress! Tomorrow’s another day…
My husband and the kids got involved this year and it was the quickest tree decorating in history. Which means ornaments are mostly on the bottom and the kids (3 & 4) move things around every day. Your post reminds me that it is okay for things to not be ‘perfect’ and I completely appreciate your honesty.
Erika
It’s a Wrap Link Party at Artful Rising
Love you. This is why I continue to come here on my best days and on my worst ones. Thank you. You are so amazingly talented and your house looks gorgeous. At the same time, you share the lived in look spaces and embrace it, even treasure it because it means your loved ones are there. (Is it ironic that as I type this I hear my son diving on the sofa, and I say, “Take it easy on the couch.?) I love that you inspire and at the same time you are real. Your blog represents your home. It’s comforting. And it’s imperfectly ~BeauTiFuL~.
All my fall decorations are still out and will stay out until I have the kitchen painted. That will hopefully be finished today. I’m just making myself do it that way to get that kitchen finally finished.
I like Vel’s idea for your railing: Cut up the garland and drape a section round each of the newel posts like a necktie. Tie ribbon around to hold in place, then make a big bow. Hand ornaments from that spot, or poke in florals and other goodies. We did that to the railing in our church sanctuary and it is beautiful. (Only we didn’t have to cut the garland; someone else had already done it.)
Love your mantel! Is that real or fake greenery??
I was lucky enough to get my trees in the tree stands this weekend. I’ve done the mantel and a wreath on the front door… Trimming the tree and decking the halls will come some time this week..