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Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Decorating for Easter

With Easter less than a month away, I thought it was time to decorate the house for Easter. I have to admit it felt a little strange pulling out all my bunnies, eggs, and pastels when there's still snow on the ground. But I figure why not make it feel more like Spring, even if it's only on the inside. And the best part is, after Easter is over, I can remove the bunny and egg decorations and still have some really pretty decor perfect for all of Spring.

Last year I shared how I decorated for Easter, and honestly, most of it is the same. I added a few new pieces and moved some things around, but the general feeling of it all is the same. When we first moved into our house I was experimenting with what I liked and was constantly on the search for new decor. But now I'm pretty happy with what I have and don't feel the need to switch it up every year. And Chris is thrilled since it means I'm spending less money ;)

When decorating for any holiday, I usually stick with the living room and dining room and add a wreath to the front door. First up is the living room. When we lived in an apartment I couldn't wait to have a fireplace. Not because I wanted to sit by a roaring fire (we have never used this one for it's real purpose), but because I was desperate to decorate a mantel. And I'm happy to report that I still love switching up my mantel decor based on the holiday/season. Just like last year, I hung my egg garland, put up my blue candles and pots of fake grass. But this year, I switched out the vases for these pink ones I got for my birthday last year. I love how the pinks and blues from the garland are repeated in the candles and vases.

metal pots and fake grass
candles (Target) | candlesticks (Home Goods) | garland (old Pottery Barn Kids) | vases (old Crate & Barrel)

Over the years, we've collected quite a few stuffed bunnies. They really are the perfect addition to an Easter basket. Many of these are from Pottery Barn Kids, but the Jellycat bunnies are some of my favorite... and softest! While we don't keep them out year round, I love pulling out these super soft stuffed bunnies (and sheep), and displaying them as some kid friendly "decor".

As for our dining room, I kept with my favorite decorating formula. Since we use our table for much more than dining (think game boards, puzzles, and Lego making), I prefer not to "set the table". Instead, I cover the table with a seasonally appropriate runner and add my new favorite gold tray filled with pretty decorative accessories as well as the necessities, like a box of tissues (cause Noah always seems to have a runny nose when we are in the middle of a game!).

I've had this bunny candy dish for years and love filling it up each year. It must be a popular item, because Pottery Barn still carries it at least 6 years later! I'm actually shocked I haven't picked up any Easter candy yet... I definitely plan to remedy that situation as soon as possible! And can we talk about this runner!?! Another gift for my birthday last year that I was so happy to take out this Spring. I love the delicate material, but my favorite part is definitely the beautiful floral print.

gold tray | bunny candy dish | runner (old Crate & Barrel)

Another repeat decor item is my cake stand topped with a nest of eggs. If you'd like to make your own, I shared exactly how I made mine in last year's post. And if you are extra crafty, you could even paint your own eggs!

placemats - Ikea | cake stand and bunny - Home Goods

Another piece of decor that I bought last year is this pink wreath. I knew it had faded when I was putting it away last year, but I didn't realize how much until I compared these photos side by side. While I love the amount of sunlight our house gets (especially for indoor photography reasons), I have a real problem with fading wreaths. My boxwood wreath looks so horrible after one year that I am embarrassed to use it again. While I love how vibrant this pink wreath was when I bought it, at least this one looks like it could have been light pink all along. I wonder what it will look like by next year!?!

Here's the blinding sun I was talking about...

Do you decorate for Easter???

*affiliate links may be used, please see my disclosure.

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An InLinkz Link-up

Friday, December 2, 2016

2016 Christmas Home Tour

Welcome to my home! I'm so excited to share how I decorated our house for Christmas this year. As I've mentioned many times before, Christmas is my FAVORITE holiday and therefore I love everything that goes along with it... especially decorating! This will be our third Christmas in this house. I feel like each year is a learning experience where I try out new things and figure out the things I love or not so much. The first two Christmases, we were making some pretty large purchases in order to start our Christmas collection. From our artificial tree, to the garland and outdoor wreaths, none of it is cheap. This was the first year we didn't make any large purchases and instead just added a few new smaller touches.

First up is our living room. For the most part, this room is very similar to last year. The tree is still filled with sentimental ornaments and has the same star and tree skirt. I once again lit the tree with a combination of small and large bulbs to give it some dimension. I used the same beaded garland and red bows that I added last year. The only difference is that I added some sprigs of red berries... and I love it!

stockings | garland

The biggest change in this room is my Christmas village collection. While the houses aren't new, how I displayed them keeps changing each year. While I can never be sure, I think I've officially found my favorite way. The first year, we had them lit up and displayed on our dining room buffet. Last year, we had them on a bookcase shelf, but they weren't plugged in and lit up. This year, since Noah is now old enough to be careful with our decorations, I decided to display them on our sofa table. Noah has been really good with not touching the houses. We did have a few broken pieces, but that was my fault when I was taking them out of the box. Nothing a little super glue couldn't fix. Noah does however like "driving" the red truck ornaments to the different buildings ;)

I love that they are in our living room but can all be lit up. And just as I did with our tree, I have plugged them all into a power strip (using some extension cords) so that I can leave each individual switch on and control it all with the power switch on the power strip. I love that with one switch, I can turn all the houses on and off each day. We have the same set up with the tree lights, star, and the garland. It makes life so much easier!

houses from Michaels

I also added a new pillow to the mix this year and switched up the garland on the stairs.

pillow from Home Goods

Speaking of the garland on the stairs... this was my biggest annoyance this year. Originally I had planned to upgrade my garland. I had contemplated using real garland, but after getting some advice, went with some artificial garland from Costco. The garland was absolutely beautiful, but the lengths of the garland made it a little tricky. One strand wasn't long enough to do the stairs, but two strands was too much. I ended up buying three, hoping that we could make it work on the stairs and the landing, but it just looked funny. While the Costco garland was much cheaper than other stores I've looked at, it still wasn't cheap. So instead of hanging something that we didn't love, we opted to return it and stick with our old garland for the time being. We did however hang our garland a little differently this year, and I'm liking it a lot more. I'll spend the next year brainstorming for next year!

Mistletoe "ornament" (old Target)

Next up is the kitchen. This is the first year I really decorated the kitchen other than adding some festive dish towels. I added some artificial branches and hung some mini boxwood wreaths from the windows. Right now they are attached with ribbon and painters tape, but I think I will pick up some 3M command hooks for a sturdier hold. I love how some simple touches add a big impact to our kitchen.

A Christmas candle, poinsettias, and some wine always help me get in the Christmas spirit!

mini wreath | candle | poinsettia | marble cutting board

Last but not least is our dining room. It's a nice mix of keeping some of the decor the same from last year while adding in a few new accessories (Target is my weakness!). Just like last year, we won't be hosting a Christmas dinner this year. So instead of setting the table, I opt for a casual table that is ready for whatever board game or puzzle we want to do. I love adding a few decorative touches to the gold tray that can easily be moved out of the way if we need to use the entire table.

plaid tablecloth

gold tray | poinsettia | snowflake napkin holder | reindeer (Target)

I displayed my favorite nativity set on the buffet again this year with some artificial trees on either side. I love the addition of this felt Merry Christmas banner that I found at Target. I am obsessed with red buffalo plaid, so I just had to get it! But this isn't our only nativity set, Noah also has his own. He's learning all about Jesus' birth at school, so it's nice for him to come home and be able to play with his own set too, since mine is definitely off limits! He's already excited about being a shepherd on Christmas Eve when we act out the nativity with his cousins!

nativity | three wise men

Little People nativity

advent calendar

trees

While I've tried to decorate our house with a mixture of old favorites and just enough new touches to keep things interesting, one thing will always be the same. This right here is my favorite spot to sit at night. Now that it gets dark so early, I love spending the evening hours, curled up on the couch, looking at the glow from the Christmas tree!

Pin for later???

I'm linking up with Our Pretty Little Girls and Wife Mommy Me for their Holiday Home Tour!

Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Fall Home Tour 2016 | "All Things Pumpkin Party" Announcement!

Good Morning Friends! One of my favorite things about the seasons changing is making small tweaks to our house and decor. I love bringing in more neutrals in the Fall, pastels in the Spring, and lots of red and metallics at Christmas! Another one of my favorite things to do is to peruse Pinterest and go on virtual home tours. I really enjoy seeing how others decorate for each season and holiday. So today I thought I'd share how I decorated our house this Fall for all of you who are just as ~~nosey~~ curious as I am!

As I do every year, I like to buy a few new things to incorporate with my old favorites in new ways. I love moving things around and finding new ways to display some of my favorite pieces. So while I tried to provide sources and links as much as I could, many of my decor pieces are from previous years and no longer available.

When walking into my house, the living room can be seen right away. This sofa table acts as a separation, creating almost a hallway to the rest of my house. It also stores Noah's shoes and our winter hats and mittens (not yet, not yet!). I like adding a few seasonal touches to it, but also leaving some space since it's often a landing zone when we walk in the door.

runner - similar, pumpkins, and lamp (Target)

The mantel is one of my favorite things to decorate. When we lived in an apartment, I longed for a fireplace... not for the fires, but for the mantel! This year, I decided to keep it very neutral and a little more simple than last year. I found these brown vases in the Target Dollar Spot, the fake gourds are from last year, and I used one of my favorite vases, but updated it with some new stems of cotton.

vase (Crate and Barrel)

brown vases, basket, plaid throw (Target)

gourds and stems (Michaels)

mirror (Home Goods)

^^^ and can I tell you how upset Noah got over this basket? It usually says Noah (which it still does on the other side) and it's usually located near our sofa table. He noticed right away that is was moved and at first didn't care. But then when he was playing, he all of a sudden said "Why doesn't this say Noah?". I told him to turn it around, but apparently that wasn't enough. The tears began and not only did he want me to erase "Fall" and put "Noah" back on, but he also told me to put it back where it was before. This kid clearly doesn't like change!

Other than that, I kept our living room practical, and just added a bunch of pumpkins on side tables and bookshelves. In a few weeks, I will swap some of these regular pumpkins out for some jack-o-lanterns.

wooden "bowl" and white pumpkin (Target)

pumpkin candle (Pottery Barn)

pillow (Home Goods)

white and gold pumpkins (old Target)

wicker pumpkin (old Pottery Barn)

Next up, I added a few seasonal touches to my dining room. We don't have an eat in kitchen, so this is our main eating area. Because of that, I wanted to keep it functional and not set a formal table. Instead, I keep a stack of rattan placemats on the sideboard so we are ready for family meals. I kept the table simple with a buffalo check runner and used this gold tray to corral a few simple decor elements. It's the perfect combination for me... decorated, but still practical for the every day. We can still enjoy family meals here, but it's also a clear space for us to play board games and put puzzles together on!

gold tray, potted boxwood, candle, squirrel (Target)

table runner (Etsy)

^^^ Noah picked out the squirrel in the Target Dollar Section. It was between a squirrel and fox, and honestly both would have been super cute!

Other than the stack of chargers, I added some warm touches with the orange and yellow stems, a white owl, and orange pumpkins. While I love having fresh flowers in my house, when it comes to stems of leaves, I prefer to use artificial. There's just something about bringing stems in from the trees outside my house that makes me worry I'm gonna be inviting the bugs in!

owl and artificial stems (Michaels)

bronze pumpkin dish and white urn (Home Goods)

placemats (Ikea)

orange pumpkins (Target Dollar Spot)

Other than that, I love using smell to really make it feel like Fall! A potpourri filled pumpkin in the bathroom and a Fall candle in the kitchen. There's nothing better than the smell of Fall filling your house!

vase (Michaels)

dishtowel and candle (Target)

Flinn pumpkin (Etsy - similar)
potpourri pumpkin (TJ Maxx)
owl (Michaels)

Do you switch up your decor depending on the season? How do you like to decorate for Fall? As you can tell, when I think Fall, I think pumpkins! So what better way to celebrate the Fall season, then with an "All Things Pumpkin Party"!

Every Tuesday in October, we (Wife Mommy Me, Our Pretty Little Girls, and Hall Around Texas) will share something pumpkin themed... a craft, recipe, DIY decor project, homemade beauty product and so on. Anything goes, as long as there are pumpkins involved... it's really that simple! And since I highly doubt I'm the only one obsessed with pumpkins right now, I would love for you to join in with the pumpkin fun and link up with us! Just grab a button and meet us back here starting Tuesday, October 4th!