Decorating the Living Room for Christmas. Even just saying it brings everything to a level of realism that Christmas is here, the season of giving. The season of family and traveling to be together. Maybe that's why I love Christmas so much or maybe it's the food. Ok, a small part of it. This year I actually started decorating the week before Thanksgiving but I took my time. I got my living room tree done weeks ago but getting this room straightened up long enough to photograph was the problem.  I soaked grapevine coil overnight and then let it drain for an hour before putting it on my pre-lit tree. Doing that made it so much easier to wrap it in the long vine. It still made a bit of a mess but I had a lot less breakage and it was easier to bend and twist the way I wanted it. I also added burlap ribbon, huge pine cones, black ornaments and glass. Every kind of clear glass ornament I could find locally. Online I found two boxes of glass icicles to add to my collection al......

Christmas Lights Lighting up our home for Christmas is something I look forward too every holiday. I can honestly say we have inspired our neighborhood too. When we moved in, no one had lights outside. Now about 5 other houses are joining in by stringing lights outside and I love it! If I had my way, our neighborhood would be completely filled and there'd be a group tour of our holiday spirirt! Icicle lights are strung all around the perimeter of our home. This is what kicked off my lighting urge. Then we do the porch and decide how far to go from there. Last year we added a family of life sized deer. Which proved to be a bit high maintenance due to the windy conditions we keep getting. Greg had to use tent stakes to reinforce "Dad" because the spot I allocated for him, apparently is a wind tunnel. Sorry honey. He also swags the fence on the inside of our property and lines the garden beds with lights as well! I tried holding out for snow to get some really sweet loo......

Decorating the Bedroom & Hallway for Christmas Decorating our master bedroom always seems like it's on the short end of the stick. As I get older and find myself retreating to this space more and more for relaxation, I am finding it a lot easier to spend some money here. I've also figured out where to spend it and where to save it. You begin to learn as you age what you really like and what you can skimp on. For example; my tree is a flocked white Walmart tree bought last year. The industrial metal salvaged box however, was not purchased at a discount store. And I love it! I love salvaged pieces I can use as multi-purpose. I know I can put them to good use. Yes I bought 2. I went back to the store a week later and bought #2. I don't know why I just followed my instincts. It's counterpart is holding some blankets underneath a chalk painted vintage sewing machine I got for literally only paid ten bucks for by our bed. I put grapevine on this tree too and it really......

Dining Room Decorated for Christmas Each room I decorated this year I am taking my time on. I still feel that tension to try and get it done as fast as I can but when I look back and see pictures of all the rustic detail I've added to the tree in the dining room? I'm glad I took my time! The Dining Room calls me at night especially. The tree lights and lights just draw me in there every night, just to gaze and stare. Scroll down in this post and there's a link to a YouTube video I created while I did the tablescape. I also took these shots with my new camera. Believe me I wanted to cheat and use my I phone because editing RAW images takes me a lot longer then the way I've been doing it for years, so it was hard for me not to cheat. The sign was purchased last year at Kirkland's. I loved it so much that I hung it back in the same spot, but you'll notice I moved my tree to a new corner. I used an owl on this tree as well. He's perched up as a topper wit......