Christmas Home Tour 2021

 I honestly can't believe I'm already talking about Christmas, considering my last post was about Fall decor. 

I think that's more a reflection on how poorly I keep up with this account more so than the passing of time. But regardless, fall has absolutely flown by and Christmas is more than underway. 

I'm actually feeling the itch to go wrap presents which has to mean it's fully the Christmas season, right? 

Let's just be honest, this will more than likely be my last post of the year so I figured we couldn't let it pass without sharing all the fun Christmas decor. 

So here's to the beautiful Christmas season and all the fun trimmings that go with it. I'll share my favorite spaces of the house with you & try my best to list sources as I go. I'm feeling extra sentimental about it this year since there's a pretty good chance it may be our last Christmas in this house. As we embark on a crazy adventure to build our dream house, it's looking more and more likely that the possibility of not being here next year may come true. 

So even more of a reason to document it fully! 

The main focal point of my decor every year is our mantle/fireplace. It tucks into the corner of our living room and sets the tone for the entire house. 

I opted for lots and lots of layered neutrals this year with pops of red throughout the rest of the house. 

The mantle this year sort of just fell together with a mix of past decor and a few new pieces this year. 

The tree is always my Achilles heel when decorating. I get a little better each year but it still doesn't achieve pro status. 

I opted to weave two types of ribbon through the tree in golds and rose golds and then the kids helped heap all our family ornaments on it. 

Hubby made the wood box that goes around it last year and I just love it so much. Our cats destroy tree skirts so that has never been a great idea in our house :) 

I love that the tree drips with family memories all throughout it! 

Even as the kiddos get bigger and don't shadow me while decorating as much (Little bit still does but easily gets distracted, this year by books) our pup, Rosey, has dutifully taken up being my shadow and follows me everywhere to check out what I'll put up next. 

Plus, she's always willing to pose in my photos which is endearing :) 

This year, the centerpiece of the fireplace became a beautiful mirror that I got for my birthday last year. It was perfect for spring decor and it popped in my head for my neutral Christmas set-up too. 

I hung a simple wooden snowflake from it to add a little holiday touch to it. 

I used several different golden candlesticks to lift my little village houses to varying heights throughout the set-up. They all light up and it's so pretty at night! 

I wove lights and simple flocked garland throughout the base of the whole thing for a little texture and glam. 

The large flocked trees were a new addition this year, I found them at Kirklands and fell in love. These are actually the medium size and they light up too! I felt like they were the perfect grounding pieces with the large mirror. I added a few other sizes of trees to taper it down as you reach the end of the mantle. 

The bell garland is simple but elegant and I love the vintage touch it brings the whole look! It's strung across and attached with command hooks. The greenery garland does a great job of hiding my hooks. 

The cute golden tiered trees were another new find this year that looked perfect tucked into the whole set-up! I scattered a few vintage gold bells throughout for a little more touch of vintage glam too. 

Our stockings are from last year- I opted for two different types of white stockings for a little texture and interest. They are hung with little white cup hooks that screw directly into the trim around the fireplace. 

This is our first year with our new white tiled fireplace and I just love the look of the stockings against the sparkling tile! 

Those darling stocking tags are from a favorite small shop, Oak Knoll Creations. 

This little set-up is tucked right next to the Christmas tree in the living room. The matching chair gets banished to the garage for the Christmas season while these two get some holiday glam. 

I recently painted the hardware gold on my little table and I'm loving it. The touches of gold on the table are the perfect finishing touches and I used my tried & true wood slices and cover-less books to provide some height to the vignette. 

That little Christmas pillow on the chair is a placemat pillow I made years ago and it's still going strong. I love the vintage feel it gives off! 

Looking at these photos makes me wonder about painting the hardware gold on this piece too! However, I have big plans for it in the new house so I'm holding off on any adjustments here :) 

I opted for more neutral colors in the dining room with lots of touches of gold & wood tones with some greenery in the wreaths! 

These trees have been gathered for the past few years and look perfectly stunning on their own with a simple wood bead garland and gold ornaments strewn around. 

I try to keep the tabletop simple in case we need to move things off for family dinners. So a simple tree surrounded by some DIY gifts I made years ago felt perfect. 

I added a few brass candlesticks, gold ornaments and couple little houses I found this year. Aren't those tiny golden trees the cutest?? 

A few fun Christmas touches reached the kitchen (I'm always terrible at photographing those spaces so I tried to remember this year!)

I added a little grouping in our coffee area & a little right in the middle of the island. 

Honestly, layering cookie cutters throughout the ornaments balls is one of my favorite little touches! 

One of my favorite things to bring out each Christmas- this hand carved nativity scene we bought while in Silver Dollar City at Christmas time. It's such a special reminder of the season. 

Maggie's little toy kitchen got a little Hot Chocolate love for the season too :) 

The foyer gets extra love during the holidays since it's the first area you see when walking in. 

My Harry Potter magical tree lives here and you can see all the enchanting details about it here. 

My faux mantle is on a huge wall and needs large pieces to make it look filled. 

I layered a huge white mirror that I had repurposed years ago with another thrifted mirror that I did a treatment on years ago that allowed it to have a vintage, mercury glass look to it. I love that you can peek through that mirror just barely. 

More neutral wood tones, brass and golds are layered throughout. 

This new countdown was a fun find this year and I love the white & wood tones. It stretches across the mantle beautifully! You move the star to a new house to count down to Christmas. 

The little brass reindeer & sleigh are one of my most favorite thrifted finds ever. 

And, of course, my magical Hogwarts tree is one of my favorite details. I started this tradition last year and love it just as much this year. 

Every year, we bring out our collection of christmas books to read throughout the season. It's like finding brand new books every time!!! 

I added a few pops of red on my foyer table because I love it against the faint blue of my table so much. Those trees were the very first trees I DIY-ed almost 10 years ago! 

I love that the little wooden reindeer look like they are prancing through a Christmas forest. 

Our entertainment center doesn't get much so as to not be too distracting but I love glamming it up just a touch. 

The Frame TV got new art for the season which is such a fun element. 

I added a cluster of gold trees & candlesticks to either side of the entertainment center and my absolute favorite piece, my huge white reindeer that we lovingly named Prancer a couple years ago. I love that he's keeping watch over the room :) 

We didn't go big on our front porch this year and opted for a few simple lit trees, creates and a little bit of red under our cute door mat. It's all Rosey approved :) 

I hope you enjoyed my little Christmas tour. 

It makes my heart happy to decorate every year and I just love sharing it with all of you. 

I'll add a source list below for each area and try the best I can to share where I got certain things! 

I wish you an incredibly Merry Christmas season & blessings to all of you! 

Thank you for hanging with me & blessing me with your presence. 

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Source List: 

Fireplace Mantle: 

Mirror: Hobby Lobby

Wooden Snowflake: Hobby Lobby

Large flocked trees: Kirklands

Greenery garlands: Hobby Lobby

Golden Candlesticks: At Home

Marble & gold candlesticks: Tuesday Morning

Small golden trees: Target Dollar Spot

Lit Houses: Hobby Lobby

Bell garland: Michaels 

Stockings: Hobby Lobby

Stocking Tags: Oak Knoll Creations (Etsy) 

North Pole Pillow: Ross

Red Blanket: TJ Maxx

Couch: Hanks Fine Furniture

Tree: Wayfair 

White Table Set-up: 

Reindeer Head: TJ Maxx

Tree: Gifted

Table: Thrifted & Painted by me

Star Candle: Tuesday Morning

Lamp: Hobby Lobby

Chair: Target

Pillow: Made by me 

Dining Room: 

White Trees: Tuesday Morning

Wreaths: Hobby Lobby

Mirrors: Hobby Lobby

Wooden Gifts: DIY by me

Houses: Hobby Lobby & Target

Kitchen:
Copper reindeer: TJ Maxx

Wooden Tree: TJ Maxx

Mistletoe Sign: Oak Knoll Creations (Etsy) 

Night Before Christmas Sign: Hobby Lobby

White Tree: TJ Maxx

Cookie Cutters: Walmart 

Front Porch: 

Red Plaid rug: Hobby Lobby

Doormat: Oak Knoll Creations (Etsy) 

Hot Chocolate Bar Sign: Hobby Lobby

Jolly Sign: Oak Knoll Creations (Etsy) 

Foyer: 

Mirrors: Thrifted & DIY'ed by me

Countdown: Kirklands

Wooden Sign: Oak Knoll Creations (Etsy)

Bells: Hobby Lobby

Brass Snowflake: Hobby Lobby

Brass Sleigh: Thrifted

White Poufs: TJ Maxx

Red Trees: DIYed by me

Wooden Trees: Hobby Lobby

Reindeer: Hobby Lobby 

Entertainment Center: 

TV: Samsung The Frame Tv

Art on TV: Alluring View Shop (Etsy) 

Golden Trees: Hobby Lobby

Golden Candle Trees: Target

White Reindeer: Unknown

Candlesticks: Thrifted

Entertainment Center: Thrifted and redone by me 

Stars Hollow Inspired Fall Mantle

 So I've shared my Harry Potter entryway, and now it's time to share a peek into the living room and a nod to my other favorite thing in the world, the world of Stars Hollow :) 

If you're not a Gilmore Girl fan, you might not see the excitement in this but it's been a huge part of my heart for a long time now. 

Hubby and I got the chance to visit Stars Hollow in Burbank, CA right before the pandemic hit and it was the most amazing and magical experience. I resonated so much with Lorelai throughout the entire show and it made up a huge part of my young adult life following their story. So, Stars Hollow will always have my heart. 

A sweet friend actually gifted me the amazing Stars Hollow poster print and I created a frame to display it. 

It's the fall version of the town and has the perfect golden hues throughout it. 

I love that it's 'character' but subtle and unique in displaying a favorite show. 

Because it had the beautiful golden hues already in it, it was easy to add in my golds, amber bottles and neutrals like books & wood slices throughout to accent it. 

I'm obsessed with all the gold/brass candlesticks I can find so a few of them layered throughout the mantle were the perfect accessories. I added gold tapered candles to them for even more of a fall feel. 

I've loved amber bottles for a while now and try to pick them up when I see them for good deals at flea markets and antique stores. 

This year, I stuck a few golden hued leaves and picks in them. Make sure to fluff them out. 

Books for height and neutral wood beads help keep the poster the star of the show but give pretty texture and layers to the entire set-up. I use these year round throughout my decor and love that I can just switch out a few accessories to make them more seasonal. 

If your books aren't quite the right color on the spine and you aren't into ripping the covers off, simply turn them around to display the whites and creams of the pages themselves. 

I layered a few neutral colored pumpkins throughout as well for a fun seasonal nod. You can never have too many pumpkins! 

Item sources: 

Candlesticks: Thrifted

Taper candles: Hobby Lobby

Books: Thrifted/found

Amber bottles: Thrifted

Stars Hollow Poster: Etsy shop Window Shop Gal 

Frame: DIY by me 

Pumpkin: Hobby Lobby

Wood slices: found

Leaf picks: Hobby Lobby 

Hogwarts Inspired Fall Entryway

 There's already so much magic in bringing out the fall decor, why not add a little more to it?? 

I posted last year about my magical tree I added to our Christmas mix and thought I'd share my new favorite fall tradition I added last year- creating a Hogwarts Inspired Entry way to usher in fall.

When my oldest son asked to redecorate his room about a year and a half ago, it meant putting away all the Harry Potter decor it had in it too. I wasn't ready to pack it up and never see it again so I decided to add it to my annual fall decor set-up. It pretty much took on a life of it's own and took over the entire foyer entryway...and I'm not mad about it at all. 

Want to see a little bit of the magic? I'll share a few DIY creations I added to the mix in case you'd like to create your own magic... and by a few, I mean nearly all of it was completely handmade. 

Let's take a peek...

I am not a huge fan of overly 'characterized' things which is really easy to fall into when recreating things from books/movies. I didn't want figurines, cartoons, etc in the set-up and instead want it to have a more authentic, real-world feel to it. Which pretty much comes down to creating a lot of things by hand. 

The authentic part of creating Hogwarts absolutely comes down to it looking worn out, old, centuries of wear/tear/magic throughout it. Which is basically my love language so we work well together :) 

I wanted a classroom/Potions set-up to take up the main area on the foyer table (you can't see it, but there's a tiny key with wings on it in the lock of the drawer- it's been there for a couple years now and is just the cutest little detail). 

I filled a handmade wooden box that Hubby made me years ago with all my potion bottles, trinkets, maps, wands, artifacts that felt magical enough and it filled up the table nicely. I used old barn wood pieces that we literally broke the ends off to give it an authentic worn out feel to create a Potions sign. Black paint and hand tracing letters onto the board worked easily enough. Don't forget to distress the heck out of your signs though. Hogwarts is old, remember? 

I ended up keeping the poufs under the table that I have there year round and draped a Hogwarts robe over one. A friend made several for us years ago. 

Throughout the Potions box, tapered gold candlesticks (a fun find a friend found for me!) are tucked in. Nothing screams magical more than flickering candelight in the evenings. 

For potion bottles, I collected various bottles and glass vases from Goodwill or discarded liquor bottles and created Potion bottles with them. 

A few I painted with white paint and then distressed and a few I left clear (the ones with fun textures/designs are great for this!) and maybe added a few things to them. For Gilly Water, I hot glued faux moss around the top and stuck in a few faux floral stems that screamed pond/swamp. You can find Potion labels all over the internet- Etsy has tons or Google free printables to get the ones you like. To age them, dye them in tea or crinkle them up before gluing to your bottles. I like to print mine on white or beige cardstock for an older look, more sturdier, look. 

                  

I tucked feathers, faux stems, taper candles, old books and handmade wands throughout to fill the box entirely. The more 'cluttered', the better. Imagine that Potions classroom at Hogwarts and how filled with ingredients and dust it was :) 

If you have jars and containers from places like Universal Studios, this is a great to add them in without looking hokey. Honeydukes boxes, candy jars, wand boxes, chocolate frogs, etc would all be so cute tucked throughout the display. 

For the upper part of my entryway, I decked my faux mantle out with all kinds of signs and various accessories. 

This is where you would need the larger items to fill up space but still create an old, spooky castle feel. For my larger pieces, I used a piece that I created from old wood and chicken wire and then layered it was a mirror that I had acid-treated years ago for an aged look. Although not overtly Hogwarts or Harry Potter, they fit the theme well and are perfect layering pieces to bring everything together! 

Then I added in my more themed pieces with a DIY framed quote from the books (again, scrap wood and cheap trim pieces are what I keep on hand for everything. You wouldn't believe how much money you can save by creating signs yourself!). 

Vintage brass candlesticks are the perfect pieces to start collecting if you are looking for a similar set-up. Check flea markets, Goodwill and other secondhand stores to get your collection going. They are the perfect magical filler and I can't get enough of them! 

Another trick for signs is to use old cabinet doors. Find them roadside, at flea markets or Habitat Restores and keep them on hand for a quick, already made blank canvas for signs. I used one for this Gringotts sign and created a stencil with my Silhouette to paint it in gold. Then swiped a bit of gold all around the black edges for a more mystical look. 

The Diagon Alley is another new one I added this year. I wanted it to resemble one of those directional street signs you might find on a cobblestone path leading into it. I took the worst part of one of my pieces of wood and literally cracked it in half to create the jagged edges. 

A little red paint, gold stenciling and a lot of distressing later, it looks like one you might find on a 1000 year old road, right?? 

Again, flea market finds are your best bet at getting the authentic feel! Any time I'm out just browsing, I always try to keep an eye out for something that screams 'magical'. All of these items above were bought for less than $5 a piece at various antique stores & flea markets. 

Those tiny amber medicine bottles were perfect for a little Liquid Luck. I added a little gold Rub n Buff to the lids and gold vinyl as labels. 

The brown pedestal bowl and blue glass orb were perfect to look like things Dumbledore would have tucked on his shelves somewhere. Or maybe in Trelawney's classroom. 

I found that gorgeous perfume bottle gilded with gold all over it already and thought it looked very "Love Potion'-eque. Just added a little water with red food coloring for the finishing touch. 

A simple terra cot pot is the perfect Mandrake prop with a little white paint, a label and a random root sticking out of it. Definitely needed a little Herbology in the mix :) 

Always keeping an eye out for magical items meant that these amber candles from the Target Dollar Spot were the perfect find to create ingredient jars out of. I simple turned them so the candle labels were at the back and added gold vinyl for lettering to them. They even had these cute cork toppers already on them! 

This chair was a new addition this year as well. While cleaning out the attic, I found it tucked in the corner from an old DIY I had done. Rather than throw it out (which almost happened!), I decided to embrace the rustic-ness of it and painted it black. The wooden seat was perfect for a little stain and gold lettering. 

I feel like touches like these make it have the most authentic feel. Who wouldn't want a chair from the Gryffindor Common Room?? 

I tucked an old crate with Hogwarts Lettering on it under the chair and filled it with all my DIY papers- Marauder's Map, Privet Drive letter, Hogsmeade permission slip, Gringotts bank slips and DIY textbooks peeking out from behind. 

A cauldron from World Market sits next to the chair filled with a broom (Nimbus 2000 to be exact!) and a Gryffindor Scarf spilling out. Again, tucking in bought 'new' items in with the old is the perfect way to keep it from becoming too character-y. 

The other side of the foyer still needs a few magic touches but I have to leave a few projects for each year, right? For now, my DIY 'Three Broomsticks' sign hangs from the opposite wall. Promising Butterbeer and magical memories for sure :) 

Anyone else creating magical spaces in their homes for the fall season? 

I'd love to see any of your projects or rooms inspired by my set-up, it would make my day! Feel free to email or comment below so we can all be inspired. I hope this fun set-up inspires you to usher in some magic of your own!!!