Christmas Sneak Peek

I'm in the middle of decorating for local Christmas Tours and don't want to share too much here just yet but couldn't resist sharing a little....

My hubby brought home this little cedar tree and I thought it would be perfect for this empty space in the kitchen.  I simply adorned it with some of the wood gift tags I made.

And as you can see, I'm a jar person.  I love decanting all my dry goods into pretty vintage jars.  The more the merrier.  :)

 The two vintage paintings I actually found in a dumpster.  I was so drawn to them so I snatched them up and gave them a home in my kitchen. 

I was so excited to decorate the dining room this year.

The chippy red bench was also found by my hubby and I thought it was perfect for Christmas and our home in it's less than perfect condition.  (Sorry for the sun glaring in the photo)

I love using things from nature to decorate so these walnut tree stumps definitely got to come inside for the season.  I sanded them a little and sprayed them with a clear gloss.

And here's a little peak at our stairs.  I usually never share them because I don't like the staircase.  I dream of having a beautiful stair rail but for now, we don't.  I was inspired by Carla's stair project last year so I did my own version this year with one of my dad's favorite Christmas songs.

That's it for now!  I'll share more soon!

Take care!

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2012 Christmas Decor Ideas

Hey there!  I finished up our Christmas decor this past weekend.  Actually, it's been finished since Thanksgiving but it took me this long to photograph and blog about it.  Oh how I wish the Holidays could be less busy and more relaxing.....  :)

This year for the living room I seemed to be drawn to a campy, rustic cabin decor.  Mostly because of that wonderful buffalo check throw I came across.  It was my inspiration for the entire room.  And of course, I had to throw some industrial vintage decor in there too.

For the Christmas Tree, I always like to decorate it with ornaments that have a story or memory behind them.  Ours is filled with ornaments that we, as well as my parents bought for our kids every year since they were born.  Baby's First Christmas....

And funny little elves that are so old they are falling apart, that always make my kids laugh....

This year I also wanted to add vintage Bingo cards because they remind me of one of the first dates that hubby I went on 23 years ago.  We went to a local summer festival and played Bingo under a row of twinkly lights and stars until late into the evening and by the time the evening was over, I was head over heels. :)

We don't have any vintage Bingo cards so I did the next best thing.....I printed off images of them on cardstock, cut them out and threaded red and white bakers twine through a hole I punched in the top.

I fell in love with these aqua colored cards.

As well as these....

Just looking at the tree makes me smile because it is filled with so many wonderful memories.

This year I was drawn to red and white stripes so I continued that theme into the dining room.

I found these adorable little red stripe bowls at Crate and Barrel and fell in love. 

And the linen napkins came from this sweet little Etsy shop.  I loved the design and I love handmade even more. 

And that's it!  Don't you love decorating for the Holidays?  Are you like me and ready to take it all down the day after Christmas?  ;-)

Happy Holidays!

Diana

Christmas Advent Calendar - DIY

I've always wanted to make my own Advent Calendar and every year I never do.  It seems that whenever I finally have the time, December is half over and it seems kinda silly to make one at that point.

But this year, I did it.  And I'm so happy with how it turned out.

 It is Pottery Barn inspired and it cost less than $20 to make.

To start, I picked up a some little white mini metal pails at the Dollar Tree in the wedding favor section.  They come in packs of 3, so I bought 9 in order to have 25 pails.  I brought them home and spray painted them with chrome colored spray paint to give them a galvanized metal look.  You could also use galvanized metal pails but I couldn't find any locally, so, this was the next best thing.

After all the pails were dry, I attached numbers to the front with double sided tape.  Here's the printable I used for my numbers.  For some reason there were only 24, so, I found a 25 online that was similar and printed it out as well.

Next up was the frame.  I picked up 6 - 3 x 6's at Lowe's and cut them down to have 7 - 32 inch long boards.

I laid them front side down and attached two beams with screws to the back to keep them together.

After that was finished, I stained the entire piece with Minwax dark walnut stain.  (sorry, no picture)

I wanted to frame the piece to give it a finished look and to also hide the beams in the back, so, I measured the sides and bottom and cut each piece at a 45 degree angle to create a frame around it.  I made sure to buy 2 extra 3 x 6's for the frame and then just turned them on the side and attached with a nail gun.

Then I stained those as well.

To hang the little pails, I wanted to use something unique, so, I picked these vintage styled nails that I found in hubby's collection.

I basically just eyeballed everything and created 5 rows of 5 nails for the 25 pails, predrilling holes first.  I hung all the little pails and then stenciled JOY at the top with vintage stencils and here's how the whole thing turned out....

I think this is one of my favorite projects to date!  I'm so glad I made the time to try making one before December was half over.  :)

I can't wait to hide little treats and notes in those little pails for my kids and hubby to find each day until Christmas.  It will give them big smiles and they will love it...  :)

Stay tuned for how it looks in the room and more Christmas decor coming up!

Have a great day!
Diana