Christmas House Tour 2014

I LOOOVE Christmas decorations. It’s in the blood. We used to tease my mom that she didn’t have a Christmas tree more like a Christmas Forest. I went with lighted garland on the porch which, frankly, is the proper way to decorate a porch. Come and look at this website for more tips in real estate and more.

The Outside

I’ve done the lighted garland every year and this year I added the Candles in the windows.  The 3rd floor definitely needs one as well.  Eventually, I’d like to also add a large wreath and some lighting up top. I’m thinking perhaps a gutter-clip light to illuminate the top half of the house. I’m a big fan of landscape lighting and I think illuminating the top of the house would be a good year-round touch. Later I will have to think when to start a Gettysburg gutter cleaning.

I’m not super pleased with how the garland fell around that center post.  I kept meaning to fix it but time.  Always time.

I have a small wreath on the front door but the porch light is on and you can see the glimmer of the Christmas tree through the window.  You can see I have some extension cords hanging.  Again with the time.  I want to get some clips permanently installed for the extension cords.  Next year I’d also like to get some festive pillows etc. on the swing.  And one day, we will get rid of that awful siding. This Creative Design Agency CRBN help us for a really affordable cost.

The Front Entry

Inside the front door we see tree number 1.  I made that tree topper which I’m super proud of.  I wrote a blog post on it I’m so proud of it: here.

The tree is covered in ornaments from our wedding. In addition to a traditional guest book, we had our guests sign ornaments.  This ornament guest book was the whole reason we had a December wedding.  I had this brilliant idea and we designed the wedding around it.  Sometimes I get ideas like that: buy a house with a hole in the roof and design our lifestyle around it.

From the stairs you can see the tree in the entry as well as a peek of the tree in the piano room and entrance to the garage which have a new garage door we got online, find more info about this here. I also don’t believe I’ve showcased the light in the entry. We got it from this guy on craigslist, cleaned it up and voila. It’s a great light and is just the right size for the space.  Also a good shot of those parquet floors I LOVE.

The Piano Room

Ah yes, the playing with light exposure Christmas tree picture.  Well, here it is.  I like the stack of Christmas music on the piano seat.  I also like the paint swatches on the walls.  Some things just haven’t changed since last Christmas.

One thing that has changed, the tree.  I used all of my childhood ornaments on this tree last year but this year I went with vintage gold ornaments and all of my pinecone ornaments.  I really like pinecones.  I also used my new Tree Skirt and put the tree on a box to make it about 6 inches taller.  I highly recommend this little trick.  It makes it very easy to scale a tree to the room.

I put the Ball Wreath over the mantle this year.  I supported it on a vintage mirror since there isn’t a good hook in the wall yet.  I also left this cool old playbill I found for the Capital Theater which is the local movie theater just down the street.  I kept meanig to take the playbill upstairs but I kind of like how kitchy it makes everything look.

I channeled my mother with this little tree with vintage pink ornaments.  I don’t think I quite have the forest my mother has but I’m getting there.

Here’s another Mom-ism for you.  The Nutcrackers.  My mother started collecting nutcrackers when she was a girl.  For my entire childhood they lined the steps from largest to smallest and I have fond memories of fighting with my sister about rather or not feathers counted for height.   When my parent’s moved to a ranch style house with no stairs, my sister and I split the nutcrackers.  I had them on the stairs last year and Stefan HATED them.  To be fair, our stairs are a bit narrower than the ones I grew up with…ok, they are alot narrower.

The Dining Room

I must apologize for the mess.  I had half the serving-ware out for the party and I decided it was a good time to paint the back of the china cabinet.  But, I didn’t want to delay the post that long so messy picture it is.  The dining room hasn’t changed much.  We have the start of some crown-molding, a soon to be not-white china cabinet backing, and a new dining room table.

We picked this table up on Craigslist and refinished the top.  It really is a beautiful table.  I’ve switched from Minwax Polyurethane to Varathane and I am never, ever, going back.  It is that much better to use.

The Den

Since the new half bath (post coming soon) is functional and the Den is clean and ready to be occupied, I tried to extend the party to the second floor.  I put the desserts on that far table with the green tablecloth.  It worked OK.  I ended up going through much more food and much less dessert this way.  I should have added some desserts to the downstairs display as the night progressed.

After the Christmas Party the heat went back down to 64 from the toasty 70 that we keep it for guests.  It wasn’t 24 hours before the big, gray,  down TV watching blanket came out.  I didn’t even sneak in a picture first!  Also note the “light fixture” on the far side of the room.  We have a real light fixture and it will be installed…sometime before the next Christmas Party! Along with the exterior one (we had to find out more about the Northern Lights Exteriors service, but yeah, these guys seem to be reliable).  On the close side of the den we have a black ceiling fan that is infinitely practical and has a vintage industrial vibe that works in the space even if it is a ceiling fan.  The downside of the black ceiling fan: Vector is terrified of it!

I said it was in the blood.  Well, my mother used to sell “Nostalgia Wreaths” at craft fairs.  This one was made by 10 year old Sarah.  I remember getting chastised for using all the “good” stuff but I really like this little wreath.  Before I was into pine-cones I was into deer and the deer in the center of this one makes me smile.  I hung this wreath from a piece of satin ribbon and a tension rod.  Worked great.  I wouldn’t use it for my Ornament Wreath but for these lighter, less fragile wreaths, worked like a charm.

Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year from the Wolperts