Christmas Decor 2013 - A Little Late

We finally got all of our holiday decor down this past weekend. The house feels so empty and lonely, I am probably the only one that feels that way, but I just love the twinkle of the Christmas lights and the tree. I know I didn't get to post our holiday decor during the holidays, but I like to have it documented so that I can look back on past years and remember what we did. We did change things up a little this year, and we also got rid of a ton of stuff. 

In the dining room we kept things kind of simple with mercury glass candle holders and one of my new favorite things that I found at Home Goods this year was were these silver ice skates, so fun!

I added some decor to the two shelves in the dining room as well. Now I have to figure what to put on them going forward, I know we have a couple of water globes. 

Our photo wall got lots of use throughout the season. Between neighbors, family and friends, we had a lot of fun posing with the lights, it was very festive and I will definitely be doing this again. 

This is Stella's tree. At least that is what we call it. I found some red and white pom pom garland this year and had a cute red and white tree skirt. The vase I bought on clearance at the end of the season at Target last year. I love the cable sweater look and just added some gold ornamental seasonal flowers. 

The tree before my sister and her family got to our house with their presents.

This was one of my favorite things I did this year. I found the basket at Home Goods and added the birch bark logs, the white LED lights and the greenery with berries. It looks so pretty all lit up in the sitting room. I think I will keep it through the winter, but just change the bow. 

I love my Snowbabies, and my collection seems to grow a little each year. I just love the way they look in the built ins with the white trees. My parents gave me three or four more for Christmas this year. We have quite a few ornaments on the tree as well. 

On the other side, we have some vintage items as well as some other favorite Christmas decorations. I have lights throughout so that they can be back lit. 

Love our tree!

Inspiration Folder

Probably like a lot of you, before Pinterest, I had an inspiration folder that I kept on my PC for pictures I would find online, blogs and such. Now this folder is part of a back up on an external hard drive I keep, but I was browsing through it the other day to see if there was any new inspiration I could get from it. Its fun to see how my taste has changed and morphed over time. 

I love everything about this picture. What a great entryway.

I have always loved this room. I don't think I could get away with it anywhere in our house except for maybe my office. But the bright pink with the brown, love. The pattern on the chairs, perfect!

I love the gallery wall here and the lampshade. I am looking for a new lampshade for a lamp in the sitting room. I also love the pops of color against the white.

We have an old dressing table in the garage that we had hoped to use as a vanity in one of the bathrooms, but it is starting to look like that might not happen. I was thinking maybe the downstairs 3/4 bath, but with what we have planned, it doesn't look like it will fit in. I am still holding out hope as I love the look of this. But space in the garage and getting our cars in there for the winter is also a consideration.

The whole look of this room to me is just serene and perfect. Great choices in color, the art on the walls, the chairs and I love the curtains.

One of the rooms coming up next is our eat in kitchen as well as the kitchen. We have some big decisions to make there, but, the eat in kitchen area I think we can just make some cosmetic changes and it will feel more like our house and space. I love these colors, but I also realize that we have already committed to some accent color choices due to the red stools we bought over a year ago. The other accent color we have committed to is turquoise, with all of the pyrex we have. Now we just need to pick a wall color and pull it all together. I do think the lighter gray that we have in the entryway, dining room and sitting room, might just work. Or at least something a little lighter.

I think this is such a great idea. It is a decal of a recipe for classic caesar dressing from Pottery Barn. But I think you could probably have one made up from someone on Etsy with almost any recipe.

These pictures are actually hanging in my laundry room. So these were true inspiration. I need to take some pictures of that room and post it. The only thing left to do in that room is change out the ugly laundry tub with something nicer, but overall the room looks good!

I need to show this picture to the boy. I think that we could actually use some of the ideas here for our family room. We don't really know what to call that room, family room, media room, tv room, living room. It is where the two of us and Stella really hang out the most when we are home. What do you call that room at your house?

I actually like this picture even better and I think we can use a lot of the inspiration from here. We want our tv mounted over the fireplace, we are definitely planning on that. I love the arches on the shelves on both sides too. The boy wants to center our fireplace and convert it to gas. You can see what a big project this room is going to be.

It was fun to go through these pictures I had not seen in a while and get some fresh ideas. I can't wait to show this last picture to the boy, I think he will like some of the ideas!

Fall Flowers

One of my favorite things on a regular basis is fresh flowers. The Farmers market, Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, Byerly's, wherever I happen to be during the week I will grab a bunch to bring home and arrange. It just makes it feel more like home to me.

I love the fall flowers though. The colors, the variety of flowers and mixing them all together. As I buy a new bunch, before I throw the old bunch out, I will rinse the stems off of anything that that still looks good and add it to the new flowers.

I have a closet in the mudroom, with two shelves full of different vases and flower containers. Its always fun to pull a different one down and figure out how to put them into the containers so that they display the best.

I always love sunflowers. Such a great yellow. I think I need to add to my ta-da list to take a flower arranging class. Would be a fun winter activity. I would just want to make sure that it was fresh flowers!

Plans for the weekend? We decided to hit up a restaurant on our list for restaurant week tonight. We have friends joining us, so it will be fun to catch up with them as well. We will also be venturing out to look at a few more love seats. Would love to be able to make a decision by this weekend!

Bachman's Idea House - Winter 2012

On Sunday after my sister and her family left, my mom and I decided to go over and check out the Bachmans Idea House. We have been a couple of other times, and they always have some really good ideas and inspiration.

A little background, the Bachman family has been around since the late 1800's in the twin cities. The home, which is on the property of the first and largest store. You can find more information here. They always do such fun and wonderful things with the house, this season it was styled after a rustic lodge. Everything in the house is actually for sale, and you can actual purchase things before the house is over for the season. There were a couple things I would have loved to purchase, but they were already sold. I will be keeping my eye out though.

How cute is this with the old toboggan, not sure if you can see it, but it spells out Peace, so cute! 

Who doesn't love an outdoor fireplace? 

Love the use of the ski's with the wreaths. 

Its hard to see in this picture, but the deer actually has branches which makes it look like antlers.

Love the way the window boxes are so festive and seasonal. 

The bells were my favorite part of this!

Another great use of old skis. 

The ribbon is so festive on the drapes in the sunroom.

There was an old church pew in our garage when we moved in, I am just waiting for the boy to refinish it. Can't wait to find the right place for it. 

My mom and I just loved the stacked suitcases with glass on top made into an end table. SO cute! The lamp gives it a more contemporary feel. Hard thing is finding flat suitcases. 

These are those battery operated lit twigs. They looked so pretty in the corner. I want to try to add something like this to our decor this year. 

Loved this wine rack. Something I definitely want for our lower level when it is completed. 

This is a fun piece, there is a better picture below, but I think it can be made from pallets and mirrors. 

LOVED this wreath, something else I am going to try to incorporate into our decor this season. 

This is another end table where they used a trunk, so cute. 

What a fun thing to use for a wine holder! Now where do I find one. 

Another shot of the wreath with the feathers. 

Cute idea to make for a buffet. 

This is the front of the island, loved this, what do you think? Pallets?

I loved all of the candles on the mantle, so simple and pretty. 

Doors to a built in, how unique!

Onto the dining room, adorable chair covers!

Loved all of the use of horns and antlers. 

I would have purchased this wooden tool box, so many uses.

This clock scale would look really cute in my kitchen, I found a couple online, now just need to pull the trigger, but it is more $$ than I thought, so I need to make sure this will work there. 

We have a great window over the sink. These little cups with sweaters over them were so adorable.

I can see this apron coming in handy over the holidays. 

Old french doors with the glass removed and replaced with mirrors. 

I have a great place to hang wreaths like this!

They had drawn a tree on the wall and put family pictures on the wall, great idea!

More mirrors on the wall!

This is something I definitely would have scooped up. I am always looking for places to hang my necklaces. 

An old window, lit and used as a headboard. It looks like it could have come from a church. 

Burlap trees.

I really liked this lamp. I have been thinking about updating a couple of the lamps in our house. 

I think my nephews would like this sign. 

This was above the toilet in the bathroom. Great place to hang a finger towel. 

Boys room, I bet there are a lot of boys who would love this room. 

I thought this was unique, they hung two lockers sideways. 

The girls room, my niece would love that purple tree!

This was different colored tissue paper over the lamp shade. Another good idea for her room. 

This was by far my favorite idea in the house. A barn wood frame with a fun picture in the middle. And then,

You open the doors to reveal a tv. How great is that? My mom and I thought that would be a wonderful way to disguise a tv. 

Love this idea for drapes. I am thinking our bedroom, but have to find the right ones. 

SO many good ideas. I love going and checking things out. It is open until December 16th and is $5 to tour the house. You then get a coupon for the shop, $10 off when you spend $25 or something like that!