Welcome, everyone, to my holiday home style 2017! If you're new to my blog, my mentioning just a few things will clue you in on my decor style. I am traditional in my decor, with a fusion of vintage and antique items in the mix. I love Christmas - it is my favorite holiday. Each year, I break out all my reds, greens, plaids and checks like there's no tomorrow. With that, let me share some of my new holiday home styling I've done for Christmas 2017.
We
updated our kitchen early in 2017, and one of the smartest styling decisions I made was to reconfigure my breakfast area's bar / wine rack to open shelves. This has allowed me much more flexibility in decorating and in how the space is actually used. Pictured below, you can see my holiday home style for 2017 in that area.
I've made this bar area - which is immediately adjacent to the kitchen - a self-service, hot beverage bar. MacKenzie-Childs chargers and mugs are as stylish as they are functional, and serve as the backdrop. Most of my nutcrackers have found a new home here, and tartan plaids can be found throughout, on everything from the riser box (top shelf, holding tree candle), to the mugs and dishes (second shelf), down to the tray and napkins on the counter.
Coffee, tea and hot chocolate are garnered in a handmade covered rope bowl from a local artist, perched on a Courtly Check pedestal, while spoons are held in a small pot.
The little night light in the back corner is a vintage find - an angel trumpeting. She is perched on a silver compote topped with a small Courtly Check plate.
Just behind this bar, with open flow entry from both the kitchen and breakfast area, is the sunroom. It is my favorite space in the house for relaxing and casual entertaining. The sunroom is a spacious 16' x 20', and for Christmas, I usually style this space with a woodland, rustic approach. With windows on three walls, and a ceiling which is all windows (with built-in blinds), the light is incredible in here. Although climate controlled with a separate heating/cooling unit, we use mostly indoor/outdoor furniture and other vintage pieces to minimize sun damage.
The winter area rug grounds my favorite seating area which includes the chaise lounge. I've very liberally mixed various plaids and patterns in this area for the holidays. The stepback hutch pictured below is one of the carefree vintage pieces I use in this space. It is situated on the wall directly behind the beverage bar just shared. You can also see the kitchen through one of two sliding glass door entries, and a reflection of the chaise in that glass. A loveseat glider with plaid throw sits in front of that door.
Here's a closer view at how I've styled the hutch in the sunroom for Christmas 2017.
The top shelf is styled with collected spools of yarn and cotton thread - perfect as trees - and topped with red bells. The tan Santa mugs are estate sale finds. The plates on the hutch sport sleighs filled with holly, birds and gifts (Pier 1, last year).
The second shelf has a few woodland creatures: my woodland elf Santa, a deer topped Ball jar, ready for candy or marshmallows, and
Mr. Fox, one of my most recent finds. The 'tree' in front of Mr. Fox is a stack of vintage, graduated Scotch Brand tape tins! It, too, is topped with a red bell. Another vintage Santa mug and thermos finish off that shelf. The matching lunchbox to the thermos is sitting on the hutch counter with another (taller) thermos. I keep dishes conveniently at the ready on the hutch, accessible near the kitchen space, which I typically use for buffet food service with company.
The sitting area pictured below is just across from the chaise area and french doors to the outside. The area rug with loaded truck motif is just inside the french door opening. My trusty olive bucket, filled with my fallen birch logs, pine cones, red ball ornaments and lights is just beyond the opening.
The outdoor furniture in the sunroom is almost thirty years old and has held up to high heat and heavy use. The chairs swivel and rock slightly, so they're conducive to engaging with company in various directions of the long space. The baker's rack holds some of my garden books and supplies, and there are a few plants in this back area. The corner table is set with whimsical holiday decor, new this year.
Another plaid blanket from my vintage stash was first draped over the table, and the new-for-2017 decorating followed. I started with my red truck (first used
here).
The deer couple are driving the truck, with the freshly 'cut' tree (preserved boxwood), and have already strung the lights. ;)
I then proceeded to create a snowman. With three preserved boxwood balls I've had for years, and a dowel rod from the garage, I simply skewered the boxwoods to make the snowman. I found sticks and dried magnolia seed pods to trim as arms, eyes, nose and buttons. The top hat was a tree topper. I placed the snowman inside a gift box atop a stool covered with polyfill, the end result giving the appearance of snow on a hilltop.
My inspiration for the snowman came one evening while perusing my MacKenzie-Childs holiday catalog. I had everything on hand needed for this, so the savings was huge when you compare the two. Once Christmas is over, I can simply deconstruct and use the boxwood balls otherwise.
A view of the sunroom from the breakfast area (below).
Playing around with new holiday vignettes each year is always fun, and mixing with my existing decor is always my goal. I have begun a new holiday tablescape, and it will appear in a post next week, and I hope you'll return. :)
Once I play around with new ideas, the rest of my holiday decorating flows in traditional, tried-and-true fashion. For example, my outdoor decor was set on Black Friday, with a perfectly mild weather, sunny day. The Japanese maple has yet to drop its leaves; meanwhile it frames the poinsettia flag in the garden.
Capturing the photo below just as I finished the outdoor decor, I was delighted to find the crescent moon centered between my dormer windows. Simple pleasures!
If you'd like to see how my traditional holiday decor runs through the rest of my home and garden, you can click on my
2016 tour here. It's also still featured on my sidebar.
Thank you for visiting today, and I hope you'll come back again! If you're a new reader and like my content, you may subscribe to my blog on my sidebar by providing your email. That way, new posts will conveniently arrive in your inbox when published. I am a non-revenue generating blog, and I do not sell or provide your email to anyone.
This week, I am participating in a holiday home tour, hosted and organized by Chloe Crabtree of the blog,
Celebrate and Decorate (thank you, Chloe!). See the complete list of bloggers participating below, each and all sure to inspire you. I've provided links to their blogs, and I will be updating the list as the week continues, so you can come back here and find the direct links to each one's holiday home tour.
Monday
Tuesday
Thursday
Friday
Do you completely change your holiday decor from year to year, or are you a traditionalist, keeping and re-using most or all of your holiday decor? Do you purge - selectively or entirely - your holiday decor each year? I'm curious. Leave me a comment if you care to share your thoughts.
(A big thanks to Kathryn at The Dedicated House Sunday Showcase from Make It Pretty and Richella at Grace at Home No. 277 for featuring this post!)
Happy Holidays!
Rita C. at Panoply
Sharing: One More Time, Amaze Me, DIDI, BNOTP, Show & Share, Inspire Me, Make it Pretty, The Scoop, Dagmar's Home, Celebrate Your Story, Totally Terrific Tues, SYS, SYC, Delightsome Life H&G, Grace at Home, Vintage Charm, Foodie Friday & Everything Else and I'm also sharing at Common Ground and Follow the Yellow Brick Home:
