Christmas Decor in the Bedroom

Hello everyone!

This year, I decided to add a little Christmas cheer to my master bedroom.  This is a first for me!  I have never decorated it for the holidays before, but have always admired other people's bedrooms at Christmas.

So, I thought I would give it a try.  

I didn't do too much.  I simply added a pom pom wreath to the foot board and some garland to the head board.  My head board is flat like a mantel, so it allowed me to just lay it up there easily.

I also added some mercury glass candle holders on the chest beside the bed.  

Do you decorate any of your bedrooms for Christmas?

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Kelly ~

Birthday Disasters

Hello everyone!

Last night, we celebrated my oldest son's 21st birthday and our dog's 10th birthday.  However, they didn't go off without a hitch.  After I picked up a cookie cake, I was driving home and had to slam on my brakes in traffic.  The cookie cake slid off the backseat of my car into the floorboard!  Oh......my......gosh!  I reached back and lifted it back up onto the seat, but the damage was already done.  Thank goodness I have leather seats, so I could clean all the icing off of them after I got home.  Anyway, the cake looked a little messy, but most of it was salvaged in the end.  

I had to piece some of it back together.  Next time, the cake will be in the front seat with me so I can watch it better!

We took him out to eat and gave him what all 21 year olds want.............money!  

Here I am showing him his messed up cake. 

We really enjoyed having him home this year to celebrate. Last year he was away at Marines boot camp.

See all the icing on the lid?  Ugh!  He starts college in January, so we're glad that he's finally able to move on with his future.

Our dog, Max turned 10, so we got him a little something too.

Here he is jumping at the bag that contains his present.

He is a M.E.S.S!!!!  He hasn't slowed down a bit, even with turning 10.

We got him this little spongy orange toy.

He loved it too!  He wouldn't play with any other toy last night but that one.  The only problem, though, was it was the worst toy ever!   I would never buy it again.  It left a fine orange powder on everything it touched.   Then he quickly started tearing it apart.  So where do you think it ended up?  If you said the trash, you would be right. 

But, we're going to make it up to him.  We're going to take him to the pet store and let him find something else.  Yes, we treat him just like a human child.  

So, hopefully, that's it for the disasters around here.  Luckily, they were all minor and everyone still ended up having a good birthday.

Thanks for stopping by.

~ Kelly ~

White Winter Wonderland in the Family Room

Hello everyone!

Well, I should be saving all of my Christmas photos for a blog tour that I'm part of next week, but I just can't help myself to share it a little early.  

I decorated in mostly whites this year instead of the the red and white of years past.  

My Christmas tree is just a small table top tree that I placed on the table behind my sofa.  I love it there.  I don't know why I didn't place it there last year!  It is covered in white and silver ornaments and white lights.  

On the coffee table, I filled a weathered wood tray with greenery, candles, and pine cones. I even added my chunky beaded cross necklace to it.

The mantel is adorned with greenery (from the Country Living Fair) silver candlesticks and candles and grain sack style stockings.  I left the cotton wreath hanging above.

I ordered my stockings from Farmhouse Wares.

I saw this "LOVE" wall decor on someones blog and just loved it, so I went to Hobby Lobby and bought these letters (at half price) for myself.  

I'm really enjoying the white decor this season.  It really feels like a winter wonderland when the sun is shining in.

Be sure to join me next week when I share more of my home dressed for the holidays as part of a Christmas Open House blog tour. There will be many other inspiring blogs joining in too!

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Kelly ~

Christmas Touches in the Dining Room

Hello everyone!

This year, I'm using all neutrals in my Christmas decor inside.  White, silver, and beige are being mixed with greenery throughout to create a Swedish farmhouse look.  I am still tweaking some of my rooms, but my dining room is all set.  

For the center of my table, I chose an old crate and added a small tree wrapped in burlap.

I used an old blue and white grain sack as a table runner down the center.

On the sideboard, another tree wrapped in burlap was added  and some white candles and a glittered NOEL sign complete the look.

Christmas greenery was draped across my wall hutch too.

All in all, I'm keeping everything very understated this year.  Not much color and not much fuss.

Needing it to cool off some, here in GA, so it will feel more like Christmas!  It was pleasant while hanging my outdoor decorations though.  So, I guess I shouldn't complain.  

Thanks for stopping by.

~ Kelly ~

My Dining Room Chair Saga

Hello everyone!

I have always liked slip covered chairs!  That's no secret as most of my furniture has some sort of slipcover on it.  I guess it's like clothing for furniture, so that is why I like it so much.  So, what happens when your clothing doesn't fit so well? You buy something new!  Well, my husband was going to let me get some new dining room chairs for Christmas, so I decided which ones I wanted.  I chose the Anna slipcover chairs from World Market.  So, I went online and secured the stock (that was on sale) so we could pick it up from the store.  We had to drive around to three different stores to gather everything since one store didn't have everything.  We got home and pulled the chairs out of the box and they were cracked or broken.  Almost all of them.  (Insert sad face.)  My husband was mad and said they were "crap"!  We couldn't even replace them because they weren't of good quality.  I agreed.  So the chairs will be going back to the store.  However, I did keep the cute slipcovers that we bought separately.

They happened to fit the chairs in my kitchen.  Not perfectly, but enough where I could use them.

I love the material that they're made out of (cotton and linen).  And I LOVE the little bow ties on the back.

So, it wasn't all bad news with those chairs.

We even got four free Downton Abbey mugs by going to so many stores in one day!  

They were having a giveaway and we just happened to get there before they ran out.

So, being able to use the slipcovers and getting free mugs made the trip a little better, I guess.  

I managed to get some Christmas decor started too.  I hung this wreath in my kitchen window with a cute paper mache deer head I found at Michaels.  

So, now back to my dining room chair saga, my husband gave me carte blanche to find some better quality dining chairs, but everything I came up with was either super expensive or not something we both liked.  So, I decided to just keep my current chairs (that are well made) and have CUSTOM slipcovers made instead.  Why didn't I think of that in the first place???  I ordered them online from a store that I found that makes ready made and custom slipcovers.  I gave them all of my measurements and pictures of my chairs.  Fingers crossed that I will like them and they will fit just right.  I will let you know how it goes.

In the meantime, I'm enjoying my newest slipcovers in the kitchen.

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Kelly ~

How I Spent Thanksgiving

Hello everyone!

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.  It was such a nice week here.  The schools were closed and it was  nice to sleep in and not have so many deadlines to meet during the week.  However, I think I got a little TOO relaxed when I realized that I forgot my son's orthodontist appointment on Wednesday!  Oops!  Guess I'll be adding that to my "back to reality" calendar for December.  

I wanted to share a few pics from Thanksgiving day with you.  We spent the day at my niece's husband's family farm.  It is the same place that they got married so it was nice to see it without so many people around.  I was able to actually see the property for a change and it is really gorgeous.  

There is a huge lake that wraps around the front of the property, along with a barn full of livestock.

Here is a view of the side of the house.  I forgot to get a picture of the front.  It has a pretty porch off to the side too.

This was where their reception was held.  See all of the chandeliers inside?

It was extremely cold here!  But despite the cold, the guys (and some of the gals) did some skeet shooting.  It was fun to watch.

Here is my husband having a go at it.

Back inside, there were beautiful tables set up.

This was the kids table.

And since the main event at Thanksgiving is eating, we had plenty of food to eat!

There were several TV's scattered about to watch football on too.  

It was such a nice day!  Now, that Thanksgiving is over, Christmas season has begun.  So, yesterday I started my Christmas decorating.  I'll share some of that soon.

Thanks for stopping by.

~ Kelly ~

Antique Shopping

Hello everyone!

 Last week, when it was pretty, I managed to go to an antique store that was new to me.  They had a lot of neat things for sale.  Thought I'd share some of my favorite finds with you. 

I loved this satchel!  I thought long and hard about it, but didn't get it.

They sold real gourds for great prices!  The small sizes were $3 and the large were $5.  

I thought these sock stretchers were so unique.  They would've been cute hanging off the mantel at Christmas.  

I love burlap, so these French stockings caught my eye.

Cute farmhouse signs.

Look!  I even found another manzanita branch!  This one was huge though.

Look what this sign said.  Too funny!

I'm also loving driftwood this year.  This star was pretty.

I recently bought some new boots, so I thought these leg warmers would've been cute peeking out the top.

I love these kinds of lights.  I would use a clear light bulb though.

I know you've seen these wreaths everywhere.  This one looked easy to make.  I have sheet music on hand too.  Hmmm.........

I really want a large old dough bowl.  This one had nice patina but was a bit pricey.

I remember wanting one of these elves one Christmas when I first started using red and white in my Christmas decor.  These are from Maileg and are mostly found in Sweden.  This booth had a large supply!  Now I know where to find them.

Here is a cute Christmas mouse in a matchbox.  This is also part of the Maileg series. They had a box full of these!   

What did I buy?  This hanging basket.  I fell in love with the rope hanger too.

(It is very dark and rainy today, so excuse the poor picture quality.)

I have it in my kitchen window for now holding some greenery.  I thought about using it on my front door too.

Hope you enjoyed another shopping trip with me!  It's always fun to bring you along.

Thanks for stopping by.

~ Kelly ~