Christmas in our New Home

As I detailed in previous posts, this past May Jimmy and I moved into a new home…our home.  Before,we were renting - and that was fine - but there’s a different feeling that comes along with the ownership of something and we both definitely have that shared feeling about our new home.    

I love, love, love our new home.  It is in the most convenient location for the both of our needs/schedules and the layout is perfect for us now and will continue to be as we grow into it even more.   

My mother has never been one to decorate for every season, but she goes all out for Christmas.  Almost every living room – rooms that are constantly occupied by members of the household or guests – is decorated to the nines and I definitely got that love of Christmas decorating too! 

As in all of my other posts, you’ll see that I am a total bargain shopper.  You can decorate and dress on a budget, you just have to know when and where to shop!

Below, you’ll see what we refer to as our “front room.”  It’s the room that people enter when they enter our home and was an addition from the original floor plan of the home.  The ceiling was painted a burgundy/red color and when I stepped in it the fist time, I just knew I wanted to decorate it with unique antique items.

The antique couch needs some work.  There’s one visible tear and a few tears that aren’t visible, but I fell in love with it.  It was a whop’in $80.00 from a local antique store - Riverbend Antique Mall in Ravenswood - and has definitely served its purpose in comfort and creating that unique antique look.  The pillows and both rugs are from Big Lots and we had those items at our former home too.  The curtains were in one of the bedrooms when we bought the house, but I think they look great creating a window in our front room.  The coffee table is made from two stacked trunks that I obtained from a great friend that passed away in September.  They’re a great way to remember her each time I walk through our front door!

The framed fabric pieces are actually very old feed sacks.  They were found in the bottom of a trunk that I purchased (seen below) from an estate sale, and with Jimmy being a farmer, I thought they would be perfect to be framed.  I chose to frame them without glass because I wanted out visitors to be able to feel their quality! 

The wall that you see there is actually the end of our home from the original floor plan.  This was the outside side wall before the ‘front room,’ garage and carport were added.  That stone look is what our home is on the outside too!  

The ascending snowmen and Merry Christmas sign were from Gabriel Brothers ($9.99 for all snowmen, $3.99 for sign).  The tree was from Good will, $1.99.  The lamp, Big Lots.  The trunk was from a great friend who passed away and I was able to obtain it from her estate.  

The canvas prints are homemade.  

They’re photos from our October 2011 wedding and serve as great memories of that crazy - but wonderful - day!  I purchased an 11x14 and 16x20 blank white canvas,’ painted the sides with red craft paint, turned over each print and painted it with Mod Podge, turned it back over and positioned it on the canvas, then took my brush and painted over the entire canvas and photo with Mod Podge and let them dry for an hour.  Then wala, I had a canvas print for around $8.00 per print rather than $25.00+ with a three-week waiting time!  Mod Podge can be found at about any local craft store. 

Hello, Baker Will.  He's the furry thing crouched down.  He wanted to be in the photo too :)  

This wall is what I call the "Labor of Love" wall and I will detail more about it in another post when I do a 'tour' through our home, but right now, the trunks came from various estate sales and ranged from $5.00 to $20.00.  

The standing Santa, small manger (on top left) and a few of the Avon perfume bottles were from our local Goodwill store.  The hat, from my friend's estate, the framed canvas from the estate auction trunk find.  The deer decor piece and Christmas sign were from Gabes.   And the three small bags were found from an estate tag sale.  

The village that is positioned on the trunk (obtained at an estate sale) are all from our local Ripley Goodwill.  I scored one day when I was shopping in there and found almost all of the pieces.  Later, I found a few other pieces that I added to the collection at that same Goodwill.  I always wanted a village to display at Christmas and this one cost me about $2.00 to $3.00 per home, totaling $27.00 on the high-end. 

Almost all the ornaments were from Big Lots as well and I wanted to just stick with like colors and chose red and gold as our Christmas tree theme.   The large flowers were from Walmart (day-after-Christmas special, $1.30 a piece) as were the gold beaded balls ($0.88 a piece).  Last year, I was at our local Walmart at 6:00am when they opened to score some great deals on their great Christmas décor, knowing I would be going all out this year!

Our dining room:  The table was $75.00 from a local man who advertised it in the Trader’s Guide and I was able to score!  We recovered the chairs and I found the china cabinet and serving hutch at a local estate auction.  The gold chargers are from Walmart ($0.50 a piece) and purchased on the after Christmas haul.  The china was another gift obtained from my old friend’s estate when she passed.   The candle jar is from our local Goodwill for $2.00 and the wreath around it is from Walmart (this year) for $15.00.

 The blue balls that hang around the china cabinet are suspended with fishing line and clear wall tacks; they were from Walmart (this year) and were $5.88 a tube of three.  I used two tubes – one glitter and one matte.  The multi-bulb clusters are from a 3-sleeve ornament package that was a Home Depot Black Friday Special.  One sleeve ($4.88) allowed me to make three suspended ball clusters and scatter two other clusters in the buffalo snow. 

The gold ‘pokey sticks’ were from Walmart and also purchased in my after Christmas haul for $2.44 a piece.  I used four of them.  The snowflake and crown ornaments that were suspended by ribbon on the center window drape were $1.97 a piece just weeks before Christmas this year at JCPenny.  I was in love and had to have them!  The ribbon was from JoAnn Fabrics and was $0.97 a yard, but I bought that when we first moved in for a future project.

 On our current entertainment center, you’ll see a red square vase with turquoise feathers inside.  The feathers were something I had for a Miss WV production number way back in the day and the vase was silver when I bought it, but I spray painted it with left over red spray paint from another project and it was $5.00 from Gabes (Gabriel Brothers).  The ceramic carolers were from our local Goodwill and $3.00 a piece.  They were too unique not to get!  The whie, red, and gold swirl box was $4.99 from Marshalls (purchased this year) and served as our Christmas card box.   The three tiered Christmas tree was from our local Big Lots – that went out of business just recently :( - and was $8.00.

I love a good deal, so I often shop at local Goodwill stores, a small Eastern U.S. chain called, Gabriel Brothers, and a local QVC overstock auction.  Each Wednesday they have a tag sale where you can go in and shop like you would at a yard sale because, yes, it does involve digging if you’re on the hunt for something, especially clothing that is almost always $3.00 a piece.  I’ve found some great items there and this year I scored big for Christmas décor.  

All three four pieces you see below were scored at the QVC overstock.  The Santa train was $35.00 and is worth every penny!  It’s very durable and even has wheels.  Very, very nice quality!  The three other ceramic/glass items were $10.00 each.  Same thing, very quality pieces!

We found another score in our new house this year!  Not only did we find all the ice sickle lights that lined our entire home, we found the color lights that are featured in our living room garland.  The bulbs on the mantle were from Big Lots and about $2.00 a piece and the sticks were from Walmart and $2.44 last year at their after Christmas sale.

I love, love our master bed.  I was another find from an estate sale that I scored big at and was able to bring home this unique beauty for $90.00!  Can you believe it?  Well, neither could I!  Anyway, to bring a little sparkle to the bedroom, I added lights I got from Home Depo - $4.88 per 300 strand – at their Black Friday sale and added these ornaments I scored at T.J. Maxx last year for $0.50, $2.00 x2 and $5.00.  The stars are from Walmart’s after Christmas sale for $.98.

See, you don’t have to spend a lot to make your house look Christmasy!  It’s just all in the details and definitely shopping all the AFTER Christmas sales!  I can’t wait for Christmas next year as I scored again at a ton of after Christmas sales!  The photo below depicts all our this-year-Christmas and our next-year-Christmas (new stuff) items to decorate with!  It’s a good thing in only decorate for one holiday, right?  [wink]