HOLIDAY HOME TOUR: MY DINING ROOM

Getting the dining room on board  for the holiday was easy.  I just added some magnolia to the pendant lights and magnolia and cedar to the mirror and framed art.

MAGNOLIA IN PENDANT LIGHTS 

HOLIDAY DINING ROOM

It was so easy to put sprigs of cedar and magnolia on the sunburst mirror.

I added some magnolia above the French print too.

SUNBURST MIRROR WITH CEDAR AND MAGNOLIA

CLOSE UP OF MAGNOLIA

It's very festive when the lights are on.  I'm hosting for Christmas.  I can't wait.

PENDANTS WITH LIGHT

What are your holiday plans?

SOURCE:  Pendant lighting available from @monicagarrettinteriors.

If you missed my earlier posts about my holiday decor, click on the image to be directed to the post.

HOLIDAY IN MY FOYER

HOLIDAY IN MY KITCHEN

MY HOLIDAY MANTEL

MY HOLIDAY TREES FROM 2012 TO PRESENT

 

HOLIDAY HOME TOUR: THE KITCHEN

 With every holiday I try to simplify and streamline my decor.  No tree this year, again.   Instead, I added pops of Christmas around the house. Follow me as I travel around my home adding holiday decor.  In the kitchen I used preserved boxwood, fresh magnolia and cedar cuttings.  I really wanted to add a garland to my hood.  I thought I'd use magnets to attach it.  I was disappointed when I realized that it wasn't magnetic.  It remains unadorned.

MY HOLIDAY KITCHEN

I added some velvet ribbon and gold ornaments under my demijohn.

DEMIJOHN WITH VELVET RIBBON AND GOLD ORNAMENTS

My Santos only needed some magnolia.  The print joined the holiday decor with a bough of cedar.

SANTOS AND VINTAGE PRINT READY FOR THE HOLIDAYS

All my bread board needed was some ribbon and a Magnolia sprig.

BREAD BOARD WITH RIBBON AND MAGNOLIA SPRIG

PRESERVED BOXWOOD WREATH IN MY KITCHEN WINDOW

I swapped the dried artichokes around the base of the boxwood topiary with some golden pears, then added a ribbon to get it in to the holiday mood.

BOXWOOD TOPIARY IN THE HOLIDAY MOOD

Are you keeping it simple this year or going all out?

If you missed my gold and copper mantel post, go here , or click on the image to be directed to the post.

HOLIDAY MANTEL

Next holiday room will be my entry.  I used a garland there and added some oversized ornaments.  Check it out this weekend.

Any suggestions for attaching a garland to a hood without creating any damage would be greatly appreciated.

FORAGED HOLIDAY DECOR

 I always like to use clippings from my garden during the holidays.  My favorite foraged greenery is from Magnolia, Cedar, and Nandina.  This year I'm using my Nandina shrub. Its leaves have turned a perfect holiday red and the Nandina "tree" produced tons of red berries.  

I started my holiday decorating outdoors.   In the summer my Chinoiserie planters are filled with ferns.  For Christmas I clipped my Nandina and put branches and berries inside the iron spheres on the planters.

The planters are on either side of the garage entrance.  This one is on the left of the doors.

CHINOISERIE PLANTER WITH NANDIA CUTTINGS

I love the berries.

BERRIES ARE THE PERFECT HOLIDAY RED

The planter on the right shares space with a clock that's only correct twice a day and a lattice screen.

CHINOISERIE PLANTER, LATTICE, AND CLOCK

THE OTHER CHINOISERIE PLANTER

I clipped branches from my Nandina shrub and tied them to the lamp post with  black and gold ribbon. Yes, raking our leaves is on our to do list.

LAMP POST WITH  GATHERED NANDINA CLIPPINGS

I  gave the obelisk near our front porch the same treatment.

OBELISK TOPIARY WITH GATHERED NANDINA BRANCHES

I have an iron topiary in the side yard.  I added branches and berries to it.  The tall grass in its Fall color makes a perfect back drop.

IRON TOPIARY WITH NANDINA BRANCHES AND BERRIES

I couldn't forget the mailbox.  Here she is in a sea of leaves.  Don't miss the Bella photo bomb in the upper left of the image.

MAILBOX  AND NANDINA IN A SEA OF LEAVES

How do you decorate outdoors for the holidays?

To see the iron planters in the summer when they hold ferns, go here.

FAKING FAUX

If you've been following along you know that I can't bring myself to use faux holiday decor.  So, I was in a real predicament when I decided I didn't want to have a live Christmas tree this year.  I went back and forth about buying/not buying a faux tree.  I couldn't do it.

My new mantra is:   "all you need is a garland".  That's the route I took.
No tree for us this year. I was just going to create a garland that made the tree unnecessary.

 My intention was to create a garland from greenery from our yard.  I revised it a bit and decided that I would use a faux garland as the base and would add garden clippings.  I know I'm cheating.

Here's what the faux garland looked like. It was from Frontgate so it was substantial.  Here it is on the railing before I got started on it.

FAUX GARLAND

I know you're thinking that it doesn't look bad.
 It doesn't, but I really wanted to add some live greenery.

CLOSE UP OF FAUX GARLAND

I decided to create the natural garland with magnolia and cedar.  

 I gathered the clippings and got started.  Here's the result.

If you ever try to do this, I would recommend using a faux garland as a base.  It was easy to add the greenery by just twisting the faux wire stems around the magnolia and cedar.  

Did you notice that I swapped out my Santos for the Angel Santos?  I also added ribbon, a garland and some ornaments.  I treated the garland like a Christmas tree I guess.

ANGEL SANTOS

 Now my favorite part--the close-ups.

 

I added some greenery, ribbon, and a rhinestone garland to the wall sconce too.

Sneaky peek of the demijohn through stairwell.

DEMIJOHN THROUGH STAIR RAILS

Would you use a garland instead of a tree?

To see last year's Kate Spade inspired tree, go here.

KATE SPADE INSPIRED TREE