Holiday Home Tour 2014

In yesterday's post I revealed my Holiday Milk Glass Vignette, where I gave a sneak peek of my Holiday Decor. I'm so excited to share my full Holiday Home Tour with you today!

I had so much fun decorating this season. I've changed up my decorations this year and went with a "Woodsy Vintage" theme. I decorated simply, but I have lots to share! Most of the decorations are in my Living Room, so we'll start there!

I went with a red, green and white color scheme with natural accents. I used burlap and fresh greenery to give the room a more rustic, woodsy vibe and I also added in pieces from my Milk Glass collection to give it a vintage flare.

If you can't tell from my decor, I am LOVING plaid this season. There is an explosion of plaid happening in my life. I'm loving plaid scarves, shirts, even a plaid coffee cup, so why not some plaid home decor? I incorporated it into my living room through throw pillows and a plaid-trimmed tree skirt.

Speaking of vintage, I'm displaying my Mom's ceramic Frosty the Snowman, that we had at our house growing up, on a small telephone table. I also have my Grandmother's Nativity Scene set out on one of the side tables. I love mixing new items with vintage and family items, especially during the Holidays.

Now for the main event, the Christmas Tree!

As always, we have a natural tree and we decorated it with white lights this year. I'm usually a colored lights kind of girl but I'm really loving the way the white lights give our tree a classic warm glow. I wrapped the whole tree in burlap garland and added red and white matte bulbs. Next, I added beaded pinecone ornaments then sprinkled in our family ornaments for the finishing touch.

I love Christmas Cards. I'm always looking for new ways to display them so I took to Pinterest and stumbled upon this idea. While I didn't get as creative as she did and make the sign myself, I took a Merry Christmas hanging sign I already had and just added two red ribbons. I clothes pinned cards to the ribbons as I received them.  Its hanging on the basement door and I'm really loving the way it turned out!

The last stop of the tour is the bathroom. I just wanted to highlight a few items I added in there. How cute is the Lumberjack Santa Nutcracker? I'm really not a big Nutcracker person but he was too cute to pass up. He didn't really have a place in the living room so I just put him out on my bathroom counter and I think he works in there.

Besides holiday hand towels and soap, the only other decoration in there is the Milk Glass tub full of Boxwood branches. I got this piece of Milk Glass for my bathroom because I thought it looked like a bathtub and I usually fill it with pretty soaps. For the Holidays, I changed out the soap for some Boxwood Branches and I think its a really simple and elegant decoration.

Thank you for taking the time to view my Holiday Home Tour! I hope you have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Reference:

Burlap & Plaid Tree Skirt - Ballard Designs

Nutcracker - Target

Burlap Garland - Michaels

Plaid Pillows - The Plum Peony on Etsy

Bulbs - Michaels

Beaded Pinecone Ornaments - Crate & Barrel

Holiday Milk Glass Vignette

Are you ready for the Holidays? I can't even believe Christmas is this week. December has really flown by! We've been busier than ever this season so I apologize for the lateness of this post. I still haven't done one bit of wrapping...hoping to tackle that task tonight!

I've been so excited to share my Holiday decor. I totally changed it up this year and went with what I've deemed a "Woodsy-Vintage" theme. Today I'm giving you a sneak peek, starting with my festive Holiday Milk Glass Vignette!

Ever since last spring's fresh bloom milk glass arrangement I've been itching to break out my collection again. So, for the holidays I created a new display, filling up the vases and planters with some mini Christmas Trees and holiday decorations.

The mini trees are the star of the show. I searched high and low for these bad boys. The ones at home depot were too big, the ones at my local nursery were too expensive ($20 each, yikes!) I heard they had these at Trader Joes so I took a trip down there and got these for about $5 each. The price tag and the size were just right! It was a Goldilocks-type situation, OK?

Besides the mini trees, I used candy canes, peppermint candies and red bulbs to fill up the Milk Glass. I put it all out on my Christmas table runner and added some votive candles to complete the arrangement.

I just love the way it all came together! It's such a cheery little corner of the room. Stay tuned for tomorrow's post where I'll be sharing my annual Holiday Home Tour!

Burn Notice: Holiday Candle Favorites

While I love candles in the fall, my absolute favorite time of year to burn them is during the Holidays. They add that special finishing touch of ambiance to a room that really gets me in the Holiday Spirit. Here's a roundup of my seasonal favorites:

Bath & Body Works Holly Jolly Christmas - B&BW describes this scent as "a festive blend of bright mandarin, red pomegranate and fresh balsam." Its a woodsy scent, like a men's cologne mixed with pine trees. The citrus notes lighten it up and soften the fragrance making smell perfect for the Holidays. The packaging couldn't get any cuter either.

Bath & Body Works Pumpkin Gingerbread - If you're like me and aren't ready to say goodbye to all things Pumpkin once December rolls around, this candle is for you. Hey, they are still serving the Pumpkin Spice Latte at Starbucks so I figure, its ok! B&BW describes the scent as "just-baked gingerbread, golden vanilla and fresh creamy pumpkin." Its very savory smelling. The strongest notes are gingerbread and molasses but there is a background hint of pumpkin spice which mellows it out a bit and makes it unique.

Bath & Body Works Fresh Balsam - As the name suggests, this is a fresh pine scented candle. It smells just like a Christmas Tree, like if you somehow stuffed an entire tree into a tiny jar. With that being said, it's the perfect amount of pine scent that isn't too overwhelming. We have a natural tree that smells amazing but this just gives it an extra kick. I haven't had one of the mason jar candles before and this is just so cute. The one wick doesn't burn down as evenly as B&BW's three wick candles but I've been burning it a lot this month and its only about a quarter of the way down, so it's a slow burn. This is one I can see myself repurchasing year after year.

Yankee Candle Christmas Cookie - Yankee describes this candle as "buttery rich, vanilla scented, holiday sugar cookies." This is an oldie but a goodie. I've bought this candle again and again. Its one of those quintessential holiday scents that really get me in the Holiday spirit. As the name intents, it smells like fresh baked cookies. Its a warm and sweet scent that wafts throughout the house, just like fresh baked cookies. This one can get dangerous because it just makes me crave Holiday sweets and I end up baking. I blame the candle!

Bath & Body Works Marshmallow Fireside - This one is actually part of B&BW's fall line but I like burning it during the holidays. The scent is pretty unique, its a mixture of sweet marshmallows, smokey campfire and a slight hint of woodsy cologne. Its one of those truly calming scents. I love to burn this in the evening after getting home from work to wind down.


A lit candle is that perfect homey finishing touch to a room during the holidays. There's nothing like lighting a candle, turning off the lights and settling down to watch a Christmas movie. Do you burn candles during the holidays? What are your favorite scents?

A New York Minute

Last weekend we visited our friends, Lindsay & Bart, who live in NYC. We drove up early Saturday morning and stayed the weekend with them at their apartment on Roosevelt Island. Unfortunately, it wasn't the sunny weather we were hoping for. It poured down rain all day Saturday but we didn't let that stop us.

First order of business was to venture out and look for show tickets for that night. We stopped by a few box offices and checked out the TKTS booth but unfortunately we couldn't find any of the shows we wanted to see at the time and price point we were looking for. Even though it was raining, we still had fun walking around the theater district. The photo above is inside the Studio 54 Theater where Cabaret is playing. It was cool taking a peek inside what was once the famous Disco.

A high point on my list was going to Rockefeller Center to see the giant Christmas Tree! There were a million people around with umbrellas so I couldn't get a great picture but the tree is still as spectacular as I remember it, even in the rain.

Later on we headed back out for the night's activities. Bloomingdale's just looked so pretty and I had to stop and take a picture. I'm pretty sure this is the one from the movie Serendipity. 

We headed to the East Village for dinner and a comedy show. Janeane Garofalo was the headliner at EastVille Comedy Club. Her set was not quite what I was expecting. It was crazy and all over the place but really kooky and funny at the same time. One things for sure, shes still got that 90's sarcasm going for her. She was chatty and engaged with the audience and it seemed like a lot of her comedy was off the cuff. Mike was excited because at one point during the show she came out in the audience and put her hand on his shoulder, Celebrity moment! There were four other acts that followed, all hysterical. Judah Friedlander was also supposed to perform but never came out so we were a little bummed about that.

The next morning we went to the cutest place for breakfast called Alice's Tea Cup. It was all Alice in Wonderland themed with Tea and Scones. It was funny because I ended up getting coffee and their coffee comes in a giant mug. A far cry from the dainty little teacups at the table but it was much appreciated! The food was amazing too. I had Pumpkin Pancakes and Mike had Eggs Benedict on a Scone, yummy!

After Breakfast we walked back to the tram. Its was so funny to see Christmas Trees being sold on the side of the road at a Florist shop.

In what seemed like a blink of an eye it was Sunday afternoon and time to head home. It was a quick weekend, but so worth it to see NYC at Christmas and spend time with some great friends.