Christmas In The Garden Room

Hi, Friends, 

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We did. It was different but it was good. 

 I started decorating a few days earlier this year. I like to be all done and the house cleaned up by Thanksgiving. A few things are still being tweaked but we are enjoying all the twinkle and sparkle of the tiny lights and the frosty garlands and trees.  

I'm enjoying the nostalgic feel of the garden room. The garden room is always one of my favorite spaces to decorate so I thought I'd show it to you early in the season.

I hope you enjoy these images of our cozy space.

This room gets a lot of vintage plaid. 

I've been collecting plaid items for quite a few years. The time to buy seems to be during the summer. It is hard to buy a wool throw in August when it is 105 degrees but I cannot pass them up. 

They are getting harder to find. 

My husband's favorite piece of Christmas decor is the Folger's coffee can from his grandparent's house. It always sits next to his favorite chair. 

Stockings from my grandparent's house hang on some hooks behind his chair. I adore these stockings from the late 40s. The graphics are amazing. 

Across from my husband's chair is a display of vintage postcards and plaid coffee mugs. 

I'll pick those up when I see them too. 

I have this pencil post tree somewhere in the house every year. 

It is one of my favorites to put up. It's wrapped in plaid ribbon, black satin ribbon, mercury glass garland, and white tiny lights.

Vintage German glass ornaments hang from the boughs. These are from both sides of our family. 

I'm not the most graceful so a few have gotten broken over the years. 

Other beloved ornaments are sprinkled in as well.

Minimalism is not the order of the day on the dish dresser. 

It is packed with collected and heirloom plaid picnic baskets, tins, mugs and thermoses. 

The egg nog set was an antique store find last December when Bill and I had an antiquing date day. 

I hope that we can do the same thing this year but who knows? 

At night it is warm and cozy. 

Here are some room shots so that you can get an idea of what the room looks like from both sides. 

The ceiling is corrugated tin. We did this room in 2003 so we were ahead of our time on that choice.

There is a dog door so the animals can come and go as they wish. 

It is heated and cooled by a mini split. This helps cool the rests of the house as well. It's amazing.

The little fire box was a Christmas gift to Bill. It warms his feet on chillier mornings. 

 It's only 10 x 17 but we love our little sunroom.

I hope you have a very blessed day. 

That is all for now. 

Katie 

French Cheese Sieve Christmas Arrangement

Hi, Friends, 

Welcome to the Pinterest Challenge. It's our last one for the year. Thank you to Cindy of County Road 407 for hosting. I love her Pinterest Challenges. They are so much fun. 

If you are coming over from, Bluesky at Home, welcome. I hope you enjoyed all of Carol's styling ideas. That Sure Shot box is adorable. 

Our inspiration photo this month come from The Grace House Interiors. This is so pretty. To see more, go check out Jennifer's blog.  

Immediately, I noticed the wooden trees in a wooden box on a wooden table. I also noticed the gorgeous wrought iron bannister, a lamp, and some Christmas greens with red berries. 

I picked up a French cheese sieve while at an estate sale this summer. I was thrilled when I saw it because I love all things French. I don't know if it was actually used to strain the whey from the cheese round because it looked like it came with some French cheese. It almost appeared to be a souvenir from France. Either way, I loved it and it was only three dollars. Although, I thought it was adorable, I didn't really know what to do with it. It's been hanging around since then. It had the wooden element that was in the trees and the crate. It was time for it to be put to use. I have been enjoying natural wooden elements this year so this challenge has come at a perfect time.  

Two fun frosty little trees were plunked into the sieve. I didn't have any trees like the photo and I am trying to reign in my Christmas decor shopping this year. 

An old wrought iron lamp from Walmart echos the wrought iron of the bannister. 

We've had it for years and I still love it.  

A red rose on a greenery pick adds the classic red element that is present in the image. It came from Joann's last year. A wooden candy cane and a peppermint pick give this some added whimsy. 

My favorite plaid elements make this display my own. 

The plaid cottage came from Tuesday Morning. Plaid on a Christmas cottage? Two of my favorite holiday elements.

The spool table is one of my favorite pieces. It was a $5.00 find from a garage sale. 

It is just so sweet. 

My poinsettia bracts are turning red which is exciting and a bonus from my spring and summer victory garden. It quadrupled in size in our hot Texas garden. It was so easy to grow. 

I love this little vignette. I hope it encourages you to look for unusual ways to display Christmas trees. 

Now go see Laura at Every Edits. Her Christmas crate is just adorable. 

Be sure to follow all the links in this fun hop. I know you will be inspired. 

Have a very blessed Thanksgiving!  

Katie  

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A Look At Christmas Past

There is certainly a lot of Christmas decorating going on at various blogger's homes. 

No pressure. 

I pulled all my finds out, yesterday, but I'm not decorating yet. 

I got of a lay of the land with all of my purchases from the year and then I packed it away this afternoon. 

Here is the thing - I love it at first but by Christmas Eve the clutter is driving me nuts. 

It happens with almost every holiday. Most of the turkeys got packed away today. 

I was ready for a cleaner, un-holiday look before everything gets rolling next Friday. 

We can still be inspired. 

I thought that we could look back at some of my favorite Christmas decor through the years. 

I love this garden basket from last year. I had it in my room. It's a repeater. 

The guest beds will get needlepoint pillows with a black ground. 

I found the icy nest on clearance after Christmas last year. It's paired with my chickadees. This pair was thrifted and they are some of my favorite winter decor. They may come out early this year. 

My winter mantel last year was cute. My topiary from Hedge Scapes had been on hiatus since last spring. I pulled it out today. 

The snowball garland is darling! 

My German snowbabies are all set and ready to go in a display. They were featured in the kitchen in 2016. 

My collection of elves has grown since last Christmas. 

This display from 2016 was cute. I should recreate it again this year. 

The Christmas tree in the green house is one of my favorite things. 

The old green car and a bottle brush tree is a staple around here. 

In 2015 we had pink Christmas. 

In 2014 we had black and white Christmas decor. 

In 2013 we had a woodland inspired Christmas. 

My flocked tree with cardinals was my favorite tree of all time. 

It wasn't expensive and it came from Walmart. 

Sadly, it turned brownish in the attic. 

In 2012 we had a white Christmas. 

In 2012 it was all about the gingerbread man. 

Read a sweet story. 

I started blogging on December 11, 2011. 

My first blog photo. 

The cookies are cute. 

A lot has changed since then. 

That is all for now, my friends. 

Are you decorating for Christmas yet? 

I'm crafting a lot. 

Here is a sneak peak at my color scheme 2018. 

Join 10+ bloggers for Creating a Cozy Christmas blog hop on November 27th. 

I hope you will find some great craft and recipe ideas. 

By for now. 

Katie