Woodland Christmas

Today I finished decorating my sitting room for Christmas.  I went with a woodland theme for this room.  I updated the mantel by adding a vintage screen in the background.  Now I have one room that I can relax and listen to Christmas music in until after Thanksgiving.

Here is a close up of the inside of the box.

This room is not easy to take pictures of since it more of a passway between the family room and the master bedroom.  I got out my vintage wool blankets and put them on the wicker trunk.  I think I will probably keep these out.  These are the best pictures I could take.  I wish that I could get the whole room in one shot. 

 I love my parents maple desk that they got back in the 40's.  It has a few scratches here and there from all the moving that I have done but some scratch concealer did the trick.  

I am working on the master bathroom today.  We got the curtain rod hung above the bay window so I can get the valances hung.  I am going to get it decorated today also, everything that is but the cabinet nook area since I still don't have my shelves in yet.  I will be posting it in the next few days.

 Check this out.  I bought this CD at Walmart the other day and I got to looking at the cover closely.  The couple on here remind me of Cary Grant and Marilyn Monroe.  What do you think?

Linking with
Boogieboard Cottage, Dwellings The Heart of Your Home, Le Chateau Des Fleurs, Elizabeth Joan Designs, Between Naps on The Porch, I Should Be Mopping The Floor, Huckleberrry Love
Coastal Charm, A Stroll Thru Life, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Cozy Little House
Worthington Court, The Dedicated House, The Winthrop Chronicles, Our Home Away From Home
Savvy Southern Style, DIY by Design, The Style Sisters, Ivy and Elephants, Beyond the Picket Fence, Bacon Time With The Hungry Hypo, The Happy Housie, From My Front Porch To Yours
A Delightsome Life, Have a Daily Cup of Mrs Olson, Posed Perfection, Anderson & Grant
Rooted In Thyme, Redoux Interiors, All Things With Purpose, Embracing Change, The Charm of Home, Just Us Four, My Romantic Home, The Shabby Nest, French Country Cottage, Natasha In Oz
Shabby Art Boutique, Pieced Pastimes,  Scrapality, 3 Little Greenwoods, Six Sisters Stuff
Thoughts From Alice, Life on Lakeshore Drive, House of Hipsters, Rustic & Refined
DIY Show Off, Finding Silver Pennies, Thoughts From Alice
Beyond the Picket Fence

Friday favorites

As I sit at my desk fighting with this stupid tape gun that I have to use for the Ebay items that I have to ship out today for my husband's business I can't help but have visions of Christmas in my head.  As I am doing this I sneak back and forth looking at Pinterest for fun.  I can't tell you how bored I get here.  Here is what I have been looking at today.

I just love the santa ornaments.  Such a cute idea for a centerpiece.

I would love to decorate my chandelier like this one.  Mine probably wouldn't turn out as nice.

 I would love to have this carousel horse or even an elegant rocking horse.

One of these years I am going to change out my bedding at Christmas to look something like this.

  This is such a cute idea to make the napkin look like a bow.  I am going to have to try this.

What a great idea to use a top hat for a tree topper. This would be great for a snowman themed tree or even a Charles Dickens tree.

At this point I am about ready to hurl this tape gun across the room.  I can't understand what is wrong with it.  I just bought it a few months ago.  The old one used to do this but it was over 5 years old.  I always seem to get something that is defective lately.

Updated Christmas mantel

Do you ever walk by something that you decorated and think that it just doesn't look right?   I have been walking past my sitting room for a few days now and the fireplace mantel is bugging me.  My sitting room is right before the master bedroom so I walk by it several times a day.   I feel like I needed something behind the decor.  Well, I think I have the solution.

I know that it is not a big change but I think that it changed it completely.  Here is the before.

I am totally liking the screen that I put behind everything.  Now all that I need to finish in here is the hearth area.  I have to say that I really like this better.

Linking with
Chic on a Shoestring

Has this ever happened to you?

I don't know why but it always seems that something goes wrong with just about everything I do.  This is the first time that something like this has happened to me.  I saw these cute dishes at Home Goods but they only had a couple left so I found them online and ordered a set of 16.  I also saw another set that I liked and ordered them also.  They both arrived yesterday and I waited until this morning to open the boxes and here is what I found.

This is the extra set that I bought online.  I just love these plates.  They look even better in person.

I only got a place setting for 4 since I will be using them in the kitchen.  Now here are the plates that I saw at Home Goods.

Did you notice the difference?  Look one more time.

I received 8 salad plates instead of 4 dinner plates and 4 salad plates.  I have ordered numerous dishes online and this is the first time that this has happened.  Of course I have contacted the company and I am waiting for their response.  I don't mind having more salad plates since that was all I was going to buy at the store but I was really looking forward to having the whole set. 

Linking with
Between Naps on the Porch

Christmas sneak peek

I didn't get as much done today as I would of liked.  Last night my hubby decided that he wanted to hook up the water softner and as always something has to go wrong.  Of course all the water had to be shut off so I didn't get to do the laundry or any cleaning done since I had to help him.  Well needless to say we had many problems, several trips to Home Depot in the snow (yes it was snowing pretty good yesterday) and looks of leaking.  It was after 9 pm when we finally got all the leaks taken care of and the water softner going.  So today I had to do all my cleaning and the laundry which didn't give me much time to do decorating.

 
I decided to do a woodland theme in my sitting room.  I started in here first since I am hosting Thanksgiving and this room is separate from the kitchen/family room.  I didn't get the whole fireplace done.  I still want to decorate the hearth area some more.

I decorated one corner of the coffee table.  I would sure like to something else in  its place.  I would like to have an ottoman instead.  That will something for me to make at the beginning of the year.

I thought that the desk would look like decorated a bit.  

I also had a small tree that just happen to fit perfectly in the corner.

 It's not too easy to see all the ornaments in this picture so I took some close ups.

At one point I looked out the window and saw this in my maple tree.

At first I thought it was an owl but upon a closer look it was a hawk.  I ran to get my camera and was able to take a couple of shots before he flew off.  I love this one of him looking at me.  He is such a beautiful bird.

Now that I am totally exhausted since I had to go up and down the basement stairs a million times I think that I will relax with a glass of wine and look through my Christmas magazines in my sitting room.

Linking with
Dwellings The Heart of Your Home, I Should be Mopping the Floor, Boogieboard Cottage
Elizabeth Joan Designs, Le Chateau Des Fleurs, Huckleberry Love, Between Naps on The Porch
Coastal Charm, A Stroll Thru Life, Cozy Little House, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Worthington Court, Our Home Away From Home, The Winthrop Chronicles, The Dedicated House 
Green Willow Pond, Savvy Southern Style, DIY by Design, The Style Sisters, The Happy Housie
A Delightsome Life, Have a Daily Cup of Mrs Olson, From My Front Porch To Yours
Posed Perfection, Katherines Corner, Ivy and Elephants, Anderson & Grant, Live Laugh Rowe
Embracing Change, All Things With Purpose, Rooted In Thyme, Imparting Grace, The Charm of Home, Shabby Art Boutique,  French Country Cottage, Craftberry Bush, Redoux Interiors
I'm Not a Trophy Wife, Nancherrow, Bacon Time With The Hungry Hypo, Love of Family and Home
My Romantic Home, Serenity Now, Simple Nature Decor, DIY Vintage Chic, Just Us Four
The Shabby Nest, Natasha In Oz,  Pieced Pastimes, 3 Little Greenwoods, Scrapality
Six Sisters Stuff, Be Different Act Normal, Thoughts From Alice, Life on Lakeshore Drive
House of Hipsters, DIY Show Off, Finding Silver Pennies, It's Overflowing, Rustic and Refined

Friday Favorites

I have been shopping for new Christmas decorations this week and searching Pinterest for color scheme ideas.  I have decided to do red, green, white and gold for my main tree.  Here are some of my favorite pins.

I can't wait to get started.  Since I am hosting Thanksgiving I have to wait to do the family room but I think that I will start decorating my sitting room this weekend.  I am thinking about doing  a woodland theme in there since a wall separates it from the family room.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

This week in Denver we have been having winter weather.  Beginning Monday night it started snowing and yesterday we had a record low.  Today it is a balmy 3 degrees with more snow.  So when I look out the window of the shop I can't help but think of Christmas.  I am sitting at my desk right now looking at the Sam's Club gift catalog and wish that somehow I could have the sleigh and nutcracker they have.  The only problem is how I could sneak them past my husband.  They are both pretty big.  I think that he would notice them and realize they are new.  Yes sometimes I have to sneak things into the house without him knowing and if he says something I always say I have had that for years.

So here is what I wish for this Christmas.  The sleigh measures a whopping 46.5" X 24" X 23.25".

Now for the nutcracker.  I would like to have two of these.  He is only 6 feet tall.

I just don't think I could get these past him.  He always says that I have too much stuff.  I don't agree with him.  I always say there is room for more.