All Parties + Holidays

deck the halls: the first floor

I have had so much fun decorating for the holidays this year!

To keep this from being too lengthy, I broke it up into two parts. Welcome to our home for the holidays…

For me, it all starts with the entry! I want guests to feel warmly welcomed and festive when they come to our home during the holidays. To begin, I took advantage of a seventy-degree day in November (whaaat?!) to hang our outdoor lights.

New construction doesn’t give us much to string on, but between the pillar and our baby landscaping, I tried to make it work. I added a potted tree next to the bench and embellished the “S” wreath I’d bought with a few picks before adding it to the door.

Won’t you come in?!

On the inside of our entry, I swapped out the glass vase with some wintery white branches, mixed in some blingy branches I found at Pier 1. I love this new jingle bell doorknob swag – the ribbon matches our wall color perfectly.

For the kitchen, I set out a few of my favorite things. The vintage apron hanging on the pantry door is a gift from my bestie…

…and the hand-painted twelve days of Christmas ornaments are one of my very favorite things to unpack each year. Page’s only decorating request as I dragged in one tub after another was that after the lit pumpkin had been on the island all fall, he wanted something else there that would still light up and we could leave on at night. Check…done!

To finish up in the kitchen, I strung some ornaments on fishing line in the window and finally got my hands on some Mrs. Meyers “Iowa Pine” hand soap. It smells like Christmas every time I wash my hands. 🙂

As you might know by now, our kitchen/dining area/living room is all one big room, so you turn around…

…and you see the dining area…

…still working on doing something new and different for the table….

One of my favorite details that is new this year is the swap-out for this “Yes, Virginia…” print. EDITED: I finally found the link to this and other Christmas prints by this artist – check it out here!

A few more details…

I wrapped the canvases I painted in gift wrap for the season. This was a whole big thing – I had about three other ideas that didn’t pan out…sometimes you just have to settle for Plan D. 🙂

Thanks for taking a peek – back tomorrow with the second floor!

Comments (8)

  • I love it Elizabeth! Your home looks so inviting and festive! I can’t wait to see the rest. Shelley

  • You have definitely gotten your moms talent. Your home looks so warm and inviting. Love it. TFS. Oh, hope your feeling better. ANA

  • I want to come over and drink spiked hot chocolate and listen to Nsync and Mariah Careys Christmas CD’s (not kidding). I absolutely love this. YOu have such a talent! How did you do the ornaments from the kitchen light!? I want to do it!!

  • You are so sweet! Yes PLEASE on the spiked hot choc and Mariah was the soundtrack to my decorating this year haha! I strung some smaller and larger ornaments on about four pieces of thin silver ribbon and randomly knotted them around the fixture. Then covered all the messy knots by going over it with a couple big bows with the wider red ribbon. Kind of just trial and error!

  • Your home is beautiful! I love the simplicity of it, yet the fine details as I look closer and closer. Several of these photos have been pinned for future inspiration! 🙂 Just popping by from the Nester’s party (still trying to get through all those links!) – Merry Christmas!

  • Thanks so much for the kind words, Carrie! Happy holidays to you and yours! 🙂

  • Where do you find Mrs. Myers Pine soap? Thank you

  • I found mine at World Market but Crate & Barrel has it, too! Merry Christmas! 🙂

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