Christmas Time 2021

 This is becoming a blog for my Christmas decorations. I really mean to post more often, if only to make my father happy.  We had a productive year reflooring the upstairs and adding hardwood stairs. We moved some things around in the playroom and living room, so here's a peek at all that plus Christmas decorations!!

I have been waiting 13 years to have white risers and hardwood treads so I could take this photo at Christmas!  I'm finally getting my wish!! If you haven't seen the flooring already, here you go:

And a sparkly garland on the railing. :)

The living room has beautiful new vinyl plank flooring and a lovely dusty blue rug.  The Christmas decor is red, navy and plaid. My favorite!

We moved the bookcase to the living room mostly because I wanted to decorate it! :)  It was formerly covered in toy storage bins. It looks much better in here.

I added these gold reindeer statues because I think they look like bookends!

We got our tree from the mountains again this year and I love it. It's perfect.

My mom bought me this snowy garland last year and I found the perfect spot for it! It's so fun.

It's really hard to keep the table cleared what with homework, meals, crafts and art projects going on 24/7!  But I cleared it off today and arranged a quick candle centerpiece!

I got this tiered stand for Christmas last year and it has become a favorite spot for seasonal decor.  Eventually I plan to use it for a party buffet!  But for now it looks cute filled with snowmen and bottle brush trees!

The kitchen got a few Christmas items as well. The snowflakes on the cutting board are new. Georgia picked them out. :)

Georgia decorated her little tree in her room and made a new paper angel for the top!

The playroom is decked for the holiday too!  Of course it doesn't last long with hurricane Georgia, but here's what it looked like one day!

The den is also full of Christmas cheer. We have a second smaller tree down here again this year.

My brother cut this metal sign for me this year. It's a nice addition to my den decor.

This is Georgia's other tree. :) She decorated it mostly by herself and insisted that it have a topper just like Mommy's. We found this one at Target and it is a perfect miniature of my big one!

And at night, everything sparkles!

The big tree is very special at night, too.

Merry Almost Christmas everyone. I just love this time of year and so does Georgia. 

We have many Christmas plans yet to check off... looking at lights, gingerbread house, making cookies for our neighbors, peanut butter balls, and decorating cookies with the cousins! I am soaking up every minute of decorating, cocoa, christmas songs, wrapping gifts and baking. :) Happy happy holidays!

New year, new bedding

 I don't know why, but when January (okay February!) rolls around I always feel like switching things up.  Probably because everything Christmas gets put away and I'm left with a blank slate.  I've been considering updating our master bedroom for the last little bit.  I debated repainting in a darker blue shade, but I just couldn't decide.  Typically paint should be the last thing you update because it needs to coordinate with your bedding and art, etc.  Well I've updated the art, but not the bedding.  We have a lovely west elm comforter in slate blue for winter and an ivory pottery barn quilt for summer.  My dog Riley sleeps on our bed all day, and she sheds. A lot!  So, I keep the pretty comforter covered with an assortment of old sheets.  Not very appealing.  My collection of old sheets just keeps getting older and shabbier, thanks to the many washings and Riley-abuse.  I've been on the hunt for a more attractive flat sheet to use instead of white, like a printed sheet of some kind.  Unfortunately it's hard to buy just a flat sheet, much less with a large print.  I finally hit on an idea!  Why not take apart a reversible duvet cover into two flat pieces and use those?  After a search on Amazon, I came across this blue floral duvet cover (they also sell matching sheets) which reverses to the same print on the opposite side.  Perfect!

Amazon shipped it to me in one day (Thanks Amazon!) and after washing it, I set to work taking it apart.  I just cut the seams off the edges and removed the zipper at the bottom.  I bought a king size so I would be sure to have enough fabric after taking it apart.  Then I simply hemmed all the edges on the sewing machine and pressed it out.  It came with matching shams which I resized (they were king) and put on the bed to match. Then I added some throw pillows that had been languishing in the closet. I am loving the new look. And now when the top sheet gets dirty or too fuzzy, I can throw it in the washer and put the second sheet on the bed.  :)  Georgia has never seen my bed made up with fancy pillows, since I kind of gave up on all that years ago. She thought this was great and immediately jumped into the pile of pillows. :)  Riley also thinks it's swell.  And of course, now that I have acquired new "bedding" I can turn my attention to paint colors! :)

Happy February!

Christmas is here again!

 Greetings friends and followers!  This has apparently become a Christmas-only blog because I haven't been around since last Christmas!  I know my father is very disappointed in my lack of blogging because he gets all the accolades for his hard work and projects on the blog. ;)  So I am back with some Christmas decor for you!  I will try to come again soon and update you on a few other recent projects from Pandemic Year 2020 in which we painted the den, Georgia's room, redecorated the playroom and who can remember what else?!

Anyway, thanks for stopping by, now on to the decorations!

Come on in, it's nice and cozy in here!  I had fun adding lots of glittery sprigs and pinecones to the stairway garland.  It's fancier than ever!

Junebug agrees it is nice garland this year.  To chew on.  

We got a beautiful, fresh-cut tree from the mountains this year.  I've even managed to only forget to water it one day so far!  I decorated with my usual red, gold and navy scheme.  And we got a second tree for the den, so I was able to concentrate all my most special ornaments up here and save the shatterproof and crafted ones for the second tree.  I got a new topper this year, too.  Its a bronze colored metal star.  And it's huge!

Santa is driving the little red sleigh again this year. Georgia loves to add some plush friends to ride with him. :)

We got a couple new houses (one is a barn!) for the village this year. Georgia and I play musical trees as she likes to rearrange them when I am not paying attention! ;)

The dining room is festive with red and plaid accents, as well as our gingerbread house on the side table.

My little baker had so much fun adding all the candies to our "Reindeer Barn" gingerbread creation.

The playroom is extra fancy this year with lots of tinsel, garland, lights and Christmas themed bedding.  

The nutcrackers are all up on the shelf, even the Sugar plum fairy ballerina.  ;)

Georgia's room has a little tree with all of her ornaments and crafts.

She loves the little red barn my mom got her last year.  She uses it all year as a nightlight. :)

In the den, we rearranged the couches for the tree.  Georgia did most of the ornaments on this tree, I only helped a little. :)  She had a great time arranging everything herself.

I did a new thing on the mantel this year and I absolutely LOVE it.  I am such a fan of symmetry, it's really hard for me to do anything asymmetrical, but I did!  I put all the stockings on one end (what a concept) and I think it looks great.  The paper scroll is from a few years back and I usually hang it in the dining room.  The snowy garland is my favorite, I just added an extra swag piece on the left side.  

I found this mercury glass tree at Target, and the top lifts off to reveal a candle inside!!  So cute!  And the picture frame has a dimensional die cut design in front.  It's from Michael's and I just couldn't resist!

I love our little downstairs tree. :)

Junebug loves all the cozy blankets everywhere!

Georgia is oh so excited for Christmas.  The gifts for her keep piling up under the tree and she is extremely anxious to open them!! :)  Hopefully Santa got her letter since we didn't get to visit him this year.  She has wishes for "a green dragon, red horse, hibiscus plant, Belle doll, and a red pedal bike."  I don't know how Santa is going to fit all of those things down the chimney this year, but as she tells me all the time, "He's Magic!" ;)  

Merry Christmas season to you all!