50 Cottage8: Our Home for the Holidays

I’ve always heard that if you ever need a big push to get all your projects completed and your whole house in order, throw a great big party. And that’s just what we did. After 3 detail-filled weeks of planning and preparing, shopping and decorating, and two full days of cooking and baking, we celebrated on a joyous winters night with our closest friends and family. Of course I completely forgot to snap photos of the party, but I thought you’d enjoy seeing our holiday decor…

 

My friend Rosemary made this burlap garland wreath for us. For those that are new to my blog, the  number 8 signifies the story of our house:  We had bid on 7 previous homes and were outbid on every single one, and then we found this house. It was the 8th house we bid on and finally got, giving this house its name, Cottage8. 

 

The living room has seen a recent number of changes, some of which I will touch on in a later post. As you may have noticed, I switched my loveseats around, per the suggestions of two of my very talented decorator friends, Lu and Laurie. I gave in and took their advice, and girls you were so right. I recently sold my loveseat, as some of you may know, but I’m working with the buyer on a layaway plan, so I get to enjoy it in my home for just a couple months more.

 

 

My friend Lu gave me the inspiration to hang the live garland, which she personally delivered to my door three weeks before Christmas. I love how the green looks against my faux wood mirror.

 

 

My friend Laurie lent me her gorgeous mantle for my holiday party, which I decorated with ironstone butter pats and candles, old books and vintage bottle brush trees…

 

 

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care…

 

 

Aren’t these stockings gorgeous? Laurie made these for me. They’re made from upholstery burlap and white linen…

 

 

The pinecones were gathered during one of our nature walks. Don’t you just love how the black library table looks on this side of the room, with the reflection behind it?

 

 

I love the vibrancy of color these red cranberries give off on the silver tray and faux snow. The tray actually belongs to my friend Rosemary, and she was kind enough to lend it to me for this display.

 

 

We decided to do a faux tree this year. All seven massive feet of it…

 

 

It took me about 4 hours just to connect and shape each branch to the center pole…

 

 

But the decorating is by far the best part. The burlap garland was easily tied in bows…

 

 

My friend Diane gave me this gorgeous silver icicle ornament..

 

 

Along with this sweet little eiffel tower ornament..

 

 

My friend in New York sent me this eye catching chandelier…

 

 

I filled in the bare spots with white-tipped pinecones…

 

 

And sparkly gold dipped ones too…

 

 

A couple weeks back, I bought a lot of old european candy molds and almost immediately a lightbulb went off in my head…

 

 

I took some jute twine and my trusty old hot glue gun, and turned the candy molds into tree ornaments…

 

 

 

 

Since Adam and I consider our house our “big present” to each other, we weren’t doing gifts this year. So I simply used brown paper wrap and wrapped up empty packaging boxes and adorned them with vintage ribbon and Christmas themed flash cards..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s hard to resist the delightful scent of fresh cuttings, as well as the temptation to use more of my burlap garland…

 

 

My friend Lu suggested the shiny ornaments on the curly willow. I later added the burlap skirt to run the entire length of the 11 foot side table that Adam and I built…

 

 

Another favorite…the burlap and velvet table runner Laurie made for me. It makes the perfect setting for the rustic garland on our dining table.

 

 

I hope you enjoyed my little holiday home tour of our Cottage8! I’ll be back again soon with more details on all the projects we’ve been working on the past month.

Happy Holidays to you!