Posts

2016 Winter Eclectic Home Tour – Holiday Decor

Our Winter Eclectic Home Tour is here. This is the post where I finally show you how we have decorated our home for the Holidays (enter drum beats of excitement). Hope you get some good inspiration for your home with this post. Let me know if you do!

First, let me thank Jess from Domicile 37 for organizing this blog event- the biggest one of the season!!! If you are here from Insieme House, welcome! Hope you like my  blog and decide to come for a visit more often!

Before we get started, I wanted to remind you that this year my idea was to use a lot of greenery to decorate. I made garlands and wreaths that became the main component of my Holiday decorations (you will soon be witness #1 of this fact). I also added pine and cedar leaves here and there for a special touch. I am happy with how it came out- hope you agree.

Without further adieu, let’s take a look at the photos because I know that is the real reason you are all here. Sometimes I wonder how many readers take the time to read my hilarious posts completely. Maybe 20%? or less? Ok. here we go.

Let us start with photos of the entrance of our house, because I believe an entryway has to scream Happy Holidays as much as the interior of the house, don’t you agree?

Entrance
Hi, Mr. Golden Deer Head. I love you and that copper table you are sitting on. Oh, and that cedar? Just a touch so you can feel more at home (love emoji). Although, if you don’t like metals this would be a hate emoji. I bought most of my ornaments and decorations in previous years. The trick for me is to buy Christmas decorations the day after Christmas. This is when you get the best deals, plus, it is a real treat to open the Christmas decorations box a year later and find all the things you bought 12 months before and already forgot about. For example, that deer golden head from Target, which I am in love with now.
I created a fake tree arrangement with noble pine branches and decorated it with silver ornaments from Ikea. It gives the entrance a festive look, I think. That brass vase you might ask? That is a Flower Market score that is dear to my soul and happiness.That is me in that picture, in case you were wondering; the writer, photographer, and blogger aficionado that likes to spend her time beautifying her home instead of making dinner (or cleaning for that matter).

Living Room
winter-eclectic-home-tour-17Remember the DIY Holiday Garland post I did last week? Well, some of you complained about my garland being sad and lonely. Well, not anymore. Here she is with a deer, star, trees, ornaments, and flowers. Isn’t she a happy camper now? I like it a lot. Hope you do, too.I have been doing gold ring wreaths because  they are gorgeous and easy. This photo is an example, don’t you agree? This coming Monday I will be posting a tutorial on how to make different gold ring wreaths. I would recommend you coming back for that one because it will make your life a million times better. Remember those nice bookshelves that a lot of you liked from my last One Room Challenge? Well, my friend Yassi, the same one that styled the shelves for the ORC, came to style them again for this Holiday Home Tour. She added green, red, and Christmas decorations to achieve the perfect Holiday bookshelf. Also, we added that cedar garland that is SO cute, because this year is all about garlands and greens, like I mentioned 5 times on this post already, in case you were not taking me seriously.

I made this centerpiece with lots of cedar leaves and a candle. Just that.

Hallway
I dressed up this bookshelf on the hallway with Holiday gear. Again, a pine garland and some eucalyptus on the bottom give it a nice touch. The white candle holders are from IKEALiving Room – Part 2The Christmas tree ornaments have taken me years to collect.  The brass deers were a Rose Bowl find from a couple of months ago.

PS: Now that my kids are older (3 and 5), they play with decorations and destroy and average of 5 of them per season. Not cool, kids, not cool. In an effort to avoid more damage, I have decided to hang the delicate ornaments on top of the tree, out of reach, but these rascals always manage to get them anyway. The moral of this story is to not get attached to Holiday ornaments (or any material possessions) when children under 5 live under your roof. I hope you learn this lesson ASAP. It will save you from great heartache. winter-eclectic-home-tour-5winter-eclectic-home-tour-18 winter-eclectic-home-tour-21winter-eclectic-home-tour-10This tree made with copper string lights in front of the mural is pretty awesome. I wish I had a better photo of it, but I don’t, so you will have to take my word for it. It gives the room a nice touch.

Kitchenwinter-eclectic-home-tour-9My kitchen is colorful so I used these cute trees from Target to decorate and add even more color. Extra ornaments, couple of oil painting, and voila!winter-eclectic-home-tour-22winter-eclectic-home-tour-8Ok, here were are at the end of my Winter Eclectic Home Tour. Thanks for stopping by. I hope you come back again soon and don’t be shy about leaving comments. I LOVE reading them.

Now that you are done here, please, head over to The Gathered Home for the next and final stop of this amazing, incredible, and unique hop tour.
winter-eclectic-home-tour-3

Please Note: Links to Home Tour are not live until day of tour

Monday

Bright Green Door // Michelle Matangi Home // Sharon Williams // CAD Interiors // Domicile 37

Tuesday

Casa Watkins Living // Maggie Overby Studios // House Homemade // French & French Interiors // Style Mutt Home

Wednesday

Up To Date Interiors // The Striped House // Designing Vibes // Iris Nacole // Fearfully & Wonderfully Made // Blue i Style

Thursday

PMQ for Two // Maker of Home // Go Haus Go // Whimsical Blue Living // FOXY OXIE

Friday

This is Our Bliss // Monica Wants It // Insieme House // Jest Cafe // The Gathered Home

Let Us Connect:

How To Throw A Successful Wreath Making Party

wreath-making-party-4-copy2

After our wreath making party last year, I decided to make it a Holiday tradition, so we were at it again this last weekend. 12 people came to the party. Friends brought food and drinks. I provided the greenery and materials for the wreaths. We drank, ate, and crafted for 5 hours. All in all, a wonderful day!

wreath-making-party-5wreath-making-party-3wreath-making-party5If you are reading this post because you are planning to throw a wreath making party, let me assure you, it is easy and FUN – No fear. Your friends will love it and you will be the super hostess hero.

What you will need for a party for 12 people:

Tools

Basic greenery

  • 2  big bundles or pine – I bought noble pine.
  • 1 big bundle of cedar
  • 1 big bundle of eucalyptus

Accents

  • 2 bunches of holly
  • 25 pine cones (not everybody will use them)
  • 2 bunches of eucalyptus flowers pods
  • 2 bunches of seeded eucalyptus

wreath-making-party-8 Hollywreath-making-party-9wreath-making-party6wreath-making-party-11

Basically, everybody had the option to use white, red, and/or brown accents, aside from the main greenery. You will need a person that knows how to do wreaths so she/he can teach the rest. In this case, I taught the workshop. I am a wreath expert by now!

For instructions to do wreaths, go here and here.
wreath-making-party-13
wreath-making-party-15 wreath-making-party-16 Last year, we used grapevine wreaths (18 and 24 inches). Grapevine wreaths are beautiful by themselves, so they are good if you are planning to partially cover it. If the idea is to cover the whole wreath with greenery, grapevine wreaths are NOT the way to go, because they are more expensive and you need more greenery to cover them (they are thick), that is why I decided to go with simple wire wreaths for this year’s party and the final results were better across the board.wreath-making-party-17 wreath-making-party-18 wreath-making-party-19 wreath-making-party-7wreath-making-party-20 wreath-making-party-21Here are the results. They all look pretty good, don’t you think?wreath-making-party-29 wreath-making-party-30 wreath-making-party1wreath-making-party-31 wreath-making-party-32 wreath-making-party-33 wreath-making-party-40wreath-making-party-34 wreath-making-party-35wreath-making-party-39wreath-making-party-25wreath-making-party2I didn’t have time to do a wreath until later because I was teaching the workshop, so I posed with the golden ring wreath I created the day before. BTW, tutorial for gold ring wreaths coming up on Monday!
wreath-making-party-38I love this group of friends.

Most of them sent me photos of their wreaths hanging from their front doors or mantels – that made me happy.

Thanks for stopping by! Don’t forget to come back this Friday for the Winter Eclectic home tour where me and other bloggers show you how we decorated our homes for the Holidays. wreath-party-pin-copy

Let Us Connect:

DIY Budget-Friendly Holiday Garland

jestcafe-garland-diy-8-pin2
This year I am decorating my house with natural cedar garlands for the Holidays. I want them everywhere! Because they are beautiful, chic, and smell SO good. Also, they are cheap and easy to make. This post about how to make your own garland is the proof.

(BTW, I am participating in a Holiday bloggers hop next week. Me and other bloggers are teaming up to show you how we decorate our homes for Christmas, in case you are in need of ideas. That is why this post is ONLY about how to make this cedar garland and it doesn’t show you how it would look with all the extra Holiday stuff once I decorate it- The photo above is the clean and simple version of this garland)

Without further due. Here are the instructions.

Difficulty (1-5): 2  Time: 45 mins  Cost: $25

Materials:

  • Cedar branches (lots)
  • Floral Wire – I used 22 gauge.
  • Wire cutter
  • Pruning scissors

jestcafe-garland-diy jestcafe-garland-diy-2jestcafe-garland-diy-9 jestcafe-garland-diy-101) Make a knot on your starting branch with your floral wire.
jestcafe-garland-diy-3 2) Make a bunch of 3 cedar branches of smaller size.jestcafe-garland-diy-4 3) Attach the bunch to the first branch with floral wire. There is no need to cut the floral wire, just keep on winding it around the branches to create your garland.jestcafe-garland-diy-6jestcafe-garland-diy-114) Repeat until your garland has the desired length. jestcafe-garland-diy-12 jestcafe-garland-diy-13 5) At the end of the garland, create another bunch of three branches and attach them with floral wire. Add them to the end of the garland in the opposite direction to the rest of the branches. This will give the end of the garland a nice cascade shape.jestcafe-garland-diy-7 I placed my garland on the piano. Here is the result (without extra Holiday decorations):jestcafe-garland-diy-14jestcafe-garland-diy-8I am very happy with the result.  I wish the photo could really show how elegant the living room looks with this addition! So cheap and easy. It is surprising to see how small details like this can take your Holiday decorations to the next level. Thanks for visiting!

Also, a post about a wreath-making party, a flower workshop, and ideas on how to decorate your Christmas table.

Let Us Connect: