Holiday Home Tour (Part 1)

I’ve been so busy getting ready for the holidays, decorating the house, shopping and crafting that I have neglected to keep you posted.  Shame on me!  I will probably land on Santa’s Naughty List  ….again this year!

I do love to decorate for Christmas, ask Mike……….I have tons of decorations!  He calls it “junk”……..I’m guessing he will end up on the Naughty List too for comments like that!

Seems like every year I use red in my Christmas decor……I mean, it’s not really Christmas without Red, is it?  And it is my favorite color!  For YEARS I have decorated using Snowmen, I love that I can keep them out long after Christmas is over.  I mean, if I am going to go through all the work of dragging all these boxes of decorations out of the closet, deciding where to put everything, cleaning, decorating, cleaning again, putting away the normal decorations, and shoving all those boxes back in the closet I am going to enjoy it for a while!  Well this year I changed things up……….a lot!  I sold all my snowmen!  Yep!  Sold em!

This year I went with a simple, fresh, vintage, farmhouse theme and I absolutely LOVE it!  Should we get started with the tour?

You all know I love decorating our front porch throughout the year, changing it with the seasons.  Well Christmas is no different and like many of you, it’s one of my favorite seasons to decorate for.  This is where my holiday decorating began and is what laid the foundation for this years theme throughout the rest of the house.  It all started with the old screen that I painted.   Learn how to do it here!

I love the tall slender trees and old buckets in the wagon.  Simple!  I envy you readers that live in the south and have mild winters.  I have weighted these trees down with about 50 lbs of rock and then wired them to the wagon for extra security!  These Iowa winter “winds” can be hard on cute porch decorations!  I added the aspen (or are they birch?) branches and love the natural element they provide.  I think they really pop against the gray house and buffalo plaid blanket.  Dad and I went “hunting” for those branches at their lake house while taking a break from working on the harvest table this summer.  What special memories I have from that trip.

Did I tell you those are my ice skates from when I was a kid? Yep…………..they are very “vintage”!

My porch design is really pretty simple and could be easily recreated by using a few things you may have laying around your house, Craig’s List or maybe your parents attic!

Come on in!  The entryway is another one of  my “favorite” areas in our home.  I had an old dresser in in the entryway that belonged to my grandparents, it landed there when we moved in for lack of a better place to put it.  I have been wanting to make a change to this space but didn’t really know what I wanted to do……..until now!  I bought this old church pew off off Craig’s List this summer (for $35) and decided to move it to the entryway. – I love Craig’s List!!  I drug the dresser upstairs to the laundry room.  I asked Mike to help, but he was busy with the “She Shed“…………so I moved it myself!   Needless to say a little shocked when he realized I moved it by myself (‘wink” “wink” – I can get things done when I need to!)   The church pew fits perfectly in the entryway and provides a great place for guests to sit and take off their shoes.  I’m lovin’ how it looks!

I have always loved decorating with vintage items, however I have never really thought about including them in my holiday decor……….until this year!  Many of the vintage toys belonged to my dad when he was a kid.  You will see several fire trucks, Tonka trucks and even some toy tractors scattered throughout the house.  What a fun element they have added to my holiday decorating and a huge temptation for my poor grandson!

The old window frame has been taking up space in our garage for a year.  Mike jumped at the idea when I suggested we add a shelf to the bottom of it and hang it in the entryway!  I also painted this Fresh Cut Trees sign.  I absolutely adore old signs and they are so simple to make – I’ll show you how here!  I have made several for this years decorating theme, you will see more of them later on in the tour.  I also picked up this cute plaid blanket scarf in the Target $1 bin area………….please tell me I’m not the only one that gets sucked into that area?!  Dang them for having such cute stuff out there for me to fill up my cart with!

Check back soon, I have lots more to share!