Whimsical Christmas decorating: Full home tour

Hi friends! It has been such a joy to see the pictures some of you have sent of your homes decorated for Christmas! Keep em' coming; your creativity has been so inspiring, (and I'll be compiling them to one post to share close to Christmas)! I finished all our decorating earlier this week and thought it would be fun to share a full tour!

I never decorate for the holidays with any particular theme or color scheme, but I like the decorating to feel fresh and unique year after year. Since I don't want to spend $$$ on brand new decorations, this stretches my imagination with what we already have - and gives me the opportunity to make new things myself! As you tour the rooms I have linked some of the DIY projects for you to check out if you'd like, and a few more will be coming soon!

Please come in and enjoy the tour!

Holiday living room

Pom-pom garland tutorial here

Our young children, (ages 4, 4 and 2), set up the nativity for the first time this year. I love that they huddled everyone around baby Jesus!

Rather than buy all new pillows for Christmas and the winter, I rummaged my closet and pulled out two brown belts to gather around my large white pillows!

During our snow days earlier this week the little ones and I got busy making some snowflakes of our own inside, (tutorial coming soon)!

I haven't made paper snowflakes in decades! What fun!

Sadly, the tree topper that my husband and I picked out together before our first Christmas broke earlier this week. I made this one from a wire coat hanger wrapped in twine! Tutorial coming soon.

Front Entrance

Homemade sign

Cardboard ornaments

Dining room

Lumbar pillows made from placemats!

Pom-pom yarn wreath

Trimmed Christmas tree stumps used as candle bases

Bedrooms

Welcome to Shire's room!

I just added a little 'ice' to her homemade headboard

Welcome to Colin's and Mason's room!

A couple familiar pals are droppin' in for the holidays

And finally, welcome to the master bedroom!

Block printed lampshade tutorial here

I recovered my corner chair with a soft navy and gold plaid fabric for the holidays and winter months!

A nod to our beloved home state: the cardinal; our state bird!

A few small sprigs from our Noble fir fit nicely in a pair of mismatched Mason jars

Merry Christmas, to all!

 Thank you so much for coming by! 

~Chelsea

This post was originally published under Chelsea's Garage, now affectionately known as StyleMutt.

Teaming up with One Kings Lane {How to shop and use accent chairs}

Hello! I'm Chelsea's favorite accent chair. That's right, number one. I'm big-time, baby!
What? You don't see anything special? Come take a closer look!

Just a little closer...

There! Just look at the grain of my faded, weathered wood. I was left outside for a long, long time before Chelsea found me, fixed my seat and brought me in. 

But, there's still more to me than meets the eye...

Hi guys! Today it is an awesome pleasure to help out some friends over at One Kings Lane!

(okay, so maybe I'm over-thinking this relationship) When they contacted me to ask for some help  introducing their new Home Decor Resource, (a useful tool for finding and using accent chairs), I was ecstatic! Not only have I been inspired by OKL for years now, they asked if I would feature my favorite accent chair in my home through using their Home Decor Resource. I love OKL and I love accent chairs; what an awesome project!

Since I tend to lean towards pieces that will give me the most function and versatility for my money, I've decided to share my favorite accent chair used in three completely different settings in our home: our living room, dining room, and master bedroom. Our home is not on the large side so it's important to me to find pieces that can hold more than one job and step up when needed here or there!

This solid wood armchair found on the side of the road is exactly the versatile piece I'm talking about! A chair with a removable seat that can be recovered is good as gold. Fabric does not have to be expensive, and when you only buy one yard at a time to recover a seat, it's a quick makeover that costs you less than $10 and 10 minutes of your time!

Invest in a staple gun and you can give your chair as many different looks as you'd like!

Living room

For our living room I covered the seat in a navy and gold plaid cotton fabric. The colors are warm, sophisticated and give the chair a cozy look for winter.

Paired with an appropriately proportioned lumbar pillow and tuffed ottoman, this simple armchair takes on a larger presence that invites you in to curl up with a warm drink and favorite read.

Accent chairs are wonderful pieces that can create a quiet little moment in a large and busy room. I love tucking them back a bit from the hustle and bustle of foot traffic.

Dining room

Over the holidays we tend to need extra seats around our dining table - but I hate the idea of buying a dozen dining chairs if I am only going to use 5 for the bulk of the year! So, my handy armchair steps in as head of the table when we need to borrow a few extra seats from around the house. What a great fit!

Master bedroom

With a quick fabric switch my favorite accent chair is nestled in my favorite spot in our bedroom. 

The fabric I chose for our bedroom is an ultra soft ivory chenille.

To learn more about finding just the right armchair, head over to One Kings Lane's Home Decor Resource! It's a wonderful tool for answering tricky placement questions, finding a chair from the right era appropriate to your home's decor, and browsing various styles. I think you will find it a helpful source for inspiration; I sure did!

And a huge thank you to One Kings Lane for inviting me to help them introduce their Home Decor Resource! 

Thanks for stopping by!

~Chelsea

This post was originally featured under Chelsea's Garage, now affectionately known as StyleMutt.

One A Week {Scrapbook paper ornaments} Plus an announcement!

Hi there! Continuing with the One A Week DIY Christmas decoration series are some pretty little homemade ornaments! If you missed them you can check out the previous projects if you'd like:

Pom-pom wreath, crepe flowers wreath, pom-pom garland, and a vintage sign!

Supplies for today's homemade ornaments:
Cardboard to cut your shapes (I used a cereal box)
Scrapbook paper (or wrapping paper or construction paper)
Scissors
Glue
String/Yarn/Ribbon to hang ornaments
Hole punch

I traced some shapes onto the cardboard and cut them out. Then traced them onto scrap paper, cut them out, and glued onto both sides of the cardboard shapes. Punch a hole and tie a short length of yarn through the hole. Trim the tree!

Decorating trick: I just grabbed these twigs from our back yard, wrapped them together in a long strip of white scrap fabric I had on hand, and stuck them in a glass jar! It's a fun way to group a specific collection of ornaments that you may want to keep together!

I had some fun making ornaments of my kids hand prints, too! Weird Mom thing, I know, but I look forward to pulling these little hand prints out in 20 years, holding them up to my own hands, and remembering these days.

Lovin' the short, round fingers of my little meatball, Mason!

And hello?! You guys are so creative!!! I've totally been enjoying seeing the photos some of you have sent of your own DIY Christmas projects! Please, please share any of your projects with me via email! I think I'll compile your handiwork into one post to share with all! 

In other news, I've had the incredible opportunity to work with One Kings Lane on a crazy fun project! They contacted me early last week, I got right to work, and have something fun to share with you on Wednesday. Can't wait!!!

Thank you so much for stopping by!

~Chelsea

This post was originally featured under Chelsea's Garage, now affectionately known as StyleMutt.