Holiday Kitchen Inspiration

FREE IMAGES With most homes these days catering to the open floor plan, decorating for the holiday's might not always stop by the Christmas Tree or dinning room! Here are a few ideas for bringing some holiday fun to the kitchen:

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Christmas Home Tour Part 2: Rustic Christmas

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Hi there!  Merry Christmas Eve!  I can't believe I'm just now posting my Christmas Home Tour (part 2).  At least I'm not really late as it's not officially Christmas yet... so, technically I'm a day early.  Congratulations to me. (said with complete sarcasm)

I'd hoped to get it posted much earlier but with sick kids, parties, Christmas shopping, baking, etc. there just hasn't been a lot of spare time.  You know how it is...  Tis' the season for over-doing.  But this season I tried not to over do it.  And, I almost succeeded.... I think.

Anywho, welcome to my Christmas Home Tour Part 2, Rustic Christmas.  Be sure to check out my "fancy" Christmas decor in Part 1. 

We'll start with my mantel.  

This year I wanted to mix up my Christmas mantel a little bit.  The past couple of years I've had somewhat of a candy cane-ish theme.  You can see my Candy Cane Christmas Mantel here..  Anyway, I'm am totally over the candy cane-ish look.  (Big surprise.)  

I loved the rustic look I did on my kitchen console table last year.  DIY Network even featured it on their site!  

I decided I could pull off a rustic Christmas mantel on the cheap using mostly stuff I already have.  

I busted out my old 90% off red candle holders that I bought with the intention of spray painting.  They are marvelously Christmas rustic looking so I’m so glad I didn’t.  The birch candles were 80% off from Hob Lob’s after Fall sale.  (they are definitely not just for Fall, score!)  I used some of the Christmas trees that I had and that was that.

I used an old wreath and made it look new by adding a few of these burlap-ish flowers I scored for half off at Hob Lob and adding some burlap ribbon through it.  

I changed up the hearth of my fireplace this year too.  So many times people forget to decorate the fireplace hearth.  It's like dressing your top up with your best Christmas sweater but forgetting your pants.  Don't forget the pants bottom, people! ;)  (and don't worry, I don't wear Christmas sweaters.)

I got this huge red lantern for $8 after Christmas last year!

 $8!   

It was 90% off and a super score deal in the game.  It is ginormous and I heart it.  I was planning to put it on my porch but then I couldn’t stand thinking that it would get rained/sleet/snowed/iced on and likely only last a few seasons.  And if it was by my front door I wouldn't get to see it much because I always come in the garage.  Bummer.  

I made an executive decision and saved it’s life by sticking it by my fireplace alongside another lantern that I keep there all year. 

Your welcome, Ginormous Red Lantern.

My friend made the awesome lantern stand that is now a permanent fixture on my fireplace hearth (it will never be pantless again!).   I dressed it up with a few faux greenery swags and a big burlap bow.  

I made the bow myself after following extremely confusing instructions and some cursing I found online.  I’m not sure if I like it, it is kind of like the post is wearing a big, fat, little girl hair bow looking thing.  I added some jingle bells to distract from the poor bow formation.

I changed it up by sticking a Santa in the lantern instead of a candle. Further distracting from the burlap hair bow.

On the other side of the fireplace hearth I stuck some birch branches in my blanket basket along with some greenery.  It's sort of gives a cozy rustic glow.

My stocking are from Pottery Barn Kids and have a train, airplane and my boy's names on the other side of them.  I staged them with the red side showing for my pictures but the other side actually doesn't look bad.  The boys were highly offended that I had put up their stockings "backwards".  Of course I changed them back after the pics.  

I got a new pillow that I am completely in love with... a TJ Maxx find (of course).  I've seen similar ones for 3 times what I paid for it.

I hung my DIY burlap wreath on my kitchen mirror.  (See my burlap wreath tutorial)

I hung it over my sideboard which holds a simple wooden tray full of greenery and votives.

I'm loving this vignette and thinking it's neutral enough I can leave it up all winter.

Although the red in the wreath is kinda screaming Christmas at me.  Maybe I could keep the wreath but lose the red flowers after Christmas.  It's a plan.

My kitchen table centerpiece was a thrown together at the last minute deal.  I feel like these deer would've liked to be laying in greenery instead of snow.  You could see them a lot better that way.  But, unfortunately for the deer, I ran out.  In keeping with my attempt at not over doing it this season I decided that the deer could just suck it up and sit in the snow.  Maybe if they're really good next year I'll buy them some greenery to sit in. ;)

Merry Christmas, everyone!

PS:  Consider joining me in January for a book club studying 31 Days to Build a Better Blog by ProBlogger Darren Rowse.  Learn more and sign up in the comments here.

Linking: Nesting Place, Savvy Southern Style

Christmas Decor Tour 2012 Part 1: The Fancy Rooms

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Hey there!  How's it going??  Are you having a pre-Christmas meltdown or are you relaxing and enjoying the season?  I hope it's the latter.

I've been to two Christmas cookie exchange parties in the past two days, I hosted one the first night and attended one the next night.

Today I'm pretty sure I've eaten my weight in Christmas cookies.

You know what?

It was awesome. :)

There are only a few days left of good Christmas eats and then it'll be back to reality (meaning no cookies for breakfast anymore).

Time is ticking down quickly and the big day is right around the corner. I'm just barely going to get my Christmas decor tour up in time.  So come on in!

We'll start in my entry way...

Just a little vignette of trees and deer.

Keeping it simple.  Loving these deer that have very similar brothers from Pottery Barn.  These are from TJ Maxx for a quarter of the price.

Then step into my living room to see my "fancy tree" with a touch of leopard print.  Leopard can give an elegant and sophisticated look but can go bad very quick if you're not careful. :)

I have leopard print ribbon on the tree and one leopard print pillow.  That's it.  It's just enough.

Each year I add a few unique ornaments that I usually find very cheap at TJ Maxx. (where else, right?)

The loops have French script on them  an the colors are perfect for my fancy tree.  It's looks handmade but I couldn't have made it for as cheap as I bought it.  That's the beauty of TJ Maxx.

The tree looks prettier when it's glowing a little bit don't cha think?

My topper started as a smaller bow.  It was too wimpy for my 9 foot tree so I just kept adding to it until it looked good.  It doesn't even look like a bow anymore, I refer to it as my tree's hair-do.  I think it's channeling it's inner Chaka Khan.

I have a little vignette on my ottoman.  This year I fell to the antler frenzy and picked up a few faux antlers at my favorite flea market.  One landed here....

And who can resist a Santa in a cloche??

My "Joy to the World" pillow is one of my rare authentic Pottery Barn items.  It's piped in burlap rope.  Love.  It was on sale last year and I got free shipping.  Merry Christmas to me.

My golden reindeer and feathered and sequined trees top my great-grandma's curio cabinet.

A view from above...

My dining room is finally starting to get the makeover that it so badly needs.  I have a little vignette set up on my mirrored table.

I started painting my dining room table and chairs.  Finally!!  My Mamaw gave me her set when they down-sized their home a few years back.  They had been an orange-ish cherry that dated the traditionally styled set.  I can not believe the difference the Annie Sloan chalk paint is making.  Here is a peak!

I really think I'm going to love it... it will be a January (or February?) project.

Well, I hope you've enjoyed my "Fancy" Christmas tour.  It isn't too fancy but my boys call this one my fancy tree and unknowingly named this tour for me.  Part 2 will be my more rustic Christmas decor in my kitchen and family room.

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Linking: The Nester, Jennifer Rizzo, Tatertots & Jello, Savvy Southern Style

Rustic Christmas Mantel

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Hi there!  After Germageddon we are finally getting back to normal around here although I am waaaay behind on my Christmas decorating.  I am getting stuff up slowly but surely...

My Christmas mantel is finally complete!

This year I wanted to mix up my Christmas mantel a little bit.  The past couple of years I've had somewhat of a candy cane-ish theme.  You can see my Candy Cane Christmas Mantel here..  Anyway, due to my decorating ADD I'm am totally over the candy cane-ish look.  (Big surprise.)  

I loved the rustic look I did on my kitchen console table last year.  DIY Network even featured it on their site!  

I decided I could pull off a rustic Christmas mantel on the cheap  using mostly stuff I already have.  

A few years ago I shared with you that my mantel garland is super scraggly. 

scraggle garland (the one poinsettia is super classy)

Well, I attempted to replace it last year after Christmas when the Hob Lob takes 80% off and I got some really nice and realistic looking blue-spruce-ish greenery.  

It looks so real and beautiful... lying on my floor. 

I could not get this stuff to stay on my mantel!  It has a permanent metal bend in the center that makes it impossible to lie flat.  I tried to bend it back the other way, no luck.  I tried to flatten the bend, no luck.  I considered nailing it to the top of my mantel (I've have done this with other uncooperative decor before (shh, don't tell)) but even this wasn't going to work unless I nailed it in like 5 different places, that's a little much, even for a crazy mantel nailer like me.  My gloriously cheap, beautiful, realistic, blue-spruce-ish greenery was not happening on my mantel.  

What kind of loser greenery doesn't stay on a mantel?  How annoying. 

So that left me with going and buying some new stuff at before Christmas non-discounted prices (you guys know I'm way too cheap for that) or suffering through another year of the dreaded scraggle greenery. 

Scraggle it is.

“The scraggle”, which it will now be known as, had the nerve to have dead lights on it even though I put brand new lights on it last year.  It is SO going in the garbage after Christmas.

Anyway, I managed to dress up the mantel enough to hopefully take away attention from the scraggle… no one will ever notice, right?  Just don’t look real close…

To take away attention from the scraggle I used an old wreath and made it look new by adding a few of these burlap-ish flowers I scored for half off at Hob Lob and adding some burlap ribbon through it.  

I busted out my old 90% off red candle holders that I bought with the intention of spray painting.  They are marvelously Christmas rustic looking so I’m so glad I didn’t.  The birch candles were 80% off from Hob Lob’s after Fall sale.  (they are definitely not just for Fall, score!)  I used some of the Christmas trees that I had and that was that.

I changed up the hearth of my fireplace this year too.  So many times people forget to decorate the fireplace hearth.  It's like dressing your top up with your best Christmas sweater but forgetting your pants.  Don't forget the pants bottom, people! ;)  

I got this huge red lantern for $8 after Christmas last year!

 $8!   

It was 90% off and a super score deal in the game.  It is ginormous and I heart it.  I was planning to put it on my porch but then I couldn’t stand thinking that it would get rained/sleet/snowed/iced on and likely only last a few seasons.  And if it was by my front door I wouldn't get to see it much because I always come in the garage.  Bummer.  

I made an executive decision and saved it’s life by sticking it by my fireplace alongside another lantern that I keep there all year. 

Your welcome, Ginormous Red Lantern.

My friend made the awesome lantern stand that is now a permanent fixture on my fireplace hearth (it will never be pantless again!).   I dressed it up with a few faux greenery swags and a big burlap bow.  

I made the bow myself after following extremely confusing instructions and some cursing I found online.  I’m not sure if I like it, it is kind of like the post is wearing a big, fat, little girl hair bow looking thing.  I added some jingle bells to distract from the poor bow formation.

I changed it up by sticking a Santa in the lantern instead of a candle. Further distracting from the burlap hair bow.

On the other side of the fireplace hearth I stuck some birch branches in my blanket basket but I didn’t have quite enough to fill it properly.  This is when I decided to take advantage of the new blue-spruce greenery and stick it in there with the birch branches, lights and all.  This is the shape it likes to be in, completely bent in the center.  It's happy now.

Guess what?

I love how it all turned out despite the scraggle.

The scraggle did not doom my Christmas mantel after all. 

Take that the scraggle!!! 

Kate: 1   Scraggle: 0

Stay tuned for more Christmas decor...

And, consider joining me in January for a book club studying 31 Days to Build a Better Blog by ProBlogger Darren Rowse.  Learn more and sign up in the comments here.

Linking: The Lettered Cottage, Tatertots & Jello, Under the Table & Dreaming, Home Stories A to Z

Burlap Fall Mantle

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Hey there!  How are you on this lovely fall weekend?  I am doing great.  I did absolutely nothing this Saturday but hang out in my favorite hoody sweatshirt cuddled up on the couch with my boys.  Isn't it nice to just have a lazy day sometimes...

The boys were choosing the tv shows, lately they've been filling up our DVR with reruns of America's Funniest Home Videos.  Instead of deleting them after they watch them, they will actually watch the same ones over and over again and laugh hysterically even though they've already seen it.  It cracks me up to hear them belly laughing at this silly show so I don't mind.

I'll let you in on a little secret... now don't tell my boys but Mommy doesn't think the show is all that funny  (how many times can you watch someone get hit in the groin by a 3 year old with a plastic baseball bat, seriously) so Mommy spent a lot of time staring at the fireplace enjoying her fall mantle. ;)

Anyway, I kept my mantle pretty simple this year, burlap ended up being the theme although I didn't plan it that way.

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Fall Decorating Mojo

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Hey there friends!  I hope you all enjoyed the long weekend.  Around here we took it easy and relaxed.  I finished up painting our master bathroom (finally! more on that in the upcoming weeks) and I managed to talk Mr. Chic into helping me drag my fall decor bins out of the basement too.  I have been very excited to get out my fall decor but once I got it all out of the bins I kinda lost my decorating mojo.

Switching out seasonal decor is fun but also means I've gotta put away last seasons stuff and do annoying housekeeping things like dusting everything and peeling transformer stickers off my console table.

I removed stickers and dusted to get everything ready for my fall goodies.  I got one vignette finished and a couple of wreaths up but still much more to do.

My kitchen island was taken over by pumpkins and other fall paraphernalia for most of the day.  Even though I was cleaning it was such a mess!

I'm switching things around a bit this year so I'm trying different things here and there to find just the right look.  This is fun but slows down the process if you are ridiculously picky about insignificant things like pumpkin decorations like me.

I finished today with a look I like to call the "pumpkin explosion" where I dumped everything on the dining room table because I was too tired to finish up.  I'll be back at it tomorrow and will hopefully get my mojo back. :)

Do you have your Fall decorating mojo yet?

The 4th

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Happy Fourth of July!

Could it really be here already??

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Around here 4th of July means summer is half over (or maybe half started to those glass half-full kinds of people).  


In the summer life slows down but it feels like it actually speeds up.  I really, honestly don't know what happened to June.  It was here and then it was gone.    


So now that we're at the halfway point what have I gotten accomplished around here?

Yeah, well... not much.  I don't know about you but during the summer months, my decorating mojo goes out the window.  I have a huge list of things I'm excited about starting/finishing but not too much actually happens.

I want to hang out with my boys so that's what I do.  The other stuff can wait because school will be back in before I know it.

To keep with my summer theme of doing nothing I'll share my 4th of July decor.


It's the same as last year.


Once again, in full communist fashion, I did not put up any 4th of July decorations.

NOT.  ONE.  THING.

I bought a lovely American flag swag banner to drape across my porch but decided it would be too much work to put it out there.

Too much work?

Well, it is 97 degrees which according to the heat index feels like 1 million degrees plus 100% humidity.  I'll start sweating and my hair will start to frizz if I even think of going out there right now.

Maybe next year.

I hope you all have a safe and Happy Independence Day!

God Bless America!

Some Patriotic Pinspiration for your Memorial Day

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Hi all!   In honor of Memorial Day I'm sharing some patriotic "pinspiration" with you.

Maybe we can put some of these great ideas to good use for the 4th of July which will be here sooner than we know it!

Some lovely patriotic tablescapes...

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DIY patriotic wreaths...

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Free patriotic printables....

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Patriotic sweet treats...

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“We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

- President Abraham Lincoln