Friday, December 11, 2009

Some Christmas Love and a Reveal


I have been enjoying every second of every minute of taking in all of your spectacular Christmas decorating - the Home Tours, the How-To's, the Recipes and everything in between! It has been something I've been looking forward to all year since I starting blogging back in February. I just knew that Blogland would be especially wonderful at the Holidays. And you have NOT disappointed! There is just so much to take in and so much inspiration out there that the Holidays for me will never be the same. I will now always look forward to the great ideas I get from all of you wonderful people.

Around here though, the decorating hasn't been what my family is used to at Christmastime. I usually start decking my halls right before Thanksgiving, and then after I finish the local House Tours, I sprinkle a little more Christmas love around the house. Something has changed in me this year. I knew a while ago that I wouldn't be going crazy this season. I don't know how I knew, I just knew.

Last March, my husbands dear parents lost everything to a fire. It was right after I started blogging so I'm not quite sure if I even posted about it. How do you post about something like that anyway? I barely knew any of you yet and I guess I just didn't want to be a downer on my new blog. Of course we offered for them to live with us while the house was being fixed, but my sweet FIL has Parkinson's as well as other health issues that prevent him from going up and down the stairs. So they had been living in a hotel room. For over seven months. They just recently moved back in to what is a gorgeously rebuilt home, but it didn't have anything in it. No furniture, no pictures, no rugs, no nothing. So it didn't feel like home. So that's where I've been over the past month and a half.

I have been striving recently to establish myself as a wanna-be designer. I have taken on a few "clients", er, "friends", willing to trust me with their decorating woes. It has been fun and a good way for me to get my feet wet. It is still a work in progress and I'm still learning, but I think this is the direction the Lord wants me to go in.

My In-Laws, whom I love dearly, entrusted their whole house to me. Thanks to Craig's List and Home Goods we've been able to turn their "new" house into a home on a shoestring budget. It is all I have been able to think about since we began. They are thrilled with the results and I can't wait to share the pictures with you all. I will be doing a post soon on the big reveal of their home - please stay tuned.

So that has been the best Christmas gift to me. Being able to help these amazing people that I have come to love as my own parents is the most precious gift I have ever received. I am so grateful to them in so many ways. God is Good!

Now, here are a few pictures of what little decorating I was able to do around here. Since I only put out about half of my things, I tried to make a big statement in just a few strategic spots.

My Dining Room table all gussied up. Don't you just love apothecary jars? They make decorating for the seasons so darn easy!


My mantle. I always switch this up every year and do something different. This year I was able to incorporate the "M" I purchased from Crafts, Etc. using the gift card I won from Sherrie's blog - thanks again Sherrie!!


Last year I purchased the lighted wreath and garland from Sam's Club and I needed to hide the cord so I got the idea to use gold chargers.


These gorgeous trees I picked up at Kirkland's a few years ago and I put them on my great-grandmother's old desk.


I will be joining the Nester's Holiday House Tour on Monday so I am saving the rest of my pictures for that. But before I go, you may remember me doing this a couple weeks ago:



I cracked up after reading all of your comments. Most of you agreed with me that I am nuts. And alot of you wondered what the heck I was gonna do to fix this:

Yeah. I wondered that myself.

After much consideration and alot of reassuring my man that, yes, of course I knew what I was doing! I did this:


Then my wonderful sister helped me by rearranging the furniture to help with the flow of the room and voila!

Instant open floor plan! And I love it! So does the man. So thanks for worrying about me and I hope you like the results.
Moral of the story: don't be afraid of a little thing like a sledgehammer. We are women, hear us roar!

15 comments:

Love the Decor! said...

You are amazing and your in-laws are very blessed to have you!!
Can't wait to see the pix

Your Decorating is beautiful and I especially love those Jars!!

Wendy said...

Your decorations look great! I like the letter "M" on the mantle! Excited to see the rest of your pictures!
No one would ever know that there was a railing, it looks great!

Tammy said...

Love how you redid the railing area. See "we dont need no man" haha. Looks great and can't wait to see all the holiday decor.
tammy

Melinda said...

Thanks for showing the redo on the railing area, it looks great! I was wondering about that the other day.
Your dining room table looks great too.

Melinda

Glo said...

Your decorations look great, Kim! I really like your mantle...the "m" the gold plates, everything! I am very impressed with the way your "instant open floor plan" came out! Amazing! I was wondering how you finished it off so I am glad you posted about it. I can't wait to see the rest of your decorations and of course, your in-laws house!!!

Unknown said...

Kim!!!
You aren't a decorating wannabe or whatever you called yourself. You ARE an amazing designer, stylist, artist...your home is beautiful! And that little reno you did taking down the railing...if anyone else had done that (like me) it would have looked like total crap! But you made it amazing!

Nancy

Blue Creek Home said...

Everything is so lovely.
I used a lot of those pretty cinnamonish (not in the dictionary I know!) in the foyer this year, too. Your is gorgeous.
And those trees from Kirklands are great.
I will be back on Monday to see the rest of your pretty holiday house.
Rhonda

Paula@SweetPea said...

Great job on finishing up your project. Your Christmas decorations are so pretty.

I'm sorry to hear about your in-law's fire. How horrible that they lost everything. They are lucky to have you to help them to refurnish their new home.

Queenie's Vintage Finds said...

Hey Kim,
Your decor looks beautiful! That is so wonderful that you could help with your hubby's parents home, especially after them having gone through such a terrible ordeal. My heart really goes out to them. I can only imagine how relieved they feel to be in their home again. I know it meant the world to them for you to put your magic touch into decorating their home. I bet you had such fun doing it too. I can hardly wait to see it!
By the way the living room open floor plan looks great...great job that you and hubby did!
Hope you have a wonderful holiday season!
Big Hugs,
Queenie

Jeanette said...

Everything is lovely. We lost most things to a fire a few years ago so I understand what your in laws went through. Your work is beautiful. Thank you for stopping by today.

Rue said...

Hi Kim :)

First of all, you cracked me up when I read your post about the railing. That is SO me LOL You're right, no one should be afraid to do things like that. It looks terrific!

Second, I love what you've shown us so far for Christmas. You have excellent taste.

I'm so sorry about your parent-in-laws home. That had to be so hard on them. I'm glad they have such a loving daughter-in-law to take care of them :)

As far as my antiques... most were inherited, some were given to me and other were found by me. It also helped that my mom downsized and I reaped the benefits LOL

Oh and one more thing... you are so sweet to me. Thank you :)

xoxo,
rue

Anonymous said...

So glad to see that it all worked out! smiles.

Lisa B. said...

Your in-laws are very blessed to have a daughter-in-law with such a big heart! How sweet of you to help make them feel at home in their new home - can't wait to see the pics.! I just love your Christmas decor and decorating - and your new spacious open floor plan!!

Lisa

Room to Inspire said...

It turned out fabulously! What a great project and I love that you tackled it yourself...I can hear the roar!

Chelsea

Pat Harris said...

Your home is beautiful. Thank you for the tour. I love seeing what others have done to make their homes festive. My home is small and a tour would take two pictures. lol. I have gotten a lot of ideas that will work in my small home. thank you. And thank you for visiting junkblossoms. I hope you'll come back soon. Merry Christmas.