I am so excited to have teamed up with all these amazing ladies for this Farmhouse Christmas Blog Hop. This time of year is my absolute favorite and I always look forward to pulling out all of our Christmas decorations. If I could leave it all up year round, I most definitely would. Christmas time just brings up so many precious memories for me and I just want to relive the magic each and every single day of my life.
This year our budget has been a little tight, so I didn't spend much extra on new decor. Instead I worked with what I had and I have to admit, I think it's the best look I have ever created for Christmas in our home. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.
The front porch is pretty simple. I added two faux wreaths with red burlap bows to both windows. My favorite thing is the magnolia garland I added around our front door. I found the inspiration for it from Natalie @hammmadefurniture. Last year she posted a similar garland she made and I just thought it was absolutely stunning. My sister just so happens to have a large magnolia tree in her front yard, so with her permission, I cut some clippings and strung each branch together with floral wire I already had on hand to create this garland. I'm sure it will be dead before Christmas day gets here, but I think it's beautiful while it last.
I also placed a small tree in an old tin bucket and placed it by the front door and then added a few plaid pillows to the rocking chairs. I made the covers for the pillows last year from a table cloth I bought at Target. I bought two tablecloths last year and I was able to make 8 pillow covers out of them. You will see many of them placed around the house in this tour. Pillow covers are one of my favorite things to change out for each season. They will completely transform a room without using a large budget, especially if you can DIY your own covers.
Stepping through the front door the first thing you will enter is our family room. This year our tree is a faux tree that I picked up for $5 at a garage sale back in the summer. It was already prelit with these multicolored lights. I had actually planned on trying to cut the multicolored lights off the tree so that I could rewrap it with white lights. I originally thought I wouldn't like multicolored lights, but I turned out to love them. So they stayed which was great because it required much less work on my part. The boys helped me decorate the tree with ornaments from mine and my husband's childhood. It's always fun for me to see the boys with ornaments that we got at the same age they are now. Each ornament brings up so many specific memories for me and it just shows how everything comes full circle when I see my boys decorate the tree with them and share with them all the stories. The boys' ornaments also adorn the tree. Each year our Elf on the Shelf brings the boys each an ornament so they will have the same tradition to carry on with their kids one day.
We also got a little crafty over the Thanksgiving break and the boys helped me create a popcorn garland to go around the tree. It was a super easy project and is a great tradition to start with the family. My youngest, who is 3, was way more interested in eating the popcorn than actually stringing it on the thread, but it was still really fun for us all.
Most of the stockings hanging from the mantle I already had from years past, but I did pick up the two polka dot stockings from Hobby Lobby last week. They were just too cute to pass up and they were on sale. I got them for just $5 a piece. The little white houses I picked up at Target in the Dollar Spot for just $3 each.
The book page garland was a little DIY project I made one day last week. It was super simple, but I love the extra charm it added to the mantle. I actually created a tutorial for this garland years ago and you can find it here if you are curious about it.
The kitchen received a little bit of attention as well. The JOY letters are paper mache cardboard letters from Hobby Lobby. I have had them for several years, but you can get them at any craft store for just a couple of dollars a letter and create whatever word or phrase you choose. I added a few little trees on the shelves and counter and a wreath above the range.
For the dining table I took some extra magnolia tree clippings I had left over from the front door garland and placed them in the metal wall buckets. I also placed a few on the table to fill in the extra space. I did wash/rinse all of the branches I brought inside to make sure I didn't also invite inside any creepy insects.
And last but not least I threw a few simple Christmas touches in the boys' room with a little faux Christmas tree on their night stand and two vintage reindeer stuffed animals that belonged to my sister and me when we were little girls.
I hope you enjoyed our Christmas tour. Be sure to check out these other nine Farmhouse Christmas tours for some more beautiful inspiration.
