Monday, December 14, 2015

Our Great Room at Christmas

Good morning. I hope that your week has gotten off to a good start! Continuing with my previous post, here are some shots of our great room.

This beautiful 1800's glider horse sits on top of our 
entertainment center.
Shortly before Christmas last year,
I frivolously took the plunge on eBay winning the bid for it.
I never showed it on my blog because I could not get a 
decent photo of it, and still can't, 
as you see here. 
But it is such a beautiful antique that I am sharing it anyway.
She sits up there all year round,
with different seasonal pieces surrounding her...


This year we decided to go with a small,
4-foot country Christmas tree
which I decorated very minimally.
I purchased it on-line through Walmart.
On it there are tiny star lights 
(LED, and battery-operated) 
strung on beautiful bendable silver wire.
I purchased them on-line from the
baby division of Restoration Hardware...


...and lightly larger ones drape down over
the gifts,
antique galvanized milk box
(remember the days of the milkman?)
and bench.
We bought the milk box in Hendersonville
and I love it because the front of it says
"Willow Brook Farms".
The bench,
which I painted with Annie Sloan 
Chalk Paint (Olde White)
and finished with her clear wax, is one
that you may remember
from this post when it was 
an ugly shade of yellow...


To the left of the milk box is a basket 
filled with birch logs (from Michael's),
greenery, and a twig star
(which was originally a Walmart
tree topper from which we cut off
the red berries).
The basket is actually one that you
would use for serving utensils...


On the tree I put just 12 small mercury glass
ornaments, all different.
They were purchased on-line at Luna Bazaar
found here 
A lovely company to deal with!...



...and some hand-felted small acorns
through Etsy,
and found here...



...and then added about twelve crystal 
ornies. 
Can't remember where I got them, but
I think it was Target...


The best part about trimming this little tree
was that I could sit down and do it,
and then was able to move it to the bench.
This was a real bonus to my back,
which has been aching considerably
lately!!

*******************************
And now, for our big accomplishment of 
the season.
You may recall that a few years ago we 
bought an old black china hutch top 
and installed it over the fireplace.
You can see a post about that here.
It was nice for a time, 
but truthfully I got tired of figuring 
out how to decorate it seasonally
without it looking like it was always 
filled with "chotchkees".
So, Mr. Perch and I, who are
avid fans of HGTV's "Fixer Upper"
decided to rip out the shelving,
take off the top layer of the mantel,
which he had put on to support the hutch,
and add a beautiful piece of wood as
the top part.
He went to about five stores in search 
of the wood, since we knew that
we didn't want something typically found
at a big box store.
There is a wood-workers' store in Raleigh
called Klingspor's Woodworking Shop,
and there he found a beautiful piece of
butternut wood (not the squash!), 
which is also known as
white walnut, and more rare than
black walnut.
He cut it to fit,
sanded it smooth,
and I applied three coats of a wood 
finisher product that they recommended
(not a stain).
And of course, above it he planked the 
wall for a ship-lap look,
adding crown molding at the top.
As with the farm table 
and all of our diy projects, 
DH does the woodworking and building,
and I do the painting and staining.
Fair deal!...


We kept the rest of it simple by adding some
 glittered pine cone branches (bought at Michael's)
 to the mantel (the glitter looks like rock candy)...


...and swagged a glittery star and jute
 garland underneath it...



And since I couldn't find any decent
candle holders, I used, of all things,
two antique wooden bobbins
that I had upstairs in my studio!...


In this photo you can also see that we 
added greenery to 
the tops of the windows
(now minus curtains!)
which flank the fireplace...


There you have it!
Not quite what you would see on those 
beautiful, but heavily sponsored 
and advertised decor blogs,
but home just the same.
Home is where the (humble) heart is!

As ever, thanks for spending this time with me!

7 comments:

  1. Wowzer wowzer Sue!! Thanks so much for sharing! First off, I love your Christmas tree vignette! You did such a beautiful job creating this ~ (How soon can you be here?:) And your new mantel looks gorgeous! I like the deer too : ) your simple rustic decor just seems so perfect for this space~ So creative and makes me feel at home. Have a great week~ Karen O

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Karen. You always take the time to leave the nicest comments. I can't tell you how much I appreciate them. Have a great day!

      Delete
  2. Hello Sue, I just don`t understand why your posts are not showing up in my line..I will add you again,- love to see how you decorate your home for christmas, with nature beauty, and those amazing crystal ornaments , with the added lights and a little glitter, magic is there.
    Dorthe, xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Sue, I have tried to comment to both this post and your last post, but gets a notification, that my comment failed in being published , I don`t understand what could be wrong, and am sorry as I love to read and comment on your blog . Your christmas home looks wonderful, and so cozy. I hope this goes through, but if not I will sent it to you privately !
    Dorthe xoxo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello my good friend. Your comments did post, and I received your emails also. Thank you so much for your comments, as always. I so very much appreciate the time you spend making sure that I receive them. Hugs and holiday love!

      Delete
  4. Thank you Sue, so much, I just don`t know why they are sending this message back to me,,,,, m afraid I just tried to send you the message and mail once again for you to see, what they write me, sorry for that, it is just wonderful you can see my comments, and thank you for your kind answer. Hugs to you and smiles, with a kiss !!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is me that should offer thanks...for such a good and kind blog friend. I so value your visits, Dorthe. XO

      Delete

Thank you for taking the time to comment on this post!