Our Christmas Home Tour

Hey! Just wanted to share how a couple more spots in our house look for the holidays. Melissa of the Inspired Room is hosting her annual Christmas Home Tours linky party today and Jennifer Rizzo is having her 2011 Virtual Holiday House Party, so I wanted in on the action.

***Edit: The Nester's annual Christmas Tour of Homes is now live...linking up over there too! And just found out about Rene of Cottage and Vine's Room by Room Christmas Tour, so I'm adding mine into the mix as well. This is so fun!

When it comes to Christmas in general this year, I've been trying to balance my love for all things metallic with my desire for a rustic, natural look. I just decided to try and mix them together and hope for the best;) (Oh yeah, and I'm trying not to spend any money!) Here's how the bookcase in our foyer ended up:


I bought this chalkboard for Maura's first birthday party in September and later realized that it will definitely be good to have around. Hoping everyone gets my "Winter Wonderland" lyric reference (figured this would be a fitting saying to have up there on the night of our holiday party).


I used one of my Pottery Barn birch sleeves to hold branches from the yard (covered with a bit of moss I had left from my DIY faux terrariums this past spring). Then hung 2 of my beloved mercury glass ornaments from them with green ribbon.


Some of my little white pitchers, etc. with greens from the yard and a couple of empty boxes wrapped with pretty organic (and metallic) paper (plus pine cones!) round out a couple of the shelves.


I always like to still leave out some of our normal, everyday stuff (gotta be practical), but at least adding books in the right holiday palette help tie it in to the new seasonal stuff.


Another spot that usually gets a seasonal update are the ledge shelves in our family room above the couch. So excited that I finally hung these huge mercury glass ornaments my mom got me from Wisteria from the ceiling!! They add a nice touch of whimsy to the vignette.


To balance out all that bling, I framed a botanical print of some sort of winter holly berry stuff (a page from a wildflower guide book I already had) and used embroidered kraft paper and ticking fabric, plus sprigs of fresh greenery, red ribbon and jute twine to wrap up some more empty boxes.


If this is your first time stopping by (thanks!), here's a couple pics of our mantel (read more about it here) and the pine cone garland I threw together for our dining room (more here).


I can't wait to take some time and check out all the other homes on the tour! Thanks for hosting, Melissa! Are any of you linking up? Happy Holidays, everybody:)