Mia Jensen
Since then, probably the biggest change has been realizing that the walls were painted too dark for the limited lighting I get in the room, which prompted me to go with a much lighter color in the hallways, entryway, and upstairs landing area as well. A lot of the decor was reused from past years, but there have been a couple new additions, especially to the tree’s red/white/silver/gold color scheme (sources: family heirlooms, my Old World Christmas collection, Target, TJMaxx, Homegoods, At Home, Hobby Lobby).
I had some trouble figuring out a decent way to clip my old star onto the new tree, so I went with a few ribbons up top that I found at the dollar store. I added my two living room chairs on either side with some pillows from Target as a way to keep Charlie from sneaking behind the tree and bumping my ornaments (two beauties already lost :( …).
I snagged a new bronze reindeer (which, including the kitchen’s red one, brings my total up to 3) and a lovely metal rocking horse that I keep moving around because I like it so much. The basket next to the mantel is also new, filled with several pillows I’ve either bought new this year (from At Home) or had upstairs in my primary bedroom.
A word about the poinsettias: I normally fill a cart with red ones on Black Friday (both Lowe’s and Home Depot have them for 99 cents apiece that day each year), but I have never bought the red-and-white-pinkish ones until now. I also switched out the rug after the old beige and blue one clashed too much for my liking; I snapped this pic mid-switch so you can laugh with me (or, well, at me) at how sometimes I turn easy stuff into a comedy of errors.
I didn’t realize before this that Turkish rugs have to be brushed a certain way to look right (you can see that from certain angles it looks like it’s got one light side and one dark), which I’ll have a post about sometime soon with the details.
I’ve added it already to the dining room and kitchen, so completing these three (and the one by the front door) will finish off the entire first floor. I’m tempted to start on it even as I sit here typing this, but I have also been telling myself to wait a few weeks, since it will be a lot easier to do when I take down the tree and have full access to the area.
