Well, friends. This just might be one of my favorite days here on IBC. Not only am I sharing my Holiday Home Tour 2016 with you, but today marks the official beginning of 12 Days of Christmas!
Now, if that’s not exciting enough, I’m also honored to be participating in Jennifer Rizzo’s Holiday Housewalk. I’ve watched with wonder as she has hosted this tour for several years now. When I received an email from her asking me to join the seasonal fun, I was filled with holiday cheer. This year, more than 30 bloggers are sharing their homes. Each blogger has a unique style so it’s inspiring to check out all of the homes and their festive decor.
If you’re currently on the tour and coming over from Ella Claire, welcome to Inspired by Charm (or IBC as we call it around here). Kristen of Ella Claire is amazingly talented, so it’s an honor to follow her on this tour. Wasn’t her home stunning? Check it out here if you missed it.
Also, if you have no idea what the 12 Days of Christmas is, you can read more about that here. Basically, it’s 12 Days, 12 Ideas, and 12 Giveaways. Which means, when you’ve finished checking out my Holiday Home Tour, be sure to enter today’s giveaway. Details are at the bottom of this post.
Okay, now that we’ve taken care of the preliminaries, let’s get on with the tour! (I recommend listening to one of my holiday playlists to set the mood while browsing. You can find them here.) We’ll start in the living room.
As you might have noticed, thanks to a new rug, this space has a different look. Last year I celebrated the holidays with cool blues, teals, and greens. This year, things are feeling warm and cozy.
Before we go any further – I know how much many of you liked my previous rug. I loved it, too. However, I was ready for a change, and this rug from RugsUSA offered me just what I needed.
With the new rug in place, I opted for traditional reds and greens to create a warm and cozy space that’s ideal for enjoying a Christmas movie on the couch with a big cup of hot cocoa in hand.
I also managed to squeeze a tree into this space. I found this slim flocked pencil tree that fit perfectly next to my couch. Decorated in hues to match the room, it’s the perfect festive accessory.
The star of my mantel this year is this pair of elk antlers that I scored at a local thrift shop. I actually live in Elk County, PA so the antlers are quite fitting. In fact, one of largest roaming elk herds is about 30 minutes from my house.
Adorned with fresh greens, copper ornaments, and acorns, my mantel is dressed for the season.
My DIY wood stockings also made a return this year. You can learn how to make those here.
Side note: Be sure to check out Shop IBC if you’re looking for product links. I’ll try and link up most things there to make it easy to find and shop for products.
Since I eliminated the aqua from this area, I also picked up a new lamp to better suit the space. I also couldn’t resist this #naughty pillow from Grandin Road.
Now, let’s turn on those twinkle lights. I tucked a dimmable strand of LED wire lights into the greenery around my mantel. They are awesome. You can find them here.
My tree adds such a magical glow to this space. I’m so happy I was able to finally have one in this room. Those adorable wood ornaments are from Tree Hopper Toys.
Okay, let’s head over to the office.
If you’re new to IBC, my house layout is a bit weird because it used to be a bed and breakfast. At one point this living room / office space combo was sectioned off by a bathroom. Then it became a gift shop. At this point it’s just a big fun space for me.
This is where the blog magic happens.
Over by my desk, things are looking the same. However, I found a new home for my printer (It’s in my closet thanks to wifi printing.), so I had a bit of extra space for decorating.
These trees LED candles from Grandin Road look great on a wood tray embellished with fresh pine. The geometric himmeli wreath over my Stendig Calendar was a HomeGoods find! I love it.
In this room I added yet another tree next to my office table.
I’ll actually be talking more about this tree tomorrow or Monday, so stay tuned for that. It has a little quirky surprise that I think you’re going to love. I know I do.
This tree is mostly decked out in ornaments from the allen + roth collection at Lowe’s. They are carrying these beautiful geometric ornaments this year, and I just couldn’t get enough of them. That beautiful plaid ribbon was a HomeGoods find! It’s perfection!
I also baked up this beautiful gingerbread village with a cake mold I found at HomeGoods. That’s another little sneak peek at things to come during this years 12 Days of Christmas! (So many things to look forward to, right? I’m such a tease!)
My favorite nutcrackers returned to my perfectly pink dresser. Paired with the newest Elf print from Lindsay Letters, it couldn’t get more perfect. “Buddy the Elf, what’s your favorite color?”
As we move into the dinning room, you’ll notice I filled a white vase in my entryway with fresh winterberry. This stuff is just gorgeous. I want to put it everywhere. This is the first year I’ve used fresh pine and berries in my home. I’m not sure I can go back to faux!
I also picked up two of these gold peace signs from CB2. Given the state of the world these days, I couldn’t imagine a better way to greet my guests than with a sign of peace.
I tied them up with black satin ribbon and more fresh pine.
Over in the dining room I opted for metallics, black, and just a touch of green.
Going with mostly blacks and golds made me a little nervous since black isn’t a traditional Christmas color. However, with lots of sparkle, it came together better than I could have hoped.
A few years ago, I never would have mixed gold, silver, and copper. This year, I broke the rules and just went for it.
The inspiration came from various sources, but it all started with this Designer Lit tree from Grandin Road. It’s unique in that it’s lit with over 6,000 tiny LED lights. That’s not a typo. It really has 6,720 lights to be exact. (Unfortunately, it’s currently sold out for the year.)
I’m not an expert at beautifully capturing Christmas tree lights (The the dreary gray weather wasn’t helping either.), but this is a stunner.
Pure magic!
It’s definitely not traditional, but when you’re decorating with gold and black, tradition kind of goes out the window.
Along with lots of glimmering metallics, this tree has gold sequined unicorns, faux fur ribbon, and an owl tree topper. I’m so lucky I get to experiment with new trees every year. I honestly never expected a tree like this, but I couldn’t be more excited to celebrate around it.
Over in the opposite corner of the room, I upgraded my $5 thrift store bar cart to something a bit more refined and larger for serving up holiday cocktails. (More about that soon! I’m trying to get one to giveaway!)
I’ve set the table with a variety of things I found at HomeGoods. From the big mercury glass trees to the faux fur table runner to the dinnerware, black, white, and metallic never looked so chic. I’ll be posting more about this tablescape in the coming weeks over on the HomeGoods Design Happy blog.
I’ll also probably pop back in to talk more about this tree. There’s just so much holiday cheer. I can’t fit it all in one post. I did tuck a few presents under the tree topped with my free printable gift tags and DIY concrete ornaments.
Last, but certainly not least, I wanted to try something totally new this year.
I decided to style my staircase banister with garland. This is something I’ve always wanted to do, and I’m crazy in love with it. I chose the soft pine garland from Grandin Road which has battery operated LED lights, complete with timer. Set it and forget it. (I’m sad to report that this garland is currently sold out for the year. However, you can check out some of their other garlands HERE.)
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