Holiday Housewalk with Balsam Hill

Fraser Firs, Balsam Trees, and Chunky Knit Stockings… are your holiday cozy feels going crazy yet? Mine are! We had our first significant snow fall of the season, and no matter if you are a November 1 Christmas Decorator, or wait until after Thanksgiving; seeing snow and needing a few extra layers on, in and outside the house gives me the holiday feels. So naturally Jose and I bundled up, had a podcast or movie playing the background and started pulling Christmas out. But unlike other years I’ve really taken it slow this year. Usually by halloween I will at least have one tree up by that night, but this year I don’t even have a tree up yet. I’ve slowly started to roll Christmas out here at White Cottage Farm & so today’s Holiday Housewalk looks a little different because I’ll be sharing the direction I’ll be taking in our holiday decor instead of revealing finished spaces & showing you elements we will be using. I can’t wait to show you everything when we get it all up, but I also think this disection of the decor can be really interesting to look at & a great inspiration moment. I also hope this shows you some of the real moments and not just the pretty finished spaces we usually see at christmas, but through it all I hope you find inspiration…

 

One of my favorite places to start designing for a new season is our mantel. I feel like the mantel is a showcased “look book” to what’s to come. It is already an established point of interest for the eye and the room, and anything around a fire place gets bonus cozy points if you know what I mean. We loved the Simple Farmhouse Thanksgiving Tablescape, from last week, and wanted to decorate another simple space. For the Mantel itself, we purchased a set of antique frames from a local antique market and used those as a backdrop to bring the eye up. To complement the frames, we added some old candlesticks we picked up earlier this year, and put short candles on top. Capping off the big texture for the space we used Balsam Hill Fraser Fir Foliage mixed with some real pine stems we purchased from a local greenhouse. I love how real the fraser foliage looks with the real foliage… that’s how you know you got good faux foliage when they can mix well with the real thing!

We recently added lower backed chairs into this space, so we really wanted to utilize that space below the mantel. By using a basked filled with cozy throws, we we placed two Alpine Balsam Fir Tabletop Tree just off center to balance out the stockings. And last but not least… Stockings! You can get excited with pine garlands, and little trees… but can be used throughout the Christmas season and even afterwards for Winter Decor. But stockings… those are straight Christmas to me, am I right. That is the cherry on top of the a savory gluten filled cupcake (don’t mind my attitude- i’m just jealous). These Chunky Knit Stockings are classic, they mimic many of the throws we own and have scattered throughout the house. The chunky knit creates a bulky texture that fill a space perfectly. I think I’m going to keep playing around with this space because I’m not quite happy with it, but I will be showing  you the final look with these gold frames and greens soon! And just like that we have our first Christmas Decorated space. Simple, classic, and very cozy farmhouse. The dark green and wood tones brings a soft Christmas feel. I think I like that, given we are having Thanksgiving at our house, this space won’t scream winter wonderland quite yet, but you’ll definately feel like Santa is watching!

In our kitchen and dining room I wanted a clean vibe as well, but in a whole different light. I will be blogging more of these spaces later this week, but I wanted to show you a sneak peek of the area now to hopefully inspire you even more. In the dining room I used many of my vintage finds like my vintage envelope collection mixed with fresh greens and more vintage finds like some silver serving utensils & stoneware plates. I love the cozy vibe that the mixture gives!

In the kitchen I hauled out some vintage and some vintage inspired santa’s to bring some cheer to the space. I mixed in some fresh greens & some other fun elements as well. This space is really coming together & this will be the first Christmas I’m able to decorate our kitchen! Can you believe this is our first Christmas with a kitchen? I’m thrilled!!

I will be sharing all the completed spaces and many more on the blog in the upcoming days, but for this Holiday Housewalk I hope you enjoyed a glimpse at our home & I can’t wait to show you more very soon!! Thank you for stopping by the blog today & every day to see what we are up to & for more Christmas decor inspiration you can go [HERE]. Also, be sure to follow along with Balsam Hill this week as they will be showcasing other holiday homes as well!! Thank you guys for stopping by today!!