As much as I love living in our new home, sometimes I still miss the Rock House. It was quirky and, like all old homes, had it’s flaws (like the cracks in the stucco that I artfully cropped out of these photographs), but it was so bright and was the most fun to decorate around the holidays. Last year, we put up a tree and added a few holiday touches to our kitchen, but it felt more like a transition than a settling in. This year, we’re embracing our not-yet-renovated forever home, but I’m taking plenty of inspiration from our previous one.
One of my favorite things we ever did, was to add fresh garland around our windows and the archway in our living room. Sure, we started with an inexpensive, wire garland from the dollar store, but you’d have a hard time spotting it beneath all of the fresh greenery we added. I was never picky about what we stuffed into our garland, only about how much. This is definitely a case of “the more, the merrier.” I added clippings from our Douglas Fir Christmas Tree, magnolia leaves from our neighbors’ yard, boxwood from the hedge around our side yard, and nandina berries that I ignored all season long so that we’d have plenty of color, come Christmas. Not only did the garland look beautiful, but it smelled delicious!
There were no fresh garlands in our home this year (although Sophie has requested one over the wide opening to our sunroom for next year), but I did implement the same techniques for greenery beneath our television, over our fireplace, and down the center of the dining room table. Without a yard full of magnolia to shop, I ran into Trader Joe’s over the weekend and grabbed as much eucalyptus as I could carry. I had plenty of dried leaves left over from Ella’s birthday, but they dried in the wrong direction, and I preferred the look of the fresh leaves once all was said and done. The men in our family might fuss over how much room is left on our dining room table, but all the ladies are swooning over how beautiful it all looks!
You can check out the full garland tutorial on the blog and revisit our entire Rock House Holiday Home Tour. In case you missed it, I shared our current holiday décor on the blog, earlier this week!
