Monday, December 9, 2013

Christmas Home Tour { 2013 }

Tis the Season Gals! (and the 3 guys who read this blog: Hubby, Bopi & Theo N) 
I am super proud of the fact that this year I managed to deck the halls using almost everything in my stash; only exception was a bag of pine cones & a few dollar store reindeer ornaments. So crank up the Christmas music and come on in.

Outside, Hubby convinced me to hang the red berry wreathes we had from our old house. I was afraid that the scale would be too small for this house, but hanging them with a wide red velvet ribbon helps beef them up. I debated adding a bow…any thoughts?


Over the front door we went with artificial garland. Last year I hung real, but since I have a plethora of garland in my Christmas arsenal I decided to use what I have on hand. I ran several strands of white lights through the greenery for a twilight twinkle. In addition, a white & red berry ribbon runs throughout the garland helping to break up the green and tie in the red berry wreathes.


The foyer staircase is adorned with the same lit garland as the front door. After last year's fresh garland dried up almost instantly, I knew we would be switching back to artificial from here on out. Since Christmas decorations stay up through Epiphany, longevity is a necessity. 



The foyer table displays pictures of Christmases past and a sweet reminder of how much our family has grown. The small 4x4 frame is awaiting this year's Santa picture…it's a doozy.



On to the living room where you'll find touches of silver, gold & white for a sophisticated and elegant holiday display. With all the hustle and bustle of the holidays this room still feels festive, but with a much needed element of serenity.






This is the our first year having a tree in the living room. In our old house I would put up two trees; one artificial and the other real. The great thing about two trees is that we easily sort gifts by placing those for our immediate family under the family room tree while gifts for extended family and friends are displayed under the living room tree.


Speaking of the family room,  Red + White = Christmas Delight in the den. This room is all about the youthful wonderment of Christmas. Red velvet, white fur trim & reindeer galore keep the littles excited for the big day.




I am in love with the festive little Rudolph pillow I found on Joss & Main.


Most importantly though, is our constant reminder of exactly who Christmas is all about. The nativity set below is a Christmas gift from my aunt who just passed and will forever be a part of our annual decor (my other set is porcelain and not very child friendly). The chalkboard art is compliments of Belle and I love seeing her put her decorating touch on the house.



As for the rest of the kitchen, windows don red berry wreathes while the counters display family keepsakes like my childhood nutcracker and collectible nativity plates from my Godmother. 








And since it is the season for entertaining, the powder room was sure to receive a healthy dose of Christmas cheer.



Last but certainly not least, each of the littles' rooms twinkle each night as they snug up for their long winter naps.


From our home to yours, Merry Christmas!


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Saturday, December 7, 2013

The Roof, The Roof, The Roof Is All Finished!

Since we are weeks away from the end of 2013, I am happy to announce that we officially crossed the roof off our list our to-dos. 




To refresh your memory, we started with a classic cedar shake roof that was original to our house. Hubby & I decided to replace the roof with GAF Camelot II shingles in Antique Slate (read all about our reasoning here). The crew was fabulous to work with and they provided hours of entertainment for the boys. Over all the roofing job took 6 full days to complete and I love, love, love the new results.
For those of you who know me, that is saying a lot. Yes for the cost I could have had a new master bathroom, but I guess it is called being an adult when you put needs before wants. So we still have a bathroom covered in oodles of polished brass, but the roof is free of leaks and brand spanking new.


We took our sweet time picking the style and to be honest it turned out much better than I could have hoped. The slate gray perfectly matches the front door I painted in the spring and together that pair tones down the orange in the brick. The old cedar was much lighter in tone than new the Antique Slate, which lends a nice depth to the house's facade and take a decade or two off the appearance of the house.

While making the decision process it was hard to come across actual pictures online of the shingles on homes...most were just mock ups provided by GAF. For this reason, I have several detail shots below to help give a better feel of exactly how the shingles appear.

Our lovely roofers did my a favor and covered up the new skylight flashing with shingles...I couldn't stand the shiny plastic tabs.







camellot two GAF gray grey black
We selected a black valley and it blends well with the shingles.
The majority of the work occurred in September, but the job wasn't completed in its entirety until November. The reason for the late November finish was that once the new roof was installed, the pitch of our roof was altered (asphalt shakes are significantly thinner than cedar shake) and as a result, rain water was speeding down the side of our roof and overshooting our old gutters. At first we thought that the leaf guard was the culprit and the roofing company came out and installed a sponge-like liner in the gutters in place of the original leaf shield. When that failed, we had to replace the gutters and downspouts with a new oversized version. Happily though, the issue seems to be resolved. So if you are looking to replace your roof but not upgrade your gutters, be advised that the same scenario could occur on your roof (our roofer did cover the cost of new gutters though FYI).

I'm happy to have this need crossed off the list...now I can go back to pinning master bathrooms & walk in closets. Oh sigh…maturity is over rated!

source

Friday, December 6, 2013

St. Nicholas Day & 2013 Ornaments

Today we celebrated St. Nicholas Day with the littles. They awoke this morning to find their shoes filled with gold coins and clementines. While the older two dove into the chocolate, I read them the story of St. Nicholas and the three poor daughters.





We also choose this time to gift the kiddos with their annual keepsake ornaments: a nutcracker for Belle, Santa in a red convertible (like daddy's car) for Peanut, and a rocking horse for Bear.

To help carry over the day's celebration, our advent house activity for today was to fill a stocking and deliver it to some one's doorstep.

 The little were very excited to see all the goodies and a little less than excited to realize they weren't able to keep them. But then, as we hoped would happen, they began to get really into GIVING away these "really awesome" gifts.



Belle & Peanut decided upon a recipient family and the stocking is in route as I type. And a very Happy Name Day to a special and much loved Theo who celebrates today.


Do you celebrate St. Nicholas Day?








Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Keeping the Faith {Joe-Joe's Baptism}

The Sunday before Thanksgiving we celebrated the baptism of our sweet, little nephew G (affectionately nicknamed Joe-Joe by his big brother). This little curly top could hardly wait to get into the baptismal font. 




Mommy & Big Brother Y looking on.




After a dip in the baptism font, Joe-Joe was dressed in his new baptism garments and received his cross before being part of a procession around the font with his godfather & cousins.

At the reception, we snapped quite a few pictures with all the little looking so darling and dapper.








There was a balloon twister to entertain the little ones during the cocktail hour. Belle requested a surprise and THIS is what she received. I have never seen anything like it before. You can bet we'll be using this guy at future events..he was outstanding!




The band played well into the evening and we all enjoyed watching and dancing the night away.
We wish you a long, healthy & prosperous life Joe-Joe, full of all God's blessings!!!






Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Target Deal Alert: {JCrew Pave Stone Bracelet Knock-off}

Just popping in quickly today to let you all know that Target has this JCrew knock-off pave bracelet for only $19.99!!! That is $105 less than the JCrew version.


I'm pretty sure you all have at least one person on your list for whom this would make a lovely gift.  
I did & I'll be sure to let you all know how I like it once it arrives. Please tell me I'm not the only one who does just as much Christmas shopping for myself as for others….this the season, right?

Monday, December 2, 2013

Holiday Hydrangeas


Over the Thanksgiving holiday my sweet sister in law brought me these gorgeous hydrangeas as a "thank you" for hostessing her & Theo N for the weekend. I just can't get over the loveliness of these blooms in blue & white vases on my Christmas runner. 


Full credit goes to Thea L for the lovely placement. Come to think of it, after all the free babysitting and manicures she gave Belle, I'm thinking I owe her flowers;) Hope you all had a lovely, family-filled holiday.   




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