Last Christmas stop in the Dining Room

Hi Everyone! We are still celebrating here at the Decorative Dreamer house while most of you are taking down the Christmas decor and getting ready for the new year.  It's quite nice to be able to extend out the celebrations with family this year because it sure has flown by!

I wanted to finally share the dining room with you all before I move on to everyday life again.

This room had the least amount of new Christmas decor this year.  

It shows a little differently this year since I rearranged furniture earlier this fall.

I still have the white, gold and silver theme in here and still adore it!  Here are a few more images of silver and gold that I also adore.

But here is what I promised to share with you on my last post.  It's my manger scene.  If you have followed me in the past you may know that I've had this manger scene for awhile now.  It was given to me by one of my closest friends and I have loved it ever since.  However it did not come with the little wooden stable you see here.

I cannot believe my luck in coming across this at a thrift store this summer.  They were actually having a  Christmas stuff a bag sale too.  So I got it along with several other Christmas items that I have used this year, including the willow star on my tree in the den.  I was so thrilled to see this was in great condition and knew it would be perfect for my nativity pieces.

I  really feel so blessed to have found this stable.  It's so special to me!

I received this tall wine glass from one of my sons for Christmas this year. It's going to be fun finding ways to style it as a centerpiece on my table.  I am already googling and thinking of ways to create a January/Winter centerpiece.  Feel free to send me any ideas you may have as well!

I am sure I will be taking everything down January 1st.  It's been my tradition to take it all down on New Years day for years.   Usually I start taking a little bit at a time down and finish up with the tree's on New Years day.   Last year I jumped the gun and took it all down before New Years and well, let's just say, I like my old ways better!

LOL!

Thanks so much for stopping by again and for the sweet visits before Christmas!

Wishing you all a happy and healthy New Year!

Christmas Around The Kitchen

Hi Friends! I am so thankful that this year as Christmas draws near I am able to slow it down a bit more and enjoy getting things set up for all of our family celebrations.  It's hard to believe that it was only a few years ago that I started decorating the kitchen with a Candy Land theme.    I have to say this theme is one of my favorite and holds near and dear to my heart.  I guess we never really outgrow "visions of sugarplums dancing in our heads", do we?

Rather then moving the bakers rack out of this space I decided to keep it here and just place the tree right in front of it.  

I also decided to keep the top a little simpler this year with the addition of a few new ribbons.

We are all about chevron here and I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the color combinations on this ribbon.  I knew immediately it would be perfect for my kitchen tree.

Then I decided it would look even better if I added a little twine ribbon as well.  

On the bakers rack, I decided to keep out a good bit of my regular decor sprinkled with Christmas.

My elves sure look up to mischief this year, don't they?

And speaking of sprinkling....how do you like the sprinkling of snow?  I love it!!!

  I have to tell you all I am just absolutely beside myself with joy about these picture effects.  I promise you I have not purposely added one effect myself. The only thing I have done was edit my pictures in Picasa then upload them to blogger.  When creating this post and adding a picture I am seeing two images to choose from.  One that is what I uploaded and one with special effects.  It's like either Blogger, Google, or Picasa is giving me a Christmas present.  It's crazy, y'all!

Well, before I go I've got to share my newly created coffee bar in the kitchen.  You may remember this as the wine bar last year.  I moved that over to another space in my kitchen after getting a new Keurig last month.  I'm still tweaking this area and playing with the decor here.

For the holidays, I think I've settled on this.

 Thanks so much for stopping by and enjoying the magic in my kitchen this year!

I am still hoping to get in at least a few more posts of my holiday decorating before Christmas arrives, if time permits.  If you enjoy holiday decorating please stop back by again sometime.  My next post will feature my dining room.  Come on back to see my nativity and hear about an amazing find I came across to complete my set.

Thanks so much for visiting today! Have a blessed Sunday Everyone!

It's a Very Berry Christmas!

Hi Friends! Are you ready for Christmas yet? Hard to believe it's only in a few more weeks, isn't it?  We are nearly ready as far as the decorating goes this year, with the exception of a few final touches.  

This year I created a very berry look with using much of what I already had on hand, only using it in different ways.  Speaking of using things differently, once again I've created a whole new look on the mantle simply by swapping out a few things from the fall vignette and adding in a few new elements for Christmas.  To see the fall mantle, you may jump back by click HERE.    

And...Wallah!  Here's my Christmas mantle!  

What?  You want to see color?  Sorry!  I just couldn't resist playing around with Picasa's photo editing.  I just absolutely love seeing black and white photos this time of year.

For those of you who want to see a little color I've included a those as well.

Don't ask me how I did this, that's the first time I've seen this happen, but I love, love, love it!

Much of what I used here is a combination of what I already had on the mantle, like the wreath and the willow votive candle holders. I simply added berries to the wreath, changed out the garland and added the reindeer and additional candlesticks.

Also rather then having a large bow here in the center, I decided to bring back this clock to balance it all out.  I love that it is the perfect color too!

Before I show you the tree, I wanted to show you how I carried the berry theme a little more throughout the house.  In the guest half bath, I hung a berry candle ring on the small iron gate.  

The coffee table has a simple votive candle surrounded by berries on a tray.  I love all the layers here that keep it from looking puny on the table.

Okay, now on to the tree.  This year I am all about layers!

Although this is old school to many of you, I finally added a burlap ribbon to my tree this year.  I actually purchased the burlap last year but never got around to using it.  I brought back the willow garland that I used last year.  It looks great with the burlap and was the perfect addition with all the other garlands I used.

You heard me right friends, I said ALL the other garlands.  This year I added several strands of garland that I have never used on my tree before.  I had three long strands of berry garland shown here above that I have used on my stairway and mantle in years past.  I don't know why I have never thought of putting on the tree before, but I am so glad I thought of it this year.  I cannot tell you how much depth it gave the tree.  I guess this is just one of those tricks you learn over time, huh?  LOL!

The top of my tree got a new addition too.  I found this willow star at a thrift store this year and new it would be perfect on my tree.

I still wasn't ready to part with my copper star trio though, so I simply added them to the top as well.  Love the combination here!

More twigs and berries add to the overall effect for a very dramatic topper.

And that is how it all came together for a very berry Christmas!

I'll be back again to share my other trees with you soon.  I've made a few slight changes to the tree in the kitchen this year so you may want to pop back by again later, okay?

Thanks so much for stopping by! 

From our house to yours, 

Wishing all of you,

 a VERY BERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS!