Surprise! It's me, Kimberly from Serendipity Refined and I'm delighted to be a part of my dear friend,
Jennifer Rizzo's, 2012 Holiday House Walk. Thanks so much for inviting me, Jen!
If you're visiting from the amazing Tricia's
Morning T, welcome and thanks so much for stopping by! Isn't her home
glorious? She's got the most beautiful style and her photos...well, don't get me started or we'll be here all day!
Let's get this tour started, shall we?!
Wow! Keeping this secret has been one of the most difficult things that I've done since hauling my concrete urns inside from the front porch! Come in...let me show you what I mean.
Yep, that
is a concrete urn in the foyer. You'll see the other one in the living room hearth. I filled them with live greens to give our home the
smell of Christmas even though we have artificial trees. The urns were heavy as heck to move but worth the trouble once they were in place!
The living room, dining room and foyer were decorated using birch logs, pine cones and mixed evergreen boughs. The goal was to create a winter woodland feel that would blend well with my collection of flea market finds and vintage ironstone using materials that were often free and readily available and didn't involve me getting poison ivy, or dealing with wild animals.
In the kitchen and great room of our home, pine cones and birch twigs are joined by vintage red plaid blankets and plaid flannel ribbon for a rustic lodge-like feel that I've decided is something akin to Paul Bunyan meets The Polar Express. It's much more casual and I have to admit, it's in these rooms where we spend most of our time and where everyone feels most at home.
The kitchen is the heart of our home. It's where we make candy and bake so many batches of Christmas cookies that I've stopped counting. It's also where you can almost always find homemade hot chocolate and marshmallows waiting on cold Chicago winter days when I've been outdoors shoveling after the plows block the end of the driveway with snow and slush for the fourth time in 24 hours!
You may wonder why I decorate the one room in the house where I have my eyes closed most of the time. The answer is simple: for me, there's nothing like going to sleep to the glow of twinkling lights (and it keeps me from tripping over the dog when I get up in the middle of the night to see if it snowed or if Santa has arrived. You can read
that story and see more photos of this room
here).
Needless to say, we're still in the thick of the holiday season with DIY projects, baking, and the 12 foot tall tree in the family room still left to decorate. I've also got many more photos of these rooms that I'll be sharing on the blog in the coming days so I hope that you'll visit again soon!
Now, please continue to the next stop on the tour,
Paige from Simple Thoughts. Paige is a wonderfully talented photographer, mom, and newlywed! She's got a style that is as elegant as it is powerful. She's honest, candid, and will make you feel like you've known her forever.
If you'd like to start at the beginning so that you don't miss any of the other houses (including Jennifer's own home that was featured on the
Pottery Barn blog this week), click on the button.
xo,
I'm linking to:
Embracing Change
On Sutton Place
Stilettos In The Mud - Home for the Holidays
