Christmas in Our Living Room!
We absolutely love the Christmas season. For Alex, December is when his season begins to wind down and the shorter days and inclement weather mean that he is home earlier. He eagerly awaits January, his “off” month, where we travel together somewhere warm (this year we are headed to Egypt!).
As for me, I candidly admit that I begin listening to Christmas carols in early November. What can I say? I just love the jazzy melodies and cheer! That being said, we always wait until after Thanksgiving to buy our Christmas tree and decorate the house. Beginning December 1st, I turn up the Sonos volume and crank those carols all day. Luckily for Alex, he misses out on much of my off-key renditions.
This year, our living room decorations look their best because of the small updates we made to the room. We painted the walls White Dove by Benjamin Moore and we covered the orangey-red brick fireplace with Romabio Classico Limewash. These minor improvements completely changed the look and feel of the living room.
Alex and I were remarking last night that it is incredible that we only purchased three items in the living room new: the matching Restoration Hardware chairs, the Annie Selke/Dash & Albert rug (technically a gift from my mom!) and the One Kings Lane mirror*. All of the other furniture was purchased second-hand or was my grandparents. I love that we have incorporated older pieces into the room; it adds to the cozy feeling!
*I am extremely hesitant to buy anything from One Kings Lane again because I have now purchased multiple items from them that are for sale at less than half the price from other stores such as Walmart. OKL changes the names of the items and hides the brand until the item has shipped to you, which I find extremely deceptive. I LOVE their style, and visit the site often for inspiration, but unless you are purchasing an antique, I would recommend trying to shop elsewhere or doing extensive research to make sure you aren’t getting ripped off.
Now, on to the Christmas decor! We actually have three trees this year which is absolutely nuts considering our house is just under 1,800 square feet. The tree in our living room and the tree in our bedroom (I will do a separate post with our exciting bedroom updates!) are both Concolor Fir. The third tree is a Colorado Spruce that we lovingly called our “rescue tree.” Alex brought it home from one of his client’s who wanted to cut down, hence, he says he “rescued” it from the chipper!
This is our 3rd year purchasing Concolor Firs and we absolutely agree it is the best live Christmas Tree you can buy! It has the most incredible fragrance and when you rub a needle between your fingers there is actually a strong orange zest smell. We leave ours up from December 1st to January 1st and as long as the water is replenished regularly, we have had no issues keeping it alive and looking great. Pro tip: always do a fresh cut after you have brought the tree home but before you put it in the stand. Use very hot water when filling your tree stand!
The living room tree is now being referred to as our “Rustic Woodland Tree” because we separated out all our sparkling, shiny ornaments to use on the bedroom tree. These animal ornaments are mostly from Pottery Barn, West Elm, Crate & Barrel and Terrain. The fun, new tree topper is from Target!
The blue chair and love seat were both in my Grandma’s living room.
Doesn’t the fireplace look so much better now that it has been painted white? I should have done it three years ago when we first moved in. We always do a fresh garland on the mantle with boxwood, holly and pine cones mixed in. Our stockings and tree skirt were purchased from West Elm a few years ago. Alex’s is the one on the left with the chair lift since he is a big snowboarder! Mine matches the tree skirt.
I am obsessed with the brass candlesticks that I added to the mantle this year. I was looking for a good set, but everything in-store was so expensive! As always, I turned to Facebook Marketplace to see if I could snag some on the cheap. Just my luck - someone had posted a set of 10 at an estate sale a few hours prior. I still can’t believe I got 10 of these beauties for a total of $35. As you can see, six are living on the mantel. I have the other four on our kitchen table. The deep red/maroon candles were an inspiration from a photo I saw on Martha Stewart Weddings. I loved how the candles played off the greenery and knew I would have to reproduce the look for our Christmas decor.
The room is so cozy at night with a fire going!
The last thing I want to show off are these block print tree pillows from Everyday Occasions, my favorite blog and online shop! Because our living room is more long and narrow, it’s hard to photograph our couch, where we spend most of our time. I like to use bright white pillows on the couch so that it brightens the look. Truthfully, Alex purchased the couch before I moved in. If it were up to me, we would have a white couch. That being said, it’s his favorite piece of furniture so I can’t possibly get rid of it. For now, I’m waiting patiently for the leather to wear and turn that gorgeous soft brown color. We only have about 20 years to go!
We bought our Restoration Hardware leather couch on Craigslist for $1,500!
