Gilded Noel Holiday Home Tour

I’m having a hard time finding the right words to say this morning….my heart is breaking for the families of Newtown, and like the rest of the country, my thoughts and prayers are with them today. So in the absence of words or anything profound to say, I give you only pictures…..a tour of my own holiday decorations this year.

Every year I hit the after-Christmas clearance sales to stock up on a few new Christmas decorations, but last year I stumbled across an assortment of “Gilded Noel” ornaments and decorations at Target (for 75% off!) that I just loved and I went a little crazy. It was the perfect combination of rustic and glam, and it inspired all of my decorations this year, which featured a lot of cream and gold and silver, along with lots of greenery and pinecones.

I made a lot of my own decorations this year, including the scalloped felt trees and wreath on my faux mantel, these felt snowball ornaments, burlap pillows, this felt “paper” chain, and this ornament wreath.

We got our live Christmas tree at Home Depot and it was a bargain. It was marked 8-9′, even though it is at least 10 or 11′ tall, and at $59.99 was literally half the price of the first place we went to. (It pays to shop around!)  It is by far the biggest tree we have ever had. When we got our tree I collected a whole bunch of extra greenery from the branches they cut off the trees and used it all over the rest of the house, including in my light fixtures, mantel, and table displays.

 Many of the other decorations I used–the glass hurricanes, lanterns, candleholders & trays–were items I already had around the house. At the front entrance I wrapped 3 empty boxes and set them on our old rocking chair, and then some friends surprised us with a poinsettia that added the perfect extra punch of color.

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Where do you find your holiday decorating inspiration? Do you ever stock up at the after Christmas sales? Do you do put up the same decorations each year or do you try to mix it up?