Decor Diary: Fall to Festive
It absolutely is THE most wonderful time of the year for the visually creative!
Great food, sparkly fashion and festive home decor. Although I'm a fashion girl at heart, Christmas brings out my inner domestic goddess. The tree is my specialty, but I've become just as obsessed with decorating my outdoor space and transforming it into a cozy Christmas nook.
INTERIORS
I remember my 1st holiday as an adult being unable to decorate and chronicled my suffering (1st world problem, for sure!) in one of my very few posts to this blog. Now, back on my decorating game, I find myself going bigger and better each year. The piece de resistance is the flocked tree I picked up from Wayfair in 2019. It was my very first flocked tree and my largest ever! So beautiful and grand, I could barely stand to ruin its pure beauty with ornaments. I wanted only to revel in its snowy goodness and not have too much distraction from that. Sparingly, I decorated it with complimentary white ornaments and tiny hints of frosted red berry stems for subtle contrast. My Winter Wonderland dream was complete, or so I thought.
In 2020, feeling hopeful about vaccines during a global pandemic, I decided to add on to the Wintry Wonderfulness by bringing in just a touch more of red in the form of tiny cardinals, poinsettia leaves and tossing in natural tones with pine cones and burlap ribbon for interest. It all came together, beautifully, for what I call a rustic Winter landscape. This was also my first time experimenting with brown Kraft paper to wrap gifts. I enjoyed exploring ideas on Pinterest for the various ways of adding special touches to the bland packaging to create an elegant, yet understated, vibe. My days of fancy, glittery or gaudy wrapping paper are officially behind me.
This year, my vision of a warm, but Winter Masterpiece really came to life by adding even more complementary ornaments to fill virtually every branch, nook and cranny of the tree I once admired bare. The trick was to pick items that accentuated its beauty without competing with it and I feel that mission was accomplished. I went full ski lodge and snowy woodland with this year's theme; made possible with affordable ornaments from Dollar Tree. Furry snow owls, more frosted berries, skis, sleds, more cardinals, pine cones and burlap trinkets have given the tree all the character and depth I could ask for. And the tree doesn't feel lost in ornamentation; its flocked branches given the opportunity to shine as a canvas to its many hosts. It's my ultimate Winter Wonderland Dream!
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EXTERIOR/BALCONY DECOR
The past couple of years, I kept the snow theme indoors and opted for a less winter white vibe outside. This year, however, I decided to bring some of the flocked snow madness to the balcony. My initial idea was to wrap an extra flocked garland I had on hand from Wayfair two years ago, but remembered the mess the flocked bits can make; raining down from their branches with the slightest touch. I can vacuum inside my apartment, but keeping my balcony clean would be a headache. Every time the wind blows too hard there would be snow all over the balcony floor and raining down on cars in the lot below. So, I kept my unflocked garland, lit with a string of fairy lights (from Amazon), and found other ways to add that touch of chilliness to the scene.
See the transformation from Fall to Festive:
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WREATH
Having converted to the flocked tree in 2019, I realized the Winter vibe I was going for was incomplete as long as the remainder of my items were unflocked. The wreath and garland looked totally out of place in the same room with the snowy Grand Dame. So, I switched out the unflocked items for those with flocking and it was the best decision I made. Once you go flocked, nothing else stands a chance of holding a candle next to it. The wreath, is from Michaels and the garland (pre-lit) was picked up at Wayfair.
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