Christmas Open House Blog Hop

Hi Everyone, and Welcome to Day 2 of the Christmas Open House Blog Hop hosted by Sherry of No Minimalist Here. I'm so glad you're here, and I'm so happy to be celebrating Christmas in our new home. We just moved at the end of October, and this will be my first Home Tour to share with all of you. If you're new visiting here at Common Ground, I'm thrilled to have you!

I found myself using many of my things in the same way that I had used them at our last house and then the house we leased for the last 10 months... it just felt right and comfortable. This is an open concept home, and it's proven to be a little more difficult for me to place furniture since there's much less wall space. I couldn't get near as much in here as in our previous home, but I love having the high ceilings, and everything we need on the main level. 

From the Entry to the main living area and dining room;

the stairway is in the middle of the space and it separates the rooms.

With so much going on in these spaces, I wanted to keep the Christmas decor theme in mostly neutrals. I knew the Burberry look-alike ribbon was going to bring in the tans, taupes, and black that I wanted. My Wolff Pottery vases will probably be a staple here on the mantel throughout the seasons. I made these Holly topiaries years and years ago. They've held up pretty well and last year was the first time I used them with my Wolff Pottery bases. It took me several days to get the mantel right. I ended up adding a little faux greenery and the metallic reindeer to finally get just the right amount of "Christmas".

The large armoire is part of our master bedroom set, but we decided to use it here for our television and sound systems. I'm glad to have a place to shut the doors and hide it all away.

I didn't want to overwhelm things with too many decorations, since this year was my first to see how everything would work together.

Since you all haven't seen all the decor yet, I decided to just share the larger views of the rooms and vignettes. That way I can have fun sharing the details with you here on the blog until Christmas. 

Here's another shot of the Entry with my new bronze lantern from Lamps.com. That black coatrack is an antique, that I don't think I've shown before. I'm thinking of giving it the ASCP treatment after the Holidays. Being black, it really sticks out, but helps with having a place to hang visitors coats.

Here's the Dining Room that I shared earlier in the week. I'm using my white Pottery Barn lanterns that I bought last year. A little Christmas tree decorated with birdies and woodland critters just barely squeezes in.

The Kitchen is open to the Living Area, and I'm loving my newly painted cabinets. 

My collection of black tole trays is helping to hide the backsplash. A subway tile backsplash is on my wishlist, but for now, I'm just trying to disguise this one! A few Christmas touches are here on the black granite countertops. Red plaid monogramed towels that my mom made for me last year add a little "Christmas" red and green.

I put several of my ironstone and ceramic figural animal tureens on the cabinet tops but they need a little boost, so they can be seen better. It looks a little cluttered up here, but I love all the black and white.

The chandy looked a little bare, so I added in some twigs and greenery. If you look closely there's even a little birdie nest hiding in there. I find my kitty gazing up there several times a day. She seems to think that it's perfectly fine to hang out there on the table. I'm trying to break the fur girls of some of their bad habits... not very successfully, though.

A variety of Tartan plaids are my favorite way to decorate for Christmas.

Blankets, ribbon, pillows, tins and boxes...

I'll be sharing more of the details soon...

Thanks so much for coming by to visit with the Blog Hop.

Be sure to click over to the next stop,

Shirley of Housepitality Designs

Shirley has an amazing home, full of beautiful Christmas cheer!

If you missed Wednesday's group, just start here.

Wednesday 12/10

No Minimalist Here
Uptown Acorn
The Vintage Nest
Dixie Delights

Thursday 12/11
Common Ground
Housepitality Designs
The Essence Of Home
Northern Nesting


Friday 12/12
Miss Kopy Kat
21 Rosemary Lane
A Stroll Thru Life

All About Vignettes

Thank you so much Sherry,

 for asking me to join in this Christmas Blog Gathering!

Have a wonderful rest of the week!

Joining in on these Holiday Parties:

Amaze Me Monday at Dwellings
Sunday at Home at Thoughts from Alice

Come to the Hop!

Hey, do you remember this guy?

He's sending out an invitation to the

Open House Blog Hop,

 starting today at No Minimalist Here

We have our homes decked and decorated, just waiting for you to visit.

Wednesday 12/10 No Minimalist Here
Uptown Acorn
The Vintage Nest
Dixie Delights

Thursday 12/11
Common Ground
Housepitality Designs
The Essence Of Home
Northern Nesting


Friday 12/12
Miss Kopy Kat
21 Rosemary Lane
A Stroll Thru Life
All About Vignettes

I'll see you tomorrow for all the fun!

A "New" French Mirror for the Dining Room

As I was taking pics for the upcoming

  Christmas Open House Blog Hop

that will be starting on Wednesday, I realized that I haven't shown much of my Dining Room, and hadn't shared my buffet and "new" antique mirror at all. what's wrong with me? My big boy white turkey had been here on the buffet at Thanksgiving, but I never got around to letting him strut his stuff. So now it's Christmas and I finally finished the upstairs decorating, so here goes...

I'm just going to give you a little tease, 

since I'll be showing much more at the Blog Hop on Thursday.

I tried to keep things a little more subdued in here, 

so I thought I'd just use one of my ironstone tureens 

with some vintage Shiney Brites.

I'd been looking for a new antique mirror for the buffet for quite awhile.

When I saw the French plume design on top, I knew this was the one.

I'll be sharing a few more snippets this week,

so hope you'll come back.

All my birdies say "come see us Thursday"!

Joining in with these wonderful Christmas Parties:

The Scoop at Stonegable

Inspire Me Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life

Tweak it Tuesday at Cozy Little House

Mod Mix Monday at Mod Vintage Life

Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

xoxo,

A Little Christmas in the Kitchen

Hey Everyone! I hadn't planned on being away from the blog all this week. After all, it's Christmastime and there's so much fun decorating inspiration going on. I was on a roll last weekend, then the week got away from me, and now I'm running behind. But I wanted to share a few pics from what's going on in the kitchen.

It's always fun to decorate the Baker's Rack...

...and I have a few of my vintage Shiney Brite trees out.

Santa's taking a breather on a cupcake pedestal...

and you can see I have lot's of help from the fur girls.

Hmmmm... 

how to reach those shiny toys hanging from Mom's chandy?

I have a lot more to share, just need to finish things up, and get ready as I'll be joining Sherry from No Minimalist Here next week for the Christmas Open House Blog Hop.

Hope you'll join us starting Wednesday December 10-12.

see you then!

joining in with these parties:

Sundays at Home with Thoughts from Alice

Amaze Me Monday at Dwellings

Show and Share at Coastal Charm

Christmas Decor ADD...

I think most of us spent at least some time this last weekend decorating for Christmas. (Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!) Some of you hard working and industrious types have it completed so you can sit by the fire with your hot cocoa and survey the loveliness of the Season. Others of us are still in the midst of the chaos of boxes, tubs and indecision...

I'm having a hard time finding the line between "decorated" and "too much" here at the new house. The last thing I want is to clutter it all up with hodge podge themes and colors. Right now I need some neutral "natural" decorations, that are relaxing. I have red in the kitchen, but here in the living and dining areas I'm trying to keep it a little subdued.

I've just added some vintage ornaments 

and a little ribbon and greenery to my "everyday" decor items.

I'm still tweaking, adding and subtracting...

so I'll share more of the Living Room when I get the mantel "settled".

But here is a peek of the new garland I found last week. I loved the gold and black vintage font on the white background. A little silver tinsel wrapped around the individual cards gives it a festive touch.

I've realized there are a lot of my regular decor pieces that still haven't been unpacked. Pillows, cloches, urns...what boxes are you hiding in? I get started in one place, then I go back to another. I'll probably take a break from upstairs and see what kind of damage I can do in the basement. I think it's time to vacuum up the mess and call it a day.

It's cold and dreary today. We had a little snowy-frosty stuff early this morning. My boxes and Christmas stash are all in the garage, so I'm trying to rummage through boxes intermittently. Brrrrrr...  I think I must have taken 150 pics today, but my tripod is MIA from the move and the light is not cooperating for good photos. How about you...are you finished with the decorating fun, or just getting started? I'm ready for the cocoa, finished or not.

I'll be joining in with these parties:

The Scoop at Stone Gable

Amaze Me Monday at Dwellings

Show and Share at Coastal Charm

Inspire Me at A Stroll Thru Life

Tweak It Tuesday at Cozy Little House

Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

Share Your Cup at Mrs. Olson's

xoxo,