Holiday Home Tour Part 2

YAY for our Holiday Home Tour...Part 2! (If you missed Part 1, you can find it right here.) This selection of photos features the part of our home that's most lived in. Our den, kitchen, and sunroom all open up to each other, so decorating all of this most-commonly-used space was a must! These rooms are the coziest and the heart of our home. And in non picturesque real life, there are usually pillows and blocks (and this nativity set as of late) scattered across the floor. That's just the way I like it these days..the sweet reminder that a very mobile, very active, all-over-the-place little one lives here. What a rediscovered joy it is to experience Christmas with a baby in the house.

I knew I wanted a tree in our living room at the front of the house because I love being able to drive by at night and see a Christmas tree inside. However, not seeing a tree in our den by the fireplace just wasn't settling with me, so I snagged this second tree at Target. It's small and skinny. It's perfect for this little nook of a corner on the hearth.

Our mantel is simple but has lots of varying textures: the brick, the slate, the faux fur stockings, the bottle brush trees, the tree trimmings... I'm always a fan of adding textures! I brought home extra [always free!] tree trimmings from the tree lot, and the stockings are a find from Marhsalls that I got embroidered locally. Also - I  can't help but mention that I look at this white brick wall with such satisfaction. It was pale yellow when we moved in. And if you've ever painted brick, it makes you feel like you're going crazy...but boy was it worth it to have this white! 

Champagne Bottle Brush Trees 

I love the $6 live pine garland from Trader Joe's in the opening between our kitchen and den. When we moved in, the only immediate "upgrade" we did was knocking out the wall between these two rooms. I am so glad we did!

6' Slim Tree 

Each year I pick up another Dollar Tree frame and add our annual Christmas card. I love having these displayed in the center of our home! 

Christmas cards past...

I also put away regular photos and display various holiday photos instead. Tis the season!

The view from our hallway. This space is the coziest! I love getting a glimpse of the pine hanging between the two rooms.

Box Sign (similar) | Recycled Glass Pillar Candle Holders
Our wet bar that's not really a wet bar. But a bar of sorts!

Mable Pastry Board ($23!)  | Breville Kettle (My English family taught me that all too many Americans are getting by without an electric kettle! :))
In our kitchen, I hang Christmas cards with glittery ribbon and mini clothespins on our kitchen cabinets. I love having them hung so I can enjoy them!

I dare say that the playroom is the brightest, most fun, merriest room in the house.

Banner [DIY] | Multicolor Twinkle Lights
I couldn't resist the icicle TWINKLE lights. Nancy loves them (and so do I).

Christmas Memories Book
My sweet mommy gave me this book last year. She has the exact same one! I'm looking forward to recording memories for my kids to read one day. My mom did such a good job filling out this book year to year. I love reading her notes and stories! It has so inspired me to do the same. (This is a great gift for newlyweds and/or new mamas!!!)

Reindeer Pillow | Pink Tree (similar)
This space. This loud, fun, bright, girly space!

Advent Calendar | JOY MarqueeJoy has been the theme of our past several months since Nancy joined us in April and brings us such joy everyday. Mark saw this marquee in Target and suggested we get it. I complied. :)Thanks for looking around our holiday home! I wish I could invite you all over for a cup of cheer and some girl talk by the tree. Happy 10 days till Christmas, y'all! xx
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Holiday Home Tour Part 1

Decking the halls, decking the halls..it's something I look forward to doing at the brink of every Christmas season. After moving for the past 4+ years in a row, I am so thankful to deck our halls in 2015 knowing we'll be in them through the next several years too. For real this time! We're back home in Charlotte where we belong. Creating a holiday home and being a mama is basically my dream combination. So, welcome! Come on in to our nest...

 I catch a glimpse of this sparkly reflection from the corner of our kitchen. It stops me in my tracks every time.

Ornaments
 I'm a sucker for metallics. All day everyday. My favorite Christmas colors are silver + gold.

Wreath 

Our dining room tablescape is super simple. Here's the cheat: use a wreath! Add a hurricane candle, and voila. Effortless yet lovely.

I decorated our tree in only silver. That means I sent ornaments back up to the attic. And that combination means I'm turning into my mother. I used to tell her that her sliver tree was "soooooo boring" when I was a kiddo. Oops. 

Wood Grain Wrapping Paper | Silver Metallic Pen | Gold Metallic Pen

My family never really does bows. I don't know why--we just never have. To fancy up our gifts a bit, I stole this gift tag look that I used to address our Christmas cards!

 I had every intention to go to the tree lot and buy a flocked tree. It was my plan...until I got there and forgot. Next year I am dreaming of a flocked tree to coexist with the bright whites and neutrals that fill our living room! 

 This nativity is one of my favorite decorations. We bought on our mission trip to Burundi

Joy: the center of our room, the celebration of Christ's arrival in our hearts, and the echo of our lives since Nancy joined us in April.

Come back next week for the brighter and bolder colors that adorn the space we live in most! Until then, catch a sneak peek or two on Instagram. Can't wait to show y'all around the rest of our digs! 

You might also like...Holiday Home Tour 2014 | Wilmington, NCPut A Wreath On It (The Wreath on the Table[scape] Trick)11 Creative Ways to Address Your Christmas CardsChristmas Tree Lot 2015Our 2015 Christmas CardNancy Meets Santa

Master Bedroom Reimagining

Biggest One Room Challenge Pro: I put my heart into our little guest bedroom for 6 weeks and turned it into a fun, motivating, FINISHED project.Biggest One Room Challenge Con: Completing this bedroom further shines the spotlight on our very unfinished, blah bedroom.
...seriously. Womp. When I finished our guest bedroom, my husband walked in and said, "It looks really good in here. We should sleep in this bed or something." Sigh. True. Nancy's nursery is my favorite room in our house. Then I gave the guest room my love and dedication. And then there's our bedroom. It's pretty much a hot mess right now. Nothing on the walls. Wires chilling on the floor. Furniture that we've already decided needs rearranging but we haven't done it yet. Sigh. It's white in here because white is peaceful to me...only, our room is far from peaceful at the moment. This room of ours needs some TLC. Badly!
We're playing a little game of musical beds within my family, and--much to my surprise--there's a king mattress and boxspring without a home. (!!!!!) Mark and I only sleep in kings at hotels or weekend getaways, and we feel like a king (and queen) with all that space. King bed = dream status. And now it's dream status come true?! It's going to take a biiiit of hearty imagination because our little bedroom can barely fit a king in it. It's gonna be a tight squeeze, y'all. But we're doing it. Here are my visions and inspiration so far. I'm excited to finally settle into this master bedroom of ours.
Mom (my personal interior designer...but really...thanks mommy!) and I went to the design center yesterday to look for headboard fabric. I'm dreaming of a tall, tufted headboard. Tall, tall. Like...7' tall. With soft fabric. The faux suede swatches above are my current contenders (minus the stark white which I'm using as a visual contrast to the other options). We also happened to bump into this amazing ikat fabric with all of my most favorite design colors and decided we needed to incorporate it into an accent pillow or two somehow. It's too "me "to resist Ikat! Bright white! Gray! Blue gray! (AKA all of our wedding colors) If I were a fabric, this would be it. (Weird thought.) So basically it needs to be in my life ASAP.

 Here are the headboard swatches closer up (and in better light). The walls in our bedroom are SW Pearly White (and look nothing like the color on the computer screen, FYI). It's also important to note that I am not at all intimidated or bored with an all white bedroom. White is peaceful (and bleachable) to me.

So, all of that to say/ask...y'all. Any favorite white bedding reccommendations? I love a white bed. I'll bring in a little color through the "Elise" fabric with accent pillows and I'll make it less boring through texture and/or layers. Any suggestions on where to start? We currently have this quilt, and I'm strongly considering purchasing the same one in a king. I just love it so much. But I have so many ideas floating in my head!! For example: right now we sleep under the quilt and have a duvet folded at the bottom. Do I do that again? Or the opposite and have a quilt at the bottom? Or another layering combination?! AHHHH! Staring at Pottery Barn beds in the catalog has me all confused. I don't know what to pick first.

Here is some brainstorming on my end...

White bedding inspiration:

Tufted headboard shape ideas (disregard color!): 

If you made it though that stream of consciousness that was mostly me sorting my ideas out in writing, then cheers to you. You're a gem. Thank you. :)  And cheers to this new project! Woohoo!

One Room Challenge | Coastal Chic Guest Room Reveal

CHEERS! Let's start with a celebratory toast (with your coffee or whatever you're drinking!), because why the heck not?! I pulled it of!! 6 weeks with the One Room Challenge was absolutely the motivation I needed to turn this space from the post-move-I-don't-know-where-to-put-this room to this. It's calm. It's light. It's airy. It mixes modern and traditional. It's coastal inspired. It's very "Elise." Our hearts so love the beach (we lived 2 miles from Wrightsville for 2 years!), and little pieces of that are reflected in this space.
Before the reveal, here's a chance to catch up on how we started. Remember?Week 1 | The Ugly Truth + InspirationWeek 2 | Curtains, Hardware, and Bedding SelectionWeek 3 | Progress + Nightstand Options[Week 4 didn't happen because bleh.]Week 5 | Pulling It Together
And now...(EEEEE!!!!)...welcome to our coastal chic guest bedroom. Come on in, and stay a while!

 Quilt + Shams were $40!

 Nightstand

 Faux Hydrangeas

 Cozy welcome essentials for the guest room: water decanter (similar), a lovely smelling candle, coasters, and some current magazines (or in this case, the latest RH holiday catalogues...swoon)!

 Special touch: all of the  seashells in this room were collected by yours truly while we lived in Wilmington, NC. 

  Would you believe that between Mark, Spyros, Hope and I, we brought these coral rocks home with us in our luggage from the Bahamas?! Weirdos! True.

 Gallery Frames

Well, what do y'all think? I had so much fun creating this space. I wanted to keep it kind of minimal too so my guests can have lots of space without clutter. My in laws are staying here for 2 weeks come April. I was thinking about their stay lots during this process! Additionally, the seaside neutral color palette has always been (and will always be) so me. If you're new here, hi! And welcome!! I'm so glad you hopped over. Follow along, and let's connect! Here are some other posts you might like...
Our Living Room {an eerily similar color palette ;)}Think Before You Paint: 7 Thoughts to Consider Painting our QC HomeMixing Modern and Traditional in the Home
Last but not least, here is the full source list in case your wondering about any details from this post.
SOURCESPaint Color: SW Sea Salt (which I have coined as my signature color)Interior Doors: SW AnonymousBed, Secretary: Antique Family HeirloomsLamps + Poufs: Hand-me-downs from my mamaCurtains Hardware, spray painted silverBedding: White Quilt + Shams | Comforter + Shams from Pottery Barn 3 years agoFaux Mongolian Fur Throw PillowNightstands Art: thrifted from a local FB group :)Nautical Rope Mirros: Target, oldFaux HydrangeasWicker Tray: Pottery Barn, no longer available (similar)White Gallery FramesWater Decanter (similar)Throw

Be sure to visit all other bloggers who are participating in this 6 week challenge. Let's all root each other on!
Now let's end where we began...CHEERS! And happy reveal day to all my fellow ORC Guest Participants. I can't wait to stalk the lovely  spaces you've created!!!