Holiday House Walk 2016

Welcome to our holiday home! I am thrilled to be participating in Jennifer Rizzo's Holiday House Walk again this year. This year, we are sponsored by Wayfair and I am excited to share a few of their holiday items throughout the tour. If you're following along on the tour, then you have just arrived from The Golden Sycamorehttp://www.thegoldensycamore.com/2016/12/christmas-home-tour-2016.html's home, always a favorite of mine.

If this is your first visit, my name is Courtney and I live with my husband, our 3 boys and 2 very spoiled golden retrievers in a NJ suburb of NYC. We are avid DIY-ers who have fixed up our split level home one room at a time over the last 10 years. We love to decorate our home for the holidays, but we need to do so affordably. With 3 kids, including one in college (yikes!), money can get a bit tight at this time of year. I try to create decor that is personal and meaningful. And that can stand up to the use and abuse of our busy household.

On with the tour! Let's start in the mudroom. Feel free to hang up your coat. I hope you don't mind the big welcome that our dogs will have waiting for you. 

I added lots of plaid and pops of red to our blue and white mudroom. I like how it sets the stage for the bright and cheery holiday home that you are entering. I mostly used items we already had around the house. A new addition to this space is the bicycle pillow from Wayfair, complete with presents in the bike basket and mittens hanging from the handlebars. So sweet!

Wrapped presents are my favorite frugal way to decorate for the holidays. I also used my own vest, boots, hats and gloves to decorate the space. I find that I tend to dress myself the same way I decorate my home, which comes in handy when it comes time to decorate! :)

Next, let's stop in our kitchen, the busiest part of our home during the holidays and all year long.

We found this old vintage sled recently at a huge garage sale in Upstate NY. In fact, it is called the World's Largest Garage Sale. My son carried it a over a mile back to our car because he could see my crazy vision of it hanging over our kitchen island. We hung it with rope from a hook over our island and added some presents and cookie tins to the top.

Using the sled as my guide, I decided to keep things whimsical and fun in the kitchen and mostly use items that I already had. I added some garland to the window and a pair of crossed candy canes (that I've had in my Christmas stash for years) over the sink. A new addition this is year is the kitchen towel with a golden in a scarf and hat.

I added a small tree to the kitchen area to display some of the kitchen themed ornaments I have been collecting the last few years. Over the stove on the mantel, I added a preserved boxwood wreath decorated with a chalkboard sled from Sur La Table.

I purchased a Nordic Ware gingerbread house bundt pan in an after-Christmas sale last year. Using this pan is so much easier than making an actual gingerbread house and I think the results are adorable. I always hit up the after-Christmas sales because it is always a pleasant surprise to open the bins full of Christmas stuff to see what I bought. I can never remember what I bought the year before!

My favorite part of decorating for the holidays is the small details. A simple ribbon with a piece of greenery transforms the hurricane in the picture below.

A hot cocoa/coffee station is now considered a necessity in our house during the winter months. I kept things simple on our DIY dining shelves with just a few pops of red from the ribbon and garland.

Next, let's move across to our dining room. For as long as I can remember, my mother has collected nutcrackers and they are such a special part of Christmas to our family each year. With her in mind, I painted the sign with the nutcracker quote and added a few borrowed nutcrackers to our own to decorate the mantel this year. 

For our family, it's the small items that we take out year after year that are the most meaningful and make the season magical.

I borrowed the nutcracker plates (from World Market) from my mom and kept the table classic with a red plaid runner from HomeGoods. I then added some faux garland to the runner and added some fresh greens and artichokes to freshen things up.

I love the pop of blue that the new ice skates pillow from Wayfair adds to our window seat. The "curtains" are actually tablecloths from HomeGoods with a winter village scene.

Next, let's head down the stairs to the right to our family room.  

I added some fresh garland and a few fun Christmas items to our front entryway.

Our family room is the warmest and coziest spot in our home throughout the holidays. If we are home, there is almost always a fire roaring and Christmas music playing. We went with a winter sleigh ride theme for our mantel this year and you can read more about it in this post. I am loving the new sled pillow from Wayfair that sits on our chair in here. It ties everything together nicely.

Our tree topper was a DIY project. It is a family crest that represents a few of our family's main interests. We enjoy spending time in the mountains most of all and this entire family room is indicative of that.

Our gallery wall got its' annual winter makeover with family photos taken last year in the snow.

We created a small ski scene, including a gondola, to our terrarium, making it the centerpiece of our coffee table. 

As I mentioned earlier, I always looks for a small treasure to add to our holiday decor each year and this rustic mouse bookend is this year's addition. When I spotted it on Wayfair.com, it immediately reminded me of one of my boys' favorite Christmas stories, Santa Mouse. Although they are too old to read it now, I look forward to reading it to my future grandchildren. I added a scarf and hat to the mouse for the holidays.

He has been holding up books all over our family room this season.

Our Master Bedroom also gets a full size tree and is home to one of my favorite DIY projects this holiday season, a scroll made with a roll of white kraft paper and a Sharpie. The Mila Tartan plaid throw seen at the foot of our bed and in a few other places throughout our home is from Wayfair.com. I love how it adds the perfect pop of traditional holiday goodness anywhere I place it. Because this post is getting so long, I am sharing a couple of other rooms in more depth in their own posts, including our Master Bedroom and Master Bathroom.

From our family to yours, we wish you a holiday season full of new adventures and wonderful memories.

I hope you enjoyed visiting our holiday home tour this year. It may be the last day, but there is a lot more holiday goodness to see over at the next stop on the tour, The Shabby Nesthttp://shabbynest.blogspot.com/2016/12/christmas-house-tour.html.  If you would like to start at the very beginning of the house walk you can do so here. Enjoy the rest of the tour!