Blogger Stylin’ Home Tour: Cozy and Colorful

If you’re coming from Iron and Twine, welcome to the party! Blogger Stylin Home Tour Christmas Button So many wonderful ladies have shared their fantastic tours already.  Check out the first three days here:

Monday:
Roeshel – DIY Showoff
Jess and Monica – East Coast Creative
Laura – Finding Home
Jesse – Scout and Nimble
Angela – Number Fifty-three
Gwen – The Makerista
Brittany – Brittany Makes
Tuesday:
Anneke – This, That, & Life
Cassie – Primitive & Proper
Caitlin – Desert Domicile
Sarah – The Thriftress
Carolyn – Sweet Chaos Home
Shavonda – A Home Full of Color
Wednesday:
Jamie – C.R.A.F.T.
Lucy – Craftberry Bush
Michelle – Decor and the Dog
Whitney – The Curtis Casa
Kristin – Bliss at Home
Summer – Simple Stylings
With so many talented women and amazing ideas, I feel like a slacker.  But, here’s our Christmas home tour.  How ’bout we start in the family room.  Because the fireplace is in here, it got the most attention.

Christmas-Home-Tour-Family-Room Our mantel is decked out in bright colors, including a short strand of the felt garland I made. Christmas-Home-Tour-Mantel-Detail The merry & bright art is something I sketched out and painted on a piece of black foam from the Dollar Tree. Christmas-Home-Tour-Merry-and-Bright-Art For the past four years, I’ve made silhouette ornaments of each family member.  And in years past, I’ve hung those ornaments on stands to place on a shelf.  This year, the silhouettes mark each stocking, including a custom paint color. Christmas-Home-Tour-Boys-Stocking-Detail Our deep green chevron coffee table adds more pattern and color.  When paired with red plaid scarf pillows, it’s a slight twist on traditional red and green. Christmas-Home-Tour-Scarf-Pillow-and-Mantel Original scarf tassels are a fun touch, too. Christmas-Home-Tour-Scarf-Pillow Next to the fireplace is slightly less colorful and more glam. Christmas-Home-Tour-Bar-Nook Lots of gold, white, some black, and a bit of blue.  Ben’s first deer has a glitter star.  You know, to girl him up a little. Christmas-Home-Tour-Bar-and-Wood-Stack On the other side of the room I sewed plaid flannel pillow covers.  Nothing says cozy like flannel, I always say. Christmas-Home-Tour-Couch-Pillows This buffalo check is great all year, too. Zipper-Tutorial-Finished-Pillow In our less finished (okay, not even close) living room, I decorated the entertainment center.  Though we have plans to build doors to hide the ugly electronics and cords. Christmas-Home-Tour-Entertainment-Center Gold on navy Holy Night song lyrics are Christmas-y, without screaming Christmas. Christmas-Home-Tour-Stars-Print Below is a wintery scene, complete with bottle brush trees, a hedgehog family, and squirrel. Christmas-Home-Tour-Winter-Terrarium The dining room decor is much simpler.  Our tree is in the corner. Christmas-Home-Tour-Dining-Room-and-Living Large jingle bells hang from the chairs. Christmas-Home-Tour-Dining-Room And another snowy scene sits on the table.  A cheap acrylic frame from Michael’s holds Epsom salt, trees, and mini birds. Christmas-Home-Tour-Dining-Winter-Scene And a bokeh tree, because I can’t help myself. Christmas-Home-Tour-Bokah-Tree Thanks for stopping in!  Pop over to Cuckoo 4 Design.  Don’t forget to check out the rest of the tour.

Thursday:
Jenna – SAS Interiors
Chris – Just a Girl
Michelle – Iron and Twine
Amanda – Our Humble Abode
Julia – Cuckoo 4 Design
Bethany – Dwellings by Devore
Lindsay – Makely Home
Jennifer – Dimples & Tangles
Friday:
Traci – Beneath My Heart
Jen – The Chronicles of Home
Jennifer – Tatertots and Jello
Kristin – Hunted Interior
Eileen – A Creative Day
Gabbi – Retro Ranch Reno
Lakeitha – Lakeitha Duncan
Kristen – KFD Designs
Jessica – Dear Emmeline
Sarah – Royal Marigold
Carmel – Our Fifth House

Gimme a Giveaway: For Animal Lovers

This giveaway is closed.  Thanks for entering!  See who won here

Who doesn’t love a cute critter?  I know it’s extremely tough for me to refuse one.  If we’re kindred spirits, you’ll love this month’s giveaway partners, Wilderness Romance and Chipmunk Cheeks.

Wilderness Romance specializes in hand printed fabric goods like pillows and pillow cases.  Like this Hand Printed Buffalo Pillow, that I now have living in my house.

Wilderness-Romance-Buffalo-Pillow

Or this Moose pillow:

And a cute Plush Rabbit:

And Chipmunk Cheeks, oh goodness, there’s so much to love.

This Squirrel Flowers print is in my house, waiting to be framed and hung, but oh so adorable.

This Fox Flowers is a handsome fella, too.

Elephant Flowers, amazing flowers and I almost got her.

Pink Hedgehog Flowers, so pretty.

Come on now, get in on this action!

The Goods: Two prizes!  For the first winner, one $30 shop credit to Wilderness Romance and one $25 credit to Chipmunk Cheeks or Katie Vernon.  For the second winner, one $25 credit good for or toward anything in the Chipmunk Cheeks or Katie Vernon.

To Enter:  Leave a comment, which can (but doesn’t have to) include our Just for Fun question.

Just for Fun: How many animal related pieces do you have in your house?  Art, pillows, sculptures, you name it.  Me?  I’ve got at least 30, if I group pairs or sets together.  As singles, easily over 50.

For additional entries:

1.  Add Wilderness Romance to your Etsy favs and leave a comment.

2.  Add Chipmunk Cheeks to your Etsy favs, then leave a second comment.

3.  Like Our Humble Abode on Facebook, and comment again.

Contest Closes: Thursday, December 26th, 2013.

Number of Winners: Two, chosen by Random.org.

Ships: Anywhere in the US.

Other Info: We will select the winners using random.org and announce on Friday, December 27th.

P.S.  I’ve lowered prices on nearly everything in the shop for the rest of December.  8 by 10 inch prints are only 10 bucks!

Table Tableau

Something monumental happened on Monday night.  We bought a dining set!

Dining-Table-in-Room

Now, I realize this might not seem like a big deal.  But for us, it really is.  Because this is the first time we’ve had an actual table in our formal dining room.  For Thanksgiving, we used folding tables and cheap Target chairs.

2013-Thanksgiving-Table-Setting-Overall

Before that, we had a small, round thrifted table with a glass top.

Thrifted-Glass-Topped-Dining-Table-in-Dining-Room-Too-Small

And hey, we bought furniture!  That rarely happens.

Dining-Table-from-Living-Window

Ben found this set on Craigslist for less than half of the retail price.

Dining-Table-from-Kitchen

We talked about building a table, but it was never a priority.  And we can’t agree on chairs to save our lives.  This West Elm table was my front-runner.

If you like that table, too, check out Yellow Brick Home’s similar DIY table.  While the Mission style isn’t what I had in mind, I’m surprised at how much I like it in our house.

Dining-Table-from-Window

And the size is perfect.  Plenty or room to walk around, even with a tree in the corner.  With the two extra leaves in, we could seat 8 people very comfortable.  The warm wood is a really nice finish and is easy to clean.  Unlike the glass top that always had fingerprints.

Dining-Table-Top

There are four normal chairs and two leather upholstered captain’s chairs.

Dining-Table-Chair-and-TAble

My first impression was to reupholster the seats.  But when the chairs are tucked in, the seats read more neutral than green.  This is the most accurate picture of the color:

Dining-Table-Leather-Chair-Detail

One chair even has a slightly noticeable leather brand.  Which Ben loves because you can easily tell they’re real leather.

Dining-Table-Chair-Brand

While these rooms are far from finished, every step is progress.

Dining-Table-and-Living-Room-from-Stairs

Craig, can you get me the prefect couch?  Do you have a hard time pulling the trigger on furniture, too?

Gimme a Giveaway Winner & a Sale

Hey, hey!  Hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving!  How about a winner of the Girl and Parrot giveaway?  Jen N, you’re the lucky duck!  Congrats!

We’re also having a big Black Friday blowout sale.  60% off anything and everything in the shop, new and old alike.  So you can get a Carved Initials Cut Out for only 20 bucks.

Or an Astrological Sign Cut Out for $12, customized with your colors.

But I added three new, festive prints.  So a new Eat, Drink & Be Merry print is only six dollars!

A new Wishing Wishbone print is six bucks, too.

 

New, custom art would make a lovely, affordable holiday gift.  Or get something for yourself!  Use the code BLACKFRIDAY60 to activate the code and save.

Colorful Cactus & Candles

Last year, our Thanksgiving table was neutral; white, gray, copper, wood, and a dash of gold.  This year I went completely opposite.  Bright colors, including red, orange, yellow, pink, and gold.

2013-Thanksgiving-Table-Setting-Overall

I found orange and white stripe napkins at Pier 1 for 98 cents each and that set the color scheme and tone.  Fun, festive fall colors, with a twist.

2013-Thanksgiving-Table-Setting-Side

In place of flowers, I bought three 3 buck cactus from Home Depot and potted them in cheap glasses.  Bonus, I get to enjoy them for more than a week.

2013-Thanksgiving-Table-Setting-Cactus-Centerpieces

To get a little more color, I painted the inside of each glass a different color.  Plain acrylic paint so I can wash these out.

2013-Thanksgiving-Table-Setting-Cactusl

But it’s such a fun, happy, cheap way to add a pop.  Same story for these confetti candle holders I whipped up.  I had the glasses from last year (from Dollar Tree) and used the same acrylic paint to make dots.

2013-Thanksgiving-Table-Setting-Confetti-Candles

Again, these are not permanent.  Hot water and soap will clean these off.

2013-Thanksgiving-Table-Setting-Confetti-Candles-Detail

A few mini pumpkins add more color and a fall touch.

2013-Thanksgiving-Table-Setting-Detail-2

2013-Thanksgiving-Table-Setting-Detail-3

The centerpieces are simple, because we need plenty of space to eat our feast.

2013-Thanksgiving-Table-Setting-Detail-1

I covered the table with kraft paper, then set out a DIY runner.  More details on that next week.

2013-Thanksgiving-Table-Setting-Plates

Have you settled on a Thanksgiving color scheme?

Oh, and the winner of the Spruce book giveaway is Jackie!  Congrats!!