Classic Evergreen Christmas Tour - Part 1
Welcome to this year's Classic Evergreen Christmas tour! Getting to this first tour of the season was like walking through molasses; slow but sweet. I've been chipping away at our Christmas décor for a month, and I'm still not done, but I wanted to share a first look at our perfectly imperfect home decked out for the season. We'll start at the back of the house...
Early in November, I shared my lush garland hack after I draped our darling reading nook in Christmas greenery. 
I also dressed up the shelves with a basket of frosted pinecones, my favorite neutral bottle brush trees, and the cute dollar spot wooden houses that are everywhere this year. 
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I went with a minimal approach in our master bedroom hallway because until now, this spot has been a magnet for junk and clutter. 
A simple faux cedar garland (discontinued) was enough to give this corner of our home some subtle Christmas cheer. I especially love how the mustard tones of the hats and faux stems play with the greenery.
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Next up, I added lots of fresh juniper greenery from our backyard to the newly-renovated kitchen and breakfast nook. Giving this space a budget-friendly, cosmetic makeover in time for holiday decorating has brought me so much joy this year! 
As soon as I built the new hood cover, I couldn't wait to hang a lush green wreath. I used a cheap fake wreath and added fresh juniper, cognac suede ribbon (from Hobby Lobby), and two tiny vintage brass bells. 
This little ceramic gnome has been my girls' favorite addition so far. 
And neutral bottle brush trees plus fun little houses made for the perfect subtle kitchen shelf décor next to our amazing handmade wall sconces. 
I just love the way the rich green looks against our taupe shiplap kitchen. 
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In our breakfast nook, I simply draped a mix of faux and real garland over my arched cabinet and called it done.
I knew this simple approach would be dramatic enough to stand on it's own, especially with our hand-painted harlequin floors. 
There are a lot more pictures and source details in the original Christmas in the Kitchen post if you're interested in seeing that. 
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Our master bedroom is far from being done. In truth, we've done nothing but move our furniture in and add custom drapes. Still, I wanted to add Christmas cheer somewhere in this space, so I focused on the dresser area, as it feels the most finished. 
I draped my new-to-me gilded mirror with, you guessed it, a combination of faux and real greenery, and created a tiny Christmas tree using juniper branches. It's simple, yet beautiful, which is just my speed this year. 
Everything here was either thrifted or found at an antique store, and that makes this one of my favorite vignettes. 
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The final space I'm sharing in this Classic Evergreen Christmas Tour is our family room. This room houses our sweet reading nook and is where we hang out daily. We have plans to demo the corner fireplace, add hardwood floors, and create a wall of built-ins, but for now, I'm making the most of this imperfect room. 
I love styling this fireplace because the black brick is so visually stunning. I created a swag with faux garland and then added faux pine picks and lots of fresh juniper and a few pinecones. 
My late mother-in-law's childhood ice skates always make an appearance at Christmas, and these birch logs I found online add just the right amount of visual pop against the black brick. 
On the right side of the mantel, I created a little cluster of these rust-colored bottle brush trees that are so interesting and beautiful to me. 
I usually hang our stockings wherever the main Christmas tree is, but I decided to switch things up this year and hang them in the family room even though the big tree is in the front living room. We open stockings at the very end, so I want to see if having them here will allow us to take gift opening a little slower. Plus, this room is right off the kitchen where the cinnamon rolls and coffee will be. 
On the left side of the mantel, I layered my favorite brass candlesticks in front of the most beautiful artwork created by my friend Sarah at Sarah Kaitlin Art. The rust color of the roofs tie in the with the bottle brush trees as if they were meant to be together on my Christmas mantel. 
Over on the left side of our TV console, I chose to put up our 6-foot King of Christmas tree and make this the decorative one (aka: Mama's Tree) instead of our big 9-footer. 
I added paper stars from last year's banister garland (discontinued), and used a mix of black-green, matte and shiny copper, and marbled ornaments (from Joann's). It's my favorite tree to date. 
I love for everything to have meaning, even our decorative ornaments, so finding these marbled ones that remind me of our kitchen countertops was so special. I let those countertops keep me from happiness for so long, and this was the year I chose to embrace them and be happy anyway. These ornaments will always remind me to find contentment wherever I am in life. 
I haven't really shown this side of our family room much because it has never felt put together for me. Getting ready for this Christmas tour forced me to make a few small changes, and now I actually love it and want to show you. 
If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen that I was swapping out the art in these frames. The antique tree etchings were so affordable (less than $20 for all six), and they hold quite a bit of meaning for me as well. My dad loved trees and spent a good amount of my childhood up in them, as we owned a tree business. Because of my dad, I have a deep connection to trees, so these feel like home. As for the lamps, they used to look like gray concrete, but I used a little Rub'n Buff in Ebony to make them over in about fifteen minutes. I wasn't expecting to get so much texture and depth, but I'll take it. 
I don't love sharing a room with shag carpet on my blog, but it's what you would see if you came to my house in real life, and I have never let this carpet stop me from opening my door to friends or family. Decorating our homes should be about living in the present and appreciating the gift of having a home, not showing off our version of perfection or hiding what we deem as imperfect. So, that's why I share my shag-carpeted family room...because I'm not here to show off or hide anything. My goal is to inspire you in your own home, get your creative wheels turning, or simply give you something beautiful to look at, knowing it's not perfect.
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I hope you enjoyed my Classic Evergreen Christmas Tour - Part 1. I'll be sharing the front of the house as well as the girls' bedrooms closer to Christmas. I'd love to hear in the comments below which room was your favorite on the tour. I love reader comments! Stay tuned...Christmas Tour Parts 2 and 3 coming up!