Winter Eclectic Home Tour 2018

This year, I am so pleased that Jessica from Domicile 37 asked me to join her annual Winter Eclectic home tour. The tour features bloggers showcasing a variety of decor styles. I have never done anything like this before, and I am completely blown away by everyone. What a talented bunch! I’ll link to all of the participants in the tour at the end of this post.

Welcome!

Today, I am sharing part of the first floor.

Kitchen

Our tour starts in the kitchen which is one of the brightest and happiest rooms in BHH. It has not changed much since we finished remodeling in 2016. Natural light streams in here even on the gloomiest of days, and I love it.

I do not put many holiday decorations in the kitchen because it already feels busy enough in here. This year, I made and hung a small rustic wreath on the vent, and I added a piece of plaid ribbon to the grey flower pot. That’s it.

Side note: Did you know that I am crazy for plaid, and I even keep a Pinterest board called Plaid Love? It’s true.

Almost every room in BHH has live plants now. They make the long winter more bearable. There is something soothing about having a little piece of nature inside when everything outside is buried in snow.

Every year, we hang the fabric advent calendar on the fridge. We have had that advent calendar for such a long time. I think it may have come from the $1 Spot at Target at least twelve years ago, maybe longer.

On the other side of the room are the chalkboard wall and one of my favorite places in BHH, the breakfast nook.

This is the first year that I put a tree up in the breakfast nook. We are typically a one-tree family, but this room is street side, and it needed a little sparkle. I love driving up to the house and seeing this little tree shine.

Day or night, this room makes me happy.

The chalkboard wall is a family favorite.

We change the quote, menu, and song-of-the-day with some frequency. However, Glad Tidings by Van Morrison has been the song-of-the-day since Thanksgiving because I’m still not over it. When my oldest, the musicphile, comes home from college in a couple of weeks, he will probably change the song every day.

Dining Room

Next up is the dining room. I took just a couple of shots in here. If you look closely, you’ll see our Menorah ready to go for the fifth night of Hanukkah. I’ve mentioned this before, but I was raised with Christian traditions, and Andy was raised in the Jewish faith. We teach our children about both, and we keep the celebrations low-key.

The original chandelier is always the star of the show in the dining room. The diamond windows don’t hurt either. The little trees on the mantle came from Goodwill many years ago.

The plants all over the floor make it look a little like a forest right now. Typically, that is not the case. Our neighbors gave us some of their plants at the end of the summer, and I haven’t settled on a permanent home for them quite yet. (Fun fact: That mirror was a trash find. I picked it up off the side of the road.)

Living Room

Christmas kind of exploded in the living room. Believe it or not, this room often feels a little dark and cold, so I added a lot of lights, and a massive candle with six wicks in the fireplace. Unfortunately, we cannot burn wood in any of the fireplaces in BHH yet. We need to rebuild the chimneys, and that’s likely only part of the problem. Like many things, making the fireplaces functional is on the list.

Our tree is always for the kids. They like colored lights, so we use colored lights. We don’t stick to a theme unless “ornament explosion” is a theme. Also, our tree is fake. Surprise! (That’s not a surprise.) When I was taking these photos, I attempted to straighten the top of the tree, and I broke it! It’s barely hanging on in there. Oops.

I owe everyone a full update on the living room. The biggest news is that I finally found cushions for the bench. They are green velvet, no less. It’s like they were made for Christmas. Finding cushions was a four-year saga that deserves its own blog post.

The Foyer

Last up, is the foyer. Here’s a little peek coming down the hall from the kitchen.

It needs a lot of TLC, but it is still a stunner. What the foyer needs is another long story for a different day, but the short of it is that it is so unique that I have done nothing to it because I am afraid that I will ruin something on accident. In other words, I’m in the research phase. (That’s what I tell myself.)

Even though I am paralyzed by indecision, that green rug runner is going away this year no matter what. I’m determined. We only kept it because we did not have anything else, and it protects the stairs.

Garland, twinkle lights, and pinecones create the perfect distraction. I wish it were considered year-round decor.

Thank you so much for taking our winter home tour. If you were here, I would show you everything else, dirt and all. I’ll leave you with this bird’s eye shot from upstairs and a link to the rest of the Eclectic Winter Home Tour participants. If you love holiday decor, you are in for a treat.

Many thanks to Jessica for this opportunity. Also, if this is your first time here, I’ve been blogging for over four years. I can’t believe it. There are a ton of before-and-afters of many rooms here in BHH. At the top of the blog, there is a search bar. If you are interested in seeing more about any particular room in BHH, just type a room name in the search bar, and a bunch of posts should pop right up. Searching One Room Challenge is another great way to see more projects from start to finish.

For long-time readers, how do you like the updates? It is hard to remember how this house looked when we first crossed the threshold in 2014. I wish Dorothy could see it.

Monday

Domicile 37 | Bright Green Door | Jeweled Interiors

Tuesday

House Homemade | Made by Carli | At Home with Ashley | Casa Watkins Living

Wednesday

Designing Vibes | The Boho Abode | Monica Wants It | Banyan Bridges

Thursday

Brit & Barclay | Blake Hill House | Au Petit Salon | Up To Date Interiors

Friday

The Rath Project | House Haus Home | Domicile 37