Festive Mudroom

Yesterday I showed you our mantel.  Today you will get to see our mudroom’s holiday getup.

I got creative with the chalkboard.  And by creative, I mean I borrowed another idea from Pinterest.

The bench area received a few holiday touches as well…

I love my vintage egg basket for storing gloves/hats/scarves.  Ike likes the easy access to them when he’s bored and wants to cause trouble. Not that he ever gets in trouble.

I purchased the two nutcrackers from Hobby Lobby last year.  I originally spray painted them cream but decided they were a better fit for our mudroom this year.  Nothing a little red spray paint can’t fix.  I have a problem. 

I have seen similar nutcrackers from West Elm costing at least $20 a piece.  These were $3 each.  Spray paint is $3.  Win.

I replaced two of the frames with some snow art that I whipped up in Photoshop and Word.  Fancy.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.  Is it snowing where you’re at?  I really want it to snow.  Just for December.  Then I want it to be 80.  The end.

Holiday Mantel

Today starts the holiday tour of our home!  Get excited!  Because I am.

We’re going to start with our mantel!

I wasn’t much into mantel decorating until recently.  Now it’s a fun game. 

I have the challenge of the television above the mantel.  I love my television so I’m going to work with it.  And turn it into a double fire.  Amazing.  (That was all Nate.  He’s good.)

I wanted to keep things simple as to not distract from my Elf watching.  The mantel set the tone for this year’s wood/red theme.

I purchased the two wood trees and stock holders from Hobby Lobby (50% off, of course).  The two deer were Salvation Army finds. The white deer had a hideous red and green ribbon around it’s neck.  Nothing a little burlap couldn’t fix.

This is the first year that we’ve hung stockings.  I could never find stockings that I liked.  I should clarify…stockings that I liked that weren’t 1 million dollars.  I whipped these darlings up on my own.  **Pats self on back.**

And to clarify. The third stocking is for the dog.  Sorry to disappoint but the furry dude needs a stocking too.  Where else would Santa put his bones?

There you have it.  Our 2011 mantel.  Check back tomorrow as the tour continues!

What’s your mantel looking like this year? Do you hang stockings? What’s your favorite stocking stuffer (to give or receive)?  Do you have a stocking for your pet?  Who’s digging my flannel pants? (Look hard at the last photo.)

Linking up to:  From My Front Porch To Yours, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Ten June, HomeStoriesAtoZ

Barn Light Electric Fans

This week-end Nate and I were busy installing the $1000 in free lighting we won from Barn Light Electric.

The previous sentence still doesn’t seem real to me even though the lights are hanging beautifully.  Someone pinch me.

We replaced our kitchen pendants with the Bermuda pendants in satin steel.  They are so shiny and beautiful.  A perfect fit for our kitchen!

We need to purchase light bulbs in a lower wattage though.  The 60 watts are slightly blinding.

We choose the Laramie pendant in vanilla cream for the eating area.  We think the pendant goes perfectly with our newly built farmhouse table.  The eating area now how this great rustic/industrial feel to it.

We hung this pendant higher above the table beings that the light is all downward facing. If we hung it any lower, the entire table would not be lit. This pendant doesn’t light up the room as much at night compared to our previous light (because it faces down) but we like the cozy feel.

We chose the Altus Hugger Ceiling Fan for the master bedroom. We liked the simple design.  We decided to not add the optional light.  We did some thinking.  We couldn’t remember ever turning on the light in our bedroom and we preferred the look of the fan sans light.  It’s not a beautiful chandelier but it’s definitely the next best thing.  I really didn’t think pretty and ceiling fan could ever be in the same sentence but this is definitely a pretty ceiling fan.

We also received another pendant light for our guest bedroom but didn’t get around to hanging that one this past week-end.  We’ll share that with you when we do get it installed.

We are very happy with the quality of these lights.  They were easy to install.  As in, we installed these lights together and not once did we even begin to argue.  That’s impressive.  Beyond impressive.

Thanks again to Barn Light Electric for the amazing lights!  We are definitely fans of your products!

Linking up to: Thrifty Decor Chick