Cozy Cottage Christmas Decor | Front Living Room Tour 2021

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As hesitant as I was about decorating for Christmas, I'm so glad that I did it early. It does take about two weeks, at least, for everything to find it's place and for most of the fidgeting with things to stop. I'm at a point now that I can enjoy it...almost. I still need to put all the empty Christmas boxes back in storage. I'm also waiting for one last thing for my living Christmas tree. After that I'll be at a point of just fussing with pillows...and trying to keep the cat out of the trees :)

The first room in my house to get decorated every year is my front living room. On November 1st, the tree comes out, and my house gets flipped upside down. It cascades quickly from there into the other rooms in my home. Sometimes I have an idea of what I want in the room, but most times, I just let my creativity flow as I go. Sometimes things fall together perfectly, and other times I have to start completely over. This year was a slow progression in this room. I have a few new pieces that found there way in here. Decorating with them has been fun, but also makes me wonder if I want them in here. The first item is this antique pie safe I got about a month ago. I had no intention of putting it in here when I got it, but it didn't fit in the other areas I had in mind. So, it found it's spot here. I think I will eventually move it into my main living room. For now though, it's in here with my other two hutches/cabinets :) Yep....this room is holding quite a few big pieces now!

  floor to ceiling board and batten tutorial: link

I went with more neutral Christmas decorations on top of the pie safe. I love how big and wide it is. I could cram a ton of stuff on there! I have some new finds and some antique finds on here. I also decided this was the perfect place to store some of my blankets. 

Rustic Wooden Desk Drawer Organizer/Printer's Cabinet:link      Antique Metal Mirror: Link

The other corner of this wall now houses my secretary hutch. I moved it in here during the fall. I truthfully never thought it would actually be used for it's original purpose, but my daughter sits here daily and does her math work. It seriously warms my heart seeing it be used as a functional piece. I also found this antique stool at a vintage market a couple of weeks ago. This was one of the pieces you see and buy and then figure out where it's going to go later :) It fits perfectly here. This little corner has three of my fave second hand finds: the mantel, the secretary hutch and now the stool. The mirror was passed down to me from my great, great grandmother. This corner just gives me all the feels!

Architectural Salvage Wood Cutout: Link

Now for the other corner of this room. It has double doors that go out onto my covered porch. My pup obviously loves the doors. He can be found her 80 percent of the day watching the world go by...and barking at every delivery guy :) I added that jute rug to the corner to add some layers and cozy up the space a little big. Our kitty, Aero, and dog, Bo, have found it to be quite a good bed :) I'm not sure how....it seems rather uncomfortable and itchy to me!

wooden scroll wall decor: link     round jute rug: similar

I changed this area up a little from years past. I usually have like 3 trees in here. I kept it simple, switched out the trees for the chair. I also took down the pictures on the wall and put this arched mirror behind the tree. This mirror is usually in my main living room. I take it to storage when the Christmas tree comes out. I didn't want to do that this year, so I found another spot for it. I love it so much in here! The tree light's twinkle off it beautifully.

Rug: Rugs USA    Storage Bench: Link         Chandelier: World Market         $30 shiplap tutorial: link

I wanted to do something special with the tree unlike other years where I just have my kids decorate it with ball ornaments. I love finding a theme for my Christmas trees, and try to think a little outside of the box. I usually only do so on my main Christmas tree, but decided I should do it to this Christmas tree this year too. 

For the garland, I knotted some thick yarn and strung it around the tree. I envisioned having opened books in it, then decided it would be best to have just opened book pages in here instead...you know, save on the weight :) I already had loose book pages laying around so I stapled a few together and then opened them and placed it in tree. Another unusually item I used...wool dryer balls. Yep, those balls are not typically ornaments. I love how soft they look especially how they go with the softness of the yarn garland. I simply just placed them in the tree, no hanging required! I bought 12 of them for the tree. I then added a few extra things to finish filling the tree up like the white wood snowflakes, white berries, and small cut white wood pieces. 

wool dryer balls: link

Iron Candlesticks: Link      Cable knit stockings: link

For my Christmas mantel decorations, I went from keeping it simple to this :) I wasn't loving the book pages on the inside of the mantel anymore, so I took them out and then just grabbed things from around my house to fill up the empty nook. I found this basket at a vintage market and filled it up with greenery and old chair spindles. I then placed this cute cutout wood piece as the background. I draped the garland heavily on one side and then added these beautiful wrought iron candlesticks to the other. These stockings were a great find from last year, and are still available this year! (linked here)

I went back and forth on whether or not to keep this bench in here for Christmas. I found a beautiful antique wood table, and would love to have it in here. But alas, this bench holds it's fair share of kids kitchen toys that my kids play with almost daily. I would have no idea what to do with the bench or the toys. So, for now it stays...and my antique table is in storage :) 

For the top of the bench, I placed this old fruit crate on it as a tray and added my old lanterns. I kept it a little more simple in here since there's so much going on with the mantel behind it. Trust me, it took all I had in me to not put a Christmas tree on here :) 

Here's another peak at the Christmas tree decor from this angle. To cover up the base, I used this cute white washed tree collar. I like to use blankets and faux fur as other options in years past, but thought this fit the look perfectly this year.

Here are a couple of more angles of this room. I know I think I say it every year, but this is probably one of my favorite Christmas decorations in here by far. I think that means you are doing something right, when you tend to say that every year :) If you don't like it, change it, update it, get rid of it, etc, until it makes you smile you when walk by it. 

This corner had to be documented since it's actually clean! This is the corner that all my returns go in or things I buy that need to find a home. That mess tends to get pretty big! So, to have this empty for at least a day is something else, ha! A few small Christmas touches made their way here with the garland on the ladder and the small tree up on top.

I could share with you tons of pictures of my pets looking out these windows. It's their room, I would say. They spend more time in here than anyone else. Luckily the cat is more interested in bushes outside than my tree :) (knock on wood!)

I hope you enjoyed this tour....may have been picture overload :) So, are you one to decorate early for Christmas? The way that I see it...actually, there are two ways. First off, it is so nice to be done decorating for Christmas before Thanksgiving so I can just relax and enjoy everything and not be bugged with fussing with minute things. Second off...I put about two weeks into decorating for Christmas, it would be awful to have to take it down just two weeks later. This gives me ample amount of time to enjoy the fruits of my labor :) 

I'll be sharing the rest of my home in the coming weeks! 

I have so many projects happening right now....can't wait to share them all with you! To follow all that is going on behind the scenes, be sure to follow my social media :) 

 

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