Tartan & Buffalo Check Christmas

Two words: tree collar. With the recent inclusion of our newest addition, Miss Marble the Kitty, I have quickly learned how absolutely necessary this Christmas decor item is. While the one I really wanted sold out {Hearth & Hand problems, thanks Target}, after fishing the cat out of the tree on multiple occasions, I was half tempted to just go to Home Depot and buy a galvanized tub to sit the base of the tree in. Side note: while writing this, I had to pluck her out of the curtains. The curtains! 

I really didn't love how my main tree turned out last year; it never really felt complete. And this year, I decided I wanted to incorporate a traditional Christmas tartan ribbon in our main tree because it's extremely close to CJM's family's tartan. To somewhat mute the red {I love red and green, but not so much in my house}, I incorporated a beautiful, wide black and white buffalo check. Our tree topper? Big bows with a rack of deer antlers tucked into the top from CJM's first hunt of the season. I guess I'm officially a South Georgia girl now!

Mixing metallics is something I love doing with jewelry, so I incorporated that trend into the other decor throughout the living room, too. Gold balls in the garland with silver stockings hanging nearby, more ornaments in a silver Reed & Barton bowl on the coffee table, and a mix of silver, gold and white nativity and Christmas figurines on the sideboard as well. It's one of my favorite spaces to be this holiday season.

Cozy Home

Why is it always true that you "need a vacation from your vacation?"

We went out of town last week for a wedding in Biloxi, Mississippi, and between that and the busiest work week of the year topped off by my birthday, I'm tired! But so thankful to have a cozy home to relax at when I get the chance.

I actually put out my fall decor during Hurricane Irma...something about hurricanes makes me want to clean and get everything pretty. I didn't add a whole lot of new fall items this year since I'll be doing a major Christmas overhaul, but it was really fun to find new locations for some of my sparkly fall faves. Follow along with my mini fall tour starting in the kitchen, going through the dining room, and ending up in the den.

Kitchen

Dining Room

Living Room

Home Tour | Dining

How is it August? And how did my dining room of all places become my favorite room in the house? Y'all. For reals. It's definitely been the most "work in progress" space of our home because we haven't had a formal dining room yet as somewhat recent grads/young professionals. But in searching for a home that would allow for entertaining, a formal dining room was important to me. I have quite a bit of furniture, and my mother did too, so I knew we would not have a problem filling the space. 

I wanted the room to be a darker gray that compliments the living room. After finding the perfect paint color, it became obvious to me that the curio cabinet needed to be painted bright white {before and after post soon!}, with complimentary bright upholstery on the chairs. Then I added the four white matted picture frames on one wall, and a large wedding canvas on the other between the large windows. The room was coming together, but it didn't quite feel complete. 

CJM had requested a pop of color for this room, so I began looking for a pink and gray rug to coordinate with the china in the curio. I actually found this one just last week but couldn't justify the price tag! We also tried two or three different styles of curtains but couldn't find one we loved. So the dining room kind of sat, incomplete, but pretty. 

On Saturday, we wandered into Ollie's after sushi {if you haven't been to Ollie's, it's so fun to visit and see all the absolutely random stuff they have}. They always have a ton of rugs, so we just started flipping through some of the giant stacks and this funky rug was the third one we saw! I kind of stopped and went, "Hmmm...that's interesting" and kept flipping. It was pink, and had some gray and other colors that would work with the rest of the house but it was LOUD. And just really not the style of the room at all. But it stuck with me.

 We just decided to grab it and try it out. Before it was even down fully, I knew I loved it. Both CJM and I walked around all Saturday, stopping to stare into the room, and saying "Oh, I really love it." It's so funky. And different. But it has created just the coolest vibe in that room! I love the contrast of the traditional pieces and the various patterns on the chairs and the rug. It definitely ties in all of the gray and the colors from our wedding photos. Now I'm feeling like we don't even need curtains, but may just need to upgrade to plantation shutters sometime in the future for the windows.