Decorating A New House For The Holidays: Part One

Please excuse my absence. I've been suffering from a terrible case of Pinteristitis combined with an ongoing condition of Blogger Dysmorphic Disorder. The onset of symptoms is slow. It begins with constant comparing of current house to previous house, which leads to comparison to every blog and house on Pinterest. End stage symptoms include a growing frustration with all things house and home that leads to total decorating paralysis.

Are you feeling my pain?

One of the most difficult things with home relocation has been trying to figure out where everything goes in a new house, and if it even belongs in the new house at all.

Case in point: my last house was a vintage colonial, with a warm wood paneled family room that had it's own fireplace and bookshelves galore. But wait, that's not all! It also had a lovely HUGE living room, with an entire wall of built in book cases, and a fireplace with a marble surround and elegant mantle.

The new house has one fireplace with a smallish mantle and NO book cases or flat surfaces to speak of, making the decorating a real challenge.

I pulled holiday decor out of storage this week, and realized that three-quarters of it doesn't work for this house. So once again, I've been sorting and cleaning and tossing and purging, with no plan on how to make it all come together.

Last night I had a glass of wine with my whine and decided to let it all go. We will have a tree (eventually) and stockings and a nativity, but I'm feeling the need to have a house that can breathe in a "less is more" fashion this year.

I tried a little something different this year. I decorated our master bedroom. I wanted a winter woods feel to our room, something that I can leave up and enjoy for the long cold months of winter.

I found the plaid quilt at Target, and the punch of red makes me happy.

This eyelet bed skirt from Target (Shabby Chic) also makes me happy, even though it's a wrinkly mess. I don't care, I still like it.

When you work in retail, you can sometimes snag awesome props from the visual merchandising department. A few years back, I was working for Coldwater Creek when the store wanted to get rid of their birch trees. I grabbed a forest full of them and took them home. I love the natural element that they bring to every room.

I wrapped a pillow in an old wool sweater, and used a felted wool rosebud pin as decoration.

A few accessories to add to the winter woods cabin feel.

Here it is...a room that is not good enough for Pinterest, but it's good enough for me. And in the end, isn't that what really matters?

This room will get painted in January, along with the adjoining bathroom. But for now, we're enjoying our winter woods retreat, and I can hide in here and not think about all of the other areas of the house that aren't finished.

Warm wintery wishes, cafe friends!