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I still feel like I'm dreaming, and that when I wake up it's going to be July :) That being said, I really have had my Christmas decor up for almost a month now. I know! I'm crazy. I thought it would get me into the spirit....ha! Didn't work so well. I'm barely feeling it; the snow outside helps a little. My decor has been up for awhile, so it's probably about time I shared it with you! I'll be sharing my front living room and entryway decor today. Look for my main living room and bedroom Christmas tours coming in the next few days! 

I decided to try something a little new this year with my entry way. I usually put my garland along the risers on the stairs. I love it there, but wanted to change it up and give it a more traditional look. I got this garland from Michaels a few years ago along with the cute little wreaths.

 This bench in our entryway is actually more functional than anything. I do love to decorate it though. I added pops of red with the garland and pillows to mesh with the red in the front room. I left my cathedral window frames up here from my fall decor. I just love how they fit the space. 

 This is still one of my favorite views in my house for some reason. I'll love it even more when I change out that carpet! Maybe that'll happen in 2020 :) 

 As for my front room, I went way past what I did last year with neutrals and added a ton of reds. My goal was to have board and batten up in here by this tour, but alas, that didn't happen. Once again, I added pops of red with the garland and the pillows. 

(Side Table: Target      White Slipcover Couch/Bed: Ikea      Rug: Rugs USA    Storage Bench: Target     Jute Pillows: Target      Farmhouse ladder: Tutorial       Wood sunburst mirror: Tutorial      Red Buffalo Check Covers: Amazon  )

 And lots of red with this huge sign from Kirklands. I found this sign, and I totally decorated the room around it. I had envisioned red in this room, and this was the perfect sign to make it work. 

 I flanked the jolly red sign with a diy Christmas tree calendar (tutorial here) and the reindeer name sign I bought from Michaels this year. I needed something to go in the middle, and I thought these cute white houses went perfectly -also a Michael's find. 

 Christmas countdown: Tutorial

One of my favorite traditions is having my kids help decorate this tree at the beginning of the season. I only moved about 2 balls because they fell off, besides that, the ornaments were placed by them! They were taught young to step back, take a look, and then place :) I love watching them decorate this tree; we throw on some loud Christmas music and go to town. 

 I always love full room views, so here are couple more that give a good idea of what this room looks like. 

 Adding red into my decor during the Christmas time is just the best. I love that I have neutral decor throughout the year...it totally helps make the red pop so much more! 

I'm toying around with the idea of changing this room up a bit and rearranging the furniture. It's been this way for a few years and I wonder if it's about time :) What do you think? Maybe just switch walls. Couch where the fireplace is and visa-versa? We shall see! 

If you missed my tour on my Christmas dining room decor, you can find it here:

Follow me on my social for sneak peaks, live videos, and fun new things that are going on!

  

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” 

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Our entry way is obviously the first thing people see when they come into our house. It's also one of the areas that gets updated most often. I don't mean to, but I noticed I tend to change out the pillows and even the wall decor every other month or so. I have plans to get rid of this bench, and make a new console table for the space. The bench has been a wonderful piece of storage that hides all my kids shoes. But, it's come to point that those shoes need to be sorted and stored a little differently. It's like 5 minutes of pure craziness when it comes time to find shoes...you can always find one, but hardly the other in this depth of shoe chaos. 

Until I get the time to make that console table, I'll just keep sharing my entry as is :) I, of course, changed it up for summer. Actually, changed it up so much that the only things that stayed were the actual bench and the fiddle leaf fig. 

 I tried to keep it simple by only using two pillows this season. I tend to go overboard on this little bench. Nobody actually uses it to sit on (even though that was my full intention). So, why not go overboard, right? 

 Quote pillow: Etsy      Textured pillow: Kirklands

I think I might have a small obsession with faux cathedral windows. I made the brown one last year and have fallen in love with the look ever since. So, of course, when I went in to Hobby Lobby the other day and found these other two for $12 each, I grabbed them. I wasn't sure where to put them at first, but then decided to play musical chairs with them on this wall. I ended up loving this layered look.

 Cathedral window: Tutorial

Another big switch, at least for me, was moving my blanket basket out of here. There has been some sort of basket on the left side of this bench since day one. I wanted to add more height to this side to balance out the window frames. 

 Adding this wood ladder from DecorSteals did the trick! I didn't realize how much it would open up this narrow hall by moving the basket out. I bought this ladder last year and have struggle with where to place it. I think it found a new home :) Here's a little decorating secret. I love blankets...obviously. Some are pricey, and when you want some just for looks it's okay to go cheap :) I have found some of my favorite 'blankets' on Amazon. They aren't blankets though, they are turkish towels. They are about the same size of a throw blanket, weigh a little less, and are cheaper! Plus, they have so many amazing looks. You can find a slew of them here.

 Striped Turkish Blanket/Towel: Amazon

Another small, but big update was changing out the rug. The rug I had in here was perfect and fit every season and every change in decor. But, I wanted to see a little change so I swapped it out for this little jute rug. Jute is my favorite type of rug, this is like my 10th one over the years. They hold up great and hide dirt! They are the best :)  

Jute rug: Amazon

I had a love/hate relationship with my entryway for years. I hated the knotty alder railing. I hated the tile diamond flooring. I hated the the big beige walls. I always loved the two story space though and knew it could be something so much better. Just a few years of updates, changed a lot of things! New flooring, molding and paint was all that was needed! Trying to still talk my husband into letting me rip up this carpet and paint the stairs all white. I think that would help this space be that much more amazing. 

Board and Batten Staircase Tutorial

That's it for the entry way! You can see my other summer tours below:

Farmhouse Summer Dining Room:

What is your favorite space to change up for each season? 


Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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About a year ago, my mom made a big change and decided to move closer to me. She built a house from scratch in a beautiful area of our town. The only problem? She moved from a house full of character to a builder grade home...one in hundreds, instead of one of one. I promised her that we will build character into her new house. So, slowly, I've been building pieces and adding character over these past several months. We have lots more to do and many rooms to finish, but it's happening. That being said, I'll be sharing lots of projects going on in her house with you. The first of which is this DIY wood x console table for her entry way...which was actually a surprise present I made for her birthday. It was so much fun having her walk in and see it.

Cathedral Mirror Window: Similar      Baskets: Similar   Striped Blanket: Link     Rug: Link

 The hallway for her entry is so long and crazy wide. I thought of multiple ways to furnish it, but ultimately came up with this 8' long and 17" wide table. She was in desperate need of storage spaces. With this open concept plan, and quite a bit smaller house, she lost storage space along with storage pieces she once used. So, my requirement was to build something to take up this space that offers storage and adds character.

I decided to go with this plan from Ana White(full tutorial here). I made the length a little bit longer, but the steps are all the same. I'll share below with how I got the white wash weathered wood finish.

First step in building this table was to create the frame. Using 2x2s and 2x4s, I attached them together using pocket hole screws.

The next step was to secure the bottom and middle shelves. These are 1x12 boards.

 They were secured to one frame first using wood glue and pocket hole screws.

Then I secured to the other frame in the same manner. This is a look at it upside down. I added the supports with the 2x4s on the top and bottom of each side, and a 2x2 along the middle shelves to the supporting 2x4 legs.

 Next was adding the "X". If I told you this part was easy, I'd be lying. It took me longer to make sure these were correct than it took me to build the entire piece. After many....many attempts, I settled. :) I think they turned out alright in the end.

 I then added the top using 2x6 at 8' long.

 Now for the finish. This is probably one of my favorite finishes out of all of the pieces I have done. I white washed the wood using interior latex paint in satin. The exact paint is Swiss Coffee by Behr. I made sure to keep a lot of the wood grain showing and only did one light coat. I did make it heavier in some areas and not as much in others.

 I then took Minwax's Classic Grey and went over the entire piece using some old cloths. If it was heavier in areas that I wished, I quickly wiped it away to let the white show through a little more. At the end, I then wiped it entirely down with a clean cloth, making sure to get up any unabsorbed stain.

 And that's it! It gave it a beautiful natural looking weathered look.

 I think the "X" and the weathered look gave this piece the perfect character for this space.

Lamp: Link

 You can see here how long the entryway is....and I'm not even out the door in this picture. There's still a lot of space behind me. We have lots of plans for these walls, which include.....board and batten. Who would have guessed? Ha!

 Styling this was fun...and easy! I knew we needed storage, hidden storage. That came in the form of these baskets from Home Goods.

We found this beautiful mirror from Home Goods also and flanked the sides with the blue glass vase and lamp. Added extra height to the left side with the candlesticks from Hobby Lobby. And of course, I added my go to faux plants and books! 

 I am so excited to get going on this floor to ceiling board and batten. I think it's really going to add such an impact in here! 

Here's a good view of this space before she moved in. We decided to go with all white walls to save on cost...mainly knowing we for sure wanted the ceilings to be white and in order to make the ceilings white, either all the walls also needed to be white or we needed to pay for 3 tone paint. I figured white was the way to go. You can always go and add simple accent walls of colors. That's a whole lot easier than trying to paint an entire house's ceiling :) 

Here's the after of this area one more time....and kind of the before too since this will all be changing with the walls in the coming months :) 

These floors are interesting too. They look dirty, but they aren't. They have a mix of grey in with the brown that tend to reflect the light. They are beautiful and have a great mix of colors which easily match greys and beiges. 

The next project I'll be sharing in here is a HUGE one! It made all the difference in her house. I'll be sharing that with you next week! 

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Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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I have a spot in my house that changes constantly. Or at least the wall does. I can't ever figure out what to put on this wall in my entry beneath my stairs. Either it's too big and I can't open that bench, or it's too small for the wall. So, yeah. It's ever changing. I decided to try something new for Spring. Wait....what's spring you say? Oh, it's the thing that happens after all this horrid snow and below 0 temps :) haha. I know. Putting this up is jinxing myself. And I totally did. I put this up one day, and the next it snowed 10 inches. Now I'm going to push my luck and decorate the rest of house in the coming days. Bring on the three feet of snow! 

Anyway. Back to my entryway...

Flower Market Pillow Cover: Living With Amanda      Cathedral Window: Tutorial

This Is Us Sign, textured pillow, garland: Hobby Lobby        Fiddle Leaf Fig: Decor Steals       Square Board and Batten: Tutorial 

I added some new additions in here. First thing being a stick. Yep. I actually just put it here for a second since it was an empty wall to lean on. And...I loved it. So, I tucked it behind the basket to incorporate it. Random stick...check! haha. Next, I found this "This is us" sign and couldn't let it go. It's one of those pieces that is almost too big for the wall since I can barely open the bench with the pillows on it. So far though...it hasn't fallen. *knock on wood* I decided to spring this piece up by adding some green garland to it. On to the cathedral window I made last year. I just love this piece, but can't find a living spot for it. I actually had it in my 'spring' box and didn't know where to put it. So, I tried it here. Usually wouldn't do something like this since it feels off. But I think with the gradual 'steps' if you will from the smaller stick, to the sign and then up to the window I think it works. Maybe I'm wrong. But for now, it's staying! 

Here's the view looking at the door. I never know which way to decorate this bench. The pillows only face one way. I love walking by this area during the day with the pillows looking at me. But, I also know it's more inviting coming in to the face of the pillows. What do you think? 

As for the pillows. Even though I rarely have flowers in my house, I just fell in love with this Flower Market pillow. I paired it with some neutral stripes and texture with the other two pillows.

Every time I look at the stairs in these pictures I want to rip off the carpet and paint them white! I would have to add a runner down the middle for my littles, but I totally think this might be my next big project! What do you think? White or the color of my floors? Those are my options. ...or leave it. I guess that's an option also...and definitely the option my husband would pick. You know...the whole leave things be and don't ever ever ever change a thing. Yeah. haha. 

What area do you decorate for spring first? I guess the bigger question...when? I just got so sick of my winter decor...even though I loved my flocked trees. I figured 3 months of that is enough. I needed to keep it "magical". The magic gets lost when you have it around for half the year! haha. Plus, the whole 10 inches of snow thing is bugging me. I sure live in the wrong place! I need 80 degree temps! :)

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” 

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