makeshift mantel...

This year my decorations have slowly been going up between baby naps, feedings. pumpings and changings. After putting the lights on the tree I mentioned to Brett it looked spectacular without ornaments; that was all in hopes that he would agree and I could skip a step. Bless his lumber loving heart of course he prefers trees with just lights. 

This will be Christmas number two in our house, and our first with baby Paige. Each year I try to add one piece to our decor collection. Usually this involves a DIY or purchase from the previous year's holiday clearance. Last year involved some burlap and burgundy ribbon to adorn the garland on our white picket fence. The bows will be resurrected again with garland this year!

Since our home does not have a fire place, the opportunity for setting decor anywhere else in the living room is minimal. Cue the Christmas gift I received from Brett last year - my player piano! It has moved into the living room since last December so the top surface will serve the need for our mantel this year. 

Using cranberry garland that normally has adorned my four poster bed when I was in the loft, I assembled it on the top of the piano with my line cone candle holders. All my current frames were gathered and arranged them between the cones. Unfortunately, that also reminded me how badly I need to print some wedding and new family photos...

Rule of decorating that I have mentioned many times, the more congruent and neutral your decor is the easier it is to reutilize pieces in a new way. Woodsy neutral with a little sparkle would be how I would describe my theme. Anything that fits into that is fair game for adding to the collection. So since the mantel was not a new addition, I decided to add an easy DIY that anyone can do! 

The tale of the green couch also yielded an fantastic frame that has served many purposes in our home. It was green and semi gilded when purchased for $5, and was repainted gold and an MDF board coated in chalk paint replaced the painting. First it was used as a directional sign for our wedding, then donned our wall, followed by use as a directional sign this summer for our friends wedding and then to the current state where it was an empty frame back on our wall. 

Using some sparkly ribbon that has seen many purposes over the last 5 Christmases, I purchased a clearance boxwood wreath that also has the berries in it to match the garland. Taking the ribbon and looping it through the wreath and tying a simple bow (thanks to all my cheer years) it was the easiest Christmas DIY I have ever done. Centering it above Green Mossy, and presto - the Christmas cheer was spread to two new places in the living room.