A Vintage Christmas

Decorating for Christmas has been especially fun this year!  For the first time ever in my whole life, we have lights on the exterior of our house.  We have two trees up only inches away from each other. And I finally own a vintage tinsel tree!  So take a peek at Christmas at the Craftsman!

Christmas on the mantel.......

This is my favorite way to display all of my vintage Shiny Brites.

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Christmas on the dining room table........

All my bottle brush trees are in a grouping on our table as a fun centerpiece....

And there she is.  That beauty of a tinsel tree.  She (it's a girl) arrived in her original box with each branch still in its original sleeve (along with the assembly directions too).  I bought it from a friend after I posted about wanting one on Facebook!  The magic of social media.  

Just a wall away from the tinsel tree is our other tree......

  

That wall divides the living room and dining room.  I wanted one tree to be seen from the street, and since you can't put lights on a tinsel tree, that tree won!  

Another win goes to colorful lights.  Multi-colored lights went on the tree to match our exterior lights.........

When I saw those vintage inspired bulbs in all the fun colors, I knew my original plan for white lights was out.

And how about those wreaths???  THEY WERE THE MISTER'S IDEA!  

As I was choosing which lights to buy, the mister wandered off.  When I found him, he said he was looking for wreaths to hang on our porch.

Swoon.

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So there you have it!  Christmas at the Craftsman.......vintage all around.  Or at least vintage inspired.  

By next Christmas, I'd like to have a new collection going strong......those ceramic Christmas trees that light up......lots of them......for the top of my piano.  

#goals

Dining Room Makeover

Did you know that painting walls makes you do strange things like volunteer to host Thanksgiving?  Not just your family, but the mister's too.  At the same time.

Be warned.

That's exactly what happened.

We painted these lovely lime walls.......

And the plan kicked into action.

But this isn't about Thanksgiving.

It's about our super cheap dining room makeover!  Cheap because we brought our chandelier with us from our previous house. And also because we received a free table that we just updated with paint.

The next thing on our list was to paint the walls and find chairs.  I wanted fresh, clean, and bright, so white to the rescue!  Of course, we weren't sure how we'd like white everything until it was finished, but when it was done..........WHOA!  We loved it.......

  
The most expensive part of the makeover was the set of windsor chairs.  I had hoped to pull off the mismatched look, but my brain couldn't take it.  The uneven heights, the different angle of the chair legs.  Couldn't handle it.  #imcrazy

So I shopped online for chairs and found a few before I decided on a set.  Target had similar chairs that I loved, but much pricier.  And I found another option that I liked the shape of, but you had to assemble them.  So Furniture Row won.

AND THEN.........my mom surprised me by buying them for Christmas!

So when I say cheap makeover, I'm not kidding.  Other than the chairs, the most expensive item was the ceiling medallion.  All the other money was spent on a few gallons of paint and new electrical outlets.

Now you might be wondering about all the white.  Never fear, the room isn't void of color.  We painted the basement door.....

And the search is on for the perfect pair of (not-white) curtains.  I also plan to hang a huge stained glass piece my dad made when I was a little girl, which is full of color.

So there you have it.  One of the most satisfying before and afters ever........

And.......everyone survived Thanksgiving.