Maybe Matilda: Dare to Deck the Halls: Christmas Vignette

Friday, December 7, 2012

Dare to Deck the Halls: Christmas Vignette

I’ve mentioned before that I don’t do much holiday decorating. After 5 years of marriage, last year was the first time we ever had a Christmas tree (when you live in a shoebox-sized apartment and eat mostly student-loan-flavored Ramen, it’s kind of hard to get up the motivation/funds to decorate the aforementioned shoebox). But since this is our first Christmas in our new house, and we finally have some space and slightly less poorness, I knew the time had come. Time to stop being a grinch and start decorating a bit for Christmas. It. Has. Been. Awesome.

Here’s what I came up with to Christmas-ify the buffet table in my living room (and luckily, my decorating falls right in line with this coming week’s Dare to DIY theme: Deck the Halls).

Woodland Christmas Vignette

I’m awfully pleased with it. I think for this entire first year in our new house, I’ll just continue being overly-impressed with myself for doing totally average things that I’ve never done before due to lack of space/house/money/etc. Don’t burst my bubble, I like it in here.

It all started with this little reindeer . . . I snatched it up in an instagram sale from Nicole (here are her blog and shop) and decided to let it be the inspiration for all of my Christmas décor. I love that it’s modern and fun, but still has an old-fashioned, rustic, traditional feel to it. I figured that would make a good décor theme—modern woodland? Fresh rustic traditional? Do these count as theme names?

Rustic Reindeer + Coffee Filter Christmas Wreath

It looked kinda teensy and lonely on that window all by itself, so I layered it on top of a wreath that had been hanging in my bedroom. It’s one of those DIY coffee filter wreaths you’ve probably seen all over the place. I love all the texture between the ruffly wreath and the reindeer itself, and a little burlap runner on the top of the buffet adds some more homespun rustic texture as well.

DIY Posterboard and Fabric Tree Cones

I thought some little trees would fit the whole modern woodland look nicely. But those styrofoam ones at the craft store are ridiculous. I’m not paying that much just to do a DIY project. Isn’t saving money practically the whole point of doing crap yourself? It is for me, anyway. So I made these bad boys out of posterboard and covered them with fabric, and I love how they came out! Pre-made cones this large would have cost me a small fortune (goodbye Forrest’s college fund), but altogether, the 3 of these cost something like $6-10 total.

DSC_0314

On the other end of the table I’ve got a lamp and Scentsy warmer that are always there . . . I just tossed in a little basket full of ornaments, and added some felt flowers to the lampshade. I’ll show you in another post how I attached the flowers to make them completely removable without damaging the shade. I kind of feel like a genius for thinking this up. And I’m purposely not googling it, because even if someone else thought of it first, I’d like to maintain the illusion that I am creative and original, thank you very much.

Modern Woodland Christmas Theme

I sewed together a little garland made from circles punched out of an old book (after cutting and sewing so many circles, I feel like I’ve read A Farewell to Arms . . . war, a lot about someone named Catherine, blah blah blah. Literature shmiterature.) and strung it behind the wreath, along with a super-long matching garland to go around the Christmas tree (which I am apparently incapable of taking a decent picture of, so you’ll just have to take my word for it: it looks nice).

And before you even enter the house and spot my lovely vignette, I kept up the rustic theme for the front door with a homemade and homey-looking star wreath.

DIY Rustic Star Wreath

How cute is that? I’ll share more details on it later, too. I can’t say I’m a big fan of our 90s-relic front door, but I do love all the light that comes in through that goofy mottled glass portion. And it looks an awful lot better with that cute star wreath hanging there.

So in conclusion, after 5 years of a very Grinchy attitude towards decorating, I can totally see why people love Christmas decorating and put so much effort into it. This is super fun, and it’s going to be a sad, sad day when I have to take my little Christmas vignette down.

I can’t wait to see what you’ve made to deck your halls on Monday!

Make sure to stop by and visit Décor and the Dog, NewlyWoodwards, and Two Twenty One to see their Dare to DIY: Deck The Halls projects, too!

I’m linking this project up to Home Stories A to Z, Tatertots and Jello, House of Hepworths, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Tidy Mom, Liz Marie Blog, Craftomaniac, The Shabby Nest, Positively Splendid, Whipperberry, Funky Junk Interiors, Classy Clutter, Today’s Creative Blog, Uncommon Designs, Live Laugh Rowe, Miss Mustard Seed, and Serenity Now.

24 comments :

  1. Look at this hidden Christmas decorating talent that you didn't even know you had. I like the deer. A lot. And the flowers on the lamp shade. A lot.

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  2. I love your front door! And you home made trees are the perfect touch of modern!

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  3. This looks fabulous! I just might have to make one of those coffee wreaths... Honestly, I didn't even notice your 90's front door because of that adorable star!!

    I hear ya on getting exciting about decorating this year. We just moved into our new house and have wayyyy more space than before. I worked on projects for 2 weeks to help decorate for Christmas, and it still feels kind of bare!

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  4. I'm so happy that the grinch has grown a heart. :) Kidding.

    Love all your decor. And it's totally unique and creative and screw Pinterest if it says otherwise. I"m particularly digging the wreath with reindeer. And the trees out of posterboard? GENIUS, I tell you.

    The front door star is also pretty amazing.

    Awesome job all around! I love your take on holiday decorating.

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  5. You crack me up. "Student loan flavored ramen" LOL (and silently crying because I know the feeling!!) I love, love, love this vignette. The wreath and the deer are so beautiful!

    The garland is awesome and seems like a way better choice for a book than reading it. I'm totally kidding. Sort of. Ah you get a pass you read while Forrest was in the bath, so I think you restocked your literacy points.

    Amber @ Wills Casa

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  6. Super cute! Love your little homey-looking star wreath :)

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  7. It is really beautiful. Really, really.

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  8. Beautiful! I love the way you layered things over the old window in the background!

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  9. Amen to not buying the styrofoam tree forms at the store! I make mine out of cereal boxes, I'm way too cheap to fork out the money for a $5 styrofoam tree. And I LOVE your star wreath! Can't wait to read the tutorial!
    -Jen

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  10. Nice job! My favorite is the wreath. It's very original, at least, I haven't seen anything like it floating around. Someone gave us a 2 foot Christmas tree with decorations and lights for our wedding (it was right after christmas) and I thought that was so smart! Of course we too lived/live in a shoebox and a free, 2 foot tree worked perfect. So we had that, and then my mother in law bought me 3 little decorations because she felt bad for us. For the past 4 years that has been all I have bothered with because it was pretty easy. This year I stepped it up....not quite as much as you, but I feel pretty good about it. :) It IS fun!

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  11. I'm pretty sure this vignette would look awesome on top of my card catalog or on my entryway table. So when you're done with it feel free to pack everything up and ship it to my house for me to use next year. K, thanks.

    Seriously, this looks awesome. I LOVE the wreath. I want to hug it. And the book page garland is so fetch (name the movie). You can totally use that year round.

    Crazy that we're linking up to the same link parties. ;)

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  12. I love your style! And I love your crochet hat in your profile pic. :) I can't decide my favorite - it's either the reindeer on that wreath or the STAR! It could be the star. So simple but so great. Sharon

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  13. So beautiful! I would love for you to share this or any of your great ideas at the link party going on now (and every Saturday - Tuesday) at 'Or so she says ...' Hope to see you there! www.oneshetwoshe.com

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  14. this is the first coffee filter wreath i have seen! would never have guessed what it was made of!

    hope you'll find a moment to stop by (if you haven't already!) and enter a giveaway i am hosting: http://www.hellolovelyinc.blogspot.com/2012/12/personalized-lovely-giveaway.html

    smiles and happy weekend to you.

    michele

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  15. I love how you re-invented the coffee filter wreath by adding the reindeer to it. It looks wonderful. I am also really loving the circle punch banner on the top. Everything looks really amazing!

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  16. I love your fabric trees!
    You've inspired me to think outside the box!
    Nice work!

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  17. I love this... it is so beautiful! I especially love the old window, wreath, and deer all layered together. Great job and thanks for hosting Dare To DIY! :)

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  18. I love it and the adorable star wreath! Gorgeous!!

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  19. This is so adorable. Would love you to add this to my holiday traditions linkup!

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  20. A little late with the commenting, but just wanted to throw out there that the paper board trees are awesome. I love how the red striped one and the black patterned one got together and had a baby with the best parts of both :-). And that wreath? Very cool. Very original. I now need to copy it.

    I was a total Grinch this year, but with father and son alone at home for 2 weeks, what can one expect? And now, it's going to be Christmas before the jet lag wears off. Ah well, next year :-)

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  21. I love your blog, Rachel! I gave you a shout out in my recent post about making a simple evergreen wreath (http://this-sold-house.blogspot.com/2012/12/putting-diy-in-holiday-easy-evergreen.html). I, too, willfully ignored Pinterest so that I could pretend I was the first person to have the idea of using a grapevine wreath to hold the evergreen branches in place. :)

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  22. I love your Christmas vignette, so pretty. Love all the colors that pop out! So beautiful, thanks for sharing.

    Regards,
    Mae of Ipe Decking

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Thanks for commenting!

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