Farmhouse Christmas Home 2019

Goodness, I just adore this view of our farmhouse Christmas home. With Thanksgiving being later this year, I feel like I JUST got my house decorated and now Christmas is over. Life is so busy for us and I would love to be able to intentionally slow down the final few days before Christmas so we can truly enjoy the blessing that is our home at Christmas time. After all, it’s my favorite and I hope you enjoy our farmhouse Christmas decor as much as we do.

This year, I took a different approach to decorating my mantle. I have wanted to update my Christmas mantle for the past few years but didn’t really know what I wanted. After finding this flocked garland at Walmart for $13, I knew I would be able to use it, so I bought a few strands of it at the end of the season last year. It’s not pre-lit but was so easy to work with and looks incredible for $13. I tried a few different looks with the new garland, one being a swoop look like the buffalo plaid garland is on the front of the mantle but I wasn’t crazy about it. I have always loved how full the mantle looks with my garland and Christmas decorations on it and I was missing that with it swooped across the front. I decided on this look (still full on top but garland hanging down the sides as well) and love the winter vibe the flocked garland gives off. After reaching a stopping point one night, I really liked the look without the red garland decorations that I’ve used in the past so I left them out.

My DIY flocked tree from last year could use a little re-flocking but it didn’t happen this year. It did get a pretty new bow though, with ribbon from Walmart (they have seriously stepped up their Christmas decor).

I re-used a few things I had and the “Merry Christmas” sign with my red stockings gave my mantle just the pop it needed.

Every year, I say “this is my favorite mantle ever” and this year is no different. Cory pointed out how different my style is especially compared to what I started with- all whimsical, brightly colored decorations (let’s not even glance over the transformation of our home!).

While our home, especially our living room, has morphed the past couple of years, I love the toys that fill our home with laughter. Is it magazine perfect? No. Is that okay? 100%.

I guess I could have cleaned our coffee table before snapping these pictures. #momlife

At the end of the season last year, we only had two small sections still working on our tree. I looked for a new one this year and other than spending $400-$500 on a new one, I couldn’t find one I liked and in my budget. Plus, I really like the look of my tree.

So while Cory was on night shift, I cut all the old lights off and restrung it with LED lights. It was such a huge pain and took me foooorever. About halfway through, I was definitely wishing I had just invested in a new tree, but obviously I lived through it. Packing the tree up should be interesting though, because those lights are literally all over the tree that is stored in 3 sections.

But I have to say, I do think this is the prettiest tree I’ve ever had. #brushmyshoulderoff Dangit, it better be!

Baker’s “toy room” got a little Christmas makeover and unlike last year, she actually let her kitchen be decorated instead of taking the trees down multiple times a day. Funny how things like that drive you crazy until they don’t do it anymore.

I used real garland in the dining room again this year but it’s not the same thing I bought last year. I have no idea about the differences in the types of real garland Lowes sells but this year appears to be all a sort of pine (the needles look like pine needles) rather than the pretty garland I had last year. It did the trick but I’m not crazy about it.

Since our kitchen reno in 2015, our cabinets have sat without crown molding on them because Cory always thought he couldn’t do a decent job on the crown molding. After years of putting it off, he finally attempted it this year and it looks great! So after 4 years, I was finally able to decorate the tops of my cabinets and kitchen this year.

Pictures don’t do the garland justice because it gives our kitchen such a warm feeling at night when all the lights are off. I will definitely be turning this garland into “winter” garland.

Christmas 2019 was definitely the year that I decorated all the places I’ve wanted to in the past. Last but certainly not least is our bedroom. Unlike the kitchen (prior to the reno), I’ve never decorated our bedroom and always wanted to but our bedroom has never really been “finished”. Somehow, in 2019, we also managed to get a gallery wall up in our bedroom and a new bed skirt so I’m counting that as finished and ready to decorate for Christmas.

I found our bedroom Christmas tree at Target and it was the perfect addition to our bedroom. I didn’t plan to decorate the tree because it’s really the glow of the lights that I wanted but made a bow topper with the ribbon I found at Walmart, then found the wooden bead garland at Hobby Lobby and thought it would look nice on the tree. The skirt is a cable knit blanket I got at Target on Black Friday.

Adding the Christmas decorations to our bedroom was so dreamy- one of my favorite Christmas traditions is sleeping under the lights of a tree. I used to make Cory drag our mattress into the living room just so we could sleep by the Christmas tree but now he doesn’t have to. You’re welcome, babe!

Every year, we add a few things to our outdoor Christmas decorations- here’s what it looked like in 2017 so you can see some of the things we’ve added. We’ve already purchased lights to go up the gables of the roof for next year and have plans to make “scenes” and spread things out rather than just having everything in front. I’m thinking the presents under one of the trees wrapped in rope lights and the deer and fake trees together to make a forest-type scene. We’ll still have to decide on the penguins and blow mold frosty.

If it were up to Cory, we would have a yard full of vintage blow molds but I’m just now slowly coming around to the colored lights. I love having a lot of lights in the yard but I do love the classic looks of just white lights and wreaths.

And I just had to include these sweet photos because look at her excitement and her sweet smile. If nothing else, we will decorate our house with as many Christmas lights as it takes to get this kind of reaction from Baker.