The Dining room Christmas tree

This time last year we had only been here for a few short months. House projects were still in full swing and we didn't exactly feel settled. 

The dining room was still untouched, wearing busy red wallpaper and needed some major TLC all around. So this year I thought it would be nice to have a Christmas tree in here as well as the living room. (I'm planning a post about the changes we made in the dining room soon.)

We brought the chandelier from our previous house and it turns out the ceilings are higher here, so its hung a bit high for my liking. But we are here to talk about the tree, not what I want to change or what isn't finished. 

This is the first time we've had two full size trees. In the past I've done table top trees, so this was fun for me.

 

Every year we go to a tree farm and cut our tree down. But for the dining room tree I decided to try something different. I ordered a fresh cut tree from Green Valley Christmas Tress in Oregon. It was pretty cool because it was delivered right to our door. This is what a seven foot fir tree looks like in a box! I have to say I was impressed with how well it shipped.

I couldn't wait to unwrap it...

This is how it looked after we fluffed up the branches.  I tried a new to me variety called a Nordmann Fir. I did have to trim it up in the back a bit to fit our space, next year I'll go with something slimmer. I will definitely order this way again in the future. This tree holds its needles really well and smells so good.

I'm calling this our merry and bright nature tree. Lots of pine cone, wood and acorn ornaments. With some sparkly white and black balls thrown in.

Someone special is getting that cute vintage basket filled with a few goodies for Christmas. I love how it looks next to the tree,  I kind of want to keep it now!

Christmas music is in full swing here and I love every minute of it. It was nice sitting down to write our cards here at the table with the tree in the background. Last year I couldn't stand being in this room for more than ten minutes.

I'll be back soon with some before pictures and I'll talk about what we've done in here and what the future plans are.

The new old house exterior editon

I'm blowing the dust off my blog to share some pictures of our new/old house. I want to document our progress as sort of a scrapbook to look back on and hopefully inspire someone as well. 

Time has flown by, we have been working away on house projects and living life here in our new town. I have to admit I was completely overwhelmed on and off for the first six months or so. We gutted the kitchen and downstairs bathroom before we moved in so living without them for over six weeks didn't help. The the little one was starting a new school in less than a week and life was chaotic. We still have lots more projects to work on but at least we feel more settled.

Today I'm sharing the exterior all dressed up with an evergreen garland and urns that stand about as tall as me. (I'm 5'3) The font of the house got the most attention this year with a new front door, landscape, lights, a new doorbell and fresh paint for the molding and cornice around the door. The back of the house and garage are another story.

Our house was built in 1940 and is a cape cod style. Our street has seen a lot of tear downs with new homes built to look vintage. Two streets up towards town the lots become wider and the original homes are grander, built around 1920. The streets closest to town are mostly from the turn of the century again with new homes mixed in. Total eye candy for the house lover with so many different types of architecture in a small area.

This is the house when I saw her for the first time. Tons of landscape rock with 7 huge stumps hiding underneath that we found later and an old storm door that would slap our guests in the butt. Work would have to wait out here until we got things going on the inside. I was trying to be patient but I missed having flowers and landscape.

Weeds started coming through those rocks and it was getting worse as fall wore on. We were still busy working on the inside so I got a great idea to put an ad on Craigslist for free landscape rock. A few people came and took all of them within a week or so! One step closer and we didn't have to dispose of them. After removing the 7 giant stumps that hid under all that rock we were left with this. A new roof, a couple new lights and a rock free garden bed ready to be planted in the spring.

We planted 40 baby boxwood that will eventually form a hedge, (patience) and 10 little lime hydrangea along the foundation. I also planted annuals in front of the tiny boxwood since the hydrangea wouldn't bloom until later in the summer. 

Then the day came to have the new front door installed. (This is the primed color) We are a mix of DIY and hiring out. This was one we didn't want to tackle. The installer did a great job preserving the original molding around the door inside and out. 

He even removed the railings for us. No need for them since there are only two steps and it really closed the stairs in. I was doing a happy dance right about now! You can see the hydrangeas were doing great at this point. The empty space is there to allow everything room to grow and will be part of stage 2. We did plant a bunch of tulips in there this fall so I'm excited to see if they come up or if the bunnies ate them.

The steps are not in great shape with holes where the railings were so the plan is to have them covered with some type of stone and widened a bit. A black door was my first choice but that would make us three in a row so I tried to go outside my comfort zone. I had a grayish green color picked out but changed to this last minute. Its a pretty color it just wasn't working for me so I painted it again before the cold weather came.

A black door it is! It feels more like me now.

It feels like home.