The Living Room Is Decorated For Christmas

Happy Holidays to everyone!

It seemed to take me forever this year to get the tree together.  It seemed harder than ever this year to drag it upstairs from its basement storage and when I got it upstairs and unwrapped from its duvet cover, I realized I only had 2 of the 3 parts in the wrap!  And it was still so dang heavy??? 

Anyway, I couldn't remember where I put the very top part of the tree, eek!  After digging around for what seemed forever but was probably less than 5 minutes, I found it stuffed into a large box right next to where the rest of the tree had rested for a year.  Makes sense, right?  Even THAT little thing not even 2 feet tall seemed heavier this year.

But the tree was duly assembled and the plugs were plugged together.  The lights didn't work.  After diddling around I managed to get most of the sections of lights lit, but I have to face the fact that the tree is old and some of the sections of lights have burned out.  And darned if I'm going to try and figure out which light(s) are bad ones - I just do NOT have that kind of patience!

 I wanted to do a theme with red this year.  I haven't had any red on my Christmas tree and in my living room decor for years.  I started decorating and got to a point pretty far along - and didn't like  how the tree looked.  ARRGGGGHHHHH!  Off came everything. It wasn't working.  The cure was relatively simple, though.  I added more matching red plaid French ribbon to the part of a roll that I still had from a few years ago I'd used for other things - lucked out and found it at Walgreens, dug out some REALLY old boxes of ornaments and found a stash of red bulbs and other colors, and just started throwing about everything up on the tree.  The eventual result, after putzing with it for at least a week, off and on, is this:

In the areas where the tree lights did not light I tried to weave in strings of new lights.  I did that with one 40 string of lights last year, and this year I added a 100 year string of lights to the top and lower middle sections of the trees when, after about a week of use, the lights in those areas suddenly decided to go dark on me, too.  I also added several strings of battery operated lights.  None of the light colors or sizes match although they're all identified as "warm white."  If I squint, it looks okay, LOL!  Have you ever tried weaving lights in and out of branches on a tree that's already been decorated?  Geez Louise!

Of course I keep tweaking the poor tree (and have added more lights).  I sit in the living room at night watching my streaming shows and there she is, all beautiful, and I get up and I move 2 ornaments around.  And then 2 more; and then 2 more.  It's like an addiction or something...

The tree "skirt" is a synthetic silk sheet I thought I had given away in a charity box years ago - turns out it was still stashed in the linen closet, along with matching pillow cases, so I used the pillow cases to wrap the white lumber cushions on the wing chairs:

I hauled up my traditional patterned red and black wool rug and plopped it over the flame stitch black and cream area rug.  And on the sofa, which normally sits in front of the picture window with a sofa table and 2 lamps behind it:

I added two red cushion covers from Bed, Bath & Beyond ($14.99 each), a $30 chunky knit throw with faux fur trim from Steinart and covered the center pillow with the white and gold starred cushion cover purchased some Christmases ago from Ikea.  At night I snuggle under the afghans if I don't have a fire going in the fireplace (gel fuel).

The mantel is decorated.  It's nothing too fancy this year:

I used my three faux metal deer from Walgreens, my mercury glass votives purchased several years ago from TJMaxx, a string of battery operated white lights, a battery operated lantern, and two topiaries that my niece Godchild purchased for me years ago when Bombay Company was still in business.  They have since been wrapped in warm white LED lights to add some extra light to the mantel at night when I don't have the votives lit (I use real candles, I find that battery operated votives don't generate enough light to give a good display). 

So, that's it for this year - I'm done decorating!  I love the look of the tree even with the hodge podge of ornaments and lights on it, or maybe because of that!  It's not perfect but I gave up trying for perfect years ago, LOL!

I wish everyone a wonderful and blessed holiday season and new year in 2019.

Planning for Red for Christmas this Year

I will be rearranging the living room soon in preparation for bringing up the Christmas tree from basement storage after Thanksgiving.

One of my close friends has a birthday on November 23rd and I always treat her - and myself - yearly to a night out to see a show at one of our local theatre venues and have a nice dinner.  And then we go to Candy Cane Lane and join in a parade of cars driving slowly through about a 6 square block area of a local neighborhood where the neighbors decorate their houses for Christmas to raise funds for the MACC Fund (Milwaukee Area Childrens' Cancer Fund).  They have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars over the past many years.  That's how I kick off my Christmas season.  This year we're going to see the stage play "Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley" at the Pabst Theatre downtown.  I love all things related to Jane Austen, including off-shoots by other authors from her work. I am really looking forward to seeing this play!  It's gotten good reviews and who can resist a story about one of the most neglected of the Bennet sisters - Mary!

Not sure why, but for some time now I've been stewing on the idea of using some red in my living room decor for the first time.  I have used my red cardinals and red/black/green plaid ribbons, of course, in my kitchen and dining area for decor, but the living room and tree have been decorated primarily in gold, silver, sparkles and glass.

So, I made some modest purchases -- two rich red colored throw cushion covers for the sofa and a chunky knit faux-fur trimmed throw blanket to add to the room for snuggling before the fireplace.

Here is one of the throw pillow covers I scored online from Bed Bath & Beyond Manhattan Square Throw Pillow Cover in red ($14.99).  It's soft and silky feeling with a nice sheen to it.

The second throw pillow, also from Bed Bath & Beyond and also $14.99,is a red velvet with a gold quilted diamond pattern, plush, lush, soft, lux:

Here is the Nina Campbell throw blanket I scored at Steinmart for 50% off:

I am loving this throw!  It is super-soft and chunky and warm!  It is a deep red but not burgundy, called "Chili Pepper."

Speaking of the fireplace, I had my first fire of the season yesterday.  It was raining, super-windy, damp and dark out all day and I felt chilly in the house although the heat was kicking in on a regular basis.  So I had a 2-can gel fuel fire and it was glorious! It lasted for 2 and 1/2 hours as I sat in one of the wing chairs in the living room with my feet up enjoying the flames and and crackling - because it's actual fire burning in the fireplace behind the faux logs and the real fire screen, and the room warms up.  Lovely! 

Back to the red - I have my nearly 30 year old red and black "Oriental" pattern wool rug to bring up from basement storage for the holiday which this year will be layered over the black and cream chevron pattern area rug in the living room.  The red/black Oriental traditional pattern is a 5 x 7 and much smaller than the 10 x 12 black and cream, so there will certainly be some contrast there!  But I think it will work, and if it doesn't I won't care, as to me decorating is intensely personal and not about appealing to an audience.  I've used the rug in this retirement version of Maison Newton before - in the dining area.  No photos of it on this computer, it will be a "surprise."

I'll probably add some red plaid French ribbon to the Christmas tree decor this year, too for some red color on the tree. I can get it at the Family Dollar for $5 for a large roll.  I do believe I even have a few (a very few) red ornaments but I'll have to unbury them from boxes of Christmas decorations in the basement!

Stay tuned.