Christmas decor - photos!

Joey is quite taken with this ornament. I hear the little jingle bells jingle throughout the day

 

Santa band!

Joey tried to eat this one today.

various living room bits

It took me quite a while to figure out just what I wanted to put on the mantle, and below is the final result - at least for fall:

Clearly there needs to be SOMETHING above the fireplace, but I haven't found anything yet. 

The photo was take by Brian on a beach in San Diego the summer we met.

I found these Fiestaware bulb candle holders at my favorite antique mall, which is conveniently just down the street now. I've noticed that I like to stack books and put stuff on said stack.

My parents used to have this mirror in their apartment before I came along, and I've had it for...eight years? The tea light holder in front came from ZGallerie. It's a natural material, similar to quartz, but the name escapes me.

Cotton on the stem, acorn vase (from Target) and squirrel nutcracker (from World Market).

We switched out the fireplace grate and really love how this one looks.

Brian has amassed quite a large collection of challenge coins and we've been looking for a way to display them. After going back and forth about stepped displays or another shadow box or nothing at all, we've landed here:

I really like how it looks next to his service photo and shadow box/blasting machine. On the shelves below are more of his...tricks of the trade? Souvenirs? Artifacts?

One of my favorite things in the living room is a vintage Blenko ash tray, currently holding remote controls.

I believe November gets the short end of the stick by being glossed over when Halloween ends and Christmas decorations immediately pop up. I hope to get the tree up and house decorated this week. 

before and after: the TV room

REALLY before. So empty!

I am embarrassed to say that the room was in varying degrees of disarray like this until a week and a half ago. This was the dumping ground for things we didn't have a place for, stuff to go up in the attic, stuff we were giving to Goodwill, and Joey's toys.

And now it's finished and we luuuuuv it. The accent colors, orange and aqua, are running themes throughout the house. Instead of turning this into a guest room that we would use only very rarely, we made it our library/TV room. The chaise and chair/ottoman came from IKEA and can be pushed together to make a bed on the few occasions we will have guests. We put the PS3 and the FiOS box with the DVR in here, leaving the regular FiOS box and a basic Blu-Ray player in the living room. Now Brian can play Call of Duty in here and I can close the door and not listen to it! :) 

I lusted after this pillow at Target for a long time, and now it's mine!

Also an awesome Target find. I love how soft and cozy these pillows are.

The artwork is a mix of small indie artists (the black and white photo, the sun and the print underneath) and stuff we've done. Brian took the photo on the bottom right of the waves crashing on the beach in San Diego. I made the silhouette of Joey last spring and finally have a place for it.

The crayons are from my favorite ad campaign from the Zoo for the white alligator summer exhibit.The abacus (with a twin in the dining room) was a CB2 purchase in 2010. These two pieces are really the stating point for the colors in the room.

Dressing the bookcase took a while, but I'm pretty happy with the final product. 

Again, the Crate & Barrel outlet did us right. We have been wanting this clock for months and snatched it up yesterday for a steal! The photo underneath is one Brian took on our first hike together in Ogden Canyon, fall of 2008.

These two shelves are my favorite. The top has my going away book from the Zoo, our wedding announcement and photos with our parents from our reception/going away party and our wedding. Beneath is Brian's certificate of appreciation from President Obama on the occasion of his retirement, an EOD stein and miscellaneous books on the current war(s).

The little lamp was another Target deal. Perfect to sit on the shelf and give off just enough light without reflecting on the TV screen.

Who's the nerd that color-coded Brian's how-to books?

The leather chair? Oh, that's Joey's. Yes, we are now Those People.

During last week's Sandy Superstorm, we were holed up in here, cozy under blankets and away from the big picture window in the living room. I'm so happy we made this room into a place we'll use all the time, rather than having an empty room we'll almost never use. And Joey? He thinks the ottoman is pretty swell, thank you very much.

really, really finished: front door

fireplace: before and after

When we moved in, the fireplace was pretty plain, with just some thick picture frame molding around it.  No real presence.

Ta da! We removed the molding and put up a new surround and added a mantle. 

The space between the couch and the fireplace is only 3' so we needed to keep the mantle pretty shallow.

I'm very happy with the way this turned out. Now to style it...