Christmas in the City Part 2

Hi! Welcome back, grab that second cup of peppermint mocha and kick up your feet! Lets take the Christmas in the City tour part 2! I will take you through my Dining Room and Parlor - this is what it was called in Victorian times and our home is an 1875 Victorian Era town home. So, lets start at the main event - THE chalkboard wall. This is where my beloved flocked mini trees have taken residence. I really should have flocked my main tree this year because I am LOVE-ing the flocked tree. They are all over Instagram right now - sigh. Love. These cuties are the perfect sideshow for the chalkboard in the middle. The vintage factory belt rack displays my very small collection of Rae Dunn mugs. The 12 little advent boxes with scalloped tops stand to attention to remind us the official countdown with 12 drummers drumming, 11 Pipers Piping...is coming soon! Last year we put little scrolls in each one to read to each other - it was special. I have not decided what we will do this year (if anything) - but regardless they are cute and will be on display. The newsprint stars that top the trees just "happened." I had these pages from an old newsprint recipe book (we are talking 70's casseroles, crockpot meals - ha!) as part of my fall decor and before I put them away, I started to play with them. I decided to accordion them and create a star with 3 pieces. I stapled the center and hid that with a button. Aiola - free vintage topper. I also made one for my Living Room tree top and my easel basket which you may have read about already in Part 1 of my Christmas in the City tour.

Hmmm....Lets see, I spy in the print a Dip, Light and Easy, Cream, Crackers - perfect print to have in a Dining Room!

I had written in Part 1 that I have 3 common threads through all my rooms of decor which I usually change each year. Wrong! Here is another one - the recipe print stars too.

This picture is give you a view of the top of the hall tree converted chalkboard which has 1-2-count them-3 different garlands adding beautiful texture with burlap, Hearth and Hand (Joanna Gaines line at Target) eucalyptus garland and a pine cone garland (which I am almost certain I got thrifting). At the base underneath all of the garlands are grapevines with miniature white lights. The base has been there for several seasons now. I found those adorable retro paper accordion style ornaments at either a Pottery Barn or Crate and Barrel outlet last year post season for 90% off. I also have them hanging on the chandelier in the Parlor which you will see later.

Here are some other Dining Room pics...

More brown paper packages tied up with string...la la la. The lighting is very dark in our Dining Room which makes it very difficult to shoot pictures. There is a porch overhang over the 2 windows in this room. This is why the Edison light bulbs appear a little overexposed! I really wanted to show you the newsprint wreath with the vintage pillow tucked in the middle so overexposed bulbs it will be!

The memorable line from my very favorite Christmas movie! Who cries when they watch "Its a Wonderful Life?" I do! I do!

My Dining room table is simple this year. I sometimes will completely set it and maybe I still will, but for now just a centerpiece. I had it completely set for Fall and I grew tired of not being able to set things on it, so now I can set down the mail, the groceries or whatever I darn well feel like setting down at the moment! The round wicker tray was found thrifting for $1.00 I think - I filled it with odds and ends, rusty handled jars, wood beads, cute little chalk board on snow (snows only small debut :( in the Dining Room), weathered snowy star and a large jar with eucalyptus branches in the middle which are not shown in this picture. I accented the top of the jar with a couple different mini wreaths.

This cute little plaid house (it lights up!) suspends from my Dining Room chandelier. I also dressed up the chandelier with tons of wood beads and pom pom garland.

I put my faux boxwood wreath in the middle of a tobacco basket. It was not standing out enough though so I lined it with book pages from a Christian book by Max Lucado. Side note: Did you know that Max Lucados daughter was a client of Chip and Joanna Gaines and her home was one of the homes on Fixer Upper?!

Such great verses. I love not only the vintageness of the bookpages in this vignette, but also the fact that the pages are from a book as I mentioned by Max Lucado. This one even has a beautiful picture with scripture - perfect for the focal point. Subliminal that God is at the center!

Shall we move to the Parlor? Or should I say it in the Thurston Howell III voice "Pahlor."

This is where you will find the infamous (if you follow me on Instagram-you have heard a bunch about these!) $12.00 Walmart trees! When I saw on Instagram that there were $12.00 trees, I made a bee-line. I added lights and put them in the metal flower buckets to give them nice height in front of the old windows I got at the big Lucketts sale last spring. The windows finally came home - yay! They were in my Allentown display window all summer! The same with the shades that have rag ties at the bottom - stuck in Allentown for a year - so glad to have these babies home now.

Here is a view from the Parlor back to the Living Room. You can get a good glimpse here of the accordion style ornaments and my favorite miniature wire urns filled with boxwood hanging from the chandelier.

So this wire basket has a funny story. First of all the basket I recently picked up thrifting. I put the insert in the basket to hold the branches and notice it has sheer layers of ruffles around the top. Do I dare tell you where I got the ruffles? A dress! That I also picked up at a thrift store! It was a long dress so I have layer upon layer of these lined sheer ruffles. I thought I could use them as extenders on tanks and tops too. Shhh - do not tell anyone - that is our little secret.

Well, that does it for Part 2 of the tour. I am so grateful for you accompanying me as I tell you all about my decor adventures and finds all at once. Stay tuned for Part 3 of Christmas in the City where I take you to my small but decked out kitchen!