Welcome to Tumbleweed Tidings during the final week before Christmas!  Yesterday, I spent an entire day finishing wrapping, printing our holiday newsletter, running last minute gift errands, and cleaning up all of the messes left in the trail of new hardwoods and fireplace installation.  Whew!  With any luck, I think I may actually get everything done before company shows up:]

Today, I’m sharing our entryway, a little niche in the hallway, and our kitchen.  The entry and niche are more in the creamy palette that the dining room was.  If you missed that post, you can see it herehttps://tumbleweedtidings.com/2018/12/11/dining-room-christmas-reveal/. 

Since I reuse most of my holiday décor year after year, this season it was more about editing down and keeping it clean. Silver leaf deer, pinecones, greenery, and candlelight in shades of silver and white, keep the look natural and understated.

The new additions to the entry credenza this year were the two little candle holders with pinecone motif in silver.  I found them at a shop in Sandpoint Idaho and just love them.  Also new is the mercury glass candle holder from Home Goods. 

In the niche, I used a similar recipe with a metal and glass Christmas tree, greenery, pinecones, a small sterling candle and an oversized bell.  All of this is on the shelf below the mirror that resides there year-round. This is the first Christmas moment most of our guests see as they enter through the back door, so I try to make it festive and welcoming.

Where the dining, entry and niche are quiet, natural and subdued this year, the kitchen is another story.  In the kitchen, I have always loved a riot of red and green, tempered with a lot of white.  In this room, the traditional Christmas colors reign supreme and it feels cheery and bright while I spend most of my day working in this area. 

The counters have plates, metallic candle holders, red cardinals, an apothecary jar full of truffles, and containers with greenery, berries and red ornaments.  The addition of the red metallic candleholders, found at Craft Warehouse for only $2 each, and the red ornaments purchased at the Goodwill for $3, really added the shimmer that had been lacking in previous years.  Low investment, big impact.

In the kitchen, I kept many of my year-round accessories and just “Christmasized”them.  I know, that’s not a word…My favorite copper pieces were accessorized with holiday items to give them a seasonal look.  The white container behind the sink that usually holds artichokes and wine corks, now houses greenery, Joy ornaments, berries and pinecones. 

There is a white tray on the counter that is also a year-round staple, but updated withsome pinecones and my cute little log Santa family.  A funny story about those…A couple of years ago when we were in Quebec City, Canada at the historic Fairmont Le Château hotel, I found the large Santa in the gift shop.  It was locally made and there was something so charming about it.  This past fall, we visited the hotel again during a stop on a Canada New England cruise, and there in the gift shop were dozens more of these precious Santa’s.  So, I purchased a medium and small one and now my little family is complete!

The kitchen table is pretty much the same as last year with the plaid runner and the trough my husband built, full of greenery, candles and berries.  The addition this year was adding a few red Goodwill ornaments to carry that shimmer over to this area.  Obviously I shot this picture over a week ago…not actually 14 days until Christmas now!

Where I really had fun this year was with the wall behind the kitchen table and the addition of the wooden trough with planters inside. This was a gift last Christmas from some good friends of ours and I just knew it would look wonderful with small poinsettias and some large Fa La La ornaments in it.  When Christmas is over, this piece will definitely stay where it is, and I’ll substitute teaberry plants or other greenery.  I just loveit!

The planter is flanked by vintage prints and some small wreaths.  On the church pew, there are some Santa pillows and an oversized plaid lumbar, making this the most comfortable seat in thehouse!

On my new silver tray beside the sink, I put out a Christmas foaming hand soap, and yes, I might have even purchased green Dawn dishwashing soap to replace the blue, because…you know ?

So, that’s it for the entry, niche and kitchen in our home, all decked out for Christmas.  This year I had fun using what I already had, but then updating it somewhat with a few new pieces.  Decorating this year was also a time of purging some very old, outdated items and donating them,  This allows someone else to use them, and makes room in the bins for the new purchases.    

This weekend, the house will start to smell wonderful, with my husband’s English Christmas pudding, a family tradition he enjoyed with his maternal grandmother, a World War I war bride from Coventry, England.  We have her original recipe and each year, Jim makes several of these cakes to eat and share with others.  Then he, a Portsmouth, NH native, will make his famous New England Seafood Chowder, which is absolutely decadent, and has become a Christmas tradition that we all enjoy. 

Tomorrow, I will share the living room Christmas reveal, which includes our newfireplace!  In the meantime, I hope you are finishing up the myriad of seasonal details, taking time for a few good movies, and making your house smell delicious with traditional smells, as well.

Good tidings,

Diane