Published: December 5, 2011, By Abbe Fenimore

Time For A Transition

Before we know it Christmas Day will be here and I had to get a  move on with my decorations.  I loved the way the fall decorations looked in our home so much… that I kept putting off the time to take them down.  I really only focus on two rooms for holiday decorations every year because it tends to get out of hand if I plan on more than that.  Our formal dining room is the first room you see when you enter the front door and it deserves to be spruced up. The main living room is where we spend all of our time so of course it makes the list.

Moving forward, I want to have holiday decorations that transition easily from one season to another.   Using what you have and bring in the seasonal decor to compliment those pieces is the best way to cut cost and minimize packing and unpacking. Today I  will show you how easy it is to use basic pieces that transition easily with a few seasonal changes.  A few weeks ago I posted the details of our Thanksgiving table as well as the fall accents that were added to the fireplace mantle.  Fall leaves, birch planters and accents along with bold fall colors made our home warm and festive for fall and into Thanksgiving.

For Christmas, I replaced the leaves in the grapevine with garland and added extra ornaments for a pop of color and to brighten up the dark area.  All that was left to do was start a fire and hang the stockings!  I loved the way the starburst mirrors and dried plants looked in the vases so I decided to leave them up as well.

Since I did not add decorations to the sofa table or any other accent tables in the living room for fall, I thought I needed to step it up for Christmas. The tree looked so lonely sitting on the backside of the sofa but I didn’t want to go too crazy.  I pulled the two large vases out of the pantry and added more of the left over ornaments to tie in with the tree and mantle.  The red berry trees were a snag from TJ Maxx Homegood and the German Christmas Pyramid was a gift from my parents.

The dining room and sitting room combination have more of a blue and green color palette so I really wanted to play that up.  I removed the fall plants and left all of the birch accents.

Now the mirrored buffet sparkles with touches of white, bronze and touches of pine branches.  I fell in love with Wisteria’s nesting glitter trees.  I used more of the nesting trees on the dining table and mixed in the silver and bronze by using more left over ornaments.