As the last and final installment for the 12 days of Christmas celebration, we thought it was high time to share our holiday decor. Granted, this year we didn’t break out EVERY single bin of our christmas gear because the house is on the market. Nothing deters buyers like a cluttery house, right? But we still wanted to jazz up some areas to bring in some christmas charm and make it memorable for us as we celebrate Will’s first Christmas.
On the exterior, we went with simple and classic.
A fun festive wreath graces our front door (as does a twinkle-lighted-swag), and little wreaths with red bows were placed on each of our front windows.
Once you walk inside, we hung a glittery star (from Pier 1) on the coat hook to welcome all christmas well-wishers.
In the living room, we added a few trees (some homemade in the spirit of the season) to our console table.
Our dining room got the least amount of holidazed….only a couple of lanterns flanking a simple white bowl filled with silver ornaments.
The kitchen got a simple holiday switchup – we put together our advent calendar together over my recently refinished dresser.
This year, we went with only 24 ornaments (vs. the 25 we did last year)…and I love the anticipation of the end of the day…where Will and I hang the ornament of the day right before bedtime.
The other corner of the kitchen also got a little christmas sprucing – we placed a few cone trees in the corner and a gold berry wreath on the door to the garage.
The den is the room that got into the Christmas groove the most. I think it helps that the tree is in there.
Speaking of tree, I love placing it in front of the window, so that anyone driving by can see it sparkling at night. You may notice that we also added a mercury glass bowl on the coffee table filled with silver hued bulbs along with our little reindeer who is looking at himself in the mirror (you can see we did the same thing last year and loved it so much it deserved a repeat!).
The mantle is my favorite…thanks to the jolly old St. Nick artwork and the simple garland and stockings.
And on the opposite side of the room, we have the mercury glass trees with our fluttery wax paper tree, as well as a footed hurricane filled with silver ornaments.
But we realized that in the real spirit of christmas, we want to share with you a video of our home. Yup…the first REAL house tour. Consider it like part of one of those Holiday-Tour-Of-Homes….except it’s only our house…and you don’t have to purchase a ticket…or drive anywhere.
House Tour December 2010 from Katie Bower on Vimeo.
Hope you have a very Merry Christmas Eve!
Wow, Will is starting to look more and more like Jeremy every day!
Merry Christmas to the Bowers! Love the tour! Quick question…did y’all install the recessed lighting in your living room? And what about your under cabinet lighting? Any posts related to them?
I’m with Jeremy, “Crazy boy with gun”
Also, I love that Will was yawning happily through out.
I am so glad you guys put this up! I was watching it and my husband walked up behind me and said “We need to install more lights like that. It would make the house look so much prettier.” I’ve been saying this since June ’09 when we bought the place so THANK YOU!!! Oh, and your house is stunning. I had no idea how much work you had done on it (I just recently started following ya).
very lovely home. I adore your son’s room…how unique and sweet!
Thanks for sharing your wonderful home with me.
natalie
We did install the living room lighting ourselves…and our under cabinet lighting is just stickon LED pushlights. Unfortunately we did all that before we started le blog…so we didn’t have photos or a post. Sorry doll.
xo – kb
The house looks beautful…ready to be purchased I hope!!!! I LOVE all your holiday touches…totally my taste too. I bought this fantastic chair at our local goodwill, and am getting outrageous quotes to recover it( like $200-$300!!!)….wish I had your talent to do it on my own. Have a great holiday Katie!
Thank you so much for the house tour! I just started reading your blog but I went back and read every single post ever 🙂
I can’t wait for us to be out of our apartment and in our first home so I can DIY myself to death 🙂 Thank you for the inspiration & keep up the good work!
Hi Katie!
I absolutely love your house and can’t believe you want to sell it. It seems perfect but then again that’s just me looking from the outside. It’s great that you shop at Goodwill and outlet stores which means you try to stick with a budget. It looks like you spent a lot more and your house appears to be a “true home.” Good luck and can’t wait to see what you plan to do with the new one!
Love the house video tour! It was such a great way to summarize all of the hard work you put into the house. It also provided TONS of inspiration for me that hopefully I can try to incorporate into our home in the coming year!
Hello! Merry Christmas! Your house looks amazing! You and Sherry have inspired me to restore an old dresser and I was wondering how you got the perfect color white when you painted? I want mine to look like something from Pottery Barn. I am having the hardest time wondering what color to get….most of the antique whites look different? Hope you can help! Thank you!
your voice is SO cute. and i kept going, “they’re from the south and yet she sounds like she’s no— oh wait, coat hooks, there we go. that’s a southern belle.”
That video was adorable! I’ve only been reading your blog for about 2 weeks and I just love all your ideas-your home is so inspiring. And what an adorable baby you have! Merry Christmas, thanks for sharing.
Your house tour is cute! I just watched it while baking a loaf of pepperoni bread – perfect timing!
You didn’t show the basement! I guess there’s room for a Part 2! Your home is beautiful. A home of that size would cost quite a bit where I live, especially on that large, private lot. I would buy your house 🙂 You could have considered for sale by owner with this lovely tour and your great photos!
i had such bad headband envy during this entire video.
I love the West Elm inspiration, especially the oblong tablesetting! Such great ideas, thanks for sharing. I like to use free greenery, too. This year, we clipped some branches from an evergreen tree and I decorated it with origami reindeer. I love the look, smell and price (FREE!)
http://ourhumbleabowed.wordpress.com/2010/12/14/the-stockings-were-hung/
Wow, you come across so different in your video to how you write on your blog. It was really interesting to see a video tour, love your headband too!
Hey I thought horseshoes were supposed to hang points up so the luck doesn’t fall out! 🙂 Where did you find it? I’ve been looking for one at my local secondhand stores, but might try Etsy.
Hope you have a wonderful Christmas with your family! xo
you have nothing at all to say sorry for!! you look great:) and the toilet? I didn’t even notice;) you did a great video and I love the house!!!!
Your house-tour made me miss our sleep over parties. Love you Katie. Merry Christmas!
Thanks for sharing!!! I love that Will yawned throughout. He was so sleepy!
Where did you get the headband? If you made it, will you sell them? Want one!
Thanks for the tour! I thought the artwork was ghost with a gun. Your house is beautiful! Ours in never clean all at the same time like that. I would have to do a one-room-at-a-time tour.
Merry christmas bowers!
Miz Bower, you are the bomb-diggety. This is divine. Can’t believe you did a post on Christmas Eve! But thank you. Merry Christmas to all Bowers.
Love your house tour. You guys did a great job! I love your green wall.
Merry Christmas!!!
I loved your house tour! You have great colors throughout the house. I’m sure you will sell it in no time at all. Mele Kalikimaka from one of your readers in Hawaii!!
omg, Will is getting so.big!
Merry merry Christmas!
Katie, you MUST flip that horseshoe up the right way. It’s bad bad luck.
Eek…we have heard! Unfortunately, since it is pretty heavy and there is only drywall right there (instead of a stud) we can’t figure out how to get it to stay on the wall if we hang it the other way! Any tips?
xo – kb
Thanks for sharing the video tour. Beautiful home, and how cute are Will’s little yawns! I’m a relatively new reader, so I love that you added some tidbits on where you found/how much you spent on some of those gorgeous accessories and furniture.
Great tour! Your house is beautiful, which I already knew, but it’s even more apparent on video. I particularly love your gorgeous kitchen. Whoever buys your place will get an incredible deal.
I even showed my mom some photos of your house, and she said that you have very good taste… which is a real compliment coming from my picky mother!
The house looks beautiful! Very simple, classic and perfect for a house on the market. My husband and I live in Atlanta as well (we’re down in the Grant Park area) I’m totally jealous of your large yard in this house and your future home . Are you guys in Cobb county?
Mostly I love your little southern accent 🙂
And I love Will. and his stripey outfit
Also, Katie… I have to say I agree with Jeremy. It’s a boy with a gun (or a katana….Seriously, that was my first thought).
And yes, I’m commenting AS I’m watching. 🙂
Katie!
LOVE thet house tour! What a pleasant surprise at the end of an already awesome post 🙂
A couple things:
Will is just too sweet 🙂
You are so pretty!
Your house is tdf!
And….why didn’t you show the basement? I would have loved to see it.
Thank you & happy holidays!
LOVED your house tour Katie! Please, oh please, when you sell/rent your house just shoot me an email (leave as much furniture as you want!) and we’ll move right in! 😀
Hi Fellow Atlantan Meg,
Actually we are OTP – Gwinnett County 🙂
xo – kb
Actually Melissa, it’s on the market right now!
If you are seriously interested, we are seriously going to rent/sell the place! Let me know cause we would love to move into our next project 🙂
xo – kb
This video was a great idea! It was so fun to actually get a real visual of how your house is laid out. We got a virtual walk-through 🙂
Also, I could never have pulled it off, but your outfit is adorable. I didn’t know they sold the feet-leggings anymore!
Hi Cassie,
If when you say ‘adorable’ you mean, ‘throwed on in a hurry and actually smells a little’ then yes, it is adorable 🙂 And I didn’t know they sold the feet-leggings anymore either…until I saw them for $2 on the clearance rack at Gap. Now that I think about it…maybe I shouldn’t be wearing something that was only $2 at Gap….hmmm.
xo – kb
You and your house and your baby are adorable. Love all the Goodwill finds… they are inspiring me!
Speaking of… I loved your cute outfit! Where did you get the top? Adorable!
thanks girl!
Hi JTP10 –
The sweatshirt tunic is from Gap…and it is my FAVORITE. Yes that is in caps…because I yelled it. for all the world to hear.
xo – kb
I was just watching a TV Land re-run of Bewitched and your “girl with a broom” picture is hanging in their foyer. How sad is it that I recognized it from your house tour? haha Anyway, thought you’d find that interesting. Love your blog!
That IS hilarious. I gotta go youtube Bewitched now 🙂
xo – kb
Loved the tour! One question th0ugh… why didn’t we get a tour of the basement? Ah-ha, I think I just figured it out…. were you still re-doing the steps at that time maybe? Anyway, your house is beauiful, so warm and cozy!
I love your mercury bowl! Where did you find it?
Target – it was one of those after-christmas sale items that I snatched up at 70% off. Best. Day. Ever.
xo – kb
i thought it is a girl with a gun! i love your baby, will!