Holy Moly Christmas in the house. I can’t believe it was already here. Already done. Already over. I feel like I bathed in everything Christmas this year. I literally swam in it. It’s dripping off of me like droplets of tiny sparkly, festive molecules. I intended to just dip a toe or two in but then I dove in…head first…having no appropriate attire on…just complete abandon. And when it was here….my gosh, was I in it. It was divine and holy and feels finished in the best possible way.
Now on to house decorations.
Will came home one day after preschool and mentioned that he wanted a Christmas tree. I figured they must have started talking about the holidays in class or the playground and so I asked “well, what kind of tree do you want?!”
His reply?
Orange and blue. (if I charge my phone enough to get the video off of him saying so, I’ll add it to this post).
I figured that Jeremy would be ticked. After all…Jeremy is a Tennessee fan…orange is ok…blue? not unless that blue is the color of the faces of Auburn fans…or Florida fans. So instead of going with royal blue or navy, I went with the baby blue as the main color of choice. And it is appropriate…seeing as how this is the year of boys for us.
With color scheme on the table, I knew that the next step would be to make this sucker as child-proof as possible (seeing as how Weston still doesn’t really understand what NO means) and frankly, the last thing I want to do is worry about glass shards on the floor. Here’s what I came up with…
During the evening, it still glows just like a normal tree…even with the wacky fun color scheme. It still reminds me of Christmas and all those warm fuzzies as if the ornaments were green and red and gold. And the look on Will’s face when he saw his request come to life? Oh dear baby Jesus…it was as if Santa himself was right there with us delivering a life size monster truck with his name on it.
The tree topper is actually an old styrofoam ball (it lived a previous life as the head of Mickey Mouse for Will’s birthday party) and Will and I jammed straws into it, spraypainted it all orange and then wrapped the entire thing with orange yarn. Will requested a star (this is our first!) and I kinda love the homemade goodness of it. I also like the idea just as decoration in a kid’s room. A few of these over a changing table or as a corner decoration would be amazingly graphic and fun.
The entire thing started with the fabric garland…simple squares of different fabric sewn together to make a long string of fun. And then I cut out the alphabet from a diaper box and painted them all baby blue (I hung them with blue paper clips).
My orange yarn came in handy because that is what I made my pom-pom ornaments with…
and all the extra clippings got thrown into 88 cent plastic fillable ornaments. These are awesome and next year I hope to buy up a ton of them (Walmart had them but my local one sold out in a week and a half…that means in August, they sold out.)
This year I also did a grown up tree just for me. I have always wanted a white tree…and since our orange-and-blue one was a hand-me-down-freebie, I had no problem shelling out $40 on this six foot white version. I decided to put it in the little alcove in our foyer because it was the most child-free space in our house (we usually gate off the kitchen and the living room so that the boys can’t get up the stairs (and when I say boys, I mean Weston…because Will is pretty adept at climbing over our ottoman-turned-baby-gate).
The rest of the foyer got a little silvery splash too.
The foyer table got a simple mercury glass bowl atop a mirror (confession…it’s not really a mirror anymore because Jeremy accidentally slammed the front door and this mirror that was in the reading room fell and shattered) so I put some glitter wrapping paper in it and set the deer on top. I love how he looks like he is sniffing the glitter. May we all be glitter-snorting.
Speaking of deer, I moved the faux taxidermy deer head out of my office and put it in the foyer about two months ago. I love it watching over us.
Last year my mom gave me these oversized JOY letters. They were going to get painted but then I couldn’t decide on what color…so instead I wrapped them with strands of tinsel. It is just tied on and took about two 10 cent strands each…so it was a really cheap and fast.
and of course, Mr. Kringle himself had to make an appearance 🙂
I had a ton of other tinsel strands in storage (I had been planning on using them for a photo backdrop but never did) so I draped them on the stair railings until that photoshoot comes to reality.
This tree is very different than our regular tree…it’s very child-unfriendly. All the ornaments are breakable, glass and special.
The rest of the house got very minimal decorations. I did put some of the natural looking trees all together. I made half of them…bought the other half…and they are just a happy little forest…
I also put out my bear snowglobe. I got it last year at Target and Will is OBSESSED with it. He says that the bears are him and Weston and I like that idea very much.
In the kitchen, the little whitewashed shelves got Christmasitized too. They have proven to be quite the perfect spot for adding a little cheer into any season and because I spend 99.99% of my time in the kitchen wiping the floors, wiping the counters, wiping the spills, wiping faces and hands, cooking and then starting the wiping process over again…I love having a little decorated spot to look at between wipes.
My favorite photo from last year. I never really posted about Christmas day last year…it was splendid…filled with newborn awesomeness and two year old wonder. My darling boyfriend thought I was crazy for wanting a picture of them in the mess of unwrapping…but that’s me…a mess enjoying the mess.
I love my little penguin cookie jar and I hope one day to have a collection of them…all filled with chocolate goodness. yes. all the cookies would have chocolate. and maybe some nuts. and chocolate covered nuts.
On the very top shelf, I put this thrift store house. It is the perfect size. I put the jar of M&M’s up here about a week before Jeremy discovered them. I usually like to hide candy from him (a five pound bag is like a midnight snack to him) but who knew that a spot way out in the open would be the perfect hiding spot!
And on the very bottom, I put my white wooden nutcrackers. They are from Hobby Lobby last year. I love that the faux wrapped present gives the entire thing a graphic punch in the Christmas jammies.
So there you have it…our holiday decor…a little late…but still a sweet reminder of this year’s celebration of Jesus’ birthday! I think I might keep it all up till Valentines…afterall, nothing says LOVE like an orange & blue tree, right?!
Love that you kept things simple yet still look beautiful. Love that kid friendly tree. So creative and fun! Do you have blisters from cutting all of those letters out? Yikes.
Gorgeous!!!!!!!!! I love how simple, yet stunning, it is. I am in LOVE with the picture of the boys laying in the wrapping paper. What a great idea.
Your creativity just astounds me! You are such a talented decorator and I love getting ideas from you! Please do a post of what all you each got. Those are my faves!!
Such pretty Christmas things! So funny, I was looking at my bookmarks and clicked on “bowerpower” which a friend used to have (but I don’t think has used in a long time if ever??) and here I landed! Thanks!
Love the two trees, on e for them, one for you! Those nutcrackers are gorgeous. Great job with your Christmas decor!
I hope you had a very Merry Christmas!!
Isn’t it funny how we, as women, have to be so color conscious because heaven forbid we show any signs of the oppossing teams colors anywhere in the house/on our kids/on our pets. ha!!
Totally random, but did you paint the foyer yet? I can’t remember and my screen is showing a minty green you are so fond of. Like I said — random!
You are amazing :)—this is my favorite line –“May we all be glitter-snorting.” God Bless you and your family
It looks fantastic! That’s a lot of decor for such a large house- and I love the kid friendly tree- you’re like mom of the year!
Love it all! I bet your little guys got a kick out of having the house so festive!
P.S. Every time I see a photo of that gorgeous (huge!) map in your living area, my heart skips a beat. 🙂
LOVE both your trees!! So pretty. 🙂 Also love the kitchen shelves.
Katie, I am older than your mom but wish I had 1/2 your wisdom! You put your boys (all 3) before everything and fulfill their dreams! In other words you have your priorities straight! Took me many many more years to get to that place. You’ve managed to pull off a kid friendly, wondrous Christmas home with plenty of style.
May 2014 be filled with all the joy you deserve.
Love these posts filled with pictures! I am also a big fan of the grown up tree. I have a table top tree that is loaded with fragile, meaningful ornaments!
Love all of your decorations! Your house is looking quite festive!
I love, love, love it! Good job with the trees–both of them. I’m really loving all of the white trees floating around the interwebs this year. 🙂
That blue and orange tree is too cute! Handmade is the best…time consuming…but totally worth it in the end!
Looks great Katie! Reading your blog makes me want to craft something, which is new to me – I’m usually more of a store bought person. Thanks for the inspiration!
Love that kid tree!!! Was it hard to wrap the straw ball AFTER you added the straws? I would think you’d do it before and then stick in the straws. My son would love that on top of our tree! And the cardboard box letters are genius. YOU are a crafting genius. Someday I will have awesome Katie Bower Christmas trees.
seeing your tabletop trees (and your Instagram picture of your dining room) has inspired me to start collecting for my own winter forest display for next Christmas! I’d love to see a post with all of the small trees, and where you bought them or how they were made.
Oh, Katie, everything looks beautiful!!! Your family tree looks so…happy. Not really sure how else to describe it. I also love your grown-up tree. I dream of having a white tree someday. You are so talented!
Have a great 2014! God bless you and your family!
Loving it all!! I love the white corner!
I love it! I think the orange and blue tree looks great, and I am loving the white tree. But mostly I love the kitchen shelves. Where did you get the penguin cookie jar and the gingerbread house? SOOO cute!!
Love that Santa painting, it looks like it may have been traced on to canvas…hmmm…what a great idea!! I may have to steal that one 😉
Such pretty holiday decor! I have had Christmas up since the day after Thanksgiving and I can’t wait to start putting it all away. Happy holidays to your growing family!
All of your decorations are awesome!
The blue and orange tree is adorable and brilliant!
I’m obsessed with the Kris Kringle picture – can you tell me more about it (did you make it, how? how big is it? I need to know all!!)?
Merry Christmas!
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your orange and blue tree.
Orange is my favorite color! Tried to modernize
my gold and silver ornament tree by adding some
touches of whimsy with polka dot ribbon “streamers”
and additional ornaments with brighter colors-orange,
blue, copper, reds,etc. I’ve decided the older I get, the more
I decorate with things/colors that brighten my day and
make me happy!
Love your daring nature! Thanks for all of your great ideas!
Hi Katie! I love your blog. I wanted to let you know we are getting the same Aveeno pop up that plagued the Petersiks at Young House Love recently.
Thanks! I just found out some more details about it so I will definitely email the ad folks and get it blocked!
xo – kb
Here is a link to the post where I did it.
xo – kb
Both are from the thrift store. I think they are cheap and old. Kroger sold a Santa this year that was equally adorable 🙂
xo – kb
Nope. Actually it was much easier after the straws were in it because there was ways to create tension and make it cover other areas.
xo – kb
Nope. I wish! We got a quote on it and I just about died. I think it will probably be something we tackle this year though 🙂
xo – kb
HAHA! I thought I might get some but in the end it was really easy because they were on the small side!
xo – kb
Genius! Thanks!!
Your tinsel garland wrapped letters are awesome! I love my tinsel garland, but I don’t love it on my tree – and I haven’t figured out where to use it in my house. I will be picking up some letters for next year (and probably more garland while it’s on sale!)
I love this so much but it looks so intimidating. My drawing skills consist of stick people- that are barely recognizable. Haha way to to girl. Next Christmas I will do a white tree with silver everywhere. Love it!!
I love it! I love the idea of hanging the ‘star’ in the corner of a bedroom! They would be beautiful in Weston’s room with the white walls!!
Love the tree! (Then again I’m a Gator grad…. so yeah, spot on 😉 ). Your deer with the ornaments reminds me of the Petersik’s Christmas moose. Great minds think alike!
Love, love, love, LOVE all of your Chrsitmas decor. Ererything is just too cute!
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I LOVE that you ran with Will’s idea for an orange and blue tree!! So many moms would have just brushed it off- but you made him feel so special! Thanks for setting an amazing example of motherly love!
War Eagle, Will!!! 😉
Everything looked beautiful! I love the way you decorate your house!
I LOVE your decorations! I can’t get enough of your orange and blue color combo for the tree! AMAZING!
I am kind of speechless (as evidenced by me typing and deleting repeatedly!), I cannot even believe you drew that.
1) That’s crazy!!
2) It’s beautiful
3) Do you know how talented you are?!
4) It’s amazing!!
5) I’m jealous
6) It’s perfect
7) I want one!
8) I could go on and on…
I would never be able to do that. Ever.
So I know you’re busy with children, a husband, a home, a business, etc… but I do believe that you should do another one for a Christmas 2014 giveaway.
Of course if I don’t win, you will need to do the contest annually until I win!