2016 Christmas Home Tour
Welcome to our Christmas Sparkle Home Tour. We hope you enjoy the talent and creativity on display here, as well as find a little inspiration for your own holiday cheer! Please be sure to visit all of the blogs listed at the bottom of this post.
To create a warm, cozy, quiet and peaceful Christmas feeling, I incorporate pine boughs, burlap, Christmas berries and fruit, plaid…oh, and a few bears and one moose! I combine these elements with simple plaid runners, burlap-base trees, candles sporting ribbons and bows, and pine cones.
Allow me mention right here at the beginning, (so I don’t bore you senseless saying the same thing over and over); nearly everything you see in these photos is either from a thrift shop, garage sale, or a craft fair.
In our (very tiny!) entryway, a Nordic Father Christmas welcomes you….
…along with this little door hanger that cheerfully rings it’s bells each time the door is opened and closed.
On the built-in next to our fireplace is a vignette made up of a pine-cone-wreath, topped by a lantern and softened by some pine boughs. Bears roaming the woods and a bear-topped bird house complete the scene!
On the mantle, I hung a Christmas bough from the window frame that I found by the side of the road. (It didn’t look like that at the time; Sailor helped with adding the framing and the chicken wire. I stripped, sanded and painted after his work was finished!)
I couldn’t resist the tall bird house sitting on the left.
And on the right – Mr. Moose with his little plaid pants and Christmas tree vest!
Down on the hearth, perched in the suitcases, is a basket displaying some Christmas fruit and holly!
And on the opposite side, is this little wrought iron ‘lamp post’ that my mother displayed every Christmas, usually sitting on the hearth.
As I recall, it had some bright green ornaments and matching ribbon, but not much else that I remember. I pulled it down from the attic a few years back, and after I removed all the busy ornamentation, I realized it is a very unique and festive decoration.
You can still see some of the original ‘greenery’, but I found that it is practically welded to the wrought iron, and is simply not going anywhere. So I have left the 50+ year old greenery, and added some picks and dangling decorations.
I placed a battery candle in the candle holder and added a plaid bow on top. Now I have a pretty and unique Christmas decoration, but more importantly, a wonderful memory how my mother decorated for Christmas.
Over on the dining room table, a sleigh filled with pine cones, berries and Christmas fruit sits surrounded in a ‘forest’ of burlap-base trees.
And finally on the coffee table, a wooden tool tote filled with pine boughs, berries, and Christmas fruit. I added these little dewdrop lights (from Target) and wove the wire in and out and among the greenery. This particular strand is not very long, so it was the perfect size to use in the tote. But even better, it is powered by a battery pack. And even better than that…the lights are on a timer!
Even though I love a woodsy, natural Christmas feel, my Christmas tree is all about sparkle. When I was young, our family Christmas trees were always decorated with ‘Shiny-Brite’ and German blown-glass ornaments. (And tinsel. Lots of tinsel!) To this day, that is really all I use to decorate my tree. I still have, and treasure, my small collection of Shiny-Brites that were on our trees when I was growing up, and I mix them with newer ornaments.
Every year, I search for one or two unique and beautiful glass blown ornaments to add to my collection. (And that would be my photo-bombing cat, Lucy, taking a bath under the tree!)
I hope you have enjoyed the tour of Christmas at Red Shutter Cottage. Please let me know if you have any questions, or leave a comment below. And be sure to visit the other blogs in our Christmas Sparkle Home Tour!
Best wishes for a Happy Christmas !
Here’s the Tours and our Dates and Links:
Open House Begins Dec 8th at:
Open House Begins Dec 9th at
Open House Begins Dec 10th at
Open House begins Dec 11th at
Kristine, I love all of your traditional Christmas decor!!! Your tree is lovely with your shiny bright ornaments (what wonderful memories) and your mom’s lamp post on the mantle is wonderful!!! I have to say that I just love your suitcases and I love seeing what you put in them each season 🙂 Have a very Merry Christmas!!
Thank you so much, Susanne! I love those suitcases, too, and of course, my mom’s lamp post holds special meaning for me. This year I really gave it a little more focus than I had in the past, which makes it even more special! This Home Tour has been so amazing, and I have learned so much. Best wishes to you and your family for a wonderful Christmas!
Love your home and my favorites are the window frames with wire and decor, those make a gorgeous mantle, my other favorite is the tool box (?) with the greenery, lights and ornaments inside. Such beautiful ideas!
Thank you Debbie! They are both new to me this year, and really helped me expand on ideas. I see the ‘tool totes’ all over Pinterest and other blogs, and was excited when I found mine!
Vintage ornaments are the best. Imagine how many families they helped make happy during the holidays. Fragile, cared for and treasured they have survived to continue to bring shine and light. So beautiful.
When I first saw your mantel photo I noticed the lantern, I was hoping you would mention where it came from and was very pleased to find out it was a treasure from your Mother. I can see why, its stunning. LOVE IT.
Everything in your home tour is warm, inviting and cozy. Very pretty, did I mention loving your vintage ornaments!!
Merry Christmas your home tour is lovely.
Thank you Leanna! I do love my family ornaments, and never tire of putting them on the tree every year. I think that lantern on the hearth might be my favorite part of my decorations. This is the first year I really gave it some focus and attention; my brother thinks it looks great, and I think my Mom would approve too! Best wishes for a wonderful Christmas to you and your family!
I like mixing new ornaments and decorations with ones that have been in the family for awhile. We had a lot of those “Shiny Brite” ornaments too… I think my brother has them (unlike us, they put up a tree each year). I love the vignette that you’ve created around your fireplace.
Thank you for sharing. I am loving your wrought iron lamp post of your mum’s. It is stunning! The tool box is very creative. It’s great that you were able to find lights that have a timer on them. It is beautiful. Wishing you and your family a Merry Christmas.
Thank you Fiona! I think that the lamp post and tool box are my favorite parts of my tour. I don’t know why I go so batty for lights – I just do. I think they make things more festive and special looking ! Best wishes to you and your family for a wonderful Christmas.
Kristine what a wonderful decorations! The lantern is so unique, I love it, and the way you decorated with all the pine cones I want to remember this idea for next year. And I specially liked the little door hanger.
Thank you so much, Marjan! The lantern is unique, and it was fun to add the picks and the little hanging decorations. It looks so different from when I was growing up! The little door hanger just seems to encapsulate what I love: burlap, plaid and bells!! Merry Christmas to you and your family!
What a fun and interesting tour. Your Christmas ornaments are wonderful and to still have them from childhood is fabulous. All in all it is very lovely.
Thank you Janis – I so appreciate still having them; with each passing year, their lustre makes them more special! I just hope they last long enough to hand-over to my nieces one day. They can also be grouped together in bowls, scattered on a tray, or included in a Christmas dinner centerpiece!
Everything is just so welcoming and beautiful! I especially like your “found” window and tool box! I really like your mom’s light as well. Very cool! That is very much my style.
Thank you Melony! I love all the different kinds of Christmas on bogland and Pinterest, but find myself drawn to simple and natural elements and colors. It’s nice to know I have a ‘partner-in-style’! I am looking forward to more ways to work with the tool box-I think that’s what makes this whole blogging experience so much fun!
What a gorgeous Christmas tour! Your home is lovely. I loved your decorations that spark special memories…your beautiful lantern and your festive ornaments. Best wishes for a very Merry Christmas!
Thank you Lynne! So much of Christmas really is about memories; creating new ones and treasuring the old ones! Now I am wondering about decorating the lantern for Valentine’s Day and St. Patrick’s Day!! I am getting so attached to it. I hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas!
LOVE everything! The candle sticks with the candles inside the fireplace is such a great idea. I also like the white picture frame with the wreath on your mantel.
Thank you Amanda! That fireplace is huge….so it’s fun to use really tall candle sticks and high candles! One of these days, though, we really should build a fire in it! The picture frame & wreath were one of those ‘on-the-fly’ inspirations. Neither of them looked like much on their own, but together they make a festive little scenario!
I have really enjoyed your gorgeous home tour! Your mantel is so beautiful and I love the old window and frame and how you have embellished them! Thank you for sharing your home! Merry Christmas 🙂
Sam – thank you so much! That window frame is so much fun to decorate, especially for the seasons! And having a mantle is such a gift! We re-did our house 10 years ago, and re-fashioning the fireplace and adding the mantle were a must!! I am taking notes on your post for next year!!
Kristine – Your ability to take items and make them your own is impressive! The window remake on the mantle is simple but dramatic! and I love how you have dressed it up for the season! My favorite detail is the berries under the candle on your redecorated lamp post! What a great touch! Thank you for welcoming me to your home!
Thank you so much, Michele! When I picked-up that window from the trash heap it was sitting in, I had no idea it would eventually evolved as it has! You noticed the berries under the candle? – you have a great eye for details! That little ‘shelf’ was put there (I think) to catch the wax dripping from the lit candle above it. This was the 60’s, keep in mind! Well before battery operated candles! But that shelf was looking a bit rusty, so I needed SOMETHING to disguise that little situation!
That lantern is beautiful and so meaningful! How awesome it is that you have found so many Christmas decor on the cheap. Your home is beautiful!!
Thank you Zan – hasn’t this Home Tour been fun? The lantern is a nice way of keeping childhood Christmas memories close at hand! And it really is rewarding to decorate for Christmas with a well-loved collection of decorations.
This is the first time I have visited your blog. Your home is lovely as are all your Christmas decorations. I plan to subscribe.
Linda – thank you so much for visiting! My blog is still very young (as you may have noticed), but I am really enjoying this journey and the huge learning curve involved. Thank you for subscribing – I am honored!