We've had our house for two years and the first year we simply didn't do much decorating for Christmas because I just had Emily and she was barely three months old. Year two came around and I was able to pick up some for Christmas decorations but it was limited to Dollartree and just a simple tree. This year I gave myself a $100 budget to decorate our house. I'll be doing a few reviews on some affordable decorations that I've made.
First up, our dreaded 18 feet long mantle. I've mentioned before that its huge and extra long, making it impossible to decorate. I finally bought a gold mirror from Ross for $25 on clearance and got my dad to hang it up. I didn't include the price of the mirror on my budget because it will remain up there not just for Christmas. I also purchased two white 2.5 feet tall christmas trees to stick up there for $8 each. This year for our family/great room I wanted light and bright. Since our colors were blue I kinda stuck with that. I got some empty boxes and wrapped them up with Dollartree wrapping paper and ribbon. I got so lazy on one of them that I didn't even wrap it up and just tied a nice ribbon on it.
Here's a closer shot of the box that I didn't even wrap.
Overall I thought the price for two white 2.5 feet tall christmas trees were fair ($16 total). Branches were quite full and I simply just pushed all the branches to the front to give it a fuller effect.
Next came our formal living space and our Christmas tree. I scored a great deal on our artificial Christmas tree last year from Homedepot. Its 7.5 feet tall for only $40 shipped to our house. Ornaments were all from last year so I didn't buy anything new for our tree except a star with lights for $8 from Kmart. Our old star now sits on top of our china cabinet. Excuse our floors, I didn't have time to vacuum before taking pictures because the sun was coming down and its so hard to take pictures of our formal space due to all the wood shutters we have.
Here's a closer look at our formal dining table. Nothing extra special just a spare DIY tray I had with some plain white china plates pulled out from our china cabinet. Only thing I got that was new for our table were the white snowflake hand towel, crystal bowl from Dollartree with some new ornaments, and a $4 table top tree. Total budget for table display was under $10. I also put Emily's present from auntie on the tray since it looks nice. Round candles behind the presents were also from Dollartree.
Next to our tree is the $10 side table I bought from craigslist that I desperately need to refinish. I have all the supplies from previous projects but just haven't had the time. Its currently a light blonde color. My mother gave me a pretty tray that I put some ornaments on. I grabbed some wrapped presents and stuck them underneath.
When you first enter our doors you will see Binh's office/junkyard to the left. No, I won't take you in there for a tour but I did decorate the shoe cabinet next to it. All I really did was put some ornaments on the crystal tray.
Finally I was able to decorate the front of our house 3 days before christmas. Sorry I'm pregnant and I'm a little slow but its finally done. Well... its as done as it will ever get this year. I bought a new gold/silver wreath from Homegoods for $15 for our plain door. I also made another purchase from Walmart. I bought this five piece entry way set for $25. I ordered it together with the white christmas trees for free shipping. Overall I think I paid a fair price for a five piece entry set. Its not super full but the trees are a good size, came with a nice pot, and has lights. I didn't use the wreath because I like my home goods wreath better. I used the garland for my patio. The garland also lights up. My sister in law gave me some left over decorations so I added them to my decor. The red ribbons on my christmas trees were all from her. The big red bow was also made from some fabric she gave me.
Thats it for my christmas house tour. Hopefully I'll be back soon to decorate the nursery. Emily and her sister will be sharing the room so it will be interesting to decorate. Meanwhile, happy holidays everyone and be safe.
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