Christmas Home Tour (Part 2)

For Part 1 of the Christmas Home Tour, click h ere!

This post contains affiliate links for Amazon products for your convenience. I have also listed crochet patterns that are my designs for sale on Ravelry. I will not be compensated for any other product links.

Welcome to part 2 of our Christmas Home Tour. In part 1, we toured the entry, my office, and the living room. We’ll be covering the dining room, kitchen, breakfast, and loft. Oh, and the powder – keeping that brief… just say’n!

Let’s get started, so grab your favorite beverage and most loved piece of Christmas candy. I can’t decide if I want fudge or homemade Almond Roca, or even perhaps, divinity!

The Dining Room

Just inside the dining room, flanking the opening are two Christmas pencil trees. These are our travel trees, and we have collected enough ornaments from our travels to fill both trees. If we continue traveling, as we hope, I’m not sure where to place the third travel tree!

Trimming these trees is a trip down memory lane. From Savannah, Georgia, up to Spokane, Washington. From Key West to Anne Arbor, Michigan. We went down into the belly of caverns to the top of lighthouses, toured mansions, walked on sandy beaches, and visited numerous missions and forts.

While I love tree skirts and have designed a few, I ended up needing to put down a tablecloth around the base of this pencil tree. I recently designed a quick tree skirt for the other, but I felt it wasn’t pretty enough to share the pattern, and decided not to write down the instructions.

The large glass bowl on the dining room table is filled with extra ornaments. Simple and sweet – all that’s needed! Speaking of tree skirts, the Pineapple Snowflake Tree Skirt is what I used as a large table topper this year. I placed the opening on the back end of the table and then laid a smaller doily over the center that would go around the base of the tree. You can find this pattern here on Ravelry.

The Kitchen

I exchanged my cookie jar utensil holder at Christmas for the Snowman cookie jar. But I don’t keep the utensils inside because Frosty would literally lose his head! To keep things tidy, I corral the olive oil bottle, salt, and pepper with the jar. I might add a big bow yet – but haven’t decided.

Cabinet wreaths and crystal-like prelit tree — Cabinet wreaths and prelit glass tree

On the opposite side of the kitchen, I have miniature wreaths I placed on two of the cabinet doors. I ordered these from Amazon. You can find them here. They come with lights that are woven in, and they use batteries. They are so pretty in the evening when they are turned on.

On the counter, I added the glass tree that lights up on an old Early American Prescott glass tray (practically an heirloom), along with a crystal candy dish and glass cookie jar, a gift from my late aunt. To take it a step further, I tied a ribbon bow around the cookie jar lid.

The Breakfast Nook

I’m not sure I’d actually call this a nook since we eat all of our meals here. It’s bright and airy, next to the kitchen, and most importantly, the refrigerator.

To keep this area light, friendly, and welcoming, I keep one chair at the end angled with a pillow. For Christmas, it’s one of the fun Christmas pillows I ordered from Amazon.

When our daughter was in elementary the PTA board visited a place in San Diego that manufactured window clings. As a result of that visit, they offered each of us a free package. I chose the Christmas package with these snowflakes. I use them every year!

I have no idea how old the poinsettia centerpiece is, but I can tell you – it’s showing its age. To offset its poor condition, I tucked in a few pine sprigs, which really helped. The poor little thing!

The Powder

I love this lantern candle holder! It seems to be popular, and you can find similar ones on Amazon, here. I add sprigs of seasonal foliage to dress it up. For Christmas, I added pine branches, berries, and pinecones.

I recently came across a website where they made snowflakes using a glue gun. That’s it, well, almost. I was so taken with the idea, I just had to try this little craft for myself.

First, print snowflake templates. I found these and printed a page. Lay the templates on a work surface, and place a sheet of parchment paper over the top.

Now grab your glue gun, a glue stick (or two), and trace the templates. Because the template I used was a little more involved, I used it more as a guide. With a bit of practice, they look better. Once they are set, use a case knife to gently lift the snowflake from the parchment paper.

When completely cooled, snip or pull the strings of glue off. I attached my snowflakes to the mirror using tape. Just Scotch tape…

The Loft

The loft Christmas tree is adorned in a red, white, and green theme. However, the ornaments include homemade crochet, needlepoint, knitted, beaded, and cross-stitched ornaments. Some are actually fridgies. Overall, it’s the fun tree where almost anything goes!

The Christmas Pinwheel Lollipops that I inserted into the tree can be found on Ravelry, here. The Jolly Santa Hat Topper can be found on Ravelry, here.

Sticking with a repeated Santa red and white striped or pinwheel design adds to the fun for this tree. I love the pick we found at Walmart!

The moment I saw the gingerbread tree collar on the Kirkland’s website, I knew it was something that would make this tree perfect. I ordered it while on sale, and we picked it up within hours. It lights up and is easy to assemble.

One of the reasons the gingerbread tree collar was a must is the gingerbread boy and girl pillow set that I set in a basket near the tree. These pillows were a gift, hand crocheted by my dear friend and pattern tester. They are so precious and a must when decorating for Christmas.

The secretary is always a favorite to decorate for Christmas! This year, I hung several stockings that are my favorites. Trimmed with garland, a beautiful poinsettia runner, and a wooden Christmas scene with Santa and his reindeer flying over the moon.

The wooden Christmas scene was purchased in Solvang, CA, and it’s one of our favorite pieces to display come Christmas. The Poinsettia Pineapple Runner can be purchased from Ravelry here. Adorning the top of the secretary is the Pineapple Star Ornament, which can also be found on Ravelry.

Many of the Christmas stocking patterns can be purchased from Ravelry.

The wooden snowman peeks around the entertainment center. He’s so cute, and something we purchased years back. We usually place him where we can plug him in to “light the way.” This year, angled toward where we sit to watch TV, we decided he was perfect as is.

The jewelry Christmas tree means a great deal to me. It was a gift from my late aunt, handmade using costume jewelry and Christmas lights. It’s beautiful, especially when lit. On the pony wall, we displayed Christmas cards – again, in red, white, and green to match the tree!

The Primary Bedroom

Carrying the decorating into our private sanctuary, I added one store-bought Christmas-themed pillow, purchased from Kirkland’s. As in previous years, I pin Christmas cloth napkins to two of the pillows – viola – Christmas-themed pillows for a fraction of the cost. To carry it further, we added wreaths to the windows flanking the bed.

I love how festive the bed looks, decked out with Christmas-themed pillows!

Adding the two cardboard Christmas cutouts from when we were first married is a must. It’s not Christmas until Santa and the snowman cardboard cutouts are displayed. How they managed to survive multiple moves across five different states is always amazing to me and short of miraculous.

I thought about getting another tree (yeah, like I need another) for the bedroom. It just seems that drifting off to sleep with lights on a timer would be ideal, so soothing, pretty, and festive. *Sigh*