After Christmas Re-Decorating

Hello, everyone!  Happy New Year!  I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season!  I've been busy around here with the kids finally getting back to school, and me getting back to whatever it is I do all day! After Christmas, I always get a little frazzled trying to put the house back together.  Christmas decorations put away, new toys (both kid toys and grown-up toys!) worked into the rooms in which they belong...  It all stresses me out until I can get things the way I like them!

 

So anyway, since my Christmas décor was pretty "busy" (especially in our family room), I felt the desire to simplify a little bit when I was re-decorating.  I ended up taking out a lot of the pieces that normally hang on my wall (mostly my own artwork), and keeping things much more simple.

 

 I kept the doll dressers on the shelves all white, so they felt more unified, and hung a couple plants instead of sitting them on the tabletop.  The metal orbs (how much do you LOVE the giant turquoise one?  Thank you, HomeGoods!!!) all clustered together feel like just one element, and balance out the dollhouse nicely.

 

 I had to keep the three vintage puzzles- love these so much!

 

 And of course I had to keep all the books for my kids to read.  How cute are those vintage illustrated dictionaries on the right side?  They're so pretty all lined up!

 

 This little set are I think my most favorite doll furniture pieces- I also have a bed that matches, but it wouldn't fit in here!

 

 Here's a closer look at that turquoise orb- I'm so in love with it, I think I may have to marry it one day!

 

 

Then, moving on to my sofa table...

 

 This actually didn't change all that much- I mean, how could I ever move those colorful dolly dressers?  They were just made to sit on that shelf, weren't they?

 

 But I did want to show you the new aqua shelf/drawer piece I got at Hobby Lobby...

 

 I was in search of something to put here that would complete the "tablescape", and brought this home, thinking it may work.  There are little shallow shelves on the top that I figured I could fill with something.  Well, how perfectly do they hold those vintage books???  It was kismet, I tell you!  I always love to use vintage books in my decorating, and these is the perfect way to showcase them, while also storing them!  In fact, I think the turquoise orb may have to wait in line, because I may have to marry this aqua shelf first!!!

 

 

And here's the view of the fireplace wall...

 

 As I've said before, we plan to put some large distressed cabinet doors over the cubbies on either side of the fireplace SOMEDAY, but just not sure when that's going to actually happen (it's a honey-do project that has been on the list for a while....).  For the past year, I haven't really tried to decorate those cubbies for that reason, but I decided to move our photo albums onto the shelves for the time being, just so they're not bare!

 

 And here's what I did above the fireplace.  I took the barnwood (that I used in this post) and hung our family portrait over the top. I found the wooden architectural pieces (on the top) at an antique store for $4.  They work beautifully! 

 

 All the decorative elements (except the topiaries) came from Hobby Lobby- how I love that store!

 

I've eyed this pink shadowbox frame at H.L. for months, but didn't buy it because I wasn't sure where to put it.  After I was done putting all the other elements on the mantle, I still felt like it needed another pop of color, and then I remembered this frame- I changed out the paper in the background, added this little vintage Knickerbocker doll, and now it looks perfect!

 

So, what have you been working on recently?   Soon I'll show you a secret project of mine that is almost finished.  In fact, I think I'll go work on that right now!  Have a great week!