December 28, 2017

"Put A Tree On It" Christmas Guestroom


If you like to see cars, trucks, etc. with Christmas trees tied to
 the top, you should come and visit my guest room. There are all 
types of vehicles with trees on top displayed, even on the pillows.

The guest room got a refresh about a year ago. 
The color scheme was inspired by seeing Christmas
 decorations in the red and turquoise color combo.
 Now I have it year-round in the guest room which also
 serves as my home office. The "office" is in the closet area.
Most of the pictures above the sofa came from Hobby Lobby.
The wood look one was made using this method. Click highlighted text for tutorial. 

I already had a red sleeper sofa in the room where overflow
guests stay. It was part of a more traditional color scheme of
gold, green and red when my husband used this room as his
home office. 
This is a "before" picture showing the original wall paint color.
 I was trying out new pictures to go with the new color scheme. 


When I inherited the room, he even let me paint
his left-behind bookcases in there white. 
"Before" picture of bookcases.

Now the bookcases are the main display area for my 
 little vehicles with Christmas trees on top.

I made a display of vehicles with trees on them last year.

It was so cute that I kept my eyes open during the year 
to add other vehicles for a new display at Christmas. 

My best find was two pickup trucks on clearance at
 Michael's at the end of the summer. Also I found a little
 milk truck there that was the colors that I wanted. 

A truck that looks like a wooden toy came from Dollar 
General. The campers and little red car where tree
 ornaments from Michael's this season. 

Everything got some type of paint adjustment to fit into 
the room's color scheme and to look "not too new".

The blue pickup truck was not turquoise enough so I taped off the parts that I did not want
to get paint on. I sponged painted some turquoise paint over the original blue paint. 


The green got painted over entirely and then had dark wax rubbed over it. The base of the 
tree had a cloth sack over the bottom originally. I thought it was distracting so I cut it off. 


One of the blue pick up trucks got painted with two coats of red. The trailers got a completely new paint job.
The gold spots on the little red car were painted over. The milk truck only got a coat of dark wax. 






The trees for the once-blue pick up trucks are made from branches of an inexpensive
 Christmas wreath. The sprigs were snipped off and hot glued together in a tree shape. 


The suitcases from Hobby Lobby used to be brown tones. They got painted neutral tones. 









The bookcase and the sofa make it a kind of narrow squeeze
to get into the room but that's about the only way they fit.

I never found exactly what I had in mind for the curtains for
the one window in the room but settled on this quilting fabric
from JoAnn's Fabrics. The curtains are lined with a tan fabric
on the side that faces out to match the brick color of the house.
To make the thin fabric seem more substantial, I interlined
the curtain panels with a white fleece fabric. 

One of the pillows on the sofa even got a paint adjustment.
The station wagon pillow was a good buy but the side
panel was too orange. It got painted red (the tree and
writing got brightened up a little too).



This pillow on sale at Michael's was perfect "as is".

Jo Ann Fabric and Craft had this cute pillow on sale also.
This room makes me happy all year with the bright colors.
It is even a happier place now decked out for Christmas.


December 18, 2017

Christmas Home Tour 2017


The Christmas Home Tour 2017 at Kopy Kat Kottage starts
as you come down the street. Festive and bright big lollipops
and other types of candy greet you in the front yard. Normally
we don't have snow at Christmas time but we did get a little 
dusting last week here in Alabama. Since it does look more
Christmas-y, we'll look those pictures. 

If you want to know how to make your own big candy for Christmas, birthday parties,
 Candy Crush events or just for fun here is the link "How To Make Big Candy".


Want to know how to make a curly deco mesh topper for your



Each of the six windows across the front of the house has
a deco mesh wreath in the same colors as the candy. 



The front door is surrounded by a deco mesh garland
embellished with more big candy. 

A Christmas tree made of painted burlap adorns the front door. 

Come on inside to get out of the cold!
There is not much of a foyer at the kottage...you are
practically stepping into the dining room from the front door. 

While the theme outside is colorful, child-like and playful,
 inside this year is mostly whites and greenery. 

Honestly, I am not entertaining much this Christmas so I'm 
not going to pretend to put out a table setting. Two white
boxes are pushed together to make one long greenery 
arrangement on the dining room table. 


The (now) white hutch behind the dining room table also
 has  Christmas greenery in (now) white vessels.

The glare from the old wavy glass in the hutch makes it 
hard to see in pictures what is behind the glass. 
I'll open the doors so you can see what is behind the
glass more clearly. 



Also in the dining room is a buffet.

It holds a large greenery arrangement made of various
stems of holly, magnolia, cedar and boxwood. 



As we leave the dining room...

...a statue on a pedestal also is adorned with greenery.



The largest greenery arrangements are in the living 
room on the mantel. 


We rarely have to use the fireplace. I made this firebox cover with faux log slices. 

I recently got this faux window frame to put in my 
bathroom actually but I am using it on the mantel for now.

The holly and magnolia stems seem to hold up the best.
Artificial stems of red berries were also added to the real.

A single bookcase is to the left of the mantel.

This terra cotta Mother and Child was my mother's.



There is a double bookcase on the other side of the mantel.








Across the room from the large window is a sideboard.

Christmas cards are displayed on framed chicken wire. 

At night when the battery operated candles come on the
room is especially cozy. 



Just a little decorating in the kitchen...





...and at the backdoor.




Thank you for taking time to join my Christmas home tour!

I'm sharing this post at these blog parties...
Amaze Me Monday @ Dwellings
Metamorphosis Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch
Show and Share @ Coastal Charm
Inspire Me Tuesday @Thrifty and Chic on a Budget 
The Scoop @ Cedar Hill Farmhouse & others
Wow Us Wednesday @ Savvy Southern Style 
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