Hello and welcome to the Vintage Christmas Tour of Homes!!! I am excited to kick off this tour with a most wonderful theme for the most wonderful time of the year…(vintage) Christmas! Since our 1921 yellow brick home has reached it’s centennial Christmas milestone, I thought it would be fun to celebrate with some vintage-loving blogging friends and all of you!

 

Surprise White Christmas 2020

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I have invited my some blogging besties to share all kinds of vintage Christmas inspo from historic homes to newer  homes decorated primarily with vintage Christmas, so if you love all-things vintage and Christmas as much as we do, you are in for a treat!

You will find links to each amazing tour at the end of this post.

 

My 100-Year Old Kentucky Christmas Home!

So far this holiday season I have shared some peeks of our new side room “mini-mudroom” entrance that was just finished up in time for the holidays. This area which serves as our daily entrance was original to the house, but in much need of a vintage-style refresh. For the holidays I started by giving an old wooden door a fresh coat of  green paint and adorned the door with a pretty DIY antique picture frame wreath.

 

Vintage Christmas postcards, traditional red velvet and fresh greenery are decor elements that can be found throughout our holiday home and are traditional Christmas touches reminiscent of a bygone era. 

 

 

The entryway is light and bright with traditional bead board and board and batten trim painted in the perfect bright off-white, Swiss Coffee by Behr. I love the vintage red metal sled here in the entrance. The red pops against the bright bead board and evokes a vintage winter feeling as soon as you walk through the door.

 

At the top of a set of three stairs is the main floor landing where a new mirror on the closet helps bounce light and reflects the beautiful 1920’s style chandelier above the door.

 

 

All of the dark, stained woodwork is 100-years old and with the exception of some the entrance and powder room trim, is unpainted. I especially love how the warm rich wood tones come to life at Christmas among the greenery, plaids, and Christmas lights.

 

All of the door knobs in our home are 1920’s crystal glass. For Christmas I have dressed them up in various ways. Some are adorned with bells, greenery, or mini-ornaments while others like this closet door dressed up with velvet ribbon and an antique skeleton key.

 

 

Coming in through the side entry and to the right is the living room which is always decked with vintage-traditional Christmas touches for the holiday season.

 

 

Our original 1921 carved fireplace mantel is one of my favorite features in our home. While old houses have plenty of charm, there are usually things that are hard to work around too. I wanted to install direct vent gas logs, but there are no logs  on the market that will fit the awkward opening of the fireplace. After many months of searching we finally found a beautiful electric logs fireplace insert that fits perfectly and we love it!

 

 

I used a found 1920’s cast iron fireplace cover/surround to make the insert look more authentic and period appropriate for our home. For more info about the logs and extra views of this part of the living room, check out my Cozy Christmas Living Room Tour.

 

 

This recliner by the “fire” is my favorite spot in the house during the holidays. Not only do I have the fire beside me, but the view straight ahead of the staircase area is one of my favorites during the Christmas season.

 

Looking straight ahead from my chair I get to enjoy the twinkling lights on the Christmas tree and the warm glow of lights on the staircase garland. 

 

 

 

There are plenty of vintagey-Christmas treasures or vintage treasures that have been creatively used in Christmas vignettes around this area by the staircase. 

 

The banister garland from Balsam Hill has been dressed up a bit more with orange slices I dried this season. The orange slices with a few pine cones and traditional plaid bows are simply vintage-Christmas to me!

 

 

Over the past few years I have moved away from store bought and mass produced Christmas decorations in favor of creating special holiday vignettes using my own everyday vintage treasures , fresh greens or holiday fruits creatively in Christmas vignettes.

 

 

 

 

I recently thrifted a beautiful and very old chalkware angel bust plaque which inspired this old-world Christmas vignette. The cherub crystal lamp was a $3.00 Habitat Restore find from summer which was swiped up specifically with Christmas in mind. I used a mix of real and realistic faux greenery on this little side entry cabinet and it is hard to tell which is which . The mini lemon cypress tree is real and it smells wonderful!

 

 

I love using many  of the antique Christmas postcards from my extensive collection in various holiday vignettes around our home. I also use various shades of vintage-looking satin and velvet ribbon everywhere!

 

 

Homemade orange slices are so vintage-Christmas, but also so on trend! I have used them all over the house along with lots of plaid and velvet ribbon which creates a unified and cohesive look without being matchy-matchy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also used dried apples and lime slices with the orange slices on the mantel garland (faux cascading hemlock.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

The late 1800’s antique books by James Whitcomb Riley on the mantel are treasures from a late fall Estate Sale. I knew the green and gold colors would be so pretty Christmas. What I wasn’t expecting was to adore the poetry! (More about that in an upcoming post!)

 

This special commemorative 1921 Father Christmas ornament is one of the special touches I added to mark the 100th Christmas of the yellow brick home.

 

I also framed a printed copy of the December 1921 cover of The People’s Home Journal which perfectly captures that 1920’s vintage-Christmas vibe!

 

 

 

On into the dining room, the vintage-traditional theme continues with red and green, dried fruits, plaids, velvets and various kinds of Christmas flowers and greenery which reference my love of gardening year round.

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can read all about the details of this year’s dining room decor including the pretty roses from my husband which inspired the vignette below  in my recent Vintage-Traditional Christmas Dining Room tour Post.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I haven’t created this year’s tablescape just yet, but it will be similar to my 2019 Festive Traditional Christmas Tablescape because I just love all the classic, traditional Christmas elements.

 

 

 

 

Despite enjoying sharing this tour with you, there is a bit of a sadness and honestly a little bit of guilt. While the sun shines bright on my old Kentucky home, many of my fellow Kentuckians aren’t so lucky this holiday season. Please join me in praying for all those who have lost everything in the recent devastating tornados. The guilt is not over having a home, which is a blessing, but more about all the things I have stressed about getting “right” for my blog tours. It has definitely helped me put things into perspective and to focus more on what is important…Jesus’ birthday of course, and the safety of my family here in this home that God has provided. 

 

 

It is never cliche to say, “Jesus is THE reason for the CHRISTmas season!” 

 

 

There are still so many things I didn’t get finished in time for this tour, and honestly with my busy holiday choir concert schedule I am not sure I will get around to it. But that’s okay! I am ready to slow down and just enjoy what is left of the holiday with my family!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I did manage to get the main tree mostly finished this week! We still have a few family keepsake ornaments to add this weekend.  It is a non-themed family tree which actually has a very authentic vintage Christmas look in that it is full of family ornaments that have been collected over time. Some are newer, while others are from my childhood or some of my favorite vintage ornaments from my junk-hunting adventures.

 

Battery operated candles tied loosely with dark green velvet ribbon along with the dried orange slices help create the old-world vintage look.  The “vintage” 1990’s Boyd’s bear looks much older with it’s jointed limbs and traditional styling. 

 

 

I always enjoy decorating around and under the tree with vintage toys (or vintage-looking) toys and treasures.

 

 

Last year I filled a sled with an antique baby doll, some vintage Christmas books and a little Boyd’s bear.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A few more vintage Christmas treasures are displayed to the left of the tree on my 140+ year-old organ, a family heirloom gifted to me by my late grandfather who was my first music teacher.

 

It wouldn’t be vintage Christmas without a bit of Christmas kitsch! I recently scored a set of two little 1950’s choir boy figurines that are perfect for this year when I am lucky enough to have 18 talented boys in my choir (a very high number for a high school mixed chorus!) Even my 16 year-old son is joining in for the concert!

 

 

I am also enjoying my vintage Italian nativity on top of the organ where it is displayed yearly during December and Janurary.

 

 

Our big choir concert is coming up this week (the first in two years!) Then I can finally sit back and relax and enjoy this view!

 

I hope you have enjoyed today’s vintage-Christmas inspiration too here at my 100 year-old Kentucky home! I also hope you will stop back next week as I share one last Christmas tour with a few more vignettes and our Christmas kitchen. Until then, here’s a few throw back photos from last year’s kitchen:

 

We have added a new quartz top work table island which I will share next week.

 

We also got around to adding new vintage-style hardware to the cabinets.

 

 

 

Everything else will look similar to last year’s Christmas kitchen because I loved it!

 

 

 

 

 

I will be decorating it very similarly, with plenty of extra vintage-Christmas sweetness!

 

 

 

 

 

Now it’s time to continue on with even more vintage goodness on the tour!  Next up is Anita at Whispering Pines Homestead. Her historic home is decorated with unique vintage treasures will give you ALL the old-timey Christmas feels! Afterward, be sure to continue the tours via the links below.

 

Thanks so much for visiting today! Merry Christmas! 

Amber