Hello friends! I am extending a “Very Merry” Christmas welcome to you today inside our 1926 home, where I am still in the process of creating a classic Christmas cottage, with my vintage-traditional flair! When it comes to Christmas, we can certainly say “the more the merrier,” and at the end of this post you will find links to 8 other beautiful Christmas home tours to enjoy!

As often happens in December, the sunshine didn’t cooperate and I wasn’t able to take a lot of photos for today’s post, but I will at least get to share a preview of some spaces that you will see more of next week on my Christmas home tour.   We have had frigid temperatures the past two weeks that have kept me from decorating our porch, so we will skip the porch and step straight into the foyer. I really wanted to create a vintage-traditional and classic, old world Christmas feels, which includes English country, colonial and Southern American decorative elements. Favorite accents that I use to create this look include inlude antique brass candle holders, and glass hurricane covers, cozy candles, luxurious velvet ribbons, fresh, dried or faux fruits, paperwhites, poinsettias, orchids, and plaid anything and everything!  Of course Belsnickel Santas, vintage Christmas ornaments, mercury glass and antique bead garlands are must-haves!

 

Vintage-Traditional Christmas Foyer

An arrangement of magnolias, mixed with evergreen stems and red berries in a chinoiserie vase is the focal point on the round foyer table, which I think really sets the tone for the rest of the classic Christmas decor throughout our home.

 

 

 

 

Dishes of cranberries and of clove studded orange pomanders are easy ways to add colonial, old world Christmas touches to any vignette, and they smell so good! 

 

My scottish lady with tartan plaid painting is beautiful year round, but especially at Christmas as the backdrop for a  piano vignette.

 

 

 

 

The tiny lady apples at the base of my paperwhites arragnement on the piano were picked up at a local grocery store in Hyde Park, NY while visiting our son over Thanksgiving. I disovered these little beauties last year and now I will just have to have them every Christmas for my decorating!

 

 

The festive fruits theme continues on the  foyer mantel which is vintage English cottage inspired, with imperfect (as in nature) pine garlands adorned with red velvet droopy bows, tarnished bead garland, pheasant feathers, dried orange slices and whole dried oranges.

 

Whenever I bring out my pheasants for the holidays, can’t help but hear Frank Sinatra croon, “Oh by gosh, by golly, it’s time for mistletoe and holly…tasty pheasant…Christmas presents, country sides cover with snow…” 

 

I recently added the blue transferware plates and equestrian picture set to each side of the mirror using heavy duty command strips. Not sure if I will keep them after Christmas, but I like the English country vibe for the holidays.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was hard to get a clear picture, but you can kind of see the holy family statuette under the glass cloche. Jesus is the reason for the season…let it never be just a catchy statement, but the sentiment of our hearts during Christmas.

 

When the sun isn’t out, it’s not great for pictures, but the ambiance inside is all cozy Christmas with the candles and Christmas lights flickering, and all of the pretty vintage lamps casting soft glows.

 

 

 

 

Speaking of lamps, I had to show you this beautiful lamp I thrifted in NY on Thanksgiving break! The little pleated lamp shades on the antique wall lights were thrfited in NY last year for a quarter each!

 

Foyer Mantel Before

I thought you might enjoy this before and after looking into the foyer from the living room. Last summer my husband added beautiful moldings around the face of the fireplace, and this fall he finished up covering the top of the crumbling brick hearth and adding trim. Just a couple of weeks ago I painted the brass fireplace cover with black acrylic paint and it worked! I love how the whole fireplace facelift turned out! The last thing I will be doing over Christmas break is adding fresh grout to the grout lines.

 

 

 

 

The Living Room Mantel

The living room mantel is also vintage traditional Christmas inspired. I dressed up my year-round Chinoiserie pieces and candles with red velvet ribbon, and tucked in cloved oranges around my orchids arrangment, replacing the ferns at the base with a cedar wreath. So simple and elegant!

 

 

 

It was a hassle hanging the boxwood wreath with the yellow velvet ribbon last winter, so I decided not to fool with switching it with red for the holidays, especially since I am using yellow velvet ribbon on the Christmas tree. It works!

 

 

 

 

 

Our family tradition is to hang the stockings either a couple of days before Christmas or on Christmas Eve, so I usually just decorate with a decorative stocking or two around the house. I also gave this brass fireplace screen a refresh using black acrylic paint topped with rub and buff which matches so much better with the gold tones of my mantel mirror frames than the shinier brass did. 

 

This gorgeous handmade Bosphorus toile stocking was a thrifted find.

 

 

Simple, Rustic and Classic Christmas Coffee Table

 

As I am getting older (fifty is just a few months away!) I am always thinking ahead to the next season and how I can make things easier on myself. This styled tray will so easily transition to winter and even on into spring with the paperwhites.

 

 

 

 

This corner armoire was the first antique furniture piece I bought specifically for our new home and I just adore it! I will be styling the top this week (not sure how yet!) Last year I used two small wreaths on each mirrored door and I didn’t really like it. This year I went with a single norfolk pine garland wreath dressed up with a large frayed red velvet bow and I love it! If you look closely here you can see a bit of my blue and white thrifted Ralph Lauren lamp with red velvet ribbon in the kitchen. On a brighter day I should be able to capture this shot better.

 

.Using blue and white pottery, red velvet, plaid and festive fruits throughout the house allows for the views into each room to flow harmoniously.

 

 

 

 

Check my Classic Christmas Cottage Dining Room tour for more ideas on how to achieve a traditional and elegant Christmas aesthetic.

 

 

I didn’t get any clear shots during the dreary winter days looking into the living room from the kitchen with the Christmas tree and organ, but as soon as the sun comes out I will try to add some extra photos to this post.

 

Here’s a little glimpse of last year’s tree. I decorate our tree the same each year with our traditional and family heirloom ornaments.

 

 

Update! Here is a shot on Christmas Day, after all the presents had been opened. We didn’t have a white Christmas, but it was a beautiful sunny day!

 

 

 

 

New (antique) Cabinet Doors Sneak Peek!

In this shot you can see the newly installed antique cabinet doors! Check out the picture below from spring for comparison:

 

The bookcases were pretty before, but restoring and installing the original 1926 cabinet doors we found in the basement completely elevated the look of our living room and brought back so much of it’s original, historic charm!

 

 

 

I will do a dedicated post on the cabinet doors, but at least you can get a little preview here. I definitely want to retake this shot when the lighting is right so you can see the true colors and the pretty styling on top of the bookcases.

 

 

 

 

I styled the top of each bookcase unit flanking the fireplace with the prettiest thrifted brass rimmed hurricane candle covers encircled by greenery, antlers, and red velvet ribbon, but the lighting was too poor to capture the beauty. I share more pics in the dedicated post about the cabinet doors and how I styled the mantel and each side for Christmas.

 

 

For some amazing before and afters of our 1926 restoration and more of my classic Christmas decorating ideas, check out my Classic Cottage Christmas Dining Room and Kitchen tour from last week. The changes are drastic!

 

 

 

This wraps up today’s mini “preview” tour of the foyer and living room. I am excited to share more very soon, as soon as I can get some better pictures. For now you can find plenty of beautiful inspiration over at Our Southern Home and all the other beautiful tours today via the links to the below.

 

Thanks for visiting and have a very merry Christmas!

Amber