Welcome friends, to my “Cranberry Christmas Kitchen! It’s the heart of the home where vibrant, fresh and faux holiday fruits and Christmas plants inspired by old world, European or Colonial Christmases past mix and mingle with a bit of vintage Christmas treasures to create my beloved, timeless, vintage-traditional Christmas aesthetic.

 

 I am happy to be joining my friend Laura of Decor to Adore and five other blogging friends for a Holiday Decor and More Home Tour! If you are coming over from Laura’s beautiful blog or if you are just visiting today, I am so thrilled that you have stopped by!  A special “thank-you” goes out to Laura for organizing today’s hop. You will find links to the other beautiful holiday inspiration at the end of this post.

 

Christmas Kitchen Inspired by Vintage-Traditional and Old World Christmas Decor

Here is one of the first shares of our Christmas kitchen with newly installed brick accent wall and red kitchen island! I am so in love with this view as you walk into the kitchen from the living room with all the festive pops of cranberry red! We just finished up these two big changes days before Thanksgiving, so it is my first Christmas decorating in this space with a new look. We purchased our 1927 RED brick home 4 years ago, and spent the first two years renovating, but we have been finishing the kitchen in phases. As a result it it still feels new to me each time a new project is complete, and I am still experimenting with decorating it.

 

When I think of Christmases past, I almost always envisioned of colonial fruits, and I love using them in my holiday decorating. Over the past several years I have gotten away from buying any mass produced, trendy Christmas decor in favor of using more simple and elegant, traditional Christmas decorations mixed in with every day treasures, Christmas keepsakes, and cherished collectibles. Cloved orange pomanders, dried orange slices, cinnamon sticks, nuts, fresh apples, realistic faux or fresh mixes of evergreens are must-haves…and of course…cranberries!

 

 

 

 

For years I have had two cranberry/burgundy-ish Belsnickel Santas that look now look just perfect in the kitchen with the brick and red island, so I decided to really go with the cranberry colors in the kitchen dining room this year. The rest of my velvet ribbon throughout the house is also the same dark red, so everything flows beautifully.

 

 

This just might be one of my favorite Christmas corners yet! So many things that my vintage-Christmas-garden loving heart adores in this shot!

 

Taking a step back you can get a better view of the kitchen flowing into the dining room and this fun and festive counter top transition. This is my first time in many years that I have used colored lights on my vintage tree (mixed with clear lights) and I am sort of crazy about it! 

 

 

Opposite view of the tree looking in from the dining room, where the vintage Christmas with cranberry reds and festive fruits theme repeats.

 

 

By the way, that sweet little putz Church under the tree was a gift from our host, Laura of Decor to Adore. She sent it to me many years ago when we first became blogging friends. It is one of my prized Christmas treasures. Thank you, Laura!

 

 

I love elegant, European/old World and Ralph Lauren inspired Christmas vibes, but I simply must have some vintage Christmas kitsch! 

 

 

 

My husband took a few photos for me while I went to work and HE had a snow day yesterday (he’s a principal in a different district and they ALWAYS get snow days!) Anyway, what a cute capture!

 

One of the easiest, festive ways to dress up a kitchen counter or sideboard is to simply serve colorful Christmas candies and fruits in various vintage glass dishes. That cranberry red rimmed dish was a purchase at the estate sale for THIS house on the very day I decided “I simply must live here on day, this house has so much potential”… so the dish is dear to me. Another fun fact, all of the candy is YEARS old! I just keep bagging it up and packing it away with the decorations! The apples are edible at least!

 

 

Here’s a throwback to my Christmas kitchen 2021 at the yellow brick home…all the same candy! Bargain decorating at it’s finest. When we have our family Christmas party I will put fresh candy out though. I don’t want anyone having to actually ask Santa for their two front teeth this Christmas! By the way, I just realized I am missing that vintage bead garland and colorful light strand since the move. Up to the attic I go!

 

 

This big island was hard for me to figure out how to style for Christmas the first year, but last year I styled my small dough bowl with rustic and natural Christmas elements and it was the perfect choice, since it can easily be moved out of the way for cooking and serving.

 

 

 

I repeated the same look this year, but the apples and cranberries are popping even more on the red island and the brick wall in the background.

 

 

 

 

 

Looking across the island you will see our newly installed pot rack styled for Christmas. I made the dried orange slices garland, and draped a faux chestnut and popcorn garland over it too. I am going to make a fresh cranberries garland to add to it this weekend.  

 

 

You might have also noticed the farmhouse Paperwhites flower farm sign on the range hood. It has been a blog reader favorite for several years and I love it too. I keep it out from Christmas through early spring.

 

 

 

 

I love this mini-fruit cone topiary! I am making two taller ones for my foyer mantel at some point during this busy holiday season! I hope to get them finished for my full Christmas home tour on December 16th! I have my middle school choir concert on Thursday and my high school on Monday. So much to do, so little time!

 

 

 

Here’s a “looks good enough to eat” Gingerbread man. It might be salt dough, or air dry clay, but it sure looks real!

 

To the right of the stove is another styled tray vignette with a larger Belsnickel and natural elements. The DIY built in cabinets are styled simply with my everyday kitchen collectibles and a few nods to Christmas added in, like the fun vintage blow mold cookie “jar” and clementine cone tree.

 

 

 

 

 

So as it turns out, I DID get a snow day after all and was able to capture a couple of magical pictures with a phone camera. Look at that snow on the magnolia! I just adore this wintry view. 

 

Another quick cell phone pic of the snowy branches

 

 

 

The vibrant poinsettia was purchased from the greenhouse class at the high school where I teach, and the rosemary tree came from Trader Joes. You may have noticed the other rosemary tree on the opposite kitchen corner styled basket tray vignette.

 

 

Here’s a view behind the island that I haven’t shared much, but is one of my favorite spots on a bright day. I wanted a white/cream poinsettia for the bistro table under my husband’s oil paintings to blend in better with the colors and add a little bit of Christmas to this corner.  The next step in bringing this dream kitchen to reality is to install floor to ceiling beadboard on this wall with a peg chair rail 3/4 high.

 

 

This room was previously the dining room, but adding the beadboard will make it seem more like an original 1920’s kitchen in much the same way the brick wall and custom cabinets have. Honestly can we give a round of applause for my dear husband? Not only can he build all of these amazing cabinets from scratch, install beautiful moldings, brick walls and floors, faux finish copper range hoods and just about anything else I dream up, he is also just an amazing artist!

 

 

Here’s a throw back to the DR built-in cabinets he built for me just before Christmas last year. You can check out the tour here, with all the before and afters of the dining room and kitchen.  You will see this year’s “Cranberry Christmas” dining room on my home tour next week.

 

 

 

Here’s a peek at this year’s table, still in progress. I do hope you will come back for a visit soon to see more!

 

I hope you have been inspired by my “cranberry Christmas” kitchen with festive fruits and vintage-traditional Christmas elements! Now it’s time to head over to Southern Crush at Home to check out Melanie’s adorable Gingerbread House Decor! Don’t forget to check out all of the beautiful Christmas home tours via the links below.

Merry Christmas!

Amber

• Laura of Decor to Adore – Holiday Decor and More
• Amber of Follow the Yellow Brick Home –  Cranberry Christmas Kitchen Tour
• Melanie of Southern Crush At Home  – DIY Gingerbread House Christmas Décor
• Shelley of Calypso in the Country  – Ralph Lauren Christmas Dining Room
• Tammy of White Lilac Farmhouse  –  Plaid Skates and Sprigs: My Cozy Christmas Porch Reveal
• Missy of Sonata Home Design – Creative Gift Wrapping Ideas to Make Your Presents Stand Out
• Libbie of A Life Unfolding  –  Holiday Decorating in Less Than 15 Minutes