Woodland Theme Christmas Dining Room

 I am excited today to share my dining room and how I prepare my home for the holidays.

Five tips on how to ready your home for the holiday

ONE

PLAN A THEME

 Think of what you truly love and how you want your home to look for the holidays. This is as easy as picking a theme.  Once you establish your theme the rest should be fun. 

TWO

MAKE IT MEANINGFUL

I celebrate Christmas, so a meaningful Christmas tree is important to me.  To make my tree meaningful, I use what I love....nature, family heirlooms, and ornaments my daughter made when she was little.

THREE

USE NATURE

Bring in nature and use it in your decor.  This is the simplest way to decorate and it is my favorite! Place a few evergreen clippings on a shelf along with pine cones for instant holiday decor!

FOUR

SIMPLIFY

Keep it simple, I'm sure if you're like me you have accumulated a ton of Christmas decorations over the years. Carefully dig through the boxes and use only a few of the items and put the rest back in storage. It's okay really.  I finally mastered this and I am guilt free!

FIVE

BUY NEW and SAVE MONEY

Buy something new that fits your theme.  This goes back to planning.  Define your theme and buy only those items.  This will save you money.  I like to mix new items with my family's heirloom pieces.

Here is how I decorated my woodland theme dining room using the five tips above.

This is the very first year I am using a tabletop tree for our only Christmas tree!
   

I decorated our farmhouse-style mantel with a woodland theme.

  We enjoy a leisurely breakfast in front of the fireplace on Christmas morning.

My favorite item in the dining room is this stainless steel medical cabinet that I use for storing our everyday dishware and my collection of bottles.

I gave the stockings a little makeover using the trim from a Santa hat.

This decoration was fun to put together!  I glued pine cones to a faux wreath, added lights, and hung a deer cutout on the wreath. Then I hung a simple frame.

On the shelves next to the fireplace, I added pops of red to the neutral decor.  Here is where I mixed the new items with my vintage ones.  For a quick decorating idea, place a ribbon inside a bell jar and display vintage light bulbs in a glass vase.