Tour a Stylish Victorian Decked Out With Natural Christmas Decorations

Tour a Stylish Victorian Decked Out With Natural Christmas Decorations | redleafstyle.com

When you walk up to my friend Cara’s 1912 Victorian home, you can’t help but feel the holiday cheer. She decked out the home for Christmas. The wicker chairs on her porch got dressed up for the holidays with bright, red stripey throw pillows. And a green table runner draped over the table in front of them proves that you don’t need to spend a lot of money to get festive. A real evergreen wreath hangs on the door. But it isn’t the only greenery in sight. A galvanized metal bucket brims with sticks, holly berries, and evergreen and pine boughs clipped from her parents’ land and hauled back in her dad’s pickup truck. The door’s open but before you step inside, her sweet puppy Jude might come out to greet you. And then you’ll know you want to stay awhile. Vintage meets new Every year, the teeny town of Weston, Missouri, where Cara lives in her much-loved rental house, hosts a holiday candlelight homes tour. She decorated her house especially for the tour using vintage items, new finds and what she could forage in nature. Everywhere you look, her vintage-meets-new decorating style abounds. Like her collection of new...

How to Make an Easy Felt Christmas Tree Ornament

How to Make an Easy Felt Christmas Tree Ornament | redleafstyle.com

Inside: Take some time for yourself this holiday season and make this simple felt Christmas tree ornament to trim your Christmas tree. Do you ever get a little depressed the day after Christmas? Because the holiday season suddenly went into fast-forward mode and you feel like you missed it? One minute you were prepping Thanksgiving dinner and the next you’re taking out the trash loaded with ripped Christmas wrapping paper and wondering where the time went. You regret not enjoying the season enough. You didn’t make cookies or go ice skating like you wanted to. And every time you turned on Christmas music in the car and started singing along, you found yourself at a stoplight mentally going through your to-do list. Like emerging from a fog, you realize you were so busy planning when you’d fit gift shopping into your lunch break that you long missed everything after the first verse of Jingle Bells. The Problem with the Never-Ending Holiday To-Do List Checking off items on your holiday to-do list feels satisfying. But you know what will make you feel even better? Actually enjoying this time of year. You know, before the New Year ball drops. That means...

This Is the Absolute Best Time to Put Up Christmas Decorations

How to Decide When to Decorate for Christmas Without Stressing | redleafstyle.com

Inside: Is decking the halls stressing you out? Here’s the easiest way to decide when to decorate for Christmas. Every year, the great debate begins. When to put up the Christmas decorations. People have decided opinions about when to start decorating for the holidays. Too early and you’re labeled a fanatic. Too late and you have less Christmas spirit than Scrooge. But how soon is too soon? And, how late is too late? Usually, I ponder this question when munching on leftover Halloween candy. See I never stay in my own home for Thanksgiving. That means no day after Thanksgiving holiday decorating. And by the time I return home on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, I feel like I’ve lost precious holiday decorating time. But that pile of laundry won’t clean itself no matter how long I stare at it with Matilda eyes. And if I drag the Christmas tree from the garage that evening, we all know that box will sit unopened in the hall for at least a few days. So, do I wait until the following weekend to start decorating? Turning Christmas decorating into a weekend project makes sense. But then I’ll lose an entire week of...

How to Make the Ultimate Fall Burlap Door Wreath

How to Make the Ultimate Fall Burlap Door Wreath | redleafstyle.com

If you’re like me, a burlap wreath DIY project will put you right in the fall mood. So you light a pumpkin spice latte candle. You pour apple cider donut coffee into your “Happy Fall!” mug. You are decked out and ready to make a fall wreath. But what kind of wreath should you make? You’ve probably seen burlap door wreaths galore on Pinterest and Instagram. Should you make a burlap wreath with ribbon wound through it? A burlap wreath with flowers? One made from a dryer vent? Oh wait. Don’t do that one....

Happy Valentine’s Day

Happy Valentine's Day | redleafstyle.com

Every year I receive a red rose from a man. He’s not my boyfriend. Don’t worry, so does every other woman in my office. Every Valentine’s Day, this guy comes in with his bag of fresh red roses and hands out one to each lady in the office. It’s a sweet tradition that I look forward to every year. He’s definitely the most-liked person in the office on February 14, and every women is a little bit more smiley than usual with our roses displayed on our desks in paper coffee cups and random thermoses. (My honey deserves a mention, too. The bouquet of a dozen red roses and one bright yellow one I found on my dresser this morning definitely beat out the single one I get at the office.) Here’s hoping your Valentine’s Day was as sweet as mine. Like this post? Follow my blog with Bloglovin!...