DesignsandEvents: Making an Entrance

I started decorating my home for Christmas in the middle of November. I find doing so helps me enjoy the season all the more and takes away some of the stress of the season as December approaches. Still, it takes me weeks to finish the process. In fact, I was still working on finishing touches just yesterday!

I am very excited to show you the foyer of my home. I found the items below at places like Homegoods and Michael's. I was especially inspired by the faux fur Christmas ball garland shown in the below photo. Every decision I made for decorating this space revolved around that one piece. Do you find that happens with you sometimes, too?

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen some of these photos already but, now I can finally "reveal" the whole room!

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Here is the front door as you enter my house. Mr. Snowman is a new addition to the Christmas decor. He was a present from my mom last Christmas and I think he looks very much at home on my front step.

The new snowman seems to welcome guests as they come through the door.

The blue and cream painting on the back wall is one that my daughter, Brittany, painted for me a few years ago. I've moved it from one location to the next in my house but, for this Christmas season it is here in the entryway.

The wreath on the front door is embellished with a string of battery operated lights which are on a timer. I just love those lights. They are an added delight pretty much anywhere you place them!

Since the paneling in the front hallway is so dark I wanted to use a lot of white to lighten up the look. I actually like the contrast of the dark walls against the white of the table and decorative elements. That is good news to my husband since I have been threatening to have the paneling painted for a while now :).

Everything you see on this table either came from Homegoods or Michaels. The only things that didn't from those places are the mirror and the table. Both of these were handed down to me by family members, holding a special significance for me, especially at Christmas.

I thought the Merry Christmas antler box was so cute! Oh, and by the way, I draped the faux fur Christmas garland around the faux fur Christmas tree. (Are you discovering a pattern here?!) I almost forgot I had done that. The garland was only 6' long and didn't really work anywhere else. Funny since it was the inspiration for the whole foyer.

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Over the beams of the ceiling I placed an artificial garland and then---

embellished it with some of the elements from the first photo. I also added some birds and thing-a-ma-bobs.

Of course the garland is lined with Christmas lights so at night it really looks pretty festive.

A tiny peak into the living room, which is still waiting for our big Christmas tree! Tom has been away on business this week and I can't do that job by myself. Hopefully, we'll get to it tomorrow.

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As you enter the foyer, to the left I have this Christmas vignette. It is totally non-functional but, I like it anyway :).

More thing-a-ma-bobs

This is what you would see if you were inside the house looking back towards the driveway.

I've changed up my faux fur wreath ever so slightly from last year. This year it is with a white cut-out ribbon and I also added a white bird perched on some sparkling branches. Somehow it seems more simple to me than last year's look but, now I am not really sure it is.

And, finally this is the scene you would see as you were to leave my home, at least until the snow comes. At that point, all you would see is winter white!