Remember, wayyyyyy back to a week ago when I lied to you but didn't know I was lying to you because at the time I was actually telling the truth?
Well, I'd like to explain that lie.
I told you that I would be paring down my Christmas this year. I thought at the time I typed those words they were true. In fact they WERE true.
Until 2 days later when Brett, an editor from Canadian Living magazine emailed me to ask if I was going big with my Christmas decorating this year.
Um. Sort of. I guess. Not really. I suppose I could. Crap. Me no speaka di english.
7 really bad iPhone photos and a couple of emails later it was confirmed. Canadian Living was coming to shoot my house for their Christmas issue to be published next December.
And they were coming in 4 days.
So as it turns out, this wasn't the year that Christmas got pared down.
Instead, in fact, this turned out to be the year Christmas got jacked up. I decorated until I had scars.
This is not a lie ... I found sparkles in my ... well never mind. But they shouldn't have been there.
Would you like to save this stuff?
We'll email you this post, so you can refer to it later.
Behold Art of Doing Stuff readers, the Christmas House Tour 2013.
A military guard might seem like an unlikely Christmas ornament, but these little metal soldiers were my father's when he was a little boy. They have enormous sentimental value. Plus it's a good reminder that not everyone is sitting by the fire this holiday season.
I'll remind you all next year when the article comes out if you promise to remind me that NEXT YEAR is going to be the year of the pared down Christmas. A year of rest, solitude and where every body part, and organ will be declared a sparkle-free zone.
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I think your 2013 Christmas is my favorite. I love the silver table. I love your pensive cat. I love your little soldiers. I love the luscious garland with the grey ribbon. But most of all, I love the gold twig tree—I’ve coveted that ever since I saw it for the first time. I’m looking forward to seeing what you do for 2020. 🎄
How much for your house? I want it.
Just for me, no kids or husband or dog to spoil it. I might let my cat and chickens move in.
Leave the Christmas stuff and I'll throw in a bonus.
You can tell from this alone you dont have children. Its beautiful sophisticated, elegant and what i desire in my own home. No one has taken the lower third of the ornaments off your tree and eaten them. you have a beautiful basket of shiney brights within grabbing distance. UGH. a big part of me cant wait until they are older and I can do what I really want....
Is your greenery fake or is some of it real?
Hi Erin! All of the indoor greenery inside the house is fake. Fake, fake, fake. 'Cept the tree. ~ karen!
Karen I love your house.. You did a very nice job... Is that a picture of your grandmother in the dining room?
She is very pretty..
I just love your Blog, I look for it every day in my email.
Thank You
Hi jasper! No, that's not even a relative, :). It's a portrait of a Scottish woman I bought at an antique auction many years ago. Her name is Margaret. ~ karen!
Hi Karen - I've been checking out your website periodically over the past year and I'm finding my visits becoming more frequent. You're so talented and witty! And I love your decorating style so much so that I think you should decorate as a sideline! Great job! I'll continue to visit and want to wish you the happiest and most peaceful of holidays. Merry Christmas too (even though it's not politically correct to say that.)
Thanks Karen, lol. That's O.K. I'm fine with Merry Christmas and say it myself when I know the person celebrates Christmas. There's nothing wrong with that. Hope you keep coming by more and more often. ~ karen!
How about a pared down January instead? I love your house. I could totally live there.
Your dining room table looks absolutely beautiful!
J'adore the soldiers! Congratulations on the photo shoot ~ but its no surprise, you have an amazing ability. I didn't see the "fairy" glas light thing-a-ma-bob that you recently created (those lights are now on my Amazon wish list - ummm thanks
Heh. Sorry 'bout that. Look on the bright side. I could have convinced you to buy the $400 speaker lights! The cloche is on the sofa table in the living room. ~ karen!
It's all beautiful! I especially love your tree!
Oh heck. Your house is so airy and light that now I don't want to walk into my lounge and look. :-(
My house is WAY overstuffed with furniture and STUFF, because when my mom died we ended up with all her things.
Some I kept for sentiment, some I kept and tossed MY stuff because it's better quality and the rest my husband refused to let me get rid of. Feeling soooo cramped!
Gorgeous job on the decorating by a gorgeous lady for a gorgeous home!
Such frantic work on your part has created such a serenity vibe; I hope some of that serenity seeps into you. Just chill now girl!
Enjoy it. :-)
Irene - Tell your husband he's no the decorator in the family (unless he is) and get rid of stuff. I got rid of ALL my stuff 5 or 6 years ago and it changed my life. I now know where EVERYTHING is, and I never have that house falling in on me, claustrophobic feeling. Do it! ~ karen
My poor husband. There is absolutely NO sign of him living here. :-)
It started with me tossing his Iron Maiden posters (which I sort of regret now), to moving his tools, motorbike and car parts and other stuff right out of the house. Yes. The house. This is a man who, if he lived here without me, would have a stripped motorbike on the dining room table.
Soooo, I will tolerate the excess but comfortable lounge suite and other such stuff, consoling myself that my kid will probably move out in the next few years and then she can move some of it out with her.
Or I'll rob someone for the funds to enlarge my house.
Either will work for me.
I did see your 'toss everything' post. Your 'before' was cosy if in a cluttered grannified way. Your 'after' BREATHES! :-D
Irene,
I am in the EXACT same boat! Except the furniture in question belonged to HIS mom...how can I ask him to get rid of it? I feel evil! But there's barely any room to move in our living room!
Irene and Sally, Karen is right! Just do it (to borrow a Nike ad)! You aren't getting rid of your family or memories, just the furniture they bought to use in their spaces. If it's not useful to you, let it be useful to someone else! (We're not talking priceless antiques here, are we?) I just gave my grandmother's sofa bed away to the Salvation Army and my living room has room to move now. Gramma would have agreed!
Jennifer, not quite antiques but getting there. :-)
Loads of 60-ish year old Imbuia, which I HATED while I was growing up, in my mother's depressing biege, off white and brown house.
It actually looks pretty cool now, in the same house, now mine, which is a riot of colour! The dark wood glows against my red lounge walls. I got a bit clever too, and asked my husband to turn her triple door ball and claw wardrobe into the TV/entertainment unit. People do a double take when they walk into the lounge and see a wardrobe, but I dig it; it works really well at hiding the giant-ass TV no one ever watches except for the odd movie on DVD.
I have given away tons of stuff, but hey, life sometimes keeps throwing more at you. Maybe BECAUSE we keep giving stuff away. :-D
Sally, I know, right?! One of the couches even ended up in my son's bedroom! You must KNOW how many times I have moved stuff around in an attempt to find that ellusive 'space'. Don't even get me started on the BOOKS! I've given away what feels like thousands, stored loads more in crates in the ceiling (not even an attic, just a ceiling), and STILL don't have enough shelving. :-D
It's lovely Karen! How was the shoot? I'm late in reading this.
We all had a great time. Thanks Barbie! ~ karen
I really like the driftwood (?) thing holding the blue ornaments on your mantle. I swear I recognize it from an old post you did, maybe to hold eggs?...can't remember what you called it though.
Yup. That's it. https://www.theartofdoingstuff.com/diy-egg-holder-rustic-or-moderngreat-last-minute-diy-gift/
Wow! I love the swags on the beam! It gave me an idea for my arch.
Well, if I can survive my final project part, final quiz, final exam, an art show, a new position, and holiday lights that need to be re-hung, that is so going on the to do list!
~Jen
Lovely! I love the touches of teal, the burlap and pine cones, and those antique soldiers. Great mix of old and new stylization!
You are such a talented woman! Your home is lovely and your decorations are so lovely!! I especially love the little toy soldiers. Great job!!
Thanks Sue! ~ karen
You did an amazing job - I love the box of balls under the coffee table, the garlands, your fireplace, the trees, well...just about everything. Well done! Now you can sit back and enjoy the beauty of it all.
LOL ... actually *now* I'm sick! So I will be sitting back, but not exactly enjoying it. :) ~ karen!
Oh, darn, I am sorry to hear that. Rest up and I hope you get well soon.