You're a wrestler you say? A crossfitter? A yoga expert? Yeah, good for you. You must be so proud. Pftt. Amateur. I am none of those things, but I'm still more of an athlete than you.
I excel in the sport of Christmas decorating.
I train just as hard as you, carb load not only before the big game, but during and after it, *plus* win or lose I'm covered head to toe in gold sparkles for the entire month of December. I'm like a walking gold medal. If you propped me on a pole I'd look like Brandi the Christmas stripper, only I'd have cookie crumbs in my bra instead of money. I'm awesome.
Look, I know at this point you're feeling a bit intimidated by my obvious superior athletic abilities, but don't be. We all put on our team jerseys one arm at time. It's just that your jersey is some stupid, super-boring one that reduces you to a number while mine happens to be a pair of tree sap covered pajamas with 4.5 pounds of artificial garland and mystery dirt stuck to them. So again, awesome.
There are subtle differences between my sport and yours of course. Yours has you replenishing with Gatorade and eating power bars. Mine has me replenishing with rum and eggnog and tripping over power bars then giving them the finger, *just* before I fall into a Tupperware bin full of antique glass balls. I also give them the finger.
I started the race a little bit late this year because I had to finish putting in the built in bookcases in the dining room. So it turns out this Christmas post is also the reveal of all of the bookcases in my dining room. It isn't a representation of how the dining room will look all the time, just during stripper Christmas.
I also realized that this is the first time you'll see what's become of my foyer since removing all of the bookcases. This is a very exciting post indeed.
In fact, it's like Christmas.
A black Christmas.
This year it's out with all white and in with big hits of black.
It's also a bit of a turnaround for me in terms of shoving some of the simple, minimalistic, decorations to the side in favour of big, fat, cookie eating decorations. I have retired the anaemic garland I've loved so much over the past few years and I'm embracing my inner Dynasty.
Which is not to say that everything is over the top. Everything over the top is too much, just like eating an entire Costco sized chicken pot pie is too much. Sometimes. My coffee table decoration is just one of the cheese boards I made with a few candles on it.
All of the garland in the house though? Yeah, every bit of it is totally over the top with a capital Carrington.
Ready to see the new foyer?
There are so many things in this picture that I feel compelled to tell you about.
The tree. For the first time in my life I bought a surprise tree. One of those things wrapped in netting and twine, smashed up so tight you have no idea what's actually inside. It was like a tree wearing Spanx. I was excited and terrified to cut it loose for fear of what might come boinging out at me.
As luck would have it the surprise tree was perfect. Too perfect in fact. I had to take a pair of shears to screw it up a bit.
The tablecloths Those are not tablecloths over my foyer table. The bottom, natural coloured one is my linen duvet cover and the black one on top is my black linen pinafore. I'm very cold at night and very dirty while cooking, but my foyer looks good.
The Chandelier You might remember my $100 Kijiji chandelier. Once I got it together I discovered it's missing a lot of crystals and one of the arms causes the bulb (and my dimmer) to blow out. Sooooo watch for a DIY on how to do a little electrical repair on chandeliers the first week of January on the blog.
Would you like to save this stuff?
We'll email you this post, so you can refer to it later.
I still haven't figured out an option for window treatments but I won't be able to do the thing I most wanted which was interior wood shutters. There just isn't room for them to open on enough windows. So I've half decided to go with simple roman blinds, just like the ones in my kitchen.
You won't find any photos of my kitchen at Christmas in this post incidentally because it looks exactly like it did last year, so just take a look at my Christmas House Tour 2015 if you want to see what it looks like at this very moment.
I brought the black into this room with the black metal candelabra at the end of the buffet and 3 black reindeer. Black decorations were hard to find this year but I'm guessing by next year they'll be way easier to come by.
Simple, rustic and white have been in for so long that there's bound to be a backlash soon by way of people clamouring for the opposite of white and simple. Black and brash.
And Buddha.
Enter Dynasty era garland number 4. It's 3 or 4 garlands twisted together with pinecones, gold beads and black and white ornaments added to it. It. Is. Over. The. Top.
Are you ready for the dining room and the completed bookcase project that caused me to run naked and screaming through the streets? (that's rhetorical if you happen to be one of my neighbours)
I love it. It's like a hug. From hundreds of books.
Enter the black dining room accents. Black ornaments tucked in the garland which is sitting on a black burlap runner.
Margaret is the beautiful black backdrop to it all.
And then of course there are the black presents, inspired by basketball coach Amos.
I hope you enjoyed your Christmas tour through my house this year, I'm glad you could make it. I'm even more glad that you're only imaginary here because then I don't have to make small talk and you don't have to worry about breaking anything.
It's been an exciting post hasn't it? So exciting you might feel inclined to tip me. You don't need to. But if you insist, I shall keep my bra open and ready for you to stuff with cookies.
love Brandi, the Christmas stripper.
Linda in Illinois
Jameson !! I kind of lost track of everything else but the glass and snowball size ice cube after I saw the bottle.. lol.. no really the décor is beautiful as always. I like the garland much better this year, more bold and thick like the bold black, it works so beautifully.
jainegayer
Absolutely beautiful, Brandi I mean Karen! I love BIG garlands and if you are going to have garlands they should be over the top like yours. You are a great Christmas decorating athlete!
I am a lardass so I put some Christmas balls on the mantel and later today if it warms up some, I am going to creep through the woods (backyard) to my neighbor's pine tree and cut some of those branches off and plunk them in a vase. Done.
maggie van sickle
It is stunning Karen great job as usual. Love the fact that Margaret made it into the decor cause my name is Margaret and love the decorative Jameson bottle one of my favourite or maybe my favourite beverage. Yes!!!!!!!
Karen
It's really good isn't it Maggie! I had no idea, I'd never had it before I was gifted this bottle. Love it. ~ karen!
brenda
Well Brandi - hic - I laughed when I read the bit about making the breadboard but not the candles - a little slap-dasher, haha! Loving Margaret and the bookcases, of course, and all the garlands and the accents of black and the gold branch tree and the Buddha and the mirror and the duvet/apron table cover and the lack of kitchen this year (I'm imagining Christmas chicken laying eggnog factory goings on in there) ... oh yes and the white poinsettias. Hopefully you can sit back and enjoy all your efforts now - REALLY ENJOY IT ALL - you so deserve it.
Karen
I'm taking 2 weeks off at the end of the year Brenda and I'm not doing a thing. I haven't stopped doing/building stuff since the spring and I'm gonna use that time to recharge. :) ~ karen!
Mary W
Besides, Karen will need to just sit until all the bacon appetizers are digested.
Julianne
Bookshelves in the dining room. OMG, Brandi, you are my idol. :-)
Jenifer
I think I mostly want your floors...I have floor envy. I do love Margaret's style this holiday season!
Great job!
Monique
This is why I find magazines boring..it's all here and better.
Happy holidays Karen..beautifull done!
Karen
Feel free to mention that fact to every company you know Monique, lol. Some of the more stuck in their ways ones, still think advertising in magazines is better than advertising on blogs. ~ karen!
Jan in Waterdown
I don't even buy and seldom look in magazines anymore. The rooms were always soooo perfect and overdone to the point where one couldn't swing a cat. If one were even inclined to do so. There was a Canadian decor mag that may not be around anymore but it was just too snooty and precious. I like Karen's stuff and style. It's real yet classy, doable and fun!
Kari in Dallas
Well done! So cozy yet glamorous. Love everything!
Karen
Thanks Kari. :) ~ karen!
trish oriordan
Tell us about the lighting you added to the bookcases please. That garland makes me feel ashamed!
Karen
The lights were a bit of a struggle Trish. I got them at Ikea but had to really modify them to make them work because they aren't actually bookcase lighting. I'll be detailing it a lot more in a post in January when I break down exactly how I constructed the bookcases. I didn't have time for that post this year because I had to get the Christmas decorations up so quickly. ~ karen!
Linda J Howes
Black and red are my favourite colours so I'm loving the fact that plaid, which I also love, and buffalo plaid are in this year. For the first time in my life my style is in style! Looked everywhere for black decorations, ribbon, etc., or plain white, specifically white burlap ribbon, so I could combine the two. Very hard to find this year but believe by next year the dollar store will have it covered.
A guy
Nicely done.
Thanks for the visual pictures, Karen, and thanks for the mental pictures, Brandi.
Merry Christmas.
Marilyn
Drooling over the chandelier.
Karen
omg I know! Isn't it beautiful??? gotta love Kijiji. ~ karen!
Jane S
I love house tours, and this was the best because I didn't have to get out of bed to enjoy it. Your house is lovely. Thank you and Merry Christmas.
Karen
LOL. Well said! Stupid waking up early for house tours! ~ karen!
Ev Wilcox
Very nice, Karen, and thanks for the tour! Garlands are especially pretty, and the black accents here and there are wonderful. Your home is really something and I hope you enjoy it. Once again, kudos for the bookcases-so well done.
Jacquie
Great job Karen and it's good to see Margaret again.
Jenny W
The Mirror!!!! Oh how I love that Mirror with the garland <3
Question - On top of the green dresser in the living room there seems to be a "floating gold tree" -magic?
The Black is an inspiration. It must be a Canadian thing, cause I added it to some of my rooms this year to :)
Karen
Not floating Jenny. :) Just a bad picture, lol. It's a modern gold twig tree that's sitting on the dresser. ~ karen!
Deb J.
I'm with you on the floating tree. But on closer inspection realized the tree is on the dresser and the 'base' is actually the shade of the brass lamp. On optical illusion.
The house looks awesome Karen! I especially like Margaret & her garland. And the black is beautiful. I considered a black & white Christmas this year but went Scandinavian gnomes instead - the outside ones went in one day & were buried in snow the next. So now they're more domes than gnomes. Oh well.
Mary W
I saw the same thing and once I saw that the tree was on the dresser I had to figure out what the gold thing was hanging off the edge - then figured that out. It was fun trying to see it correctly and imagine Karen left it in the photo just to fool us. Or maybe she was too tired to take another round of pictures. Love trying to find "where's waldo" in her pics.
Louise
You mentioned you want interior wooden shutters but there isn't enough room for them. I had the same problem, so I got shutters (at a thrift store) that only come up halfway. I still get privacy, but don't lose much light, especially as I can open and close them easily enough. I spray painted them white and they look so cute behind my lace curtains!
Just an idea . . .
Louise
BTW, I meant I can open and close the louvers, so I don't have to worry about folding them back.
Vickie
....those bookcases....sigh....no more words
Catherine
The bookcases were absolutely worth the sweat, tears, stripping etc, they look wonderful. I love Buddha rocking his garland - he knows he is fabulous.
Karen
He really does. :) ~ karen!
Louise
These are great pictures and your place turned out beautifully! I LOVE the over-the-top garlands, I love what you did to Margaret, and your dining room is fabulous! Your Christmas tree in the foyer is perfect (and yes, I want to know about the box, too).
One question; in the photo of the giant mirror in your foyer, the one that shows the boots, do I see a louvered door with a gold reindeer head being used as a door handle? Very pretty, unique, but seems ouchy. And where does that magical door go to? (Inquiring minds want to know.)
Karen
Hi Louise! The magical door heads to an enchanted forest. It is indeed a louvered door, very small, with a reindeer head hanging off of the latch handle. No ouchy. :) ~ karen!
Louise
Yes, but where does it really go? The fact that you did not answer this makes me think along the lines of BlueBeard. Is this where you keep coats, a hot water heater, or your victims?