Welcome to My Christmas House Tour 2017

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A DOWNTON ABBEY-ish CHRISTMAS

My house is a 1,000 square foot, 178 year old Ontario cottage. The ceilings are low, the thermostat is always on high and the grandest thing about it is nothing. Yet I still decorate it as though I'm living in both the upstairs and downstairs of Downton Abbey. One part scullery maid, one part old grande dame. Oh Downton. I do miss you.

I have crystal chandeliers, life sized portraits, and scrabbled together wood pieces on the brink of disintegration. It really is like the art department from Downton Abbey came by one day and dumped half of Mrs. Patmore's and half of Lady Mary's things into my house then shook it up like a snowglobe.

There's no hiding who you truly are when it comes to Christmas decorating. And I'm classic Christmas all day long. Take a look at your Christmas tree. Go ahead. Do it right now.

That Christmas tree is YOU with pine needles. It probably reflects how you like to dress, your general mood and who you truly are. That's right. You are your Christmas tree. This of course does not hold true if you happen to hate your Christmas tree.

I may have a fondness for Mid Century Modern, and sleek, contemporary pieces but if you shoved me in a hole for the rest of my life and said you could only decorate that hole in the ground with one style, it would be in the style of Downton Abbey snowglobe. Which I suppose means that I should start looking for a gold leafed pine box for use in the future.

This year for my Christmas decorating, to really enhance the Downton Abbey feel, I highlighted my old riding gear (a la Lady Mary), added some greenery and a few olden days touches and called it a day. I didn't use HALF of my normal Christmas stuff yet it feels more cozy and Christmassy than ever.

Happy Christmas. Enjoy the tour.

You learned about the DIY Christmas tree candles and the Dried Orange Slices a couple of weeks ago. Together they create an instant classic Christmas tree. I also shoved a few oranges slices into a wreath on my front hall table.

Along with my riding stuff I also put out some of my silver plate. Nothing says Downton Abbey like silver serving pieces. Just ask Carson.

Starting on Monday, December 6th you can see my 2021 CHRISTMAS HOUSE TOUR HERE.

I even changed the art over my buffet to the right of my couch to be more Downton friendly. Also the colours work perfectly for Christmas.

Other things that make this work? Nuts and oranges laid out ready for scarfing down. And not nuts from a jar. Nuts that you need to use a nutcracker with.

Dried orange slices also went onto the garland around the fireplace and wherever I could put an evergreen branch or garland I did.

How did I have so many branches? 3 weeks before Christmas I had an evergreen that was growing too close to the house cut down. Before all the branches went into the chipper I flung myself at the giant piece of machinery and dragged a bunch of them out of the jaws of death. Or maybe I just said, Hey, leave me a few branches, to the guys who cut it down. I'm kind of foggy on which scenario actually happened due to an overactive imagination brought on by being part Irish.

This is the one corner that feels more modern than I'd like it to but sometimes you have to work with what you have. I hung a few of the vintage ornaments I've been collecting over the past decade or so on my magazine rack.

If you like the look you can make the exact same magazine rack in a couple of hours. Here's the tutorial.

Yeah. Antlers. They get me every time.

Upstairs (the garland, mirrors and stirrups) meets downstairs (antique cheese box).

This white tree is another one of those compromises. But I won't give it up. It's the one thing that's exactly the same in my house at Christmas no matter what. White tree decorated with pinecones of all kinds.

There's the antique, life sized oil painting and scrabbled together bit of wood saddle stand.

Keeping things authentic, the table runner is just pine cones and only pine cones all lined up in about a 10" wide path down the centre of the table with a few oranges stuck in.

The greenery is a branch from the tree I saved. It is just about to be cut into tiny pieces and hung from the bows on the Black Bookcase Presents. The tutorial to making those bookcase filler presents is here.

Here's an interesting note. That mason jar is spilling out Italian chestnuts. Chestnuts roasted on an open fire are gross. They're horrible. Don't be fooled by the song. They're like hot, sweet, chick peas, all mealy and weird. EVERY year I think it'll be different. EVERY year I roast chestnuts and think the outcome will be different. It is not. Ever.

More tree branches await a good hacking and placement in the house.

My house obviously isn't 100% authentic Downton Abbey. Not even close actually. But when you walk in the door and the fire is roaring and those gross chestnuts are filling the house with their deceivingly delicious smell, you have know you're in a warm, cozy place, where doing things by hand is important. Where life is simple and hard at the same time. Where you'll be served cookies on a silver tray but won't get a sideways glance if you spill crumbs all over the couch. What do I care if you spill cookie crumbs?

One of the housemaids will clean it up before I even know it happened.