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20 Dec 2013

OUR HOME: Christmas Around Here

Hey!  I think this is the first year that I have posted my Christmas home tour before Christmas!  Yay and welcome!  

This year our Christmas decor is a little more neutral and modern and I hope you'll notice some of the Scandinavian/Finnish influences.  I kept with a mostly black, white, grey and gold colour palette with some natural greenery thrown in.  A little bit of red has crept in here too.  What I love about this year's Christmas decorations is that at least 90% of them are DIY and/or handmade.

Let's start the tour in the living room.

Here's our tree that Little Pilot helped his daddy cut down.  It was SO exciting for him.  I tried to find a sparse tree that was not too big and this is the best they had at the farm we went to.  They did a really good job of pruning their trees to be full and the tree farm lady thought I was a little cra cra to want a sparse tree.  I really like my tree to be simple with lots of lights and a few ornaments.  I couldn't be happier with the DIY Himmeli and Paper Ball ornaments I made this year!  The star tree topper is actually an ornament that I got at a thrift store several years ago.  It was wrapped in a spiralled gold wire and had a gold ball hanging in the centre.  When I took the wire off and got rid of the hanging ball, the star instantly had the simplicity I was looking for.  I probably could have snipped the ring off the top of the star though.

Here's a look at our mantel all ready for Christmas with the cable knit stockings (made by Mummu).  The stockings have each family member's initial (they're ornaments purchased at Super Store last year).  I added black and white ribbons to them this year.  I really love my DIY paper tree garlands.  They make such a statement.  My latest craft is the elf family inspired by the Aarikka tontut/elves and I think they like their spot on the mantel.


This side of our living room is one that I don't show too often on the blog.  It's our DIY entertainment centre.  It's styled with branches, vintage ornaments, paper wheels (from the boys birthday), spray painted jingle bells, various Iittala glass, greenery and, of course, a nativity.  I also taped up a few extra black paper trees leftover from the garlands above the mantel.


Over the sofa I have an Ikea star light that I picked up from the as-is section.  It's supposed to be the one on the stand, but I hung it anyway.  My amaryllis started to lean quite badly so Mummu came up with the idea to stake it.  I used a paint stir stick and some more of the black and white ribbon and I think it looks really cute.  If you look through the window to our neighbours across the road, you'll see Santa looking straight at our house.  We told Little Pilot that Santa's watching to make sure he behaves.  One day when he was misbehaving he told me that Santa couldn't see him because he was in the hallway. :)

You have also seen my desk space (a work in progress in one corner of the living room) decorated for Christmas with the washi tape tree and some fairy lights in gold (their Lord and Taylor brand from the Bay).  They are so nice and on for a super deal right now if you're in the market for some fairy lights. :)

 I've also shown you our dining room DIY wood veneer chain and Little Pilot's airplane decorating in this post.  The boys' Christmas tree craft is on one of the small walls next to the opening to the kitchen (opposite of the floating sideboard wall).
 

Our kitchen has just a little bit of Christmas decor.  Our advent tree that I shared last year is on the island and the chalkboard reads Merry Christmas in Finnish.  I also made a garland from gold card stock circles (the same ones as we used to decorate the airplane print in the dining room).

Lastly, the boys room is sporting our DIY Danish wooden dowel tree and their starry advent calendar.  
That's most of the decorating that I've done inside.  We do have a fun light show outside this year including the boys' favourite Joulupukki Helikopteri/Santa Helicopter.  Hopefully, I'll be able to take some pictures of the outside at some point before Christmas is over!  Thanks so much for stopping by today and I hope you liked visiting our Finnish-Canadian Christmas home.  I wish you all a very blessed Christmas!

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24 comments:

  1. your home is amazing! so light and bright and pretty! i love your unique style!

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  2. it's looking great! I love the shape of your tree....and it's great that you can cut your own. We cut one here one year, but fraser firs don't grow quite this far south, I guess? So the cut your own tree farms have leyland cypresses instead....which just didn't feel right

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    1. I think Little Pilot did a great job of picking it out. :) I never even thought about not being able to cut down your own tree. I guess there is some advantage to living up in the cold north. :)

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  3. Your home is absolutely stunning, and I love how you decorated for Christmas!!! Beautiful job!! :)

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  4. Your holiday house is so unique and beautiful!

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  5. Your house looks absolutely lovely and so ready fro Christmas. Clean and sparkling and so so pretty with all the decorations!

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    1. I think it stayed clean for the duration of the photo taking and then a couple hours later it looked like a tornado had torn through!

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  6. Gorgeous Anu - your Christmas decor is such a perfect expression of your style throughout the year!

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    1. Thanks Krista. I think my style keeps changing a little and it's fun to see the difference from year to year.

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  7. I love the simplicity so much! So pretty!

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    1. Thanks Kathryn. I definitely tend to gravitate towards simple. It's sometimes hard to keep it as minimal as I'd like living in a house full of boys, but I love it anyway. :)

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  8. i just love your home so much! what happened to the chevron rug in the living room? you did have a rug there, right?

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    1. Thanks Nancy! We rolled up the rug when Co-pilot started walking as he kept tripping on it and having a hard time pushing his walker over it. We've decided to look for a different option when we put a rug in there again. For now I'm enjoying not having to vacuum it for hours trying to get the dog fur out of it. :)

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  9. Looks so lovely and simple but festive! Thanks for sharing with us.

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    1. Thanks Amy! I'm happy with how everything came together this year.

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  10. gorgeous home! I love that your christmas decor fits in so perfectly with the rest of your home.

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  11. Absolutely beautiful! I love the black and white Christmas decor. It's perfect.

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  12. This is so so so gorgeous! I've added this post to a Christmas Tree Link Up here: http://www.westcoastmama.net/christmas-tree-2013/

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  13. Yours is one of my new found favorite blogs! So beautiful!

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  14. Can I PLEEEASE just come live at your house? Honestly...

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  15. I love love love your style. It's so unique! Everything is placed perfectly! I could go and look at your photos over and over again! Merry Christmas

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  16. This is beautiful! Your Christmas decorations are truly the most unique and beautiful I've seen this year.

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