Buffalo Check Inspired Christmas Living Room

I am so excited to be sharing my Christmas Living Room as part of the Home for the Holidays blog hop!

Thanks so much to Jenna from Wife in Progress for organizing this blog hop and welcome if you are coming from Postcards from the Ridge – if you missed her tour, hop over and visit it here.

If you are new here, my name is Christina and we moved into a little bit of a fixer upper home 18 months ago and 3 weeks later had our first little girl!  So between a baby now toddler and working on our house, it’s been a busy year around here.    You can see all the progress we’ve made on our home in this one year progress post.   I love to decorate and make my house feel like home by being creative with a small budget.   I especially love decorating for Christmas and our living room is probably the room that gets the most seasonal touches… so grab a cup of coffee and come visit with me in our Christmas living room!

I try to change things up a little each year – working with things I already have, reusing them in a different way than before, and adding a few new budget pieces to make everything look fresh and new!  This year I have a major crush on black and white buffalo check so decided I would do a black and white theme with touches of red.  I decorate my house with a lot of neutrals year round but for Christmas, I just find it is so hard to leave out red.

So first up let’s talk about my mantel.  This past year I discovered an easy way to make these amazing wood signs without any special tools.  I’ll share the tutorial on how to make a DIY custom wood sign in a smaller size later this week but the same exact technique is used for whatever color or size you want to make your sign.  I really wanted to ground my mantel with lots of blacks so I made a huge wood sign that just simply says “Merry Christmas”.  I just love it!  And I already have plans for how I will make it serve double duty so I can use it year round so check back in January for that.

I’m a huge yard sale/thrift store shopper so much of what you see in my home has been found that way from the red berry trees, the white bench that I chalk painted, the chippy white basket, many of the throws that you see, and even my coffee table.  The green trees came from Michael’s and I stuck them $3 Target dollar spot olive buckets.

I spotted this vintage minnow bucket at my dad’s and asked if I could please borrow it for my Christmas decor.    I also just adore that little flocked tree I found at Walmart for $12 and it looks oh too cute in that little bucket on my hearth.

That red grain sack pillow was from the Target dollar spot last year and you can find the buffalo check pillow here.

That blanket ladder is a new addition, a DIY project that I’ll share soon.  I just hung a wreath and a little red Ikea lantern from it along with some throws I’ve found throughout the years.

If you are a frequent reader of my blog you probably notice 2 other changes in the living room – I’ll share details on all of those after the holidays.  But I am just in love with our new couches and they were so pretty to add Christmas throws and pillows to this year.

The tree continued the black and white buffalo check theme.  I had a hard time finding buffalo check ribbon – it was sold out everywhere, but just happened to come across a big roll of it at BJ’s Wholesale Club of all places.  The star was a Home Decorators collection purchase from several years ago and it’s my favorite topper to use on my tree.

I’m in the midst of a 12 DIY’s of Christmas series on the blog and so many of the ornaments you see on the tree are homemade for less than $5 and in under 15 minutes.

So far I’ve made Scrabble letter ornaments, DIY chalkboard log slice ornaments, and DIY plaid flannel ball ornaments for the tree – go here to see all the 12 DIYs of Christmas projects.

I just filled this centerpiece box with clippings from the yard and some battery operated candles.  I am just a little obsessed with battery operated candles this year!  I love that I can set them to turn on as soon as it gets dark outside and they stay on for 4 hours and turn off automatically.  I am not a fan of the evenings getting dark so early during the winter so cozy candlelight seems to help it just a little

I hope you enjoyed this tour of our Christmas living room!  I will have many more Christmas projects and decor to share this week, so come back and see!

And now hop over and visit the next stop on the tour at A Blue Nest.

And this tour is going on all week, you can see a sneak peek of what’s coming and visit all the links below.

Monday 

Wife in Progress // Inspiration for Moms // Sand Dollar Lane
 Saw Nail and Paint // The Tattered Pew // The Fat Hydrangea // Worthing Court

 

Tuesday 

A Blue Nest // Sincerely, Marie Designs // Town and Country Living
Farmhouse on Boone // Postcards From The Ridge // The Frugal Homemaker

 

Wednesday 

Little Glass Jar // North Country Nest // Bluesky at Home
Aratari at Home // Little House of Four // Twelve on Main // Elizabeth Joan Designs

 

Thursday

AKA Design // The Everyday Home // On Sutton Place
Joy in Our Home  // Noting Grace // Making It In The Mountains //Shabbyfufu

 

Friday

Seeking Lavender Lane // My Creative Days // Thistledown Domestic Creations
The Honeycomb Home // Flatcreek Farmhouse // Green With Decor // Atta Girl Says