This isn’t a tablescape, but I thought you might like to see the decor around the main floor of our home for Christmas 2011. I didn’t have to spend one thin dime (lucky me, because I don’t have one to spare!), but I had a ball rifling through all the decor stored in crates that I have either never used or haven’t worked with for a while. We may have had to scale way back this year, but I think it’s pretty…and very, very red!!!
(Click on any photo to enlarge it. Photos by Sheri L. Grant.)

Upon entering the front door, this is the view up the stairwell. I love lots of candlelight! This works beautifully for Christmas or even for a candlelight wedding anytime of year. These are all LEDs for safety’s sake, of course!

At the very top of the stairs is this goose from the family room all dressed up for Christmas.

The banister in the front entry hall is adorned with lighted wreaths hung with the same gold polka-dotted red velvet ribbon used inside and out this year. The poinsettia by the front door was a gift from our neighbor.

I dressed the dining room to replicate as closely as possible the same decor I used for the children’s Christmas party earlier this season sans tableware. (Click HERE to see the children’s party post.) I also added a few wreaths to dress it up a bit more.

Across the hall in the library is a reproduction Louis XIV vitrine that we use as another bar. It is dressed in lighted greenery that reflects beautifully behind the crystal decanters.

On the opposite side of the room is a secretary with multiple Christmas trees and lighted greenery on top.

Our faithful servant, Geoffrey, is delighted (NOT!) to serve up a Christmas cocktail!

Back out into the foyer heading into the family room is a narrow table with two small decorated trees laden with red lights that cast a warm glow on the family photo in the center.

The family room window has a large grapevine wreath dripping with red berries, oversized ornaments, and frosted pinecone greenery.

Furniture has been moved all around (and some completely out!) to accommodate a modest tree. The reindeer and mantel greenery are the same used in the centerpiece for our cul-de-sac Christmas Progressive Dinner. (Click HERE for that post.)

I don’t know about you, but I don’t mind being a bit naughty at all! Mae West once quipped that “Good girls go to heaven, but bad girls go everywhere.” 😉

The bookshelves are treated with pinecone greenery dotted with shiny red ornaments and berry-filled grapevine wreaths. Another goose is all decked out for the holidays, and one of my favorite photos with my parents enjoys a special place of honor near the tree.

This is a photo of the tree when I first received it. My Mom knew it wasn’t in any way, shape, or form dressed the way I would like it, but she recognized that it was just the right size I needed so she bought it for us. So it went from this BEFORE…

…to this AFTER. We had considerably less floor space to work with this year, so a smaller tree was the solution. I ditched most of the ornaments that came with the tree, so it is now drizzled with red ornaments and berry clusters illuminated by soft white lights. I was surprised by just how many red ornaments I have amassed over the years! The “skirt” is a length of artfully scrunched gold silk fabric.

A smaller version of the reindeer by the fireplace stands guard atop the television armoire.

Moving from the family room into the kitchen, a large hurricane lantern is decorated for the holidays.

Centered in the window of the kitchen’s eating area is another grapevine wreath similar to the one in the living room. This one, however, is adorned with just a gossamer gold bow.

I spend many tedious hours at the kitchen sink, so a little tree flanked by drying red chili peppers cheers the area.

With the über crappy year we’ve had, it would be easy to simply throw up our hands, stuff our faces with Krispy Kremes, and be total Scrooges.

We choose instead to put it all behind us and forge ahead…because what matters is that through it all, we have each other.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!