Merry Christmas to Us!

We just recently finished painting our living room and dining room, laying hardwood, and flipping our living and dining rooms around. It feels like a whole new house. It was a happy, happy day when we tore out the carpet that came with this place. The dining room reveal will come in the New Year...

BEFORE: Mr. CF and Macy Dancing with the Stars and AFTER: our new un-dining room.

I couldn't find any old pictures of this room without people in it. Our 1965 split level has a 12 foot addition on the south side of the house which makes the living room 24 feet long. The piano stayed in it's usual spot and now we can actually SEE that we have a fireplace. Refacing it with river rock is next on the agenda. After new baseboards that is. Those will come between Christmas and New Year's a la the Baseboard Fairies (us).

This was our fourth large hardwood project together. We have a great system and we do work well together. It is our 50 year old bodies that don't work as well as they used to. This floor is birch; we've installed oak, maple, and ash before. Our first house had a light floor like this and we liked it. It's a nice contrast with our darker wood -- and the dust doesn't show like it does on dark floors. Not that I let any accumulate, of course. ;)

These are our wall colours.

The view from the dining room entrance. I haven't hung any pictures yet and will wait until after Christmas. I need to figure out where they'll go and can't do that and bake at the same time.

I'm loving how bright and fresh the house feels. Macy put up the tree as soon as the floor was finished. We have a secret to fast and easy tree storage...

We fold up the branches (leaving the lights on) and wrap it with industrial plastic wrap (it's a two person job). You can stand it up or lay it down for the next 11 months. All you do next year is remove the wrap, fluff up the branches, plug it in, and decorate!

I made a new sign for the mantle on the weekend and have decided on skimpy simple decor. After recovering from the floor work I don't have the desire to haul out more decorations just so they can be put away in two weeks. I used a few boards from my stash of Herman's old fence boards for the sign and the green is our dining room wall paint. The fonts I used are Lemondrop and Pacifico (I use the old print it out on the computer and transfer letters to the wood method).

Our sweet robin friend is ready for any Christmas party in her wine bottle cozy. I picked that up on clearance last year for less than a dollar. The nesting snowmen and nutcracker belong to Miss Macy. They were a gift from her great aunt Marlene -- the source for many a good story and photo. Apparently for nesting cuties too.

I was so happy to finally find a white moose this fall. I've been wanting one for my Canada Day decor for ages. He is quite happy to come out for the holidays in his freshly crocheted scarf. Macy thought he needed antler cozies too. I'll hold off on those for a while.

Will photo bombs one of my most favourite holiday decorations. This light-up airstream is one of four that myself and three dear e-friends each light up every Christmas. 

When at my parent's place rummaging for red fabric for Wilhelmina's turban I spied this interesting jar on the mason jar shelf. I instantly knew it had a more exciting life in store if it came to live at our place. Mom tells me that this is what she used to sterilize the bottle nipples in when I was a baby. The vintage chenille Santa was given to me in the 60's by an elderly lady who's orchard we visited near Creston, BC. I couldn't have been more than six and I remember the gifting of the Santa vividly. I love how the light peeks through the holes in the lid.

I also moved around the holiday trailer. I don't know why I didn't think of it earlier, but there is a hole in the bottom for a Christmas light, so now the trailer is lit from within. That tire still hasn't gotten fixed. I imagine it will take some time to get a 1940's part when all of the elves are still busy making toys.

I hope that you have time to enjoy this last week of holiday preparations for you and your family. Thank you so much for visiting!

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