2022 Farmhouse Christmas Tour

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Hey y’all! Merry Christmas and welcome to the farmhouse!! December flew by, and there are so many things I wanted to do and share here on the blog that I just never quite got around to. But I couldn’t let this season pass us by without taking you on a little tour of the farmhouse all done up for Christmas. So get comfy and join me for a virtual tour. I’m so excited to show you around… Let’s start in the kitchen! One of my favorite rooms in the farmhouse, especially during the holidays!!

It always surprises me just how quickly the Christmas season passes us by. And this year was even more busy than normal for our family because we had a magazine come and shoot the farmhouse! I had about a week and a half to prepare and it was a whirlwind but I just couldn’t say no to such a cool opportunity to share our home with the world! If you wondered where I’ve been or why things have been quieter here on the blog these last 2 weeks, this is what I was working on behind the scenes.

As we “walk through” the farmhouse, I thought it would be fun to share some of the projects I worked on to prep for the photos and some behind the scenes details from the shoot! One of the cool things about having a magazine shoot your home, is that they send out a stylist and a photographer team. And you get to watch another creative’s vision come to life as they rearrange and put their own little touches on your spaces. Take this antique wood trunk lid for example! This trunk lid came out of the old house, and I had it displayed on our porch. The stylist asked if they could bring it inside to use as a tray on the kitchen island, and I thought it looked so pretty there I decided to leave it!

Now don’t ask me if it’s clean – because it’s definitely not. But I’ll get to that in the new year… For now I’m just enjoying the view and overlooking the dirt and dust. It’ll be there waiting for me come January!

These little gingerbread cookies are actually DIY cinnamon dough ornaments I made last year. See the little hole at the top of each one? I cut the twine off and rearranged the ornaments on one of my many vintage white platters to look like homemade gingerbread cookies!

One project I worked on to prep for the photoshoot were these dried orange slice garlands! I dried all the orange slices last year and tucked them into our Christmas tree as ornaments. (Click this link for more info on how to dry orange slices.) When the season was over, I wrapped them in parchment paper and tucked them away hoping they’d last but not holding my breath. The plan had always been to string them but I just ran out of time last year.

So this year when I pulled them out of the box, I was so excited to see that they had survived the year in storage and looked just as beautiful as when I first dried them! I strung them on some kitchen twine and hung them above the windows with our faux cedar greenery. It makes for a simple, old-fashioned look, just the way I like it!

Ok, onto the living room! I carried the greens and citrus theme into this space as well. Our living area is open concept so it made sense to me to carry the same look into this space too. The garland on the mantel was made from dried grapefruit slices. I hung it on the mantel in a scalloped swoopy pattern for a little playfullness.

The fireplace was another big DIY project we finished earlier this year! I blogged all about from start to finish, along with lots of info about the antique mantel, the electric fireplace insert we used, the paint colors, and more. (Click the link for more info on how to build a fireplace with an electric insert for all the steps and all the progress photos!)

And then there’s the Christmas tree crock! This is a hand-me-down piece from the old house. I cleaned it up and used it as a stand for our Christmas tree. You wouldn’t believe the amount of cardboard, beach towels, etc. that I had to shove into the crock to get the tree to stand upright. It’s mostly sturdy and secure, but let’s just say there’s a reason none of the ornaments on this tree are breakable! Pro tip: if you’re gonna attempt this, do it before you assemble your tree and add the lights. I learned my lesson the hard way! But it was still worth it.

Ok, onto the dining room and back to the subject of projects I worked on ahead of the magazine photoshoot. Just days before the photographer came to the farmhouse, I decided to paint our dining room table! Between the wood floors, wood chairs, the wood cabinet by the stairs, and the wood shiplap on the fireplace wall… it was just too much wood for me. Painting the table really lightened this space up and broke up some of the wood tones. I chose to paint the table with Fusion Mineral Paint in the color Raw Silk, and I finished the tabletop with a layer of Tough Coat by Fusion for extra durability.

In place of your typical table runner, I created my own table runner using vintage doilies! (Click this link for more photos of this table before I painted it and more on how to create a DIY vintage doily table runner for your home.)

All the jars I used for this tablescape are actually old jars we found half burried around the farmhouse! Back before trash dumps were a thing, people tossed and burried their trash on their own land. And lucky me, I’ve uncovered quite a bit of trash jars and bottles to use in our home. If my granny could see this y’all… she would have a field day with me decorating our home with her trash! (Click the link to read all my best tips on cleaning dirty found jars and bottles.)

The wall hooks seen here are a recent vintage find I picked up from one of my favorite local antique shops: Fleabodys. Salvaged wood and a few old porcelain door knobs make the perfect stocking hanger. And it’s white and woodgrain!! My favorite!

It’s been a while since either of my babies have sat in this old high chair. But y’all, my mama heart doesn’t have it in me to pack it away or sell it! So I thought I’d use the tray as a place to display some of my white bottle brush trees.

Next stop on the tour… our annual hot cocoa bar! I set up a cocoa bar in our coffee bar nook every year, and it is probably one of my favorite traditions! Now I’m not a coffee drinker, but my husband is. So this space is primarily for him and for guests the rest of the year. But turning this space into a festive cocoa bar is something the entire family looks forward to and enjoys every Christmas!

Oh, and see that curtain by the coffee bar cabinet / drawers? That’s another DIY project I worked on to prep for the magazine photos. Behind the curtain is a mini fridge / beverage cooler with a glass door. The glass sometimes shows a glare in photos, which can be annoying. And the mini fridge also makes this built-in coffee bar look more modern. Which isn’t the vibe I’m going for in our home. Since I happened to have some black and white ticking stripe fabric on hand, I decided to sew a curtain before the shoot to hide the beverage cooler. And I love how it turned out!! Stay tuned y’all, I’ll be blogging this DIY soon!

Even our bathroom got a little touch of Christmas this year y’all! Nothing crazy, just a mini faux tree atop this chippy green vintage stool. But it made this space feel so festive!

And last but not least, our bedroom! Here in eastern North Carolina, we hardly ever get snow. Like, we might get one snowfall on a good year y’all. It’s a very rare occurrence! And even then when it snows here, it usually doesn’t stick or if it sticks it’s gone by lunch time. You can probably guess that I have never seen a white Christmas… so that was my inspo for this space. White Christmas!!

I love the way this room feels all decorated for Christmas! Maybe it’s the view of the old fireplace, or maybe it’s all the neutrals? Either way, it’s a peaceful space to relax and just be in in this season! Oh, and that pretty quilt patterned wrapping paper? That’s another DIY! I made the wrapping paper myself with a little paint, some brown craft paper, and potato stamps. (Click the link for the full tutorial and more details on how I made this DIY vintage Christmas wrapping paper.)

That’s a wrap y’all! If you made it all the way to the end of this post, thanks for sticking around, and thanks for joining me for the tour!! I hope this post brought a little holiday joy to your scroll today. If you loved this post, be sure to check out last year’s Farmhouse Christmas Tour next! I’m off to wrap presents, bake Christmas cookies, and hopefully squeeze in a trip to look at Christmas lights before Santa makes his way to the farmhouse. But I’ll be back in the New Year with more DIY projects, farmhouse & cottage style home inspo, and lots of antiquing adventures too! Until next time, thanks for stopping by the blog today, and as always, thanks so much for following along…

Love, Brittany