My Holiday Home Tour

The cleanest my house will ever be is about 15 minutes before I throw a party.  I don't know if you're like me, but I go into a bit of a tizzy before I entertain.  My family can usually see it coming, so they either hide, or get out of the house altogether.  I guess it's that "party adrenaline" that kicks in, and I go into cleaning overdrive.  That's what I did in getting ready for my cookie exchange this past weekend.  Lucky for me, it's just in time to participate in Jennifer Rizzo's Holiday Home Tour linky party.  :-)

Some of these photos you've seen before if you've read my blog before, but there are some new ones in here as well, since I took advantage of my cookie exchange cleaning frenzy and shot some new ones.

We'll start with the exterior and work our way through.  Thanks for stopping by!

When you enter our home, the great room is the first thing you see, and the Christmas tree is the obvious focal point.

And then there's the fireplace mantel.

I Christmastized the basement for the cookie exchange, and got creative with a lot of free greenery from the yard.

I took some red ribbon and wrapped my ottoman since I haven't figured out how I want to redo it yet.  A good solution for now anyway.

Did the same thing with this glass vase to give it a little more interest.

And since I'm a crazy woman, I repainted my half bath with leftover paint (Benjamin Moore's Mountain Laurel) from my kitchen evolution, and added a fun rug for some holiday flair that will work even after the holidays are over.  (More on this evolution later)

Never mind that the mirror fell off the wall and shattered into a thousand pieces the night before the party...


But, it was all fine - the cookie exchange was a lot of fun, with lots of great sweet treats!  I'm going to have to spend a lot of extra time in the gym to work off all of these yummy treats!

Thanks again for stopping by!

Happy Holidays!

Linking to:
Nesting Place - 2011 Holiday Home Tour
Thrifty Decor Chick - Christmas Tree Party