It’s Christmas!
Christmas landed in my house on 1st December with 3 very excited young children desperate to decorate the tree! Needless to say there was a lot of wincing on my part as decorations were hap-hazardly placed on the branches! Fortunately, I have two trees, one in the family space for the children and a smaller, more modest ‘naked’ tree in the living room.
It's been all about making spaces cosy this month and I have spent some time working on my living room whilst putting my decorations up. I have moved one of my sofas from one side of the room to another which has really opened the space, one of those satisfying yet frustrating achievements when you question why it took you until now to do it!
We have an empty fireplace which has looked drab for quite a while. When we originally moved in the chimney was already closed up and we removed the back boiler heater when we initially decorated this room and we plastered and painted the area and put candles or ornaments in the space. As it’s a focal point in the room and has our TV higher up on the wall I really wanted to do something to make it more of a feature. I ordered a piece of reclaimed wood from Pipe Dream Furniture and two small black brackets to create a mantle piece. I have dressed it with a garland with lights and hung large hanging bells which I purchased from The Range. In the fireplace gap I have popped some other Christmas decorations and a beautiful smelling Christmas candle, a gift from a friend. It feels so warm and cosy and has made such a difference to the wall which you can see from the photos.
In the New Year I hope to be adding something even more fantastic to the fireplace….a bioethanol fire which I have on my Christmas list so I need to be on the good list! This is something we have discussed for a while. When we first bought our house we considered log burner and decided against it but this seems like a much more low maintenance option as we won’t require a chimney or flue.
Aside from my fireplace wall I have also taken steps to make the room more cosy, not least of all a big declutter! I don’t know about you but the rooms that the children don’t use end up being our dumping ground and it really affects my mood in the room. I relocated the Christmas presents and wrapping to the loft, gave it a good clean and restocked my blanket basket with cosy blankets from around the house.
This is now my favourite room in the house. I really enjoy settling down in here once the children are in bed with the Christmas lights on, my candle on and a hot chocolate, curled up under a blanket.
It really is amazing how accessories can make such a difference to an area. The colours of Christmas have really brightened up what was once a really dull, dark hole in the wall. Watch this space…..in the New Year keep an eye out for a new fire in the fireplace….fingers crossed!