Present presentation

Well, I've learned that I'm definitely a creature of habit!

On a recent trip to Home Goods to pick up some Christmas wrapping paper, I found myself immediately grabbing a roll of this gray and white herringbone. Later I come to realize that it is the exact same wrapping paper I purchased and used last Christmas. I guess my taste hasn't changed!

Anyway, this year I've decided to pile my wrapped presents into this decorative suitcase.

To see what I did last year, you can visit here.

Even though my wrapping paper is the same, my finishing touches are a little different.

This year, I've added silver paper doilies that I picked up at the local grocery store to each present and some faux berries (plucked from a wreath I found in our storage).

I've also sealed each present with a personalized sticker gift tag from Tiny Prints.

Just a few more days 'til Christmas!

- Caitlin

Over the counter

Okay, so a little break from all the holiday posts for something non-holiday related: our bathroom counter. 

Exciting, huh? What can I say...sometimes it's the smallest "projects" that give me the greatest satisfaction. In this case, it was re-accessorizing our bathroom counter as I had grown tired of this look. 

Here's what I came up with:

It took me a few tries and re-arranging before I felt happy with what I did in here.

In fact, Chris pointed out that these accessories were the third look the counter had in a week. 

Oops.

Anyway...my mom lent me the glass apothecary jar, the wooden tray is a garage sale find, the soap dish is from a boutique store, the hand towels are Marshalls, and the flowers are Trader Joe's.

Enjoy your night!

- Caitlin

Cozy Christmas cottage

Yes, another holiday post. 'Tis the season, right?

If you've been following, you know I've taken a more muted approach to our holiday decorating in the house this year (to see what I'm talking about, you can visit here, here, here, and here).

I decided though to put a few of our red decorations to use outside in the guest cottage. 

Look, we even got a sprinkle of snow today to add to the festiveness!

Some red and white throw pillows from Home Goods add a pop of color:

By the fireplace, a couple lanterns and faux trees:

And lastly, a throw blanket on this rocking chair I've posted about before:

I think they're simple touches but still helps get the holiday message across.

A quick thank you to Architecture Art Designs for making our DIY wire hampers one of their 22 Most Fascinating 'From Trash to Treasure' DIY Home Projects Everyone Must Know!

- Caitlin

Outdoor holiday decor

Happy almost Friday!

Tonight I'm sharing a look at our covered porch, which has been sprinkled with some holiday cheer.

And in an effort to abide by Chris's request of "let's not make it look like Christmas threw up here", I've taken a simpler approach to decorating this area (to see last year's look, you can go here).

We moved most of our outdoor set that I posted about here indoors for the winter and just left this love-seat:

Both the polka dot pillow and gold metallic one are from Home Goods.

These vintage skis were a garage sale find. 

I had them in the foyer last year (see here) but decided to try something different this time around.

Thanks for dropping by!

- Caitlin

Petite pines

Happy December!

Now that it's officially the first, I don't have to feel funny anymore about starting my Christmas decorating (I may have had a pre-Thanksgiving jumpstart...oops).

 Anyway, like most, I've been using Pinterest a lot to help find ideas for holiday decor around our house.

For example, I'm sure you've seen these cute little trees in tin buckets:

via

via

via

These pins inspired me to try the look out in our foyer this year:

The white tin bucket is from a garage sale and the faux pine tree was actually used as one of the centerpieces at my cousin's wedding a few years back. Thanks Linny for giving me one!

In case your wondering about the sources of the other items in this picture...

mirror - garage sale

lamp - Home Goods

ice chest - local estate sale

Stay merry!

- Caitlin

DIY door decor

Two things I love: 

1. nap time 

2. DIY projects

Getting a DIY project during nap time? 

Well that's pretty much the best ever. 

So was the case the other day. Charlie was taking a snooze and I found myself looking at this last DIY project I had hanging on our kitchen door and felt ready for a change. 

So, I dug around above our garage (a very scary place-- think Hoarders: Buried Alive) and found this burlap bag (can't remember where it came from) and this glittery "S" (I bought mine last year at Michaels but you can find a similar one here). As for the holly, I just snipped some branches from a bush in our yard and the herringbone ribbon was leftover from some decorating I posted about here.

The project was super easy to do.

I started by stuffing the burlap bag with some paper towel to make it a little fuller.

Then, I added the holly...

tied the whole thing up with the ribbon...

and added the "S".

Here's the final product hung up on our kitchen door:

I think it's a nice change and I just might skip the traditional pine wreath all together and just keep this thing up.

Thanks for dropping by!

- Caitlin