UK Blog Hop : A Tour Of My Home This Christmas

I can hear you muttering in the back there…whats a Blog Hop?

Well…its been happening all week with some fantastic home interior and lifestyle bloggers from around the UK. All organised by Kimberely over on the SwoonWorthy Blog.  So all of the bloggers are opening up their virtual Christmas homes, sharing some gorgeous Christmas creations and offering advice, and Christmas decor ideas. If you haven’t caught it so far, its been epic, and I don’t use that word lightly. So head over to twitter, Facebook or Instagram and follow the hashtag #UKHomeBlogHop   Or scroll down to the bottom of this post to see all of the links to each blog post.

So now its my turn, so whether an old (I don’t mean it that way, honestly)  I mean loyal reader, or if you are calling here from the Fresh Design Blog, then you are very welcome, let me show you my home this Christmas.

As it’s the first room you get to, I wanted to start off with my hallway :

Quite subtly dressed with lights (both from Asda) and some framed postcards I picked up from Not on the High Street. I love the perspect frames, they are from Photobox, and are magnetic.

Now lets do a turn to the right, and head to my living room and the all important Christmas tree:

Last year was the first time we opted for a faux tree, apart from that time I went for a modern twig tree, and the whole family revolted.   Though I miss the smell, I really don’t miss all those pine needles from a real tree.  This one is from Balsam Hill and is very impressive if you were looking at buying a faux one this year. It even comes with cotton gloves for when you are arranging the branches!

When it comes to Christmas decorations, I don’t buy a completely new set, and choose a different style each year.  I’m more of the camp, of adding to my collection slowly over time.

So that’s why the decorations in my home are definitely an eclectic mix, full of history and that’s just the way I like it!

We went for these lit stars in our double windows in the living room.  Nearly every home in Sweden has a Christmas Star shining in their window, in every window in fact.

It was originally a symbol for the guiding star but today it is the most popular Christmas decoration in Norway apparently. I love the light they give off and the detail.

I really do love our  fireplace, and its a pleasure to dress at Christmas.

It does get used in December and January at the weekend, and an open fire really does say Christmas to me.  Once the children are off we toast marshmallows and chetnuts whilst we watch movies, I’m feeling so nostalgic thinking about it.  I’ve grown up in homes with open fires so when we settled in this ‘our forever’ home it was one of the first things that we changed.

It’s the perfect spot for those stockings, ready for Father Christmas to fill!

I tend to have alot of candles around, but they definitely increase in winter.

I love this spot on a high cabinet in my living room.  All of these items are from Not on the High Street, one of my favourite places to buy Christmas things, as you can find such individual pieces.  The wreath, is in fact a length of faux foliage and lights that I secured into a circle and hung.

Ok, lets leave that room now, and head over to my living kitchen.

We have a knocked through kitchen and dining room, and it gets used a lot throughout the day.  It has a seating area to watch TV in the evening, so I like to have some decorations in there and always have the table decorated in December.

I’ve gone for a simple colour palate for the last couple of years. I spotted this faux antler and had to have it as a table center piece! 

I am so pleased with how its turned out, so simple.

We usually only put Christmas decorations up downstairs in our home, but did make a couple of concessions this year.  In my youngest daughters room, as she was desperate to display the Christmas cards from her friends at school.

We also bought these super cute Christmas bed covers, that were a bargain from George at Asda.