Welcome back to the Styling Harvard 2015 Christmas Home Tour! Today we’re in the dining room. This year, the dining room boasts 2 trees! As I’d mentioned in a previous post, the tree I had used as the travel themed tree was too big for the space it was in last year. One night while I was trying to figure out where to incorporate this tree, I glanced over at my oversized champagne bucket. Bingo, that’s where I was going to put the tree — in the champagne bucket!  I removed the chair I had in that corner and nestled the tree into the bucket. It was a perfect fit! I added some fake snow to make it a little more snug and hide the base.

 I already had an idea of how I was going to decorate it. I’d fallen in love with this preppy plaid tree and thought it’d be perfect to tie the living room tree and the other dining room tree together. Since the living room tree is a rustic, woodland theme, I knew by adding a mix of plaids to the this little tree, they’d compliment each other nicely. I added simple blue and red balls and the same plaid ribbon I’d used in the living room. I then took mini frames I had from Michaels and printed out a classic plaid design I found online and framed them to hang on the tree. I added some fake snow to the tips of some branches and another pair of skis from the Dollar Spot at Target. I’m obsessed with these. I have 4 now and wish I’d been able to get more (Since the living room tree pictures were taken, I’d added the 3 other sets of skis to that tree! See below.). I hope they bring them back again next year!     

The skis were originally going to be used on my mantle but once this tree came to fruition, I had to add them to it. I’d love to add some wooden sled ornaments to it next year. Since this tree was not in the original plan, I was trying to not have to buy anything for it and I succeeded! I just love my preppy plaid meets rustic ski lodge tree! Next to the tree is a chair I recently got from my grandfather. It belonged to my great-grandparents and my Gramp no longer had room for it. I styled it with the buffalo plaid throw (actually a dog blanket from the Dollar Spot at Target!), the grey sweater pillow I made last year and a matching buffalo plaid and deer mini pillow (also from the Dollar Spot).

 Every year since we’ve lived together, this silver tinsel tree has been part of our dining room decor. It’s always just been decorated to match the color scheme of the dining room which has always been this shade of blue. This year we are hosting a little NYE party so I wanted to do a tree to match that theme. I found a box of  blue ornaments at KMart for $4 on sale (score!) and hung the matte and glitter ones, along with the mirrored balls (an after Christmas Target steal a couple of years ago) on the tree. Then I printed out clock faces on card stock and strung them with fishing wire. Next, I printed some Auld Lang Syne sheet music and tucked those into the tree. Simple and inexpensive! The blue ornaments compliment the blue on the preppy tree and the sheet music compliments the vintage sheet music on the living room tree.

I never really go all out on our dining room table. I actually hate this table. I loved it when we first got it but over time our tastes have changed and it’s just not our style anymore. We have plans to build a rustic farmhouse style table and hopefully that will happen over the winter. In the meantime, I couldn’t look at this table anymore so I decided to disguise it the best I could. I found the plaid tablecloth at the Christmas Tree Shops for only $6. It has a little sparkle to it which I love. I added my burlap and silver runner on top along with some garland from Michaels and burlap wrapped trees from Target. I also filled my gold wire bowl with some garland and Christmas crackers, our annual tradition. I used silver chargers with gold and holly paper plates (gold from Christmas Tree Shops and holly from Target). I used dish towels from IKEA as the napkins (repurposed from Mother’s Day) under the plates. I draped a cozy brown throw over one of the benches and hung fresh greens from Trader Joe’s on the back of another chair. It might just be my favorite room right now.  Tomorrow is the end of tour with the kitchen. For pictures that didn’t make the blog posts (i.e. our bedroom) follow @stylingharvard on Instagram!

xo,