I was watching
Amy's Got a Gluegun on YouTube, and she answered these questions and I thought it would be fun to do the same, so here goes:
1. What is your décor style? I collect snowmen and snowy stuff, so that's basically my style
I've scaled down a bit since I moved and don't have near as many as I used to, but here are my decorations:
The tree is one of those ceramic ones that have holes cut out with plastic pieces and you put a lightbulb under it. I stopped putting the base on a couple years ago, because mine is vintage and I was a little worried about the wires. The cards hanging on it are from a swap that was called Merry Moos from a Yahoo! group, basically we created these little cards. You can see my patriotic snowman and my policeman snowman. I also love the cute couple on the right side.
Traveling around the corner you see this bookshelf:
These are my Iowa State University snowmen. I'm in Ames, IA, which is where Iowa State University is and I also went there and work there. Most of them are snowglobes, but there are a few others there. You can also see the candy mold ornament someone made for me in a button swap, and my cute blue/green ornament. You can also see a guinea pig fabric button book I got in a swap.
Traveling along this wall, you come to this bookshelf:
I love the little black tree I got on after Christmas sales at Borders one year. That snowman on the left also lights up. The one on the right, I call my artist snowman cause he's got a beanie/hat on. On the first shelf you see a Santa, that's actually a nesting doll my parents got me in Alaska one year. You can also see the 'ice cube' snowmen with their peppermint candles.
Going around the corner you come to this bookshelf (have you notice they all match?):
At the top is a music box, right next to my 'real' Christmas tree, it's actually a part of a lilac tree we had to cut out at my old house, I took the bark off and sealed it with a light brown/yellow varnish. You can barely see the blue elephant ornament at the top of it, I collect elephants, though this is probably the only Christmas ornament I have. You can also see I'm still kinda stuck in fall with the ceramic pumpkin and Halloween snowglobe, I got them at the end of fall and didn't have enough time to enjoy them, so I left them out. Most of this bookcase is decorated with ornaments people have made me, quite a few are from button swaps. The little girl in front of the radio on the top, the dress form on the left hanging from the top, The square box in the middle hanging from the top, the stockings hanging from the first shelf, the mitten forms hanging from the first and second shelves. I also have a couple vintage snowmen: the cup on the first shelf, the round one on his feet behind the mitten on the second shelf. I also love the hot air balloon a friend gave me in a swap.
Going along this wall, you come to my TV cabinet:
I love those two in the middle with their glittery hats. I had bought them at a garage sale and their heads were bare. I picked up these hat ornaments at the Dollar Tree. I really like the silver one, I added some tinsel around the outside and a sparkly button on the top. You can also see Christmas Kermit, I collect frogs (less so now), and a few wild animals dressed up for the cold.
Traveling along the wall, you come to my owl tree (this is actually out all year long):
I had top bid for this tree at a local festival of trees event, it had ornaments made out of vintage buttons, it also has a garland made out of vintage mother of pearl buttons. The ornaments came off in the move and haven't made it back to the tree. When I first got it, I referred to it as my Charlie Brown Christmas tree because it looked that sad, so I stuck some owls on it and it has grown from there. I love collecting owls, most of them are Christmas ornaments, but as you can see on the shelves below the tree, I've gotten many others as well. That bowl on the second shelf I actually picked up this year on clearance for $1.50.
And around the corner, you run into my 'bar':
My apartment is very small. I don't really have room for a bar. I do have baking supplies in that cabinet, but I mostly use it to store stuff (as you can see from the kitchen stuff behind the winter decorations). In this picture I have a lot of Christmas gifts waiting to be wrapped, I am happy to say they are all wrapped up and ready to be opened. You can also see my monster, I love monsters.
This window is above my TV, sorry about the darkness, it was night when I took this picture:
These two art pieces were from the local festival of trees, they have a silent art auction at the same time.
2. When do you start decorating? Usually when it starts getting cold. This year it was Black Friday.
3. What are your favorite colors to decorate with? Mostly white
4. Do you change your décor theme every year? No, I add more snowmen, mostly what people give me now, I don't buy a lot anymore.
5. What’s your favorite winter candle? I don't allow myself to have candles. I accidentally left one burning overnight in my old apartment, so I'm not allowed to have them anymore.
6. What’s your favorite thing to decorate with? As you can see from the pictures, snowmen
7. How do you decorate the outside of your home? I live in an apartment, I can't decorate the outside.
8. What’s your favorite room to decorate? Probably the living room because I spend the most time in there.
9. What’s your most meaningful Christmas décor piece? I really like the ceramic Christmas tree. My grandparents had one when I was little, so when I saw this one at a garage sale a few years ago, I scooped it up.
10. Fake or real tree: We never had a real tree when I was growing up because of my mom's allergies. My apartment's have never been big enough for real trees, and I really like my little tiny trees, they are so easy to store and put up.
11. Any Christmas inspirations or tips? No, it used to be I put everything in the same place year after year, so it was fun to find new places for my stuff this year.
Merry Christmas everyone!
This is one of my 'trees', it's actually part of our Japanese lilac tree, we had to cut it out because it was dead, so I took it and stained it. I think it's pretty cool. I love the Santa troll in this pic. There's also an Italian glass snowman, a Russian snowman, and a cool Christmas palm tree.
Here I have 4 snowmen candle holders with peppermint looking candles. There's also a lighted penguin in there. I've noticed lately, I buy less snowmen (I have over 200), and more wintery items.
I love the black tree in this photo, I found it at Borders a few years ago and loved it. I also love the vintage looking ornaments on it. The crocheted snowflakes I found at a garage sale this year, I had been on the lookout for them for awhile. I also have an Iowa State snowman in there. Iowa State University is located in Ames, and I love snowmen that have the logo, or colors on them.
Here's the other side of the above pic, with more snowflakes and the tree again. The M&M used to have candy in it, but I love him anyway. I also collect fake roses, the ones in this picture are made from wood.
This is my DVD shelf. Again there is the ISU snowman. I've also been on the lookout for things that say "HOPE". Ever since breaking up with my ex, that has kept me going, so I love the word. You can see some glass pieces that I couldn't part with enough to put away for the season. I also am trying to decorate more with pink, purple and blue, just to brighten up my apartment.
Here's my radiator, you can see another fake rose, this one's actually made out of velvet, I have a cool paper one too, but that's been packed away. You can also see some of the rose pins I collect. I bought the sparkly poinsettias last year after Christmas, I've had them out all year. I love flowers, and if they're fake (not so much silk ones), they last forever. Remember, I'm trying to brighten up my apartment.
This table is granite (I think), it's supposed to be an outdoor table. I've been looking forever for some kind of doily, or something to drape over the edge. The edging here is held on with double stick tape, and doesn't even go all the way around. You can see a decorated shoe with some clay ornaments in it, my mom bought these as part of a fundraiser, I think they're cute, and I don't even collect shoes. I love the Christmas nesting dolls.
This is another one of my bookshelves. My faves in this pic are the white containers (I'm drawn to those lately), the snowman in the bathtub, the snowmen stocking holders and the green ornament. The snowman with stars is actually a lamp. I made the cross stitch snowman. There are even more snowment hanging from the stocking holder. You can kinda see my snowman snowglobe. His bottom is filled with confetti, very cute.
This is massively blurry, sorry. There's another cross stitch snowman in there. You can see a Christmas mouse, when I was younger I collected mice, I still have some floating around. I like the garden snowman. You can also see my just finished Halloween piece, yeah I'm a little slow on art making. The snowmen are hiding my shelf of Piers Anthony books, I'm a huge fantasy fan.
I love the blocks in this picture, they spell out "collector", with snowmen as the o's. You can also see the frogs I haven't packed away for the year, and a beautiful pink scarf I got in a swap.
This hanging was a creation from a group I did. I love handmade ornaments/decorations.
This is a little dark. In the middle of this picture, is a ceramic tree that lights up. My grandparents had one of themse when I was a kid, there's holes in the tree where the red and green plastic pieces are and a lightbulb underneath it. Unfortunately I don't have plastic pieces for all my holes.
Here's the top of my refrigerator, the snowmen in my kitchen live there all year long. These are more ISU snowmen. The bookstore at ISU, used to have a snowman every year, but then they stopped making them. The santa and snowmen in the middle is musical.
This is my kitchen radiator. These are mostly ones I picked up at garage sales. There are two cookie jars in there. The one on the left side is musical. I love the Santa frog. The one with the beanie on it, is an artist snowman. There's also a salt and pepper set.
