Porch House // A Green-Filled Holiday Home Tour

THE PORCH HOUSE

Garrett and I hardly need an excuse to throw a party (see: birthdays, holidays, seasons, babies, work parties, Wednesdays...), so to celebrate the completion of the Porch House we, naturally, threw a party.  We invited friends, family, neighbors, community members, and blog readers over for a "finish party" so they could see the house before it sold. 

And since it's December, we added a little holiday cheer to the decor in the form of wreaths, garlands, and pops of red, green, and gold. Let’s call it the Porch House holiday home tour!

Before we get to the holiday tour, here are links to all the room sources and reveals of the kitchen and dining room…

Natural Holiday Decorations

You might be surprised to hear this, but I'm not a big seasonal decorator. Eeeek! I know, I‘m the worst blogger ever. But I am into some natural decor around the holidays, which really makes a home feel (and smell) welcoming and festive. Wreaths, garlands, poinsettias, live Christmas trees…that’s the holiday decorating I love!

The Porch House also has a crabapple tree in the back yard (at least I think that's what it is), which still has some small red apples on it's leafless branches, so I clipped a few and put them in vases all over the house.

greenery in the kitchen

The kitchen at the Porch House is definitely the gathering space of this home. It's open to the sunroom and has plenty of seating plus it gets the best natural daylight. Even at the party, this is where 90% of the adults hung out (the kids were given free reign of the upstairs). Of course, this is also where the keg was, so that could have had something to do with it ;) 

Decorating the kitchen's open shelves is always fun, but it can be a trick to make them look interesting without feeling cluttered. I kept to white, glass, and wood elements and then layered holiday cheer in the form of greenery, pops of red, and vintage brass.

dining room decorations

In the dining room, I filled the built-in hutch with entertaining basics like plates, bowls, wine glasses, platters, and vases and moved the vintage table and patio couch into this room from the sunroom.  I added branches of red crab apples and the green velvet pillow (that Rejuvenation sent me last year) for a little festive-ness.

This space was staged just for the party with an antique table and patio couch. But it’s the green velvet pillow that makes the space, don’t you think?! I actually love how simple this room is…it’s basically all my minimalist dreams come true ;)

living room decorations

The living room fireplace was a natural place to add a garland and a little holiday cheer.  This fireplace, which looks so historic, is actually half new.  It originally had a 70s wood insert and a faux surround, which we removed and then repaired the brick, replaced the mantle, redid the hearth, and finally added a gas insert. I love it SO much!

The living room is pretty bare these days since the built-ins are empty, but it's one of my favorite spaces in the house. It's hard to believe, but that built-in bench is 100% new, although the cabinets are original.

I haven't formally revealed the Porch House living room, dining room, or kitchen on the blog yet (I'm waiting for our HGTV pilot to air first), so consider these sneak peeks (update: room reveals are linked at the top of this post!).  I'll be sharing more in 2018! In the meantime, I'd love to hear how you decorate for the holidays!

xoxo

-Cathy