welcome to my little Christmas tour...

Hello friends,

I want to take a moment to wish you all a wonderful Christmas and thank you from the bottom of my heart for your gracious visits to this little blog of mine. Lately I've been so affected by the beautiful comments left on my recent posts. It's hard to express how much it means to write a post like my last one and then to read such soulful responses afterwards.

I feel like we really have a special community of women who stop by and share their wisdom here, and I cannot tell you how blessed I feel to have you in my world. I do know how busy your life is and I truly appreciate the time it takes for you to read my posts. And then--to take time to share your own views and personal experiences. Well, it's something I never take for granted. 

So today I thought I'd post a few Christmas pictures of my house and we can pretend that you're here sipping a glass of wine and walking around with me. 

It's been quite awhile since I've done any kind of tour, especially in this house. 

So here it is, nothing fancy. 
Just an update on some of our progress. 

If you're new here,
you might not know we bought this 1960s house as a fixer upper, in a cute neighborhood that's walking distance to the beach. 



And we've been slowly transforming this 2365 square foot house into a home that feels like us. 

 One of the first projects we completed--it took over a year--was this fireplace wall with the rustic wood shelves.

This is our living room.
We were watching Bing Crosby in White Christmas-- when I snapped this picture with my phone.  I literally watch this movie a few times each year because I love that 'sisters' scene with Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye. 
Do you know which one I'm talking about?

My dad made those miniature barn doors that cover the TV and a year later he helped me transform an old wood remnant I'd had for years into a mantel. 



Then after he headed back to Sacramento, I added all the molding to the fireplace using my new miter saw. 

One thing I haven't told you--because I hate to toot my own horn--but I've posted a few of my DIY projects on HomeTalk and you'll never believe this--I still privately question it--but I've gotten over 42 thousand views on this fireplace makeover--and 473 thousand views on my Cottage bedroom makeover. 

Which makes me love the DIY community even more, because we're all a bunch of creative nerds in search of inspiration ya know?
  

On my spare time I've been adding planks to the walls in the house. 

I'm so grateful to have a mantel for our stocking now...

And on the opposite side of the fireplace wall my Dad added bookshelves around the entry which has been a great use of space. 

I don't usually show this side of the room because we still haven't re-done our staircase

 (which is actually not even code because of its wide iron posts)

When you head down the hallway you walk right into 
our kitchen.
It's the one room that we will be totally re-doing someday so I've only done some cosmetic things to it.

The one bathroom that's downstairs...

 in gray with lots of white subway tiles and dark grout in the shower. 

Love it.

This is actually a second "master bedroom" next to this bathroom.

Here's a peek at it now: our recently transformed 

bedroom-into-TV-room.

The room that I painstakingly covered in vertical planks. Individually. 

Yes, that means one at a time.

Is there medication for this type of DIY behavior?

I'll show this entire room when our furniture gets here.

But I am pretty proud of these matching bookcases that I made in here.

 They came out pretty good for a novice like me.

Now, moving upstairs:

Our master bedroom...

I kept the Christmas touches subtle in here. I love this Pottery Barn pillow in reindeer toile.

When in doubt tuck in some green berries with your flowers.

BTW--this is the DIY monogramed headboard I made, another surprisingly popular HomeTalk project. 

I still love it because it's so comfortable to read in bed now.

Our guest bedroom has deliciously dark walls.

At Christmas my vintage Charles Dickens books are proudly displayed...

and oh, and my biggest, most exciting discovery this year...

I finally found it!!!

 After walking into every used bookstore and quietly checking the aisles 

(think John Cusack in the movie Serendipity)

I found a vintage copy of the first Nancy Drew book I ever read..ah, so many tender memories of my girlhood.

(so now you know what a nerd like me gets excited about)

I'm a big believer in surrounding ourselves with objects that tell a story about us. You agree?

Sorry to bombard you with all these pictures, I do hope you can upload this post--I'm never sure how that works. 

But I certainly thank you for stopping by.

And now, I'm off to gallantly Christmas shop 

on December 22!

I'll be signing off for a time.

wishing you a peaceful Christmas filled with love,

namaste,

Leslie

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