New Kitchen Rug

Right before Christmas my dishwasher broke. I tried to get it repaired but couldn't.  The repairman ended up getting water all over my hardwood floors and ruined my rug. The rug was five years old and I was ready for a new one. 😉

I looked all over for a true red rug. I had no idea how hard it would be to find one. I like a nice, bright kitchen and wanted a red rug to match my wedding china (Mikasa French Embassy Red that has since been discontinued).  Many of the rugs appeared red online but were really rust or burgundy.  In addition, I wanted a 2'6" x 8' rug but many of the rugs are narrower today. It seems like nearly every manufacturer has downsized their runners.

I also wanted a thick wool runner that was soft on the feet since I cook a lot. A red Persian rug would be ideal but out of the budget. My last rug was a red wool runner from Home Decorators.  The rug was nice but they have since been purchased by Home Depot if I recall. I went online and found this Safavieh Soho Roses runner in red and hoped it would work. 

The rug arrived in two days and was stunning! The color was a true red and exactly as pictured online. It matches my china. It is very soft and nice and thick. It laid flat right away.

Anyway, I couldn't be happier.  Safavieh saw my picture online and asked to use it which was cool. So if you go the Safavieh website, and scroll down, you can see it. 

Overall, I am very happy with it!

Christmas Decor 2018

For Christmas 2018, I wanted to add a little bit more glam to my living room.

In 2016, I created my glam Christmas tree and in 2017 I went in to have my knee replacement done and learned I had uterine cancer. I had a complicated surgery because they couldn't get my uterus out. My uterus was twice as large as normal and up very high so they had to do an abdominal surgery. It was a 5.5 hour surgery and a long recovery. Luckily, it was Stage 1 and they got it all but it took time to recover. I didn't feel well in 2017 so I didn't do a lot of decorating but feeling much better in 2018. I am hoping to have one of my knees replaced in the fall and will probably need to have hand surgery done soon for nerve damage in my hands as a result of the abdominal surgery.

Anyway, I wanted to go all out for 2018. I would describe my style as "old world traditional". I like very beautiful and glamorous decor.

I use fresh garland at Christmas.  I get it Costco. Their garland smells wonderful and is gorgeous! This past year it was a bit dry however which has never happened before. The first thing I created was the decor for my t.v. stand. I added a base of fresh garland, two new sequin Christmas trees from Michael's at 40% off along with some gold sprays for sparkle. I used my old world gold nativity set that I bought from Horchow a few years ago. I had been looking for one for years and when I saw this one, I knew it was the one I wanted! It sold out in three days. I have never seen any set like it.

The rest of my living room decor I have had for years and still love it so I used that.

A sweet picture of Matt when he was six weeks old at Christmas! Oh, how they grow so fast! He turned 27 in November!

 So pretty with the candle!

 A view of my kitchen and sign.

Matt's Twas the Night Before Christmas musical house sits on my hand painted chest in the foyer. He sits in his Lazy Boy chair and loves to watch it! It narrates the story and the windows light up. I bought this in 1996 and he still loves it today!

A picture of my living and dining room. My how things have changed since I bought this townhome five years ago!

 And my pretty little tree!

 My nativity set.

 More living room pics!

And my glam t.v. stand. I just love it! Funny story...I post on Instagram @dreammom90 mostly with pics of my decor (the blog was mostly Matt, Instagram is mostly decor). I was excited to post my Christmas pics, especially my glam mantel. My top 9 most liked photos came out for 2018 and none were of Christmas or my mantel! Not 🤳, not 🤳🤳, not 🤳🤳🤳 but 🤳🤳🤳🤳of my top 9 most liked posts were selfies of me! First I laughed, then I cried...I am either a terrible decorator or need to get better content! 😂 First world problems! Anyway, I felt truly blessed to celebrate another year.  It was tough. Scott fell in February on my drive last year on black ice and severed his quadricep tendon which required immediate surgery. It was tough taking care of Matt and helping him.  Then he had his hip replaced in August. Matt had some severe respiratory issues several times this year where he was on 10 liters of oxygen for weeks. But everyone recovered and made it through.  Then in November, I thought I had colon cancer and was truly depressed. I prayed and prayed and prayed again for God's mercy. I need to care for Matt. He needs his mother. I prayed and asked God to show me and direct my path. I am trying to do everything I can and to think the cancer was back was overwhelming.  In December, I had the most amazing surprise.  Not only did the bleeding stop but a secret santa gifted me with a wonderful gift that more than covered my new dishwasher and then some. Totally unexpected and wonderful! I felt enormously blessed. I am hopeful 2019 goes well. After having cancer, I know that every day is truly a gift! Hope everyone has a happy new year!

My Christmas Tree

Just wanted to pop in and share my Christmas tree. I got this tree back in 2016. Scott bought it for me for Christmas.  He asked me what I wanted and I mentioned I wanted a small pre-lit tree in an urn, for my living room. Since it is difficult to get out with Matt, he went to Home Depot to pick up the tree. After spending a lot of time on the website, I gave him two options: Option A and Option B but nothing else. I said if they didn't have these, don't get anything. 😁 Instead of those two options, he came home with this. 🤔 I hated it. It was ugly. I asked why he didn't get the other options and he said something like they didn't have them and the sales girl talked him into this. 🤬This is an outdoor tree! Anyway, I had two options. Have him return it or go with it. I decided to decorate it and if I didn't like it, I would return it and get something else. This is what he got me.

 

So the first thing I did was add another 700 lights to the tree. 300 lights was not going to cut it for a 6.5 foot tree.

Next, I added these floral sprays the I purchased from Walmart on clearance the year before. I think they were originally around $5.00 each and I paid $.75 each and bought as many as I could. At the time, I didn't know where I would use them but only that I loved them.

I added the floral sprays in a spiral motion going up the tree. I used my regular ornaments that I have purchased and collected over the last thirty to fourty years and then purchased some gold picks from Michael's for the top. I loved how it turned out! One of my prettiest trees ever!

Here are some pictures of a few of the ornaments.

More ornaments.

And pictures.

And the completed tree!

I think my favorite thing is how glamorous it is! I love red and gold at Christmas! I have put up this same tree every year now for three years and still love it! I hope you enjoy my tree as much as I did!