A Few Changes for the New Year

Hi friends,

There will be a few changes coming to the blog coming in 2015, namely, the name! Welcome to "From the Carriage House".  When I started my blog initially, I thought I'd be sharing photos and stories about my family.  As you know, that isn't the direction this blog has gone. I love to share home decor, design ideas, printables, parties and more. I wanted a name to better reflect that as well as some other projects I'm working on.

"From the Carriage House" will also showcase some of my hand painted signs and designs that I've been recently creating from my garage carriage house. :)  Here's a sneak peak of the type of projects that I've been having fun working on lately:

I wish you all a Happy New Year! 

Thank you for hanging out with me here at Mom and the Blonds. 

I'm looking forward to spending 2015 with you From the Carriage House. 

God Bless! 

Simplicity, less is more, and so on...

I just love going to someone's house who has decked all their halls for Christmas.

However, I feel overwhelmed at times with seasonal decorating.

I want my family to enjoy a festive house too, but without a stressed out mom.  I have pared down my Christmas decor to 3 tubs in recent years. They are even labeled in priority 1, 2 & 3. So if nothing else happens, stockings and such will be pulled out of tub #1 without much hassle. Everything I used this year to decorate can fit into one tub!



We pulled the pre-lit Christmas tree out of the basement in the beginning of December and have enjoyed an unadorned tree for the first part of the month!

This weekend I added two rolls of burlap ribbon (one plain, one plaid), our simple star, and some paper banners. And I am DONE! And totally ok with that. In fact, I think I really, really like the simple tree this year. It is somewhat refreshing.

I was inspired by Home by Heidi and this post for the paper banners. You can print beautifully designed banners from the Just Destiny blog, but I wanted to try out the print and cut feature on my silhouette so I made my own.

I am trying to find the motivation to pull down the "THANKFUL" banner I made last month and replace it with something for Christmas. I'm also ok with the idea that it can stay put for a while. :)

Two Christmas pillows, a simple tree, garland & stockings on the mantle, and gingerbread houses made by my little blonds are just enough for this family to enjoy without feeling like it will take days to undo.

Merry-Simply-Decorated-Christmas to you!

For some Christmas inspiration
check out the Nesting Place.