Winter Decor: Simple & Second Hand

I started putting together this Christmas decorating post well before Christmas. Then I got all distracted in the last minute holiday preparations, family celebrations, and the aftermath that follows. I completely forgot about my blog! If there are blogging rules, I sure don't know or care about them. But I'm guessing that posting about my Christmas décor five days after Christmas is probably a huge blogger faux pas!  Well I'm not wasting what I almost finished so here I go...

As much as I love to decorate, I never go over the top for Christmas. I'm not really a Santa, snowmen, glitter, sparkles or shiny kind of girl. Heck, I don't even put up a proper Christmas tree. I like casual, with a vintage flair. Of course almost everything I use in winter decorating is second-hand because that's the fun of it.

This year, I tucked my same old collection of vintage Christmas postcards here and there around my living room and kitchen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I exchanged the fall Scrabble words on my mantle (that I'm finally painting this week!) for these:

And on my kitchen window sill:

On my mantle are two white ceramic deer that I found at Salvation Army thrift a few years back.

 

They came with the red bows around their necks.

 

I love how peaceful they look and they remind me of the deer we frequently see in our back yard.

Everything else on the mantle are either fake winter greenery I've had forever or books.

Gotta love Peppa Pig!

I got this vintage, quilted, velvet Merry Christmas banner for a dime at a yard sale last summer. I paper clipped it over the vintage tea towels that serve as a temporary valance in the kitchen.

I dangled these yard-saled wooden skates on the bathroom mirror.

In my dining room, I taped up some of my kids Christmas coloring pages in my curbside window, draped it in C7 clear lights, and placed our nativity scene in front.

I hung my recently upcycled chalkboard frame in my front entry.

And speaking of chalkboards, I changed up the message on my kitchen chalkboard wall for Christmas too.

Thank you Pinterest for the fonts.

I figured colored chalk goes with colored lights. And what are the chances that those colored pre-lits randomly stopped working on Christmas Eve before my family came over? Maybe its a sign. Maybe I will actually have to break down and get a proper tree next year. Now to go take down this one...