Holidays

Boho Napkin Rings and Chana Masala Recipe

February 5, 2018 by CORINNA HENDERSON

Chana Masala dinner with DIY henna inspired napkin rings.

Do we want to talk about it? I know Valentine’s day can be a strong love it or leave it for most but there’s no need to make it a big fuss. The gals behind The Global Style have you covered from breakfast to dessert with a combination of DIYs and recipes to inspire your own displays of affection. Today, I’m sharing up a henna inspired napkin ring DIY and my own chana masala recipe that’s sure to hit the spot!

Henna Inspired Valentine's day themed napkin rings. — Henna Inspired Valentine’s day themed napkin rings.

Boho Henna Inspired Napkin Rings Tutorial

Create a special handmade piece for your romantic Bohemian table setting this Valentine’s day with these painted napkin rings. Using paint pens makes this craft an easy and relatively mess free one!

1. Prepare the napkin rings by making sure they are clean.

2. Prime the paint pens by shaking and pressing them until the tip is saturated with ink.

3. Using a pencil, draw 4 tick marks equal distance around the base of the ring.

4. Draw 4 more ticks on the other end rotated so that they are halfway between the marks on the other end.

5. With the pink pen, use the tick marks as a guide to create a petal shape.

6. Then create a skinnier petal shape by following the same shape.

7. Using the white pen, draw dots between the two layers of petal shapes.

Mix pretty hand painted napkin rings with colorful cloth napkins.

Simple and pretty boho table setting with DIY painted napkin ring. — Simple and pretty boho table with DIY painted napkin ring.

This gives you a basic, but very pretty design that adds a little feminine touch to your table setting. You can change the colors to suit your style. Feeling especially steady handed and creative? Why not try free handing?

All that crafting make you hungry?

Boho setting for Valentine's day Chana Masala dinner. — Boho setting for Valentine’s day Chana Masala dinner.

Valentine’s Day Dinner Chana Masala Recipe

This one pan (plus a rice cooker) dish is hearty, flavorful, naturally vegan and reheats deliciously. Buy shelf stable cans and frozen goods to keep on hand to make this a pantry staple meal. Tip: try adding potatoes and carrots!

Ingredients:

Makes 6 servings

1 cup basmati rice

2 cups water

1/2 white onion diced

1 clove garlic minced

1 tablespoon cooking oil

2 tablespoons curry powder

1/2 15 ounce can coconut milk

1 15 ounce diced tomatoes

1 8 ounce can tomato sauce

2 cans garbanzo beans

Salt and pepper to taste

2 cups frozen broccoli

1. Add 2 cups water to 1 cup basmati rice in a rice cooker or cook according to package instructions.

2. Heat pan over low-medium heat. Add cooking oil and curry powder. Let heat until fragrant.

3. Add onions and garlic to pan and cook until translucent.

4. Toss garbanzo beans with salt and pepper and add to pan.

5. Reduce heat to low and add coconut milk, tomato sauce and diced tomatoes.

6. Mix until liquids are fully incorporated.

7. Bring heat back up to low-medium and add broccoli.

8. Simmer for 30-40 minutes until sauce as thickened to hold mixture together without thinning out immediately.

9. Serve warm over basmati rice.

10. Enjoy!

Romantic Bohemian chana masala dinner for fresh flowers and libations.

You can serve this dish with naan and fresh fruit for a multi course meal or keep it simple with the one dish. Make sure to make the extra because your partner will want some for later!

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Don’t miss the other meals of the day!

Stephanie from Casa Watkins Living is sharing cinnamon sugar croissants and wine glass centerpiece for breakfast.

Kathy from Up To Date Interiors is sharing tribal inspired LOVE table decor for Lunch.

I’m sharing henna inspired napkin rings and my Chana Masala Recipe. Save this post to Facebook or Pinterest to have it for later!

Jessica from House Homemade is sharing arrow decorations and dipped Oreos for dessert!

Feeling Inspired? Save this post to reference later (and I bet your friends will love this, too!)

Last Minute Gifts You Can Buy On Amazon

December 14, 2017 by CORINNA HENDERSON

Being a bohemian, you know that your tastes are unique. You tend to buy unique things for yourself and you hope for unique things from others. So that’s exactly what I’m going to list out here in our last minute bohemian gift guide. These items are inspirational, decorative, meant to adorn your person and I hope it helps you finish up your Christmas shopping. I’ve spent a lot of time this past month thinking of things to gift but haven’t actually done any of the shopping! Yikes! But never fear, you can buy any of these gifts and they’ll arrive before Christmas. And who knows, maybe it’ll add a few more items to your wish list, too!

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Bohemian Stocking Stuffer Ideas

December 13, 2017 by CORINNA HENDERSON

If you’ve got a bohemian in your life, you know that their interests are off the beaten track. And while each bohemian is going to have their own unique tastes and preferences, this list is going to be a perfect starting point. This time of year is all about being selfless and thinking of others. Your bohemian is going to appreciate that you went out of your way to gift them something unique and meaningful so let’s jump into the list.

Bohemian Stocking Stuffer Ideas

These items are small enough to slip into most stockings. But you could also turn them into small gifts- perfect for friends, sisters, brothers and everyone else. Because let’s face it, we almost always have more people we want to gift to than we have the funds for. Here are all the items I could think of that would be perfect for the boho babe.

Incense – My favorite is Nag Champa. I’ve been buying it since my hippie days in head shops and now I buy it from the comfort of my home on Amazon. If you know your bohemian’s favorite scent you can get that but if you’re looking for a favorite among the masses, this one is fantastic.

Crystals – Many bohemians believe in the healing powers of crystals. Even if your bohemian doesn’t, they’re sure to appreciate the naturally occurring beauty as a light reflecting accent in their home. This set of three would be nice for one person or split for 3 different people.

Precious Stones – Along the same lines, precious stones are also sure to be a bohemian pleaser. Your bohemian may have specific stones missing from a collection and this is the perfect time of year to help them fill it in. And if they don’t, this set makes a nice starter.

Bracelets – Not only do bohemians embellish their worlds, but they oftentimes embellish themselves, too. This copper cuff would make a simple jewelry gift. You can support fair trade with this rose quartz bracelet or keep it budget friendly with this charged rose quartz bracelet. And it’s hard to go wrong with a turquoise embellished cuff. You could also gift other kinds of jewelry but you’ll want to make sure they’re in a box so they don’t snag the stocking or get tangled.

Scarf – For those of us in the northern hemisphere, things are getting cold this time of year. A warm scarf is perfect for stuffing into a stocking. This colorful scarf has fun tassel embellishments. Or spend a little more for a fair trade scarf like this one. Got a southern hemisphere bohemian? Try this lightweight scarf with tassels they can use as an accessory.

Mitten – Speaking of cold weather accessories, a set of nice gloves or mittens would be a perfect addition to a bohemians accessories.

Wooden hair brush – Bohemians love natural materials so why not gift them a wooden hair brush? This set includes a brush and two combs. Or you could gift a brush like this floral painted one or a detangling comb would fit into a stocking nicely.

Journal – A totally versatile gift that can be used for note keeping, shopping lists, writing stories, journaling, doodling and whatever else your giftee can dream up on paper. This one has a really colorful ikat design to the cover. Astronomy loving bohemians will love the cover on this one. And this set of two contains a gold stripe and cute jungle themed print.

Lip balm – Everyone can enjoy a good lip balm especially with the dry winter air. This set comes from the amazing Dr. Bronner’s brand which makes it an ethical stocking stuffer. You can also support small handmade shops by trying out this innovative eco-tube lip balm or try this set of festive flavored balms.

related: hand lotion, bath bombs, face mask

Unique Socks – I adore my Turkish socks and definitely think their thickness makes them suitable as lightweight house slippers and perfect for fitting into a stocking. These ones have a beautiful black and white design. And these ones are fun and colorful.

Tea light holder – Give them something to set on their bedside table for some ambiance. This tealight holder will cast a pretty design on the wall and this one will release negative ions. Both are small enough to slip into a stocking or make a great accessory gift to a set of tealights. If you’re working with a tight budget, there are oftentimes cute tealight holders and lanterns at the dollar store.

Candle – Candles are a great way to give a gift that introduces either a favorite scent to a friend or a brand that you want your bohemian to know about. This candle is hand poured by a small shop based out of California and has tons of other unique scents. And this one comes in a colorful tin.

Watch – I think a wooden watch makes a great gift for everyone on the list and have even separately compiled a list of 35 wood watches under $35 so you can browse wood tones, designs, different face plate options and sizes.

Jewelry dish – We’ve already chatted jewelry, why not include a little dish to put the jewelry on at the end of the day? I know I tend to take my jewlery off in multiple spots around my home so having a cute little jewelry dish like this elephant one or this embellished peacock one would make keeping them corralled much easier.

Unique writing tools – To go with the notepad, or to be gifted alone for use in their favorite notebooks, unique pens/pencils and markers encourage the creativity of a bohemian. This pen is made to look like bamboo, this one is gold and shaped like a hexagon, a gold fountain pen is always fun to play with, and this set of colored pens would be great for the color coordinated list maker and coloring book junkie. Twig pencils and colored pencils are also a whimsical touch.

Ceramic measuring spoons – Even if your bohemian isn’t doing much more than scooping sugar into a mug, a set of painted ceramic measuring spoons is a gorgeous addition to their kitchen supplies that they can keep out proudly on display. These wood ones are cute, too.

Tea infusers – These are small, inexpensive and easy to slip into a stocking. If there’s extra room in the stocking, you could slip in a small tin of loose tea for them to try, too. The basic tea infuser is just stainless mesh, but this one is shaped like a heart and I love that.

Spoon rest – For the avid cook, an interesting spoon rest could add some cheeriness to the cooking routine. This turquoise hand painted spoon rest is made in Turkey by artisans. And this one is handcrafted in Mexico in talavera style. If you’re shopping for multiple people, this white owl spoon rest set is very cute.

Essential oil – Little bottles of essential oils are a perfect little gift for slipping into stockings or buy a set and gift the box. Oils I think could be especially beneficial this time of year are germ fighter for warding off winter colds, frankincense for clarity through the darker days, energy because I know I sure want to hibernate through winter, and grapefruit to shake off winter blues.

Coffee mug – This one is unique and probably unlike anything they’ve already got in their collection. This one will add some fiesta color to their morning cup. And a set of two helps check off two people with one purchase.

Wine bottle stopper – Small and totally useful little gifts a wine bottle stopper makes. These ones have a Mexican tile look to them. And the turned wood of these ones leaves it with a really eye catching design. Probably my favorite are these crystal and precious stone wine bottle stoppers.

Bluetooth speaker – Music is an easy favorite for a lot of people but putting in a speaker in every room of the house can be expensive. Let your bohemian take their music anywhere with a portable bluetooth speaker. This one has enhanced bass and FM radio capability as well as a built in mic so phone calls and voice commands can be use through the speaker. And this one is a nightlight, speaker and planter pot all in one. I know you’re intrigued with that one- haha.

Seeds – Speaking of planters, why not slip in some seeds in their stocking? They could plant them indoors or it’ll be something they can look forward to in the spring. This mix could be good for someone wanting to experiment with edibles. And this one could be interesting to the foraging type bohemian.

related: Macrame plant hangers

So there you have it! Alongside the usual things you can tuck into a stocking, these would be fantastic additions for the bohemian in your life. It’s a little bit hippie, little bit boho and all totally practical goods. I’ve tried to give a few options for each category but feel free to take the ideas and shop elsewhere. If you appreciate what you’ve found here today and want to support this blog, do your shopping through my Amazon affiliate link so the commission can go towards my hosting fees. Whatever you decide to do, I hope the holidays are a joy for you and those in your life.

Click on the images below to shop Bohemian Stocking Stuffers:

Great Gifts For 5 Year Olds

December 12, 2017 by CORINNA HENDERSON

We are at a really special time in our son’s life for the holidays. He’s five years old and has tons of personality and developed interests. It’s making it a lot of fun and at the same time tough deciding what to get him for Christmas. Getting to know him, I’ve found that giving him gifts that broaden his interests, complement his current learning skills, enhance creativity and encourage imaginative play are what’s going to best compliment the next year of his life. Since deciding what to buy can be tough, I wanted to share what I bought as Christmas gifts for our 5 year old so hopefully it’ll help guide you in your gift giving for the holidays and more.

Great Gifts For The 5 Year Old In Your Life

Great Gifts For A 5 Year Old

Zoob BuilderZ Zoob Bot – A highlight of my childhood is playing with Zoob sets and I’m so glad to see that they still exist. I actually came across this set when looking for robot building kits appropriate for a 5 year old. Looking around, there wasn’t much. But my child has expressed interest in building a robot lately by picking up scrap metal whenever he finds it and says he’s saving it to build a robot. I didn’t want to buy anything he would get too frustrated with or that would break easily because he’s not gentle with his toys. This set isn’t exactly a robot building kit but a building kit. It comes with a base that you can pull back and it propels the creation forward. Or you can just use the Zoob pieces to build. We spend a lot of time building with Duplo Legos and blocks but he’s outgrowing them but isn’t quite ready for big kid Legos.
Chutes And Ladders – I’d like to try getting my son interested in playing board games. Since he doesn’t have much experience with them yet, I wanted to grab some classic that would be really easy to play. This one I played for all of my childhood and even as a teenager. It involves numbers so it complements his kindergarten curriculum but is also just a really low key, purely luck kind of game.
Sum Swamp – This game is not one that I’ve ever played or seen before but I love the educational aspect and think I could work this into our homeschooling. It’s also a luck based game since strategy doesn’t hurt or help you, but in order to find what your move is, you roll dice that show a math equation (addition or subtraction) and the answer is how many spaces you move. I hope it will encourage number recognition and reinforce addition and subtraction concepts while having some good away-from-the-screen time.
Monopoly Junior – This game involves strategy and I think that could help strengthen critical thinking skills. I think this one will be fun to pull out when the whole family is home so he can start to learn some of the strategies involved with succeeding in this game. And maybe it’ll be a game we can continue to play for years and graduate to the full board, too.
Happy Hats – Reading is such a big deal in Virginia kindergarten standards but it can be such a tough skill to master when the child just isn’t interested in learning it. This is another game I’m planning on working into our homeschooling activities to make learning that subject more game based.
Connect 4 – I always liked that this game stood up instead of being a flat board. I think that already makes that game mor enticing for young eyes. It encourages strategic thinking because the spaces need to be preplanned to make the 4 spots connect while also preventing your opponent from connecting their 4 chips.
Dickie Remote Control Fire Truck – Remote controlled things are fun. And this fire truck also has a working water pump. As a kid in love with big vehicles like garbage trucks, construction vehicles, tow trucks and rescue vehicles, this is sure to be an exciting toy that he will be able to have a lot of imaginitive play with. Creating rescue scenarios will grow his critical thinking skills and learning to use the controller will help further develop eye/hand coordination.
Tablet With Case – I do want my child to have a tablet and he has had ones in the past but we still haven’t found one that works best for us. This one comes with a case, which we discovered was needed all too quickly through the first two tablets we had. The third one didn’t have the android system and didn’t have google play and I found that to be frustrating on my end as that made it very different from my phone. While I can’t say for sure this one will or won’t be the best one yet- it looked great for us on paper and was available for a fantastic deal on cyber Monday.
Candy Land – Probably my all time favorite board game as a kid and I still have rosy memories of playing it. It could be the candy aspect of it as I am a sweet toothed gal, but I think it’s a nice and simple game that can encourage patience and focus. It will be easier for his younger friends to jump in and play as it makes a great stepping stone board game to harder ones.
10 Gallon Fish Tank – The request has been rampant for a turtle but we don’t really have the space requirements for an adequate home for one. So we considered a tortoise but the start up cost is more than we can commit to right now. He’s also been begging for a fish and we even went out and bought water conditioner and a filter for the tank we have one hand. So, we are going to start with a smaller fish tank. I think he will enjoy watching the fish and the growing responsibility that comes with feeding, maintaining the filtration system, and doing water changes. While he will need help and guidance with all of that, I think it’s a good start and will be a beautiful addition to his room.

I want this Chirstmas to be more about experiences and growth throughout the whole year. He already has a lot of toys and will be receiving tons more from his grandparents. One gift I was planning on getting him but was beat to it is a Virginia Living Museum membership since he loves nature so much. I wanted to mention it even though we did;t buy it because it was on the list and I think it makes a great gift since it can be used over and over during the membership.

Let’s hear from you!

How do you spend time together as a family without a television screen?

What are you gifting your children this year?

I’m dying to know what your answers are to those questions as they’ve been on my mind while coming up with this list. Answer the questions in the polls and leave your other answers in the comments below!

Be well and happy gifting!

My Home Style: Whimsical Christmas Tree

December 8, 2017 by CORINNA HENDERSON

handmade-global-boho-christmas-tree-style-with-whimsical-elements

A Christmas tree can tell you an awful lot about a person. And mine will tell you that I’m a little kooky and all over the place. But there’s definitely an underlying theme to the tree and here are the words I use to describe it global, bohemian and whimsical. I’ll show you some closer shots of my tree today and I hope you’ll agree that those words fit my whimsical Christmas tree. But if you settle on kooky and all over the place, that won’t hurt my feelings- I promise!

I guess I should back peddle a bit and explain why I am judging my Christmas tree right now. Well, today is the last day of Casa Watkin Living’s My Home Style Christmas Tree hop. And that means that all week long, lots of talented bloggers have been sharing their decorated Christmas trees and they have all been incredible! Today I am on the roster to share my tree.

If you’re already following along the hop, you already know all that and so let me introduce myself! My name is Corinna and you already know I’m a little kooky and all over the place but I blame that on being a true Gemini with a Gemini 5 year old keeping me busy. I’m a bohemian home decorator with an obsession with color and houseplants. Let me show you my tree now!

Global Boho Christmas Tree with Whimsical touches

The main theme to my ornaments are global and boho. There are lots of ornaments either made by artisans of other cultures or are representative of iconic symbols of other cultures. There’s bright pops of blue, pink, green and purple. And there’s also whimsical touches like little birds, mushrooms and flowers. I should probably be one of those people with more than one tree.

Global Boho Christmas Tree incorporates bright pops of color with whimsical mushroom, bird and flower ornaments

I started with gigantic glittery starburst ornaments. To be honest, I’m not entirely sure if they were meant to be hung on a tree but there was no way I was going to pass on the opportunity to hang these on my tree. They’re more than 12 inches long! I found those in the post holiday clearance section at Target last year and they were around a dollar each.

The magnolia flowers are also about a dollar each. I found those at the dollar store last month. I thought they were just so pretty! I’ve always loved flowers on a Christmas tree but not really poinsettias. These have turned out to be everything I didn’t know I had been looking for.

Global Boho Christmas Tree incorporates bright pops of color with whimsical mushroom, bird and flower ornaments

I’m using the same tree topper from last year. I had found it in the clearance section the year before. It’s metal with punched out designs for the light inside to shine through. It’s quite heavy and never really stands up straight despite the built in claw. I can’t really imagine myself using anything else but I’ll probably look for a lighter one in this year’s post holiday clearance.

And the tree skirt is an inexpensive one from Walmart’s holiday shop. It’s a deep jewel toned blue with sequins sewn in. It’s pretty and I like that it’s different from the more traditional options. If I had unlimited funds I would buy one of those vintage kilim rug turned tree skirt ones but those are expensive and I have a 5 year old to buy gift for – ha.

Global Boho Christmas Tree incorporates bright pops of color with whimsical mushroom, bird and flower ornaments

My tree is sandwiched in between my front door and a corner seating area, right in the middle of a whole wall of windows facing the street. It’s quite beautiful to see from the street at night and makes up slightly for the fact that I didn’t get much decor up in the front yard. And I love sitting in that chair beside the tree late at night. When everything is quiet and I get to enjoy the warm glow of the Christmas lights.

Global Boho Christmas Tree incorporates bright pops of color with whimsical mushroom, bird and flower ornaments

colorful-eclectic-boho-christmas-tree-with-global-details

I can’t remember an awful lot about the three that I bought. I’m not good at remembering things like that but I can tell you it’s nothing designer or name brand. I bought it at Target because I wanted something taller than the dinky 6 footer we had. That 6 footer would’ve been fine if it weren’t so short. I shared a post a few years ago about making the most of a cheap Christmas tree so if you need to add more volume to your tree, I definitely recommend checking that post out!

Global Boho Christmas Tree incorporates bright pops of color with whimsical mushroom, bird and flower ornaments

I don’t use garland much because it never looks as good on my tree as it does everyone else’s trees. Instead I have beaded garland messily draped around the tree. I like that it gives the illusion that I don’t care how beautiful and put together my tree looks (even though I really do).

And I think that addresses everything from top to bottom about my whimsical global-boho Christmas tree. If you’d like to see how the tree fits in with the rest of my living room, I would be thrilled to share my Eclectic Winter Home Tour with you where I share how I’ve decorated my living room, dining room and bedroom with a mix of unconventional and traditional decor.

The DIY Mommy, DIY Decor Mom, Houseful of Handmade, and DIY Beautify are also sharing their Christmas tree styles so make sure to stop by each of them and leave them a comment because comments totally rock. And if you’ve missed any of the trees this week, here’s the full schedule below.

Monday

Casa Watkins Living

Up To Date Interiors

Monica Wants It

Tuesday

Wednesday

Little Red Brick House

Thursday

Friday

Global Boho Christmas Tree incorporates bright pops of color with whimsical mushroom, bird and flower ornaments

Boho Style Winter Eclectic Home Tour

December 7, 2017 by CORINNA HENDERSON

Hello and welcome to my 2017 bohemian Christmas home tour. My holiday decorating style involves a lot of using what I’ve used in previous year, budget additions, thrift finds, and lots of color. It’s really an interesting mash between traditional Christmas decor and whimsical. But the Gemini in me just won’t let it be one way or the other. If you like color, global accents, and a peculiar mix in of childhood Christmas decor, then I think you’ll like what you see!

This tour is being shared in participation of Jess of Domicile 37’s Eclectic Winter Home Tour. So a huge thank you to her for organizing all of this. Her home tours are always frigging incredible and I’m honoured to be included in the mix. If you’re new here, my name is Corinna and I’m a bohemian home decorator with little restraint when it comes to houseplants and color. My specialty blending thrifted furniture with interesting textiles and filling in the rest of the space with global goods and plants. Don’t forget to introduce yourself in the comment section below!

Let’s come on in the front door then, shall we?

First thing you’ll see coming up to our house is a single little lighted Christmas tree in the yard because it’s been rainy and cold and I haven’t been brave enough to put much else up. But when you get to the porch, things get a bit better and you’ll see our aqua front door with a lot layers. The bells are for good energy. The wreath I made and I am so stinking proud of how good it came out that it earned a spot as the Christmas wreath too because I’m not prepared to attempt to top that one yet. I did share a tutorial and if you’re interested, you can visit the modern-scandi wreath tutorial here. To jazz it up a notch, we added the adorable glitter reindeer that we found at the dollar store.

Christmas definitely greets your right in your face at our home. The tree sits right in the center of a whole wall of windows facing the street. It’s such a beautiful sight when coming home after dark. I won’t innundate you with too many tree photos today though since I will be sharing my tree as part of a My Home Style tree hop edition tomorrow.

There are lots of other little details to spot in this space though, like the miniature Christmas tree that we also picked up at the dollar store this year. I was surprised to see them and curious enough to spend a dollar to see if it would even stand. I’m happy to report that it’s a sturdy little things. My son decorated it with the small ornaments from our collection and wrapped two battery operated light strands that are also from the dollar store. Keeping it company are a little white bottle brush tree (from the dollar store last year) and a white house (from this year’s Target dollar spot section). It’s a frugal and cheerful way to add some Christmas spirit to this corner.

I pulled the white midcentury modern rocker back in here. I have such a love/hate with this chair. It’s comfortable and seriously looks amazing. But, it tips backward every time I get out of it and every time my son gets within a foot of it (haha). So it’s been in the garage for months but I really wanted a cozy spot to sit right beside the tree. This is a test run to see if it can continue to live with us and I’m hopeful it works out.

Beside the white chair (and it’s kind of irrelevant story), is a larger cabinet used as an end table. Along the back I have some of my books stacked up and in front I have 2 of my treasured fiber optic pieces. One is a small village and my grandmother gave it to me. My heart sank when I plugged it in and it didn;t light up, but thankfully it was just a burnt out bulb and I replaced it for about $5. The other I thrifted and it’s a charming little greenhouse! I couldn’t love a Christmas decoration more, I swear.

I love sitting here late at night. When the house is quiet and there’s no other lights but the Christmas tree and the other little light up decor. It’s soothing and rejuvenating all at the same time. If you don’t do twinkle lights, I can’t believe you know what happiness feels like.

And I’ll admit it, it’s also a really cozy spot to watch TV.

The TV stand is a vintage credenza that I found on craigslist a few years ago. The seller was the owner of a little hole in the wall thrift shop and was selling the top and bottom separately. Nowadays I find them more valuable without the top anyways so that saved me the trouble of trying to find a home for it. The tv is semi-camouflaged by the hand painted moroccan design on the wall. But the space around it received a little Christmas treatment with some faux greenery. I don’t do real because of the mess and I found a few strands of this on a steep discount at Michael’s and it’s been nice having some to play around with (as you’ll see in other spots of the house).

There’s a little nativity next to the mass cane (who is also decorated with a sparkly blue bow- you’ll spot many of the plants sprting this look for the holidays!) and on the other side is a little lighted house whose sign I painted over and repainted “RX” on homage to my many years working in a pharmacy. The copper “JOY” sign was a Target clearance find. I love shopping the clearance section after a holiday. It’s pretty much the only way I get new holiday decor nowadays.

I also won’t take up too much of this tour up with pictures of my Colorfully Eclectic Christmas Mantel because I shared all the details on it yesterday. I would love to have you check it out!

There’s really not much else to share in this room so I’ll rush you through the kitchen (I’m working on replacing the range hood, sink faucet and light fixtures so please excuse the mess) on to the dining room.

The dining room doubles as our homeschooling room. In reality, if we looked how much time the room is used for each, it would probably make better sense to say this is our homeschooling room that doubles as a dining room. Ha. It’s a comfortable space for learning, eating and chatting. We even had a dance party with Christmas music in here last night.

I’ll bring you a cute mug with your choice of hot chocolate or coffee (don’t forget to leave your choice with your introduction in the comments).

bohemian-christmas-decorated-living-room-bowl-full-of-ornaments

I chose to use what I already had on hand for dressing the table. The chevron blanket is from 5 below and the runner I made from some vintage mudcloth and fringey trim. And the bowl is filled with the same dollar store vase filler I used for Thanksgiving but I replaced a few pieces with leftover ornaments.

The Merry Christmas garland is from World Market, again I picked it up on clearance last year after the holidays were over so it’s the first time I’ve used it. Large glittery stars adorn the windows, pom poms embellish the cactus, and these handmade global style ornaments grace the guava tree.

My favorite in this room is the bar cart. Not only is this bar cart the best Target purchase of my life (it was clearance, of course), it’s also the easiest thing to decorate for each season and holiday. The corner is decked out with one of those sparkly blue bows and a cluster of blue ornaments that didn’t make the final cut onto the tree this year.

I’ve hung miniature Chinese lanterns I found in a box at a thrift store years ago on this little white Christmas tree I’ve had since I was a kid. Isn’t that just too fun? I lovehow unexpected it is. Lanterns themselves are beautiful no matter which culture they come from, but I love the little scenes “painted” onto the paper in these ones. The wine bottle got an ornament bottle stopper, also thrifted, and it’s still wearing the felt and tassel wine bottle tags I made for embellishing wine bottles to bring as a hostess gift. I have a tutorial for those DIY wine bottle charms here.

On the lower level, I have another one of those Target dollar spot white houses and a laser cut wood nativity scene that has twinkle lights inside that I just picked up at Walmart (gasp! I paid full price-lol).

If you need a mint after your drink, I have two options in this bowl here. Lifesavers mints in wintergreen and peppermint puffs. The lifesavers really have some zing to them. Have you seen those viral videos of people biting into them in the dark? Supposedly they’ll spark!

The final Christmas detail in this room is the card hanger. I also found this at the dollar store. They’re little clothespins with felt Christmas trees on them on a jute twine. I think it’s the perfect way of displaying all those beautiful Christmas cards we send and receive this year.

The final room that I ended up decorating this year is my bedroom. And it’s the simplest little touch. I was beginning to lose my energy for holiday decorating and didn’t have much decor left so I left the bedroom alone for the most part. Besides fold clothes, I really only sleep in here so it wouldn’t be appreciated much anyways.

If you’ve got a larger headboard like myself, why not try tacking a bit of greenery across it? It’s pretty and just festive enough to count as having decorated a space.

bohemian-christmas-decorated-simple-bedroom

Now that I’ve shared more than 1,700 words with you and all my Christmas decorating ideas (at least the practical ones), I’m going to send you off to the next stop on the home tours. Quick reminder to leave you introduction and drink preference in the comments below.

Next Stop On The Eclectic Winter Home Tour -> Style Mutt Home

You can navigate all of the participating home tours via the roaster below. Feel free to come back and visit later, this list will be here for your reference. I hope you enjoy all the different ideas and come away with something new to try in your home.