So far, out of all the areas in my home that I’m decking out for the holidays—I’m loving how my dining room turned out! Keeping with the green walls and my silver candle holder that’s mounted to the wall—I decided to do everything in silver, glass and mirrors with touches of green. I took an old wreath frame and wrapped a white boa around it. I finished it off with a string of very tiny silver jingle bells.
The large vases were from my husband’s company function years ago. I filled them with different sized silver jingle bells. I purchased the bleached dried flowers and the greenery was from the bottom of our tree—love the zero cost there! Then I gathered all my frames that were either silver or mirrored and added old holiday or winter photos. I loved putting this room together.
So, I’m adding my foyer to this post since it’s leads right into the dinning room. I’ve been collecting nutcrackers for about 15 years and they always have guarded the staircase.
I’m not sure where I’d put them if not on the stairs. Now, it’s time to put all the empty boxes back in the attic until January.
Hope you enjoyed Christmas at my home!
Here’s the complete slideshow:
My favorite room in my home is the living room. From the shape of the barrel ceiling to the Hand Craft Tile on the fireplace, I love spending time in there. Thanks to my handy laptop—I do spend a lot of time in there—working or enjoying a glass of wine. But, at Christmastime the time spent in my living room quadruples. When we remodeled this was the only room left standing. I told the architect to build around this room and he did a perfect job. That’s how much I love this room.
Now you can see all the stockings are hung on the bar with care. Let’s face it I’m a mom to four boys! And, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to bring in a little holiday staging cheer.
The Sparkling Wine is compliments of my sister—It pays to know someone in the wine biz. I added a teaspoon of Clementine juice and one slice. They were so delicious! The little clock niche above the fireplace isn’t large enough to hold 8 stockings. Yes, 8. 2 parents, 4 kids, 1 dog and 1 for the cats to share = 8.
The tree is definitely the center piece. And, after 25 Christmas trees—all Douglas firs—this year we got a white fir. It smells heavenly, has long needles and is much less bushy than the Douglas. I used to do the multi-colored lights, but about 12 years ago I switched to all white and haven’t looked back.
I’ve been collecting ornaments since I was 6. I’d get one every year. Now, of course some have seen better days and some are gone completely, but my oldest ornament is from 1972. My gray little mouse with his Santa outfit—he’s missing an eye, but I can’t imagine my tree without him. This year we cut way back on ornaments because of Fiona. This will be her first Christmas—and let me tell having a big puppy at Christmas is a lot like having toddlers. You’re watching them—they seem uninterested in any holiday decorations—you run to answer the phone—that’s when you hear the crash.
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The backyard was beautiful to begin with — park-like lawn, bubbling fountain, outdoor fireplace. But when Dhelia Fahrner, a.k.a., 
The garden of the Kenney Home was green and pastoral, but somewhat shady and dark. It needed some “pop.” So, after planting white cyclamen in the beds, she turned to the major focal points — the fireplace patio and the French doors at the back of the study. Bringing in two graceful urns filled with white hydrangeas, azaleas and wispy maidenhair ferns– plus a piece of garden statuary from her friend Laura Ziffer at Lulu Pom in Los Gatos — Dhelia created a graceful vignette flanking the French doors.
On the table in front of the outdoor fireplace, she planted a white cement pot with succulents and surrounded the base with the kind of ornamentation that might be seen on a mantel – layers of moss, lichen, bleeched pinecones and antlers. Small birch containers showcased miniature Christmas tree cypress and amaryllis.
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The third house is a French Chateau built atop a Saratoga foothill. The entry hall features a pier mirror that the family brought around the Horn in the late 1800s. A “tree house” office was added during the most recent renovation and the dining room decor evokes the feeling of a french garden. The renovated kitchen is state-of-the-art.
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