Quick Christmas Tour || And a Giveaway!

December 17, 2018 Cate | StyleMutt Home

Happy Holidays StyleMutts! Did you catch Chelsea’s Pinch of Merriment Home Tour last week? Seeing her home all decked out got me excited to do a quick Christmas tour of our own - plus you’ll get to see some more of our townhouse that I've admittedly neglected to share (even though we moved in the spring). So here’s a peek of our holiday-clad living room. Making room for the tree meant moving the $10 arm chair (oh yes - you read right ;) over by the fireplace.

Both Caleb and I grew up with candles in the windows this time of year, but apartment living never really seemed conducive to getting them. But our townhouse has finally given us a reason to get some of our own.

Our tree is always a simple one - some hand made garlands and sentimental family ornaments. And of course our vintage-rug-turned-Christmas-tree-skirt that Chelsea made for me a few years back. (Psssst: if you are looking for cute tree skirts, Chelsea recently compiled this dynamite round up)

Behind our living room sofa, you can spy some cedar garlands trickling up the bannister.

And some more around the threshold leading to the kitchen. I like to take apart my garlands smack-dab in the middle and reattach the other end to make a symmetrical frame over whichever entryway I’m decking with boughs.

If you look closely into the kitchen, you can see our Nativity sitting on the window sill.

For holiday cheer upstairs, we added a simple banner above the bed where we have been enjoying some new favorite finds from Bedsure:

This luxurious Sherpa blanket in Santa Claus red (how fitting) with it’s ever-so-soft (and reversible!) fluffy sherpa and velvety microfiber flannel.

And their 3-in-1 pillow - with 3 layers of goose down, memory foam (which you can remove if you want a softer landing), and down alternative. Plus these pillows are treated with anti-bacteria, odor, and dust mite protection!

In the spirit of the holiday, Bedsure is giving away a blanket and a pillow to two lucky winners!

Simply visit my Instagram page and look for the giveaway post to find out how to enter. Giveaway runs today only and our TWO winners will be announced tomorrow!

This concludes my quick Christmas tour - I hope you StyleMutts are remembering to not just get presents, but to be present this bustling season.

Merry Christmas to all you StyleMutts and to all a good night!

Eclectic Winter Tour

December 7, 2017 Cate | StyleMutt Home

Welcome friends! Thank you for stopping by on the Winter Eclectic Home Tour hosted annually by Jess Rey from Domicile 37! Ok before we begin my holiday tour, I should probably tell you that I've recently realized something very important: Christmas décor stresses me out.

Now, I'm not saying I'm a Grinch - just that I'm stressed! I know this is foolish. (My husband who's middle name is Christmas tells me this often.) Christmas is a joyous time of year! A time for family, generosity, and humility. And yet, I can't get past the feeling that our little apartment gets turned upside-down when the holiday décor comes out! So this year, I challenged myself to find a way to have my fruit cake and eat it too.

If you're popping by from A Designer at Home - welcome! We are StyleMutt Home, a sister-in-law duo (Chelsea & Cate) who love to mix and match a myriad of styles in the pieces we refinish and the spaces we design...

We have a small apartment - a modest 800 sq.ft. The addition of a grand Christmas tree can easily overwhelm our little living space. For that reason, I tried to keep my usual décor intact and with only a few low-impact, holiday additions.

I started by choosing a smaller tree this year than those we've used in the past. It's all dressed up in our hodge-podge of ornaments - many of them handmade (not because we have kids, but because my husband and I were straight poor our first Christmas). I spent hours cutting up everything from pizza boxes, old sweaters, and Christmas cards from the first year we were married.

Every year, I like to read the sweet sentiments on the folds of the ornaments and remember a time that we may have been broke but we had everything we needed: each other and our then recently-adopted best dog in the world.

In addition to the usual red-beaded garland, I finished our little tree with some ribbons of leather in my beloved Camel color.

The smaller tree meant less furniture re-arranging and the rest of the living room could stay pretty close to normal:

The cot under the window where our dog loves to perch

Our tufted velvet sofa (scored for FREE on craigslist believe it or not!)

Our thrifted rock-star-of-a-lounge-chair we call John Bon Jovi

Behind the sofa is our little dining nook.

We don't have a mantle so I hung our stockings on our chairs.

Across from the living room, next to the kitchen, is some built-in shelving which is currently sporting our little record collection. This is the time of year we consistently like to have an old record on the turntable - preferably holiday classics circa the mid-century.

I hardly ever show our kitchen on these tours because well… there’s not much to show.

But the highlight of the space is this Moroccan boucherouite runner purchased from The Gardener's House.

Each boucherouite rug is a riot of color and pattern, handwoven from recycled scraps and beautifully unique. This one is titled "Farwell from the Farm" which lends itself to more of a work of art than a rug. Perhaps one day, we'll have a bigger place and I'll hang it on the wall in the place of honor it deserves.

Two staples at the end of our kitchen counter is our mail-and-key bowl (a beloved wedding gift) and the porcelain lunch bag with Thor's doggy treats.

Past the whimsical grid of Matisse portraits, a few steps down the hall (like 3 to be exact), is our one-and-only bedroom.

Right when you walk into the bedroom is my perpetually cluttered dresser.

Pasted down from (and refinished by) my mom, it is always adorned in a tangle of jewelry and usually buried under a pile of clothes (let's be honest).

My husband's dresser, on the other hand, is usually clothes-free (apparently that's what the floor is for). *Insert eye-roll emoji

I really didn't do much to spruce up this space except add a "Merry Christmas" banner above the bed.

Currently, a lot of my plants are bunking-up to make room for the visit from cousin Christmas tree.

This might be another reason I get stressed - I'm never sure how my plant babies will react to the displacement. Last year, my fiddle-leaf fig tree (may she rest in peace) did NOT like getting upstaged from her usual corner and promptly let herself go just to spite me. Figadora Tonks now lives in exile - I mean on the balcony - in a corner where no one can see the incriminating evidence of my black thumb.

I am pleased to report that so far, minimizing our holiday décor seems to be treating my holiday anxiety effectively... Of course I haven't started holiday shopping yet so that could easily change lol.

Next stop on the tour is Jessica Brigham! Pop over to her home for more eclectic inspiration and more directions to the last stop on today's tour circuit! Thank you again for stopping by!

Here's a recap of all of holiday hostesses:

Monday
Domicile 37
Desert Domicile
Kobel & Co.
Whimsical Blue Living

Tuesday
The Gathered Home
Casa Watkins
Up To Date Interiors

Wednesday
Monica Wants It
Designing Vibes
Maker of Home
Michelle Matangi

Thursday
A Designer at Home
StyleMutt Home > Oh wait, you're already here!
Jessica Brigham
The Rath Project

Friday
House Home Made
House Haus Home
Jeweled Interiors
Domicile 37

Paper Feather Wreath {Holiday DIY No. 2}

November 21, 2014 Chelsea | StyleMutt Home

Mmmmmm. The weekend is here and it's already tastin' sweet, friends. If you're up for a little holiday DIY project, I've got a goodie for ya! What I love about today's DIY is that it's not screaming 'Christmas!!!' It's a piece you could easily leave out year round! But since it's a wreath, we're tossin' it into the Holiday bucket.

First things first - I absolutely cannot take credit for this project. I saw it months ago when the ever clever Melaine shared it on her My Sweet Savannah blog! The moment I saw this project I knew it would be one of the first things I made for this year's holiday season.

Let's get started! First, you need to print about 7 copies of this page on cardstock. I did this from home on FedEx online - placed my order for 8 x 11 size prints, and then picked it up, (I only used 7 sheets, but I would advise getting 10 just in case). This will cost less than $10.

Now for the fun part! You're going to cut out each feather. After cutting the feathers from the page, you'll add small cuts to each feather to give them a bit more dimension and authenticity.

Okay, bare with me here. This next part I did not take a picture of. As per usual, I worked on this little ditty while racing cars with one child, braiding Ana and Elsa's hair with another, and coaxing my third to keep his socks on and stop hiding them under the couch cushions...it's a beautiful kind of chaos, indeed. Back to our project! You're going to need a wreath frame at this point! Cardboard will do the trick. I just used a mixing bowl turned upside down to trace a large circle on a piece of cardboard, cut it out with a box cutter, then traced a smaller circle on the inside, and carved that one out.

Once you've got your wreath frame, just grab a glue stick and go to town! There's really no rhyme or reason to sticking your feathers on. I found it easier to start with the big blue guy first, then surrounding him with the smaller plumes, working my way around the frame one section at a time.

That's it! Not too difficult, eh?!

Rather BUY than DIY? We've got you covered.
This wreath from Anthropologie hits all the right notes of festive, elegant, and whimsical. (And if you follow the link, you'll see they staged it in one picture with white pom-pom garland, which I shared a tutorial for last week! Anthropologie and I are so in sync with each other....)