Bookworm Cottage Style

The first Christmas in our new home was spent with leftover holiday decor from our apartment. Once we got some keeper furniture in the house and had a better sense of how much garland, how many wreaths, and how big of a tree we could accommodate, I created a holiday wishlist and have been buying items piecemeal all throughout the year, setting them aside in the basement for future use. Here are the pieces I purchased that I cannot wait to unbox and style this season, as well as a few others that I hope to add to our collection in years to come. 

Here are the pieces we own and look forward to unpacking:

1. King of Christmas 6.5′ Royal Fir Slim Artificial Christmas Tree Unlit: I finally recruited my husband onto team artificial Christmas tree. It hasn’t arrived yet so it’s too soon to give a review, but the dimensions seem perfect for our small space and the quality looks promising.
2. Afloral Real Touch Deluxe Norfolk Pine Garland – 96″: I think I bought these back in March or April, as they were out of stock around the holidays last year. I am planning to hang one strand on our mantel and one strand on our staircase, and I’m thinking of dressing them up with some sort of ribbon to add color and visual interest. We shall see!
3. Red Sleigh 9′ x 14″ Sequoia Fir Prelit Commercial LED Christmas Garland, 100 Warm White Lights: For outdoors, I wanted something commercial grade that could withstand Boston winters, and something powered with a plug rather than batteries, which are prone to corroding in storage and don’t last in the cold. I only have enough strands for our front porch this year, but the eventual goal is to string them along our front fence as well and to garnish them with classic red bows.
4. Red Sleigh 30″ Pre-lit Commercial Sequoia Fir LED Christmas Wreath, 100 Warm White Lights: Also for our exterior, we got this classic wreath from the same commercial grade collection as the garland above. For now we’ll use it as-is, but I hope to add a big red bow next year.
5. Container Store Wing-Lid Ornament Storage Box: Okay obviously I don’t display this, but it is one of the best holiday purchases I’ve ever made and I’ve had it for years. Some of my ornaments are larger than will fit in the cardboard squares, but this is not a problem. The cardboard grid is actually easy to customize by removing pieces or folding over edges.

Here are a few finishing touches that are on my wish list:

6. Tru-Tone Classic C7 Light Set in Jeweltone: I am an LED purist for environmental reasons, but I truly cannot stand the icy cool look of LED multicolor holiday lights. For this reason, our tree has been home to warm white lights only. Enter Tru-Tone. This company has finally cracked the code and created warm tinted LED holiday lights that evoke the incandescent bulbs of my youth. I wasn’t able to get any this year, but I definitely plan to place an order before the holiday season next year. 
7. Vickerman 18″ Red Nylon Outdoor Christmas Bow: Vickerman makes commercial grade outdoor bows in a myriad of sizes in both nylon and velvet. My inspiration for the exterior is to go really classic and channel Josh Young’s D.C. townhouse, putting these bows on the outdoor wreath and garland we already purchased.