seasons of home | Christmas dining room

by | Nov 16, 2017 | All Things Home, Decorating, Dining Room, Holiday, My House, Winter | 33 comments

This post may contain affiliate links.

Disclosure: As a part of the Seasons of Home series, this blog post was sponsored by Couleur Nature.  All words and opinions are my own.

In my last house, my dining room was like old reliable.  It was a great backdrop for photo shoots and the light was always amazing.  Not to mention, I just loved that room.  It was very “me”.

As I was decorating this dining room and photographing it, I found enjoyment in the process, but I had to be intentional about not doing this…

Oh darn it!  I missed a letter in “refinished”.  Sigh, okay.  You get the idea.

This room isn’t finished yet, so just know that.  Let’s just enjoy how far it’s come along, though.

We hung my chandelier, but otherwise this is how the room started…

And here is where it is today, dressed up for Christmas…

Before we talk about Christmas stuff, I did get some paint on the walls last week.  I learned I can work a roller as a lefty pretty proficiently!  It’s painted in Pearly White by Sherwin Williams, which is the same color that was in my last dining room.  And I’ve painted some of the trim in a custom bright white.

For Christmas, I did my usual greenery-on-the-chandelier thing.  If you want to know how I do it, here is a video tutorial I made a couple of years ago…

Since I’m working on a relatively small, round table, I kept things simple.  I found a couple of rosemary plants and potted them in a couple of these amazing marble pots.

For a centerpiece, I used the large marble & wood cake stand from Caravan as a pedestal for an advent wreath made from an antique ironstone ring mold, candles, and fresh greenery.

HERE is a tutorial showing how I made it.

I was able to find some of the prettiest live greenery between a couple of local Rochester nurseries.  Since I’m new in town, I’m still in the process of finding all of my spots!

For the place settings, I layered a couple of antique plates, used my family silver (Repousse by Kirk Stieff), water goblets from a thrift store, and these clear bistro glasses.

The napkins are Laundered Linen with an indigo stripe.  I left them folded simple on the plate, topped with an antique ironstone butter pat holding an initialed gingerbread cookie.  I made some small fresh rosemary wreaths to add some texture and break up the blue & white.

I didn’t do much to the hutch, but added some gingerbread houses, pine cones and candles.

Two of the gingerbread houses are nestled in the marble plate and glass cake dome.  

Decorating for the holidays is definitely a part of making a new house feel like home and with the first chandelier crowned in evergreens, we’re on our way…

For more Christmas dining room inspiration, visit the other Seasons of Home bloggers…

 

Ella Claire | Rooms for Rent | Jennifer Rizzo | Love Grows Wild

Nesting with Grace | Dear Lillie | French Country Cottage | Liz Marie Blog

Craftberry Bush | City Farmhouse | Jeanne Oliver | Kindred Vintage

Shades of Blue Interiors | My Sweet Savannah | Miss Mustard Seed |

and our featured guest, House of Five

Julie Blanner

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    33 Comments

    1. Brenda

      Do the gingerbread houses under the cake last longer or are they more likely to mold? I love the gingerbread house but have never made one because I’m afraid they would draw unwanted guests (we live out in the country). I would hate to do all the work and find they would only look good for a few days! But they are awesome!

    2. Kim

      Boy, do I recognize the “clear bistro glasses.” They (along with the other graduated sizes) have been our family’s glassware for 26 years. I can find them all the time in our city’s thrift shops for next to nothing (like 25 cents each) so my collection has expanded. They are made in France by Duralex and pretty sturdy. I love the shape of them and how they feel in the hand.

    3. Trista

      I love your talent for creating a natural and cozy Christmas home!

    4. Trisha LeBaron

      I love how you share the process of decorating. It’s so hard with all the perfect pics to be okay with reality. I personally don’t think you should paint the table. I wish stained wood (oak in particular) didn’t have such a tarnished reputation. It’s probably because we used to go overboard (I used to have a house with light oak floors, cabinets & trim-ugg!), but I think the table is so lovely surrounded by your china cabinet and chairs.

    5. Marianne

      The blue hutch is so beautifully filled I can’t stop studying it! May I ask if that lovely color is the original or from your milk paint line?

      • Marian Parsons

        I painted it, actually! It was painted blue (not the original paint), but it was very bright. I painted over it with a mix of Trophy and French Enamel in my milk paint line.

    6. Julie

      When you make the cord cover for your chandelier, would you please make a video or post with your instructions? I’m a beginner sewer & need to make one myself. Thanks!

      • Marian Parsons

        Sure thing! It’s basically like making a big scrunchy, if that helps!

    7. Ramona

      Mustard Seed Magic!

    8. Diane Stark

      Love your Advent candle arrangement!

    9. Gina

      I’m so in love with the blue and white dinnerware in your cupboard, what is it? Thanks, Gina

      • Marian Parsons

        It is antique blue & white transferware. I have collected it over the years and am partial to the pale blue and white pieces.

    10. Deanna

      Home Sweet Home❤️

    11. Carrie

      I love how you photographed your dining room even though its not exactly finished how you want it yet. It looks beautiful to me!
      I think most of us have rooms that are not where we’d like them to be, and this is encouraging to go ahead and decorate and enjoy them just the way they are.

    12. Lynda

      It looks beautiful Marian. I love the greenery. Just think, next year you can look back at these pics and look at how things have changed.

    13. Mary

      Just so beautiful, I love it all.

    14. Susan

      I always love how you use natural elements and antiques for your Christmas decorating! I especially like the butter pats with the little initialed cookies! Such a special touch. Lovely!

    15. Christina

      Dear Marian, this is such a hauntingly beautiful post, for a moment it brought tears to my eyes! I am so glad that I found your blog. Looking forward to when I have more time to browse through it. Thank you for sharing your Christmas vision for your dining room. I am looking forward to your future Christmas posts!
      Warm regards,
      Christina

    16. Alena Gagnon

      I just picked up the December issue of Romantic Home and was thrilled to see your home featured. To be more accurate your previous home dressed for Christmas. It is lovely to see the same elements from that home in this post. I love how your new home is coming together!

    17. Mildred

      This is a lovely post. However, I can’t help but comment on the many items in the post that were contributed by the sponsor, very expensive items. It must be nice to be on the receiving end of the many sponsors who support bloggers.
      Will you replace the greenery over the dining table before Christmas?

      • Marian Parsons

        Yes, this is a sponsor with higher-end products, but I work with a variety of sponsors that offer goods for all budgets. I hope you can also appreciate that these higher end items are mixed with thrift store, yard sale, and craigslist finds. For example, the chandelier was a $4.00 yard sale find! 🙂

        I usually don’t replace the greenery, but we’ll see how it goes. If it’s looking really bad, I’ll take it down or replace it.

        • Monica

          I love the mix, Marian! I’d love to save up for some of that marble. It’s gorgeous!

          Thanks for showing your “in-process” rooms. It’s so encouraging to see how to go about creating a room in steps. Makes it feel do-able for the rest of us too!

    18. Ashley Hale

      Stunning! I want to add greenery to my chandelier now for sure!

    19. Julie

      I am so happy for you, Marion. All of these years you have been so generous in sharing your ideas and decorating talents and now there are sponsors that recognize your extraordinary skills. You have earned this with your amazing sense of what makes a home feel fresh and welcoming. The majority of your pieces are the product of hours of scouring antique shops and thrift stores and lovingly putting things together just so perfectly and creating something beautiful and again, sharing it with us. Thank you for sharing the challenges of moving to a new home and the time it takes to make it your own. Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas!

    20. Rene Day

      Simply beautiful! It’s so hard to NOT see all the things we wish were different or done. But, I love seeing your process. You’ve done so much so quickly – you should take a moment and give yourself a pat on the back. Everything looks . . . lovely, like you. I am going to give your gingerbread recipe a try – hope to do a few of the small houses myself!

      Happy Thanksgiving, Marian.

    21. Deann

      Marian-
      every time you say “Rochester” I get a little excited until I realize that, *sigh*, you’re not in Rochester NY

    22. Cindy Redman

      Charming as always. I was so not into Christmas this year, but when i see your greenery, lit cangles and the sweet gingerbread houses, how can i not get drawn back in.

      Cindy

    23. Pamela

      Looks beautiful Marian! I am guilty of the same thing. We have been in our home a year now and still working on getting things just so. I have not shared a lot of our new home because I feel since it is not just so it is not worth sharing. I figure that since we built our home the expectation is high and though we built our home there are many projects we did not have the builder complete because we knew we could do them at a much more affordable price. I have missed sharing so I am slowly over coming the it has to be just so road block. I know your home will be even more beautiful once you are able to complete all the projects you want to get done.

    24. Harriett

      I admire your Christmas decorating. The cookies on the butter pats are my favorite touch. Thanks for sharing.

    25. Norma Rolader

      You have done great job! The decor is beautiful

    26. Marlene Stephenson

      Everything looks wonderful. I’m going to try and fix my chandelier and we will see.M

    27. Carrie

      I love Pearly White. I have it in my kitchen and guest room. Beautiful and soft, with a touch of interest.

    28. Rebecca Neustel

      I didn’t start reading your blog until shortly before you moved. I had heard the Miss Mustard Seed name, but I’d never looked at the blog. Now that you’ve moved to Minnesota, I discover you lived about 45 miles from me in PA. I live south of York. It would have been my pleasure to have taken a class you taught. ?

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