DIY White Woodland Christmas

Last Christmas, our living room walls were dark paneled wood. I tried my best to decorate for the holiday and lighten up the mood in the room, but I just couldn't get over how dark and cavernous the dark wood panels made everything feel. It was right after the holiday that we decided to paint the paneling white. And this year, I couldn't wait to decorate our space. Everything came together quite nicely and I went with a white woodland theme. Some of my favorite details include our tiny gingerbread woodland animals on the mantel, cinnamon scented pinecones in the tablescape, and the amazing DIY customizable wall plate from adorne by Legrand on our wall.

To create our tablescape, I used live garland from Trader Joes (cut down to about 5-6 feet), cinnamon scented pinecones from our local grocery store, clementines for color, and a mixture of candlesticks and ivory candles.

 

To create the mantel display, I used more of the live garland as a swag and made a gingerbread woodland forest with IKEA DRÖMMAR and Vinter cookie cutters. 

This is the custom wall plate from adorne by Legrand that I decorated using metallic cardstock, boxwood twine, a tiny plastic deer head, and thin red ribbon. It's the perfect addition to our decorations and provides a lot of visual interest to an otherwise empty wall. The coolest thing about it was how easy it was to decorate. Almost all the DIYs I tackle end up taking more time than I anticipate, but designing this wall plate took about a half hour start to finish. Decorating the plate (not the electrical set-up, clearly) would be a great project to do with kids. 

Click through to see the full DIY and more details! 

THE KITCHEN- An Update

As anyone who has ever done a DIY project knows, the devil is in the details. And after renovating our kitchen last year, we knew we had a few really important details to tackle before we could mark off this project as complete.

Some of those details were our light switches and outlets. Our house is over 80 years old, and had some seriously outdated looks going on that took away from the beauty of our new white subway tile, butcher block countertops, and freshly painted white walls. So when Legrand reached out and graciously hooked us up with new outlets and plates from their adorne collection, we jumped at the opportunity. And we couldn't believe the difference it made in the overall look and functionality of our kitchen space. 

That USB outlet above is a small but MIGHTY improvement. Doesn't it always seem like your iPad hits 1% battery life when you get to the most important detail of any recipe? (I know, that is the ultimate first world problem.) But now I can keep my iPad or phone plugged in as I cook and bake. 

On the white subway tiled backsplashes, we have Mirror White wall plates. They look so seamless and really make the pattern and grout pop. I was worried it wouldn't match perfectly, but it does and looks SO GOOD.

The beauty below is the Wave Switch. You literally just wave your hand in front of it to turn the light on and off. Right after installing it, I stood there for a good 10 minutes just waving the light on and off for the fun of it.  And everyone who comes by is obsessed with it, as well. It's our new party trick.

Having it right next to the sink and area where I do food prep is so key. My hands can be all wet, grimy, and covered in flour and the switch stays beautiful and crumb-free. 

The light switch you see in the photo below is the Whisper Dimmer with a French Oak wall plate. Oh boy, is that plate stunning or what? The light wood looks so good with our butcher block and warm wood accents. Instead of falling into the background, the light switch is an artful accent and another opportunity to reinforce the modern aesthetic we've come to love. 

And there's that beautiful French Oak plate again! On the back wall, we have two paddle switches and a nightlight. The whole set looks so perfect with our Bamboo blinds and natural modern decor.

Click through to see the "before and after" shots!