This is our third Christmas in this house and every year I add something new.

Last year it was the “Stewart decor”….love and can’t wait to deck this room this year!

Year before was my “funky bow” obsession…still love those as well.

In both these links you can see a lot of my Christmas decor. Over the past few years I have added simple pre-lit trees to several rooms…guest room. office, all season room, dining room…most already had some “froo-froo” (flocking, berries, pinecones) so I didn’t really decorate any other than the main tree in the living room.

But while cruising Instagram I saw something that stopped me in my tracks.

This tree….

LOVE! I just think it is soooo pretty!

When I added the accent wall in my office earlier this year, a credenza is one element I wanted for this room. A few months ago I found the perfect credenza….a Heywood Wakefield Cliff House credenza in super awesome condition. Just happen to see it on an Instagram posting from one of my favorite vintage stores and was able to snatch it up over the phone. I can not tell you how much I love this piece….

So….when I saw the black and white Christmas tree I knew exactly where I could put it. In the corner next to the new credenza in my office where it can be seem from the living room and entry!

Last year I bought a little flocked tree for this room and set it on the side table in the front window. Pretty but just okay.

So I set out to recreate the black and white tree!

First thing I did was order a simple pre-lit flocked tree…bought THIS one and I really like it.

Then I took a picture of the inspiration tree to Hobby Lobby to find each little element.

One problem I ran into was finding the different ornaments…black and white polka dot and striped ornaments are not really the “in” thing.

What to do, what to do?

Time to break out the ole’ glue gun and get creative.

I bought some plain black and white ornaments and glued black glass beads and ribbon to the white ones and gold ribbon to the black ones.

I added pretty little bows to a few ornaments..

I was able to find a few “glitzy” ornaments that I dressed up with bows, a few velvet picks and even some simple white pinecone ornaments.

I made big bows out of gold and black holiday ribbon and glued inexpensive small black ornaments together to create little clusters.

Filled in here and there with inexpensive poinsettias.

The ornaments are certainly not “keepsake” ornaments like the main tree but simple and inexpensive and will be super easy to change if I decide to go with a different color scheme later down the road.

I wanted a tree that was simple but elegant.

I think I pulled it off!

I wish I had a link to the inspiration tree but it was on instagram and now I can’t find it. But there is tons of inspiration on Pinterest so look until something takes your breath away….then go out and create it!

YOU CAN DO IT!!!!

Last year I shared a couple of little benches I whipped up out of necessity!

My dining table spends 364 days a year against the wall with nothing more than a couple of chairs.

Since I host Thanksgiving dinner, the table is extended and pulled into the middle of the dining room so I need the additional seating!

It is no secret that I tend to stick with what I know so when it was time to pull out the table and get ready for Thanksgiving dinner last week, it was back to the garage to build another bench for the holiday!

Since I had already designed and built a few last year, I really didn't need to draw up new plans...I just needed to dig around in my scrap wood and find a few pieces I could use to construct a new bench.

That was pretty easy considering I had some oak left over from my stairway demo earlier in the year! I found an old pine dresser at the apartments that was missing the drawers, but the sides and top were perfect slabs of solid wood for the top of the bench. I also had some trim from who knows what project. I always have paint and stain on hand! I had to pull a few nails and sand off some old mastic, but other than that I had everything I needed! In the end, the bench cost me nothing more than a little bit of time!

It's no secret that oak is not my favorite wood but since I just need this little bench for the day, no biggy! The benches I constructed last year served their purpose and then where promptly sold in my booth, which explains why I had to build a new one!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! After a day of stuffing our faces with turkey and EIGHT pies, I spent the weekend decorating for Christmas! Some people start off the holiday season fighting the crowds at the mall on Black Friday, I start mine wrestling with strings of lights and yards of garland...fun time!

Little changes from year to year...rarely do I tackle holiday projects. Here I shared a cute little project made out of a butter dish ...