Bella Grace Home

You’re in for a real treat this morning as my bloggie friend Sandy is opening her home to us so we can gather some Christmas inspiration!  She has combined such happy colors with classic pieces that you are sure to have a smile on your face from looking at such fun decor vignettes.

Sandy and her husband are newlyweds who currently rent.  She proves that it doesn’t matter if you’re renting and the carpet (a shade of beige-y pink) isn’t your top choice, you can still make your home beautiful, cozy and a reflection of you.

1.  What was your inspiration for Christmas decorating this year?

My main inspiration was color. I love color! I’m originally from FL where there is color to be seen everywhere–salmon/coral buildings, greens, and of course all of the wonderful plants. I now live in Indiana where it gets dark and dreary (for me) so I wanted a lot of happy colors around me to make it through this winter. I love pink so I snuck some of that in. It all started with the snow globe on the coffee table that I found at Home Goods this year which has green and pink on it and I went from there with the balls. I knew I wanted them all over the place and I wanted it to have an overall fun – not too serious look.

2.  How does your Christmas decor fit in with the rest of your home’s style?

I mainly try to have things go together by color so I already had purple and turquoise incorporated as well as green in the decor so I just repeated it with the balls. I did not want to go Christmas white at all since I really wanted our home to be a refuge from the darkness outside. In general I also always try to add a bit of fun somehow which the snow man snow globe started. Nothing serious about a snow man snow globe and we love to sit around the couch and randomly say “make it snow” and then “shake, shake, shake” the globe.

3.  If you were moving overseas and could only bring three home decor items with you what would you take?

Wow three! That’s really hard because to me it’s always about the overall feel the items create together rather than really loving any single item in particular. Since I decorated very slowly one DIY project at a time I definitely noticed the difference just the tiniest change can make. However, I definitely love all my mirrors because they make the space feel bigger and add so much light to the rooms.  Since my favorite mirror is the purple round one I’d bring that one along with me. I also really love my rugs so I’d definitely take my floral and zebra print rug.  My floral rug is the most colorful thing in our place so I’d have to take it with me!

4.  What is your favorite diy project to date?

Again, that’s a hard question! I think I always love them right after I do them and then I love the next just as much. The dining table was definitely a good bonding project since it’s the only one my husband helped me on. We sanded together for quite a while by hand. Other than that I would say the buffet at the entrance with the purple mirror is my favorite because it’s the first one I was riskier in, in that I made it two toned rather than a solid color. The drawers are rub n buffed and the body is a whitish cream color. It’s also the first piece I filled the holes in and put in new knobs. I love the silly lions heads I chose. It’s definitely a piece that even now months later I still look at and love!

5.  Anything else you’d like to share?

In regards to decorating I’d just like to say that it’s all about your home reflecting you. I know my home would make some people crazy with all the color and it would definitely feel cluttered to minimalists, but it totally reflects my husband and me. If you’re just starting it’s definitely important to think about what you want your home to do for you. For us, we wanted it to welcome people in. A place you could walk in and put your feet up on the coffee table. I wanted there to be plenty of surface areas so guests could have plenty of space to put their drinks as well as appetizer plates down when we have gatherings– again adding to their comfort. I love DIY because I don’t take anything I do too seriously. I don’t worry about anyone ruining anything because I know it wouldn’t be hard to touch up. I think that’s the most important thing. No one would feel comfortable in a home where they had to worry about every single little thing. I just want people to feel at home.

And I’d also like to just say thank you so much, Jenny, for featuring my home! This has really been a fun process and thank you for your encouragement in the time we’ve known each other!!!

Thank you, Sandy, for opening your home to us and sharing all of your great advice on how to incorporate our Christmas decor into our home’s year-round look.  You have done a beautiful job in your home and I hope to see more of your work in the future!

If you’re interested in seeing what Sandy’s up to you may visit her on Pinterest (or perhaps a future blog of her own).

Happy Christmas!
Jen