Christmas in the Cocktail Lounge

We are slowly making our way through the virtual holiday tour of my home this year. I’ve had so much fun getting out all of my collections with Otto this year. So far we’ve had only two ornament casualties and one was because he bolted into the living room and cuffed the aluminum tree with his right side knocking an ornament to the ground. Shiny brites I swear will burst into shards if you just look at them the wrong way sometimes. Hence why I always buy a box or two each year.

This room is one of the oldest parts of the home. Built (from what we could find) in 1909 this room is what we refer to as the cocktail lounge. It’s an odd room that is in between the formal dining room and the green living room.  When we have friends over (once upon a time) this is the perfect place to sit and catch up. The mural was one of the very first things we hung in the house and to this day is still one of my favorite statements in the house. We hope to frame it out … you know because it was hung 7 years ago. But the beauty of farmhouse projects is that they are rarely ever “done. Welcome to Christmas in the cocktail lounge!

This white cabinet I purchased from Honeyhomb Market who is an antique vendor at The Found Cottage. It is small and shallow but wide which was a perfect fit for this corner. The cabinet under non holiday circumstances is a hodgepodge of vintage treasures but for now it also includes my non dancing Santas and my small collection of paper mache Santa boots. I added a few fairy twinkle lights to give it an extra pizzaz. Can you tell someone is a fan of all my Santas?

I try not to pick favorites with my furniture (as I’ve said a million times) but this cabinet.. ughhh I love it so much. I found it for a couple hundred dollars at an antique store and for a while it was a display piece at The Found Cottage. I eventually brought it home as my ironstone collection started to get out of control and overgrow the black shelves in the dining room. This cabinet is also collecting the overflow of my trophy collection. Now during the holidays, it also holds my vintage Santa mug collection. I don’t know what it is with this year but vintage Santa mugs have become almost impossible to find! I used to get them for $1-$3 and this year I paid $8 – $15 for a single mug pending on the condition. I like a good mix of sizes and I’m not too picky on colors. I have some that were made in a ceramics class as well as some that were made in Japan. Word of warning though! These mugs are extremely delicate. DO NOT WASH WITH DAWN DISH SOAP. It will strip the delicate paint right off of it. I’ve learned that the hard way.

The final addition to Christmas in the cocktail lounge is the vintage aluminum tree. These buggers are extremely delicate and must be handled with the utmost care. Each branch comes with a paper sleeve that you can tuck back away when the season’s done. However year after year the tin started to fall off so now I keep it completely intact and put it into storage with a light sheet on top to protect from dust. These trees on etsy can fetch anywhere from $120 – $600 pending size and condition. I find them all the time looking in the office season and looking in the boxes at junk markets. I have found three total brand new in boxes because the boxes looked like trash. At estate sales they’re typically in the attic or basement and in rummage sales they sometimes get tossed on a table with piles of misc things on top. Once you know the box though you know what you’re hunting for. They are usually gray with green writing and are about 3 feet long by a foot wide.

I have two more rooms to show you that I decorated for the holidays. The living room and the bedroom and a few pictures of the outside. I’m just waiting for snow to cover the dormant shrubs haha.

If you want to see my home entirely decked out for the holidays check it out from the 2017 Country Living feature!