I’m so very excited and honored to be participating in my very first Merry and Bright Holiday Home Tour with some incredibly talented ladies. You’ll see the entire list of participants at the bottom of this post. If you’re visiting from Yuni’s place at Love Your Abode, welcome! I’m really glad to have you! My home is situated in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, in a town that’s so rural, it qualifies as a “frontier”…so welcome to the frontier. Winter lasts for a very long time here, so having a bit of company is nice!

Farmhouse Therapy was started on a whim, less than a year ago. By day, I’m a child, adolescent and family therapist, and this is my therapy! The biggest bonus of starting this blog has been meeting the incredible people in the home decor space. Special thanks to Shelly Dozier-Mackie from @confettistyle, who kindly invited me to join this year’s home tour! And a tip of the hat to Boho Luxe Home, the sponsors of this post. Wait until you see the goodness that is theirs!

Since I’m jumping up and down with excitement, and may be a bit giddy from burning the midnight oil, let’s get this tour started. But first, coffee. You do like coffee, don’t you? You might need some to keep yourself warm…check out the snow we had before Thanksgiving in the picture below:

Now, on with the tour. I’ll keep the coffee coming!

 

The Tree

The tree is a simple pencil tree, festooned with snowflakes, plaid ribbon, family heirloom ornaments and a few baubles. Tones of red and coral-y pink (I might have just made that color up) dominate, with a few flecks of gold here and there.  A few smaller trees stand off to the side in a bushel basket, decked in only white lights. Pillows abound in a hodge-podge of plaids…and that’s just fine with me. Mary Lou Cook said, ‘Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes and having fun.’ I think we should do that in life and in our decor!

Another touch of rustic glam…a deer head decked out in glitter…it’s the best of both worlds, I’m telling you! Deer are plentiful here…such beautiful creatures.

Let’s turn our attention towards the mantle for a sec.

The Mantel

The mantel is original to the house (circa 1940) We actually have a surplus of wood in our home. I think if we removed the wood from our walls and ceilings (can you see the reflection of the original wood beams in the mirror?), we could likely build another small house. To learn some neat facts about the wood in our home, and to see why we’ve never painted it, go HERE.

The mirror that’s on the mantel belongs to a vintage piece of furniture we’ve had for decades. It’s heavy as the day is long and is secured to the wall with Command Strips. Where would we be without those?

The garland sitting atop the mantel is a mixture of faux and real greens (plenty of that where I come from, too…pine trees as far as the eye can see…and then some), more plaid ribbon, faux berries, lambs ear, pine cones (real) and of the gold ornament persuasion. Now you can see how this whole rustic glam thing came about. I have a love for several styles, so I mix and match…works for me! See the little “cutie” gold pine cones below? Just a touch of glitz…and a nod to my past “glam” life when I lived in a metropolitan area!

That makes this the perfect time to introduce a little bit of boho luxe into the mix. Would you just look at that exquisite black and red pillow that I received from our sponsor Boho Luxe Home? To say it is luxurious is an understatement. The glorious color is even more amazing in person and it’s top quality through and through. Bedouin women in the Negev Desert make these pillows using traditional “path of love” and other motifs. Each item is unique and a real work of art. Proceeds from the sale of these pillows assist with education and employment opportunities for women and children in the Bedouin villages of the Negev. Who can argue with that?

To see all of the goodies available, browse Boho Luxe Home online. You’re sure to find something that you cannot live without!

On the opposite side of the hearth from the pillow, sits a vintage gathering basket holding birch logs from fallen branches right outside our front door. A pencil Santa keeps watch day and night…he says little, but he’s always watching.

Let’s take a look a little closer look at the basket of birch logs. I just love the rustic appeal of these…and we’ve many more for the taking, stacked outside on our back porch.

That’s it for now, folks. Let’s settle in and enjoy a little warm-up on our coffees…before you head out for the next home tour. Be sure to bundle up on your way out! Stop back anytime!

Thanks for Joining Me

Thanks for stopping in and joining me on the tour. You won’t want to miss what the talented Meg at Green with Decor has in store this week. Let me point you in the right direction. Just go this way to find her!

Please join us right back here next week on Wednesday, December 5th,  for part two of the tour!

The Entire Merry and Bright Crew

Tamyra–Positively Southern

Shelly–ConfettiStyle

Yuni–Love Your Abode

Wendy–Farmhouse Therapy (that’s me!)

Meg–Green With Decor

Kate–Chic On A Shoestring 

Marsha–M. Jones Style

Wishing you and yours the happiest of holiday seasons! May health, joy and laughter be plentiful for your family!

Wendy Young is a mom of 3 who loves the farmhouse/eclectic/vintage/shabby vibe and maintains this site for fun. By day, she is a child, adolescent and family therapist, is the founder of Kidlutions: Solutions for Kids, creator of The Joyful Parent and the co-author of BLOOM: 50 Things to Say, Think and Do with Anxious, Angry and Over-the-Top Kids, along with multiple workbooks for kids. Her total readership is in the millions via her online and social media venues.