Christmas decor #1: Living Room

I meant to get this post up much earlier in the holiday season, but all the school work and roadtrip preparations prevented me from doing so! But now I am here to share the holiday decor we put up in our little apartment before heading home to our families. It evolved a little over the month as I snagged up more stuff while shopping, so I guess it's good that I didn't post them until now :)

Starting with the entryway:

I put this Christmas bag and jingle bell bunch on the doorknob, so every time we opened the door, we heard the sound of Christmas cheer!

This tinselly wreath (festooned with a velvety bow and bells, all bought from Dollar Tree a few years back) took the place of our dart board in the little entryway.

Here's an all-together shot of our bookcase which is just off the entryway. (Sorry it's a bit dark). I loooove having this shelf here, because it gives me so much space to decorate! Here are some close-ups of the shelf itself:

I downloaded these fabulous prints for free on the blogosphere (subway art from eighteen25 and "Keep Calm" variants from Craftily Ever After and Funky Polkadot Giraffe). I just downloaded them, ordered them from Costco photo (only $2.99 for an 11x14! Such a great deal!) and popped them into some white frames from Walmart.

The angel was a gift from my uncle on a Christmas past, the glass centerpiece was a Goodwill find (which I also used in my fall decor), and it's filled with ornaments, jingle bells, and decorative balls that I already had :) I got the plate from Target (a name that you will see repeated many times in my post...it is my go-to store!)

I got the apothecary jar in an awesome set from Ross! It was only $12.99 for all three (see the other two below). Comparable jars at Pier1 cost $20 per jar, so this was an awesome deal! I filled it with sparkly red balls from Target. The glittery golden leaves, red berry sticks, and the bronze reindeer are also from (you guessed it) Target. I already had the bronze plate and the quatrefoil votives, and they fit in so well with the color scheme, so I kept 'em out!

The bottom two shelves feature red and green frames, a little decorative sled, a glittery stocking pouch, a festive Kleenex box, and a "Season's greetings!" sign that I got from Michael's.

I even added some cheer to the coffee table! The green basket is there year-round, but I made it more Christmas-y by adding abother festive tissue box (I get lots of winter colds!) and a little red and green tin.

Literally all of these items are from Target--the twine tree, large jingle bell, and snowflake balls are new, while the brown balls and metal basket were items I had on hand :)

I was so excited when I found this cheese dome at Ross (Ross + Target = decor nirvana for me!) for only $5.99!! I snagged it up and then added some berry garland from...yes...TARGET! Haha. Then I nestled in some little $.99 pine cones (also from Target...how I love thee). I love how it turned out!

Okay, moving on to the tree! (Had to give a night shot, because I love all the twinkly lights!) As you'll see when I post our Kitchen/dining room decor, we actually had 3 trees in our apartment :) I bought a 4.5 ft tree a few years back for my room in the sorority house, and we'd intended to use that in the living room...but it looked so sad when we put it out (probably due to the vaulted ceiling). So we hit up Target on Black Friday and grabbed this pre-lit 6-ft tree for $25. It looks so cute with my sequined red tree skirt and all the Hallmark ornaments I've accrued over the years. I hung up our velvety stockings next to the tree for Santa to fill them up while we're away :)

Next to the tree there's an end table (and next to that, our apple green recliner), so of course I used this tabletop as another decorating region!

These apothecary jars were part of the awesome three piece set from Ross. I filled them with some tiny glittery ornaments (from Target and Michael's), some glass jewels (Pier1), a few jingle bells, and some decorative balls from Pier1. The large JOY ornament is from Target and the little "doorbell" from Hallmark plays "I want a hippopotamus for Christmas!" when pushed. Loooove it! The festive branch is from Target--I popped it in a vase, added a white bow, and called it a day! And the red frame was purchased plain at Target and then spiced up with some sparkly white snowflake stickers from Michael's.

Almost done, I swear! :) Next up is our entertainment center, aka the SPARKLE ZONE as I nicknamed it...all the sparkly candles, containers, and words found a home here :)

To the left there's a Pier1 corner because almost everything (save the Merry Christmas ornament) is from there! I placed some glittery red and green candles from in the hurricanes I already had, popped more of the decorative balls in a Goodwill glass, and put a glittery LED-candle tree next to it all.

On the right size, I propped up a little Christmas tree, a huge apothecary jar ($9.99 at Ross--great price compared to the $55 at Pier1!) filled with sparkly ornaments, a glittery NOEL from Target's Dollar Spot, and a simple white frame which I dressed up with a "JOY" sticker and a picture of my friend Anna and I bundled up out in the snow.

Last available surface in the living room! On our other end table, I displayed some favorite Christmas photos in more decorative frames! (I added stickers to the white frame, and the red one's from Target, of course!) Of course, I forgot to snap some pictures of the ornaments displayed behind these frames, so I will have to take pictures once we are back in January and I'll amend the post then!

Stay tuned for more pictures of our Christmas-ified kitchen and dining room!