Christmas House Tour 2012: The Keeping Room and My Keeping It Real Holiday Mantel

“You must have been taking photos for the blog today,” my husband said when he got home.

Yep. Here’s one.

“How did you know?” I asked.

“Because the doors to the TV cabinet are closed.”

Ah, he caught me. And now you know one of my dirty little decorating secrets.

We have a beautiful fireplace, two of them actually. One in the master bedroom and one in the keeping room.

But our house was built in the era when TV cutouts were popular. So, both fireplaces have gaping holes above them. At least the one in the keeping room has doors.

But I am a blogger, obsessed with home decor, and I like to do up my mantel for the seasons. You may remember my rustic aqua chippy wood fall mantel.

Oh so cleverly disguised to look like a mantel whose only job is looking pretty.

But who am I kidding? We are Americans. We worship at the altar of the almighty talking box. I fall asleep every night sitting in the recliner, watching HGTV and reading blogs on my iPad. I wish it weren’t true, but it is. I’ve turned into my father. Snoring and all.

The fall mantel lasted all of maybe five minutes. Just long enough for me to snap some photos. Then I tore down those boards like they were the Berlin Wall.

So for Christmas, I was determined to design a mantelscape that didn’t interview with the TV. Still gotta be able to aim the remote at the cable box after all, if I’m to catch all those life-altering episodes of Love It or List it, Sarah’s House and Property Brothers.

Here it is in all its open-door glory.

Dressed in cedar sprigs and holly berries and leaves (ouch!) snipped from my front yard and the neighbor’s woods. With the moss-covered word JOY dangling from some hidden 3M Command hooks.

My handcrafted twig head deer mount standing sentry on the left with a pair of real antlers, a red candle and some more greenery and berries to complete the vignette.

On the right, my French grain sack-inspired wooden Christmas tree from Simply Janelle Designs, an amazing local artist who sells her signs and handmade furniture online. She’s making a smaller green version of this tree for me, too. Can’t wait to add it to the mantel.

Again, I chose traditional red and green for Christmas decorations, just as I did on the front porch.

It seemed the right choice for this space where green predominates throughout the year.

To inject a Christmasy feel, I just added a few touches of red to the room. A matelasse throw on the sofa, a vintage red-and-white quilt, some red and linen pillows and a little grain sack rabbit. And oh yeah, the pick-up truck you see out the right window.

I was afraid you’d see my junking truck in the photos. But it was cold and rainy and I didn’t feel like going outside and moving two cars or the recycling bin for that matter. Sorry. More keeping it real.

I wish I could take better photos of this room. I always struggle with that. It’s so cozy, and it’s where we spend most of our time.

And in case you’re wondering, those gifts on the fireplace, they’re for my son. Part of Nana’s efforts to spoil him rotten as she showers him with 24 days of advent gifts leading up to Christmas. If you follow me on Instagram, you can see what he unwraps each day. It’s a fun little family tradition.

Don’t miss the rest of my Christmas House Tour 2012. I’ve already shared my front porch, and I’ll be sharing other rooms and vignettes later this week.

And sure to stop back here tonight at 8 p.m. to link up to the Better Late Than Never Christmas Inspirations party I’m hosting with these fabulous bloggers:

• Shirley from Housepitality Designs
• Laura from Top This Top That
• Barb from The Everyday Home
• Suzy from Worthing Court

I’ll also be partying over at: