Christmas Countdown | Part 1: The Tree

Hi everyone,

Two years ago I did a Christmas themed series during December and I decided to do it again this year. It will consist of all things festive, like Christmas markets, DIYs, decorating, recipes and more! 

I thought I would kick start the series with one of the most important parts of Christmas; the tree! We have been getting our tree from the same place, Hornbach, for the last three years and this year makes it our fourth time. They do really good trees for a reasonable price whereas other places tend to be incredibly overpriced. We always get Nordmann Fir trees, just because they tend to be taller and wider than the other options. We spent some time inspecting the trees and eventually decided to get one of the first ones we had seen. They packaged it up and after perusing the decoration aisles and picking up a few bits and bobs, we made our way back to the car only to realise that it was snowing! The first snow of the year (yes, really as it didn't even snow earlier this year). I tried my best to get a few snaps before we went back and loaded up the car with the tree, only to realise I forgot to put my memory card in my camera. Argh bloggers nightmare.

We decided to go for a rose gold/bronze, white and gold theme this year. I found a pack of rose gold & gold baubles in IKEA for about 10€. I really like the mismatched colours and textures of them. The rest of the decorations are ones my mum has had for years. We all decorated the tree together and my brother had to put on the angle because my mum and I couldn't even reach the top of the tree. Even our pets decided to join us and my brother managed to get some really cute photos of them.

It has definitely put us all in a christmassy mood and we have started listening to Christmas songs now too (not going to lie, I started listening to songs mid November).

I apologise in advance if you don't celebrate Christmas or just aren't fond of it, just ignore these blogposts! I also apologise for the amount of time I wrote 'Christmas' in this blogpost (9 including the title and the tag).

When do you get your tree?

Room Details

A little peek into my room! 

I have always loved decorating rooms, but it wasn't until a few years ago that I decided to completely redo my bedroom. A few million trips to IKEA, Blokker, Casa and Hema later and I am finally really happy with how my room looks. It is now my favourite place to hide away and relax. I think it's worth investing time and money in the place where you will spend the majority of your time. My bedroom is not only the place where I sleep, but it's also my study area, my makeup and hair room, my chill out and watch TV place, all in one. 

We recently had to add on to my wardrobe so that my boyfriend had more room for his clothes and that gave me the opportunity to clear out my whole wardrobe. It may sound weird, but I really enjoyed going through and sorting everything out. The majority of the unwanted clothes is going to charity of course. I also sorted out all of my warm weather clothes and put them away. (Can you tell that I am really eager for autumn and winter to come? They are my absolute favourite seasons.) I like how my wardrobe now only holds the clothes that I will definitely wear instead of a bunch of stuff I never even throw a glance at. 

Once I'm in the cleaning mood, I get a bit carried away and sort out everything. It's addictive. I also felt like my room needed an injection of colour here and there, because up until now it's been mostly monochrome. 

I bought some fake flowers and a lovely vase from IKEA, to brighten it up a bit. As much as I like getting real flowers, they don't last very long and I'm a bit notorious for not remembering to water plants, so fake flowers work perfectly. I also put out two of my favourite Yankee Candles, Pink Sands and Season of Peace (which is a winter candle but it smells so fresh, that I keep it all year round.) 

I found a temporary place for my kitchenware, which I have written about here. It's actually quite difficult to find chalk nowadays, how odd is that? But I ended up finding some in Hema, which is one of my favourite shops. You can find all sorts there. 

I decided to buy a cork board and a magnetic board to hang up notes and photos, as opposed to hiding them away somewhere. 

All in all, I'm really happy with how my room looks, especially with all the new personal touches and hints of colour. It reflects me really well. If it weren't for the fact that I'm probably going to moving out soon, I would repaint it too. Maybe cream and taupe, as they are my favourite colour combination. But for now, I'm satisfied with how it looks. 

Hope you've enjoyed this slightly different blog post. I might do a few more interior-esque blog posts, as I do really enjoy reading them myself for inspiration (as well as flicking through an IKEA catalogue!)

Homeware Haul

Chalk Board: 14,99€

Key Holder: 9,99€

Little Pillow: 3,99€

Doorstop: 6,99€

Coffee Tin: 3,99€

Sugar Tin: 3,99€

Tea Tin: 1,99€

Bag: 1,00€

Casa is one of those shops that I go into not needing anything in particular and come out with about half a million things (much to my boyfriend's dismay). This time was no different. I went in and lost control. I swear. 

Casa and Blokker are both Aladdin's cave type of shops that sell knickknacks ranging from interior decoration to dishwasher tablets (for a good price too, by the way!). They usually both stock similar things, which is good if one is nearer to you than the other. In my case they were next to each other! But I ended up only going into Casa. I particularly like the shabby chic stuff they sell, such as trays and armchairs. 

Most of the things I bought are for when I move out. I like to plan ahead and I also just couldn't resist. The first thing I put it my basket was a chalk board. Why? I don't know, I just wanted it. I also got a matching key holder, which was just too cute. For the meantime, I'll find a place for them somewhere in my bedroom. 

The next few things will probably be stored away until I do actually move out. I got three retro style tins, one for coffee, one for tea and the last one for sugar (or biscuits). I love the pastel colours and the style of them and they will definitely be put to good use, since I drink both tea and coffee.

Lastly, I saw a few pillows and doorstops on display and thought they were really adorable. I love the cute little messages and the neon colour against the beige. My bedroom is mostly white with black accessories and these definitely brighten it up a little.

One of my favourite things of all is the bag! I think it's a perfect summery beach bag and it will definitely be coming on holiday with me!