Christmas Centerpiece and an Almost Done New Dining Room

Sometimes when you have a vision, and you can’t find that vision anywhere, you gotta think outside the box.

I had an idea for a dining room centerpiece. It was clear as day in my brain: lovely greens – magnolia leaves here and there – going down the length of our table, and candles in varying heights thrown in the mix. So off I went to all my go-to garland stores, and couldn’t find any that I pictured in my head.

But I REFUSED to give up on this centerpiece idea. So I walked around and walked around Hobby Lobby. I found this pretty swag for over a front door. It was the greens I had in mind, with the exception of magnolia leaves.

Hmmm…

I examined the swaggy shape, and thought maybe I could unbend it and it could be a straight garland of greens instead?

I walked down the floral aisle and lo and behold! A bunch of magnolia leaves! I could pick them apart, and intersperse them in there…

And berries! For a touch of red! YES!

I grabbed just a couple new candle holders (that were 50% off!) and came home, so excited to test out my vision…

I grabbed a few glasses and candles I already had, and pulled the magnolia leaves apart and same with the berries, stuck them in the stretched out swag…and here we are!

I’m so happy – it’s JUST what I had pictured!

I thought silver chargers would be perfect, so I picked those up at Target. Had the white plates, white napkins, and just had to cut some ribbon (Michaels), and put some greens leftover from our trip to the tree stand in each one. All set for Christmas brunch:)

They look so pretty at night, all lit up. I used all battery operated candles so it’s nice and safe and can be lit for hours. I also used some salt in some of the glasses, just to give a snowy effect:) Why some and not all? No idea. Just to make it interesting I suppose.

And let’s talk about the new set-up in here, shall we? We’ll talk in more detail in a post devoted to the makeover, but those of you who’ve followed me for a while can see, it’s totally different in here this year! I had a idea at 2am one morning, that maybe – just MAYBE – I could rearrange to table in the other direction, and I ended up LOVING it this way! The room feels so much bigger this way, it’s crazy! And I’m obsessed with my new chairs from Wayfair.

And my favorite thing ever – that I had been seriously stalking Decor Steals for FOR MONTHS – was this rack:

That was fun sprucing up for the holidays, too!

And that stocking garland on the china cabinet – how cute is that!!? Gotta love Michaels.

So that about wraps up the tour – I titled this the Almost Done New Dining Room because the baseboards are half done, and the very bottom of the plank wall needs to be finished – woops;) But other than that, we’re rockin’ and rollin’ in here.

Sorry for the picture overload. But this room just makes me happy right now:)

So the lesson here, friends, is this: don’t give up! If you can’t find exactly what you want, look around and see if you can recreate it another way. Just might work out perfectly.

Merry Christmas!