A Classic New England Christmas (Holiday Housewalk)

You guys are in for a treat this week! Over 30 bloggers are opening their homes for a Holiday Housewalk. You’ll get to see what Christmas looks like here in New England but also in homes across the country and up in Canada! I’m so honored to be taking part in Jennifer Rizzo’s Holiday Housewalk for the second year.

If you’re stopping by from Marci Schneider’s beautiful blog, welcome!

This officially marks my first Christmas post of the year! I’m stop number 17 and wanted to give you a super quick introduction, just in case this is the first time you’re visiting our home. I’m Danielle (but please call me Dani – that’s what my mom and Luke call me).

I live in Scituate Harbor with my husband, two sons and two rescue dogs. I absolutely love antiques and vintage items and adore mixing them into our 1927 Dutch colonial.

I was hoping and praying for a little bit of snow and it came while I was taking photos of the exterior. Hooray! We actually just got some more yesterday and had a snow day, which my whole family was happy about! I love a bit of magical snow around the holidays. Here in Scituate it always seems to linger into April, though. But let’s focus on the positives.

It’s Christmastime and I wanted to share a classic New England Christmas with you.

This post contains a few affiliate links, you can read my full disclosure policy here.

Exterior

Just in case you’re wondering, our shutters and door are painted in Benjamin Moore’s Buxton Blue in high gloss. It’s a question I get asked a lot.

Max and Poppy wanted to greet you as well!

Aren’t they cutest! If you look closely in some of these photos you can see Max perched on top of the couch. It has the best vantage point to see the whole neighborhood.

To me Christmas is a time to honor our friends and family. A time to come together and help others. This year I’m especially grateful because we’ll be celebrating with my mom, who lives locally, but also with Luke’s parents who are flying in from Cornwall, England. It’s the first time they’ve visited since Conor was born (10 years ago).

I created the chippy sled last year. You can see the tutorial here.

Oh, there’s Max in the window!

Brrr! The wind is picking up. Shall we head inside for a cup of hot chocolate?

Dining Room

So much of our time is spend here in the dining room. I’ve had trees in here but this year I’m going for understated elegance.

One of the things I fell in love with in our home is the dark woodwork. I love the columns, the built ins, and all the period details. They say New England to me.

The floral centerpiece was actually from my friend Gerilyn of GFV Floral Design. I shared more about this the other week. Gerilyn created this for Thanksgiving but it’s so pretty and neutral that it works perfectly for Christmas decor, as well. I layered the table with a jute runner, some pinecones and ornaments and beautiful brass candlesticks. The pale purple decanter and wine glasses were my mothers. Aren’t they stunning?

Shop the Look

This room is so special to us, we eat all our family meals in here. My husband built us this farmhouse table from reclaimed heart pine from a factory floor in Georgia. You can read more about that here.

The hutch in the Welsh Dresser in the corner was a facebook yard sale find. It’s an antique from England. I’d been dreaming of something like this for a few years, so I couldn’t believe my luck when I found it. I LOVE decorating it for the holidays.

I have a collection of Ironstone which does double duty – it looks pretty but we also use it for meals and entertaining.

The branches and garlands are faux, but I wish we had woods around us to forage.

I’m a collector and things have special meaning to me. The pewter pitcher was a gift from my grandmother to my mother for her wedding.

The pewter plate was my family restaurant, Baldwins. It was in a Colonial Mansion in Woburn, MA. We used to work every holiday so it’s now nice to have a quieter holiday season at home.

I’ve placed ornaments on shelves and in bowls.

Pinecones are also a great winter accessory. These were $3 for a cedar scented bag from Trader Joe’s:

Another area I love to decorate for different seasons is this blue cabinet. It was a $20 yard sale find that I painted with Milk Paint.

That antique brass mirror used to hang in our restaurant.

The other room we spend loads of time is our living room and this is open plan to the dining room.

Living Room

We’re trying out a new location for the tree this year. I found out from my friend Jeannie Stewart, who grew up in this house, that this is where they always put the tree. So I thought we’d try it here this year 😉

On the tree is a mix of brass ornaments, white ornaments, and pretty french style baubles all from Balsam Hill. The tree is from there to. You can read all about that in last year’s post.

I love using candles to make a home instantly feel cozy. I’ve mixed tapers, pillars, and vintage brass candlesticks.

Oh, and that’s my handsome hubby. He’ll probably be mad I snapped his photo…

That throw is so cozy and warm. It’s one of my current favorites and I think it’s on sale!

I had entirely too much fun staging. I added pinecones and some pretty mandarins. These would also look fabulous on a mantel or scatter across table with greenery (also from Trader Joe’s).

The throw pillows on the couch are a mix from Ikea and gorgeous linen ones from my friend Jen’s shop – City Farmhouse & Co.

We spend so much time here snuggled with our boys and dogs. We love watching Christmas movies together and playing board games on New Year’s Eve.

The bar cart got the tiniest taste of Christmas with some greenery and a pinecone. The fish print is by my friend Jeanne Stewart and you can read more about that here.

Shop the Look

Our living room is quite long and in the other part we have our fireplace and a little sitting area. It’s magical sitting by the fire and seeing the twinkling lights of the tree.

The fireplace is refaced in fossilized ocean floor and the mantel is original to the home. I kept things simple on the mantel – some greenery and some candles.

This year I wanted our home to feel like a warm embrace. I wanted it to feel simple and unfussy. I wanted it to feel like the best kind of cozy.

Usually the chairs are by the windows but I played a little game of musical chairs so you could see them.

Amazing how these chairs move around in our home 😉

Oh, and here’s Conor who is probably the most excited for Christmas to arrive!

You didn’t get to meet John on this visit. He’s nearly 14 and doesn’t really want to be in pictures. You know how teenagers can be… I did start an online shop with him featuring his artwork, so if you’re looking for Christmas gifts or note cards sets please stop by. Blog subscribers can get 10% off.

Well, that wraps up our little tour. I hope you enjoyed seeing our Classic New England Christmas!

Thank you so much for stopping by! Next up on the tour is My Sweet Savannah and I know Melanie is going to have some amazing ideas for Christmas decor.

If you want to start the Holiday Housewalk from the very beginning you can do so here. You can also follow along with the tour on Instagram by searching the hashtag #JRHolidayHousewalk !

Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas season xx