The Darling Touch: Thrifty Winter Decor

Wayne and I spent some time in Germany this past December, and I found myself delighted with the half-timbered buildings.

More about that below, but I need to change the subject for just a moment...

After the Christmas decor has been put away and the house feels a bit forlorn,

I enjoy getting out my winter decorations.

Little thrift store skiers
look like my husband and me,
after I painted them with the
appropriate beard/hair colors.

Here we are, skiing through the woods!

The piano top gets some
sweater-covered candleholders
(buy a thrift-store sweater and cut off the sleeves)
and the Hobby Lobby lamp gets a cashmere
"slipcover" on the shade (you guessed it,
a thrift-store sweater cut down).

A closer look...

A sweater pillow on the chair and a
vintage green wicker laundry basket
of pinecones atop the armoire I painted.

Now, back to those lovely houses in Germany.

This year, I decided to make my own little village of half-timbered buildings and put them on a large grapevine wreath I found at (where else?) the thrift store.

The wreath has little twinkling lights on it, which you can barely see in the picture below.

I'll probably add a few more trees, and maybe another building or two, but it's finished for now, and I have my own little European village, hanging in my winter-cozy living room.

Linked up with Dagmar's Home Thrifty Vintage Finds Link Party