Welcome to Cottage Magpie, one of many stops on several awesome Christmas tours (more on that below). I hope that after you visit my home, you'll make a point to visit everyone else on the various tours. I had the first part of my holiday tour last week, and this is the second part.

This part of the tour features my living room. This is my special tree with the colors and decorations that I love, that the boys in the house aren't interested in. It's silver and gold and white and because of the many nature-inspired ornaments, I call it my fairy tree.

I love all the sparkly sparkles of the gold, silver, crystal and white on the tree. I really wanted the tree to look full, so I made several more ornaments this year, and I'll be posting how to information as the week goes on.

And of course, no silver and gold fairy tree would be complete without an angel on top. Or maybe she's a fairy angel? Could be.

This room of the house is starting to become a sanctuary of sorts for me. No one else uses it, so I am taking it over for myself. I've started redecorating it, too, and though I haven't gotten far, I can't wait to show you my progress after the holiday. For now, if you looked carefully, you may have noticed a sneak peek at some thrifted furniture. More on that soon.

For now, Happy Holidays!

P.S. There are tons more amazing holiday tours this week. Here are some this post is included on that you should check out: The Hookedonhouses Christmas Home Tour, The WeAreTHATFamily Christmas Tree Tour, The Thrifty Decor Chick Christmas Tree Par-Tay Tour, The Southern Hospitality Deck the Halls 2008 Tour, The Annual BooMama Christmas Tour of Homes 2008 and last but not least, A Soft Place to Land's Kimba's Open House Party. Make sure you visit them all! :-)

P.P.S. There's also a cast-signing party with an absolutely gorgeous necklace as a prize, so you'll want to check that out, too. It's at Living Life One Day At A Time

Welcome to Cottage Magpie, one of many stops on several awesome Christmas tours (more on that below). I hope that after you visit my home, you'll make a point to visit everyone else on the various tours.

I'm featuring my dining room for the tour this year. The tree is covered with the red and white ornaments I made last year along with all of the other red and white decorations I could find.

I don't have a mantle in my house (yet), so I had the idea to decorate the top of my china hutch (yes, the famous free china hutch) instead.

I love these white iron stocking holders. I've had them for years and years. Every year I swear I'm going to make homemade stockings, but I haven't done it yet. Mine is homemade (my Mom made it for me when I was little), but Gootz and Rocket Boy both have store bought for now.

Also in the dining room is our dining table.

I just have a simple white quilted runner and three white hurricane lanterns I found at a thrift store.

I really like how this room turned out, since it is visible from all of the other rooms in the house. The red and white is so cheery and bright, I'm thankful every time I see this room.

Happy Holidays!

P.S. There are so many people doing fantastic tours this year! Here are some you should check out that this post is included on: The Notes From A Cottage Industry 2008 Virtual Holiday Home Tour, The Hookedonhouses Christmas Home Tour, The WeAreTHATFamily Christmas Tree Tour and The Thrifty Decor Chick Christmas Tree Par-Tay Tour. Make sure you visit them all! :-)

Sadly, my guest bathroom project is not going to be done for Thanksgiving, like I had hoped. Christmas, I'll get it done for Christmas!

I painted the paneled ceiling a semi-gloss white, and the walls have a first coat of aqua. I sort-of like it, but I'm concerned that it's too dark. I was envisioning something very soft and pretty, so I've been thinking about adding some white to it. What do you think?

The ceiling fixture is up, too. I would have loved a chandelier, of course, but the structure inside the ceiling dictated only one fixture, so it had to be a combo fan/light unit. I was a little worried, but I found one I like. It has a oil-rubbed bronze base with a classic bead detail and an alabaster glass shade.

The tile floor is in and is grouted and sealed, and I think it looks fantastic. We had a little panic with the grout. The color I picked was waaaaay too dark, and it looked like a fast-food restaurant bathroom! So we scraped it out and did it over with this sandy color, and it's MUCH better. Whew!

I've also found all the wall tile, wainscoting and fixtures to finish, but they'll have to wait. Starting tomorrow morning, I'm in full-blown Thanksgiving prep mode.

But meanwhile, let me know what you think of that wall color. Seriously, I want to know.

Paint: "Westhighland White" in Pro Classic semi-gloss (on ceiling) and "Tidewater" in Duration Home flat (on walls), both from Sherwin-Williams.

Okay, so I was surfing eBay today. I would say for the shop, but in truth I was looking for ruffle-y, cottage-y, floral-y sheets for my master bedroom. Which I found in abundance. Just not in my price range.

But while I was searching, I found this pretty, white chandelier, on auction for $185 for a $699 fixture. Again, love it, but again, not in my price range. So, I thought to myself, "Self, why don't you hit the local ReStore and see if they have something that would work?"

And guess what? They did! I got the chandelier in the photo above for $20! It's not really hung up yet, I just had a friend take a picture while I held it up there, so you could see what it's going to look like.

It needs work. I'm going to have to rewire it, then paint/antique it, then add the crystals and shades. I've got some things on hand and some things I'll have to purchase, but I think I can bring the project in for a fraction of a new chandelier.

Plus, it'll be fun!

I'll keep you posted,

Welcome everyone visiting for the Hooked on Houses Fall House Tour party sponsored by Hooked on Houses! I'm thrilled for you all to visit.

Oh, goodness, hello! I'm so glad you came. I know many of you have been wanting to see what's been happening here at, so I thought it was a great time to have an Open House.

I just finished decorating our porch for fall, and you're the first to see it! Please, come in. Welcome to Pear Tree Cottage.

I just finished painting and decorating this wall in the dining room about a week or so ago. I've got all of the fall goodies in the china hutch to add some seasonal color.

The family room features this wall of storage that came with the house. You can just see the window seat that we added to make the spot more cozy. The plan (soon) is to paint the walls yellow and the woodwork white for a more cottage feel.

Off the family room is our covered patio which overlooks the garden. A year ago this was a big blank patch of grass and barkdust. I decided I wanted an exuberant, colorful garden to attract birds and butterflies in this part of the yard.

Back inside, our guest bathroom is in the middle of a remodel. You'll have to pardon the mess! We did the demo ourselves, and then had this great bathtub installed. Now I'm working on putting the walls and everything back together.

We've only been in this house for a year, and so we are still changing our rooms around quite a bit. This room was originally an office, then a bedroom. Now it's my sewing room, and I've put up my shelves of fabric and treasures.

We tried for a cottage-meets-Western theme in this room. I wanted to create a room that was fun, colorful and comfortable, but still blended well with the cottage style in the rest of the house. Except for the bed, everything here is thrifted. Except the quilt. I made that for my son.

And finally, the master bedroom. We haven't done much to this room yet, and it has a lot, lot, lot of oak woodwork. But I love the bed and the plates above. Everything here was a thrift or secondhand find except the pink shams. I made those.

Thank you so much for coming, it's been a pleasure having you. To find your next stop on the tour, simply pop on back to the Hooked on Houses Fall House Tour party and check out some more houses!

Best,