Christmas at Balsam Mountain Preserve

Once again, I had the pleasure of creating some Christmas spirit at beautiful Balsam Mountain Preserve. I added some holiday decor at the Boarding House, and by the front entrance which I’ll show later.

The Boarding House includes a small restaurant and is a gathering place on the mountain. Everything is already gorgeous, so all I needed to do was add some green. Now, this is the kind of place that begs for lots and lots of live garlands and rustic touches, which is what I did last year. But, it’s also warm inside, and I found last year that live greens dry super fast. In a commercial space with three fireplaces, that can be a recipe for disaster. Keeping that in mind, I dialed the live greens back a bit and added in some faux garlands I found at Hobby Lobby.

Around the bar area, I did put two live garlands together to drape around the top.

On the main mantel, I used lots of gold to coordinate with the painting. Plus, the gold will be festive through New Year’s Eve as well.

The trees, deer and the garlands on the mantel all came from Hobby Lobby. 

Of course real deer are the main inhabitants on this beautiful nature preserve so I had to add some to this mantel. 

I made this little arrangement from left over clippings.

To this mantel, I could not resist adding these little ticking deer, also from Hobby Lobby. I did change out the ribbon they had for these I made. 

On the back mantel, I had the most gorgeous arrangement of faux and real garland draping down the sides, but it dried out almost immediately, despite being fresh and soaked in water. However, the faux garland left behind was enough to add just a touch of rustic Christmas. 

I also made 12 small arrangements for each table in Mason jars filled with cranberries. I used real greens and faux berries, because I didn’t want any real berries falling in someone’s food. 

For the front doors, I made my grandmother’s sprays of fresh greens topped with burlap and wool tartan bows.

These are so pretty and something different from a traditional wreath.

Outside, with the cold temps, the real garlands have done well, and this year I added LED lights as well as the grapevine garlands and LED lights.

I wish I could have gotten up there when it snowed to get snowy photos, but it was not possible. Maybe next time:-)

If you are looking for a weekend getaway, a second or year-round home in a gorgeous mountain setting, please check out the Balsam Mountain Preservewebsite and schedule a visit. 

I’ll be joining:

Metamorphosis Monday

Inspire Me Tuesday

Wow us Wednesdays