my walk-in fridge.

Published on by Quandie

Have I ever mentioned my huge walk-in fridge/freezer here on the blog?  Yep, I’ve got one.  Every winter.  It’s super handy for Thanksgiving leftovers.

OK, it’s really my front three-season porch.

There are three seasons when you can enjoy the porch as a porch, and in the 4th season it makes the perfect place to keep leftovers.  Or on days like today, when the wind chill is supposed to be in the -20°F range, we can even make ice cubes out there.

I’m always surprised at how cold it gets on the porch despite being attached to the house, and filled with sunlight on a sunny day.  It does face northwest though, so I suppose it would be slightly warmer on sunny days if it faced south.  It also probably has zero insulation.  It was never meant to actually be occupied in the winter.

I have to admit that in years past I’ve treated the entire space like cold storage in the winter.  After putting up all of my Christmas decorations, I would leave the empty bins out on the porch.  I’d also put newly thrifted items waiting to be painted out there.  By spring it would be a big mess with piles of stuff to sort through.

But now that I have a little more time on my hands, I decided that I would put things away properly rather than shoving them out on the porch, and then I could decorate my walk-in fridge, a.k.a. the porch, for Christmas.

Part of the reason I made this decision was because I thought my silver tree and vintage ornament non-collection would look pretty out there with all of its pinks and aquas.

Over that past couple of years I’ve been paring down my vintage ornaments and keeping just the ones I really love, mainly in shades of silver, pink and aqua.

I have to admit that sometimes I feel a tiny twinge of regret for selling the gold ones.

Hmmmm.  What was I thinking?

Well, water under the bridge now.

In addition to the tree, I also hung my ornament wreath on the cabinet out there.

I made that years ago.  I started with a foam wreath form and just started attaching ornaments with hot glue.  If you want to try this yourself, be forewarned, it takes A LOT of ornaments.  I counted for you, there are about 75 of them.  So make sure you have a big stash before you dive in.

I added a pop of pink to the chaise with a pretty Christmas package.

Some of you may remember the year I painted cardboard boxes with Fusion’s English Rose paint and then added graphics using their transfer gel.

I gave all of the boxes away except for one.

There are just a handful of other little touches of Christmas on the porch.  I have a pair of old Ball jars filled with aqua and white light bulbs in the cupboard …

my Christmas tree truck filled with little ornaments …

and I added some evergreens to my French flower bucket.

I suppose it seems a bit excessive to decorate a space that isn’t even used in the winter (except as a walk in fridge), but you can see into the porch from our living room so it’s not a total waste.

Plus I do actually go out there a lot.  I have a small table at the other end of the porch where I stage all of my close up photos in the winter.

The lighting is fantastic.  Sometimes I throw on an extra sweater before heading out there, but I usually don’t.  I have learned over the years that it’s wise to at least put shoes on first though.  I tend to just snap my photos quickly and return to the warmth of my desk, which is handily situated right next to a radiator.

In the end, I really just enjoyed the process of decorating out there, even if no one will see it but me.  I suspect I may not enjoy taking the decorations back down nearly as much though.

How about you?  Do you have any spaces that you decorate for Christmas just for your own enjoyment?  Leave a comment and let me know.

29 thoughts on “my walk-in fridge.”

  1. I love this! The colors are like a breath of fresh air, all the pinks and blues. I do decorate some spaces just for me. Our bedroom and master bath. No one sees it but me but it makes me smile every time I’m in there. Also I put up a tree in my little greenhouse and this just thrills me when the lights come on at night. Some people get their nails done for themselves, I like to waste electricity as my guilty pleasure 😂🤣

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  2. This just delights me. We used to have a very large screened porch and I did the same thing. The joy of decorating is often just for ourselves. It makes us happy. And, when you run out of space in the house, there has to be another place to set our sights on! Merry Christmas Linda. Thank you for the joy you continue to bring to our creative world. 💓

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  3. I love your decorations! You stage them perfectly. I guess that you can start adding gold ornaments to your non collection. Merry Christmas to you and your family🎄❤️

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  5. What a lovely space! So glad you take the time to decorate it, and to share it with us! Those ornaments! I just love them! You have some wonderful non-collections! I will have to go back and find your blog about the painted boxes. That one is just too cute.

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  6. It’s BEAUTIFUL! Every single thing is!
    And yes, I decorate my entire home just for me, LOL. My husband, a self proclaimed Bah Humbuger, sometimes notices, but usually not. 😉 We live back off the main road so no one sees the outside decorations (except the Amazon delivery folks). BUT I ENJOY ALL OF IT! Taking it down and carting it all back to the attic space…well, not as much, but I do this every year, and always miss it for a month or two.
    A very Merry Christmas to you and Mr Q! Your blog is a gift that I enjoy every day, thank you so very much for sharing!

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    1. I’m fairly sure that Mr. Q would not even notice if I didn’t decorate for Christmas. It’s definitely not something that matters to him. But that’s OK, that gives me the freedom to do it all exactly as I like it 😉

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  7. This porch…What a delightful space to decorate! I love the color theme, but those gold ornaments…yum!
    I decorate our bedside nightstands, a pair of mismatched antique occasional tables every year. Traditionally, a lead cast Santa dated 1908 stands guard by my husband’s clock radio. He likes it simple. My table is a little frillier with a small garland draped around a brass candlestick placed by a green depression glass bowl with three vintage ornaments; one red, one gold, one green. A single bottle brush tree is added to each. White lights twinkle around the windows. I consider it my holiday sanctuary, ready for me to curl up with a cup of tea at the end of a bustling day.
    So, yes! This space, just for me and my guy, is decorated with peace and restoration in mind. Merry Christmas!

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  8. Oh my, I love your porch. But, yes, I am a pastels girl so this just warms my heart!! Mostly every bit of decorating we do is just for us. In the back yard, that only we really see, my husband has lighted deer which we leave up until Spring. It just makes us happy. I decorate the back porch with a 9 foot tree in all white ornaments, some of which I made (Thanks Martha Stewart for the ideas) decades ago. I have trees everywhere. In the bathroom, bedroom, stair landing, kitchen (oh, how I love kitchen trees). Believe it or not, I haven’t decorated much in the last two years. Last year I had rotator cuff surgery and this year, the house is in disarray getting new paint, carpeting, furniture etc now that our naughty cat left us after 16 years. Next year I should be retired, so it will be a Christmas explosion at our house! Merry Christmas Linda to you and your husband and enjoy this most wonderful time of the year!

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    1. I predict that your decorations next year are going to be show stopping! Your lighted deer reminds me of the little tree that my handyman neighbor Ken and his wife put up out in their backyard. They thought they were the only ones that saw it, but last year when they didn’t put it up I told Ken how much I missed it. It’s just visible out of the corner of the window in my office (a.k.a. the Q Branch). So it’s back up this year and I’m enjoying seeing it out there too!

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      1. We originally started with decorating a little pine tree I nourished from a seed, but it got so tall, we had to progress to lighted deer. I actually got the idea from a lovely gentleman who, on a country road, keeps adding little lighted deer to his hilly wooded area. It’s magical!

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  10. Linda, it looks adorable and that ornament wreath is gorgeous!! I hope you and your family have a very Merry Christmas ❤️🎄

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    1. No holiday entertaining for you either? In my world everyone else has claimed the holiday get togethers, so we don’t host one at our house. And that’s OK too 😉

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