Christmas Decorating Home Tour
Now that it is the first day of December, it’s the time of year when I get excited to share my annual Christmas decorating home tour with you!
If you are new to my blog, I am Diane and live in a 1970’s home on a large lake in South Carolina that my husband and I have updated to fit our life and style.
When the holiday season rolls around every year, I like to change things to come up with new and creative budget-friendly decorating ideas. This year is no different.
I focus my holiday decor mainly in my living room, kitchen and foyer.
How I Decorated My House For the Holidays This Year
I Focused on 3 Things:
Kept The Decor Simple
Over the last few years I have been transitioning to less-is-more when decorating my home and that includes the holidays.
So when I decorate, I always keep this quote in mind…
“Life is too short to be the caretaker of the wrong details”.
The holidays are stressful enough, I want to feel comfort and relaxed at home. I edit and edit even more to only add the decorative holiday elements that I really love or that have a special sentimental meaning to me or my husband. It wouldn’t feel like Christmas without these items.
Every year I place fewer ornaments on the Christmas tree. This year, I went with twinkle lights only since they are what make the tree and the whole room magical for me.
Seeing the lights twinkle slowly one by one brings back fond childhood memories when I used to lay under the tree and watch the twinkling lights dance on the ceiling.
I didn’t even need to buy new gift wrap. I gathered all the leftover plaid gift wrap from previous years to wrap all the presents.
Since I didn’t place any ornaments on the tree, I chose a few of my favorites to display on a small tray. I made a velvet heart ornament for all my siblings and daughters from my father’s Christmas shirt after he passed away, so it is very special. My mom made the cute little knitted sweater and the little red card has a message to Ed from Ed’s dad inside. The red skates are an ornament I loved as child. Seeing these bring a smile to my face and heart.
I Used Existing Decorations in New Ways
To save money, I reused my existing holiday decorations, but used each in a new way to create a new look.
I have a few decor items that I use every year, like our stockings, cedar wreaths, jingle bells, throw pillows, ball ornaments and ribbons. I then add natural elements to enhance the look.
For instance, instead of using the candlesticks on the mantel as I have done when Decorating My House for Christmas in past years, I placed them inside the fireplace.
I created a display on my new Round Accent Table by using a cedar wreath and placing 3 big pinecones that I made into Pinecone Pedestals on my mantel a few years ago. The pinecones were big enough to fit snug in the center of the wreath, adding a favorite red tree ornament adds a touch of red.
When the holidays are over all these things will go back to their original states to be used in new ways for my needs.
I created a simple dough bowl Christmas decoration by using drinking glasses as flameless votive candle holders and filling in with pine, cedar and pine cones from my yard that I added glitter to make them sparkle in the candle light.
To add a little bit of Christmas to the gallery wall, I used one end of a garland tie to tie a few sprigs of pine with shiny red ball ornaments and jingle bells together. Then used the other end of the garland tie as a hook to place over the center frame on the gallery wall.
Twinkle Lights & Candles
After getting the Christmas tree up with twinkle lights, the next most important item needed to create a cozy ambiance are candles.
Over the years I have been using more battery-operated candles since they look so real and can all be turned on and off with the touch of a button. No smoke alarms going off anymore. :-)
Setting a Cozy & Nostalgic Feeling
White twinkle lights on the tree – check, candles everywhere – check, jingle bells on doors – check, glittered items – check, family Christmas photos – check and what you can’t see…
…Christmas music playing all day long on Spotify where I even made my own playlist of my favorite Christmas songs. And I can’t forget goodies baking in the kitchen ensure Christmas magic is all around – these are the holiday traditions that make Christmas feel special to me.
I also make sure to add cozy touches to these holiday traditions to make each room feel warm and inviting. Red velvet throw pillows, fur and chunky knit throws on the sofa and chairs.
Along with Christmas plaid trimmed stockings hanging on the new fireplace mantel.
Using Natural Elements
If I didn’t enjoy the nostalgic aspect of Christmas so much, I would decorate my house using all natural items. Not only are they free, but all you have to do to get them is go outside in your yard or a wooded area and search for them.
Nature is full of so many beautiful things if we take the time to look.
I use this pair of clippers to gather these branches that I stuffed into a Styrofoam block inside the planter, then tied silver jingle bells to the branches with red ribbon. Simple and it makes a festive statement.
The other nice thing about decorating for Christmas using natural elements is once the holidays are over there is nothing to store in a bin, you simply throw them out or place in compost.
Adding More Touches of Red & Green
Most of the photos you see in this post I took during the day, but when I really enjoy my Christmas decorating is at night. The candles and twinkle lights on the tree make the house look magical.
One of the reasons I went with a red and green Christmas decorating scheme this year was to go with the decorative green screen I glaze painted earlier this year.
A few red ball ornaments placed on tabletops among decorative items is the easiest way to decorate when you want to keep things simple.
In the foyer I added more red and green in the way of cedar wreaths and faux pine.
My husband, Ed even helped me add some red to the foyer when he put a Santa hat on the Modern Driftwood Stand I made a year or so ago.
Sleigh bells tied on the door with red ribbon so that when anyone enters the house they are greeted with the sound of tinkling jingle bells.
In the kitchen I kept the decor very simple, red and green accents added with greenery and red ribbon.
And more jingle bells.
Making Overnight Guests Feel The Christmas Magic
This year, we are expecting overnight guests over the holidays so I added a few small holiday touches to each of the guest rooms. My house is a 3 bedroom home with the primary bedroom suite on the first floor. The other two bedrooms are on the second floor that we use for guests.
To one of the rooms I added a collection of Glittered Glass Christmas Trees that were a thrift store find that I made over.
In the other room, I framed one of the DIY Christmas Cards my daughter recently made and placed in in a plate holder on the night table.
That’s it for my Christmas decorating. If you have any questions, let me know in the comments.
Decorating Resources
Christmas Trees: 7.5 ft Living Room Christmas Tree | 6.5 ft Foyer Christmas Tree
Decorative Accessories: Dough Bowl | Twinkle Lights | Green Pillar Candles | Sleigh Bells on Door | Red Velvet Ribbon | Garland Ties | Pinecone Hill Chunky Knit Throw | Red Ornament Balls | Bubble Drinking Glasses | Set of Lanterns
Flameless Battery Operated Candles With Remotes: Votive Candles | Flameless Candle Sticks in White Ivory | Flameless Pillar Candles-White | Flameless Set of Ivory Pillar Candles
Furniture: Round White/Brown Accent table | POLYWOOD Rocker
