Christmas Decorating Ideas for Your Home
Simple Christmas decorating ideas for the home that will inspire you to add holiday sparkle to your home.
Simple Christmas Decorating Ideas
Since I began blogging 14 years ago I have shared a lot of holiday home tours with you. All of them full of color. The last two years, I decorated with red accents and red plaid all through the house. Five years ago, I used turquoise, pink and lime green. That year my house was featured in BHG Christmas Ideas magazine.
This is the first Christmas that I am decorating with a more neutral color scheme. In my previous post, I mentioned that I still love color and added it in the way of colorful satin ribbons on the gifts I wrapped and placed under the Christmas tree.
I am keeping not only the Christmas decor simple this year, even adding more festive holiday decor from nature, but also simplifying everything about the holidays to reduce stress and provide more time to relax and enjoy the season. Isn’t that the point anyway?
I took my time to edit out the decorations that no longer spoke to me.
What Makes Christmas Magical for Me
It read as follows:
- White twinkle lights on the tree
- Candles everywhere
- Christmas music all through the house
- Logs on the fire
- Natural greenery
- Jingle bells, glitter and a few favorite ornaments.
I also wanted to use items from the nature that surrounds my house as my go-to shopping destination, instead of buying “Christmas decor” at a chain store. The part that I enjoyed the most though was challenging myself to re-style and re-purpose items I already owned into the mix.
Here is one idea where I made decorative use of something of which I have an ample supply out in my yard… pinecones.
How to Attach Pinecones to a Candleholder to Create Instant Christmas Decor
- Line a baking sheet with foil, place the pine cones on and place in a 200 degree oven for 30 minutes. This will kill any bugs and lessen the sap. Let them cool.
- Apply a dab of hot glue to the bottom of the pinecone and place on top of the candle holder.
- When the holidays are over, simply snap the pinecone off. Remove any hot glue residue from candleholder by holding it under very cold water. The glue will become hard and you will be able to peel it off.
When it came down to deciding what to do over the mantel, I went back and forth with a few ideas, but wasn’t too keen on any of them. When I saw this Christmas mantel idea, I remembered that I had…
…a $3 fake oil painting that I bought at a yard sale up in my attic. I had planned to make a chalkboard out of it one day. It finally happened. My yard sale find kinda goes with the pine cones :-)
My chalkboard drawing of pine trees covered in snow is still a work in progress. In keeping with my stress-free holiday, I didn’t rush to get it completely done for this post.
It is done enough for you to get the overall idea of re-purposing a thrift store or yard sale item into Christmas decor.
How to Make a Christmas Chalkboard Using Framed Thrift Store Art
- Lightly sand surface of art with 220 sandpaper, clean off grit. Mask frame with painter’s tape to protect it from overspray.
- Spray over the existing art with black chalkboard spray paint until you get desired coverage. 3 – 4 light coats applied about 5 minutes apart works well. Let dry and season it before using.
To get the pine trees a dense white, I experimented and came up with a way to paint with chalk that can still be removed from the chalkboard. I will post how I did this next week.
I hung the stockings by the chimney with care. If you have been reading my blog for a long time, the stockings may look familiar.
They are the stockings I made using white quilts and bedspreads back in 2012.
How To Restyle a Christmas Stocking
- I restyled them for my simple and nature theme this year. The cuffs were trimmed in bright colors. I kept them intact by flipping the colorful cuffs inside the stockings and made and attached a new cuff with scraps of fur on each stocking. On the center stocking, I pinned a rhinestone brooch.
In the bare corner that never gets any love, I added 3 long tree branches I gathered on my daily walk around my neighborhood.
I placed them in a large vase. The tops of the branches lean on the wall. I left them just as I found them, but in past years I have been known to make them sparkly with glitter.
The throw pillows on the seating have new covers that I made by taking apart the bed shams that used to be in the guest room of my previous house.
One of the items on my edited list of must-haves for a magical Christmas… jingle bells. I have a leather strap of sleigh bells hanging from my front door so that when we open it, the bells jingle, welcoming in whoever is standing outside.
I didn’t get a photo of these, but tie them on the doorknob each year with a festive ribbon. This year I tied it on with the black buffalo check ribbon that I used to make the Christmas tree topper and wrap the presents.
Staying with my theme to not overthink the decorations, I simply lined a shallow bowl with cedar sprigs and piled my stash of silver jingle bells on top. Placed on a stack of favorite Christmas books they look holiday-ready.
Pine trees surround my yard, so adding a trio of faux pines along the sofa table seemed like the thing to do. These trees came with burlap covered bases. I am not a fan of burlap and came up with this repurposing idea to make them more to my liking.
I have used these trees in my foyer the last few years and am searching for mini faux cedar trees to use as I like the lighter color of the cedar more than the color of these trees.
I posted about how I made these coasters using small frames and a printable I made on my computer…HO HO HO!
A few ornaments placed together on a white pedestal adds a simple festive touch next to the trees on the table.
I don’t decorate every room, just the living room, kitchen and foyer. I haven’t gotten to the foyer yet, but when I do, I will share photos with you.
No matter what the room is there has to be candles every where. Battery operated and real wax candles that fill the house with a warm glow.
- Find out how I made this stack of glittered French Script boxes.
Ever think about lighting a candle at breakfast to light up a dark morning? I have this candle right by the stove in my kitchen.
And finally…
The Simplest Way to Create Christmas Decorating Magic is to Turn off the Lights
- Candles and Christmas lights create a warm and magical feeling all on their own. It begins to get dark around 5:30 at my house and the evenings can feel so long.
- When I stop work for the day, I look forward to turning off all the lights in the house and sitting in my living room with Christmas music playing and all the Christmas lights glowing. They are the best Christmas decorations, adding exactly the magical mood and feeling I love in my house for the holidays.
To read more details about all the Christmas color schemes I have used in the past, check out my previous post: My Simply Decorated Christmas Tree. And you can also read about all of my holiday decorating ideas.
More Festive Christmas Decorating Ideas
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