Over the last few weeks we’ve focused on holiday décor and decorating tips. This week, we wanted to share the ways we’ve incorporated seasonal décor in our approach to decorating our own home.
Coming into this holiday season, we focused on the existing color story in our space and how we could amplify it with elements that feel natural and festive. Our home is still relatively new to us, and this will be our first Christmas here. There’s no feeling quite like putting up Christmas decorations in your new home, and we are really happy with the result. So come on in for a virtual tour, we’ll take you to each room and talk a bit about our plan and how we put it into action.
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Let’s take a look around the home…
Our take on Christmas décor always includes a foundation of greenery. Although we love fresh greenery, we choose to use faux greenery for a few reasons. We decorate early and real greens don’t stay green for as long as we need them to. We also like to load our tree up with decorations and a real tree cannot hold all of these decorations without wilting through the season. Since we do miss the smell of real greenery, we choose to use candles and reed diffusers to bring this into the home.
Because we have an open living area that incorporates dining, living and a kitchen, and because we have three young children for whom our kitchen has to be functional, we wanted to keep the décor in our kitchen space subtle. We swapped out our typical dinnerware for a few holiday mugs (I can confirm that coffee tastes better in a Christmas mug!) and tied in the garlands elsewhere in the house with some vased olive branches centered on the island. The kitchen isn’t our main focal point, but it echoes the feel of our space without taking away the focus from the rest of our home.
Our Favorite Holiday Mugs
The placement of the Christmas tree is important to us and we always like to imagine how we would be opening Christmas gifts on Christmas morning. Our sunroom is the perfect space for this. I imagine the kids sitting on the floor, passing out gifts while mom and dad cozy on the chairs with our coffee. We trimmed the tree with neutral and gold ribbons, faux gold berries, and fresh sprigs of juniper berries, which are a nod to the tonal blues in our space. Because we placed our tree in front of a window, we wanted to be careful to retain the rest of our natural light. Rather than add a wreath to each window, we spanned two with a modern wreath frame, with greens wrapped minimally near the bottom. All the feel of a holiday wreath, without the bulk.
We love to add to the color story by using wrapping paper that coordinates with the color palette that season. The blues of the paper and ribbon really add an extra something to the vignette of the tree. The gift wrap is beautiful on it’s own, so we decided to show it off by tucking the remaining rolls into an open weave basket near the tree. It looks great and is easy to access for when we finish our wrapping.
As we explained in our Mantle Blog Post, our modern hearth lacks a traditional mantel, so we struck the mantel “tone” by hanging our stockings from our console with care. We used both hooks and ribbons as it gave us another opportunity to show off our shades of blue. We layered juniper and eucalyptus garlands with blue ribbon and a strand of gold wooden beads (side note: eucalyptus plays nicely with the kitchen olive branches- they share the same matte, muted green) and incorporated fun holiday décor items like Himalayan bells (which you can also find on our tree and entryway console, and interspersed as objects of interest throughout the home), some festive art and holiday items, and a very convincing faux tree in a natural wood pot. The gold candleholders house flameless flicker tapers that play beautifully with the tree lights as well as the fireplace and make our space feel warm and cozy at night. Not only are they convincingly real, they operate on both a timer and with a remote, which makes them super convenient. Throughout the rest of the living area, we added in decorative accents of greenery and holiday items. A potted tree here, an ornament there. Nothing overwhelming, but subtle contributions to the space.
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We set the holiday tone right away in our home by making our entryway a focal point. With swaged garland adorning the stairs and accents of deep burgundy ribbon, we made sure that you felt the holiday spirit the moment you walked in. Our entryway console again evokes the mantel “feel” with stockings and holiday accents. We skipped the blue notes here and instead focused on deep burgundy. Rich and luxe satin ribbon in reds and cream accent the stockings and wreath. We opted for a wireless ribbon this year, which feels less fussy and more natural by balancing the luxe feel of the satin ribbon. The charcoal galvanized metal trees are a fun juxtaposition against the gold and natural tones of the space and cast beautiful shadows in the evenings under the picture lights.
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If we continue walking, we’ll land on our front porch, which is another extension of our holiday landscape. A simple wreath with a natural ribbon shows off our moody front door. We flanked our stairs with traditional greens and added natural elements like birch logs and berries to set the tone. Click here for the full exterior blog.
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