Decorating For Christmas

Let’s get decorating for Christmas! I’m sharing some tips and things I’ve learned over many years of holiday decorating. Come take a tour of my home, all decked out for the happiest season of all!

Today I’m once again joining Krista of The Happy Housie, as well as more amazing bloggers as part of the Seasonal Simplicity Christmas Series.  There has been all kinds of Christmas inspiration shared over the last few weeks, including handmade gift ideas, and today our holiday home tours!  If you’re coming over from House by Hoff, welcome, I’m so happy to have you here!  We all hope that you leave inspired for your own holiday decorating!  Make sure to take a tour through all the beautiful homes at the bottom of this post! xo

My DIY Evergreen Grapevine Wreath

Happy holidays, and welcome to my home!  I’m so happy to have you here…it means a lot to me.  I always get a little nervous about my holiday home tours because I don’t change much over here each year.  I just add a few new things here and there, so I feel a little weird sharing. But I also know that this is relatable…this is real life.  We love our traditions and heartfelt ornaments.  If the skate stockings don’t get hung, the kids get sad.  And so do I.  Christmas is about tradition, and this is ours.

Come on in, it’s cold out there!

See more of my Christmas Tree Lot Inspired front porch here

All the Plaid!

As you will see as you tour around my home, I’ve embraced everything plaid and cozy once again this year.  I just haven’t tired of it. In fact, I wonder if I ever will.  If you follow along you probably already know about my undying love of plaid.  Plaid pillows, plaid bedding, plaid ribbon…I am seriously IN LOVE with it.  I have to hold myself back from buying everything I see that has a plaid or buffalo check pattern.  I’ve even carried the plaid theme over on to my staircase this year…

Decorating the Staircase for Christmas

I have always hung garland on my staircase for the holidays, but this year I did something a little different.  I hung my regular faux fir garland, but this year I also added some fresh greenery to it.  I just love the way the fresh greens fill it all in.  I used mostly cedar sprigs because they tend to hold their shape and colour even when they dry out.  If they start to brown, they’re also really inexpensive and easy to switch out.  Then I finished everything off with 2 simple bows of plaid ribbon.

Plaid ribbon with fresh greenery?  I can’t even.  It’s the perfect combination.

Christmas in the Kitchen

Now come on into my kitchen…this is where all the delicious of Christmas happens!  I have to keep things really simple in my kitchen because I’m always in it.  I can’t have a cluttered work space with tchotchkes everywhere, but at the same time I want some Christmas magic in here.  So I just added a simple wreath over my stove, and some fairy lights along my glass canisters.

Then I decorated my eating nook with a few simple decorations.  I keep a small stock of fresh greenery around for crafts and decorating throughout the season, and I usually keep it outside, but this year I decided to keep it inside because it looks so pretty!  Pretty and practical.

Turn a simple cloche into a pretty light fixture

My favourite thing in my eating nook though, is this really simple little light I put together in just a few minutes. All I did was add a string of fairy lights and a few bottle brush trees to the inside a cloche (just make sure to leave the battery pack outside the glass so you can turn it on and off easily).  It looks so pretty at night.

Put a Wreath On It

I love wreaths…that is no secret.  But a wreath tied to a dining chair?  My heart skips a beat.  There’s just something so lovely about a little wreath tied with ribbon to dining chairs.  And it’s such a simple and festive touch, not to mention inexpensive.  You can make these, or buy  them…I chose to buy them because I saw them at Michaels on sale for $5 a piece!  All I did was tie each wreath to the chair with some buffalo plaid ribbon I already had at home.  Such a pretty way to decorate for Christmas.

Now all that’s left to do in here is set the table for the holidays, so stay tuned for that!  Now let’s head into the living room…

Decorating for Christmas in the Living Room

I didn’t really change much in my living room this year.  I love all the decorations I already have for this space, so I didn’t feel the need to reinvent things.  I actually couldn’t wait to pull out all of my plaid pillows!  As you can see, I *may* also have a love affair with pillows.

I’m a firm believer that you can never have too many pillows.  Especially on cold winter nights…you can just get right in there and snuggle with ’em.  No one complains.  We live in a liveable home.  Move the pillows, toss them on the floor, really just get comfortable, that’s what’s important.

I decided to hang my Christmas Evergreen Wreath over my mantel this year.  I love it so much that I want to look at it everyday.  I think it matches perfectly with our tree!

We went with a real tree again this year…there’s just nothing like them!  I love the smell, I don’t mind the needles, I think they’re perfect.  Perfectly imperfect.  And full of love…it may not stand up straight, and the ornaments don’t match, but there are a lot of sentimental ornaments on that tree and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Christmas Tree Lighting Tip

This is where I should also tell you that we added over 100 feet of white lights to our tree this year!  Every year I say that we need more lights on the tree, so this year we made that happen. If you want your tree to glow and really twinkle, add more lights than you think you need.  We like to wrap a couple of strands on the inside of the tree so it glows from the inside out.  All.  The.  Lights.  So pretty.  I love white lights…I actually snuck the white lights on this year and my kids didn’t even notice haha!  They usually insist on coloured lights.

Now there’s nothing left to do but put the Shortbread Cookies out for Santa.  I hope you enjoyed my holiday home tour, and are inspired to decorate for the holidays in your own home!

More Christmas Home Inspiration

Now head over to visit Ashley of Modern Glam, I know you’ll enjoy her beautiful farmhouse style. Then take a tour through all these amazing and festive Christmas homes throughout this week.  You’ll be sure to leave inspired for your own space…there is something for everyone here!

Wednesday

Lemon Thistle
So Much Better With Age
Taryn Whiteaker
Love Create Celebrate
Rambling Renovators

Clean and Scentsible
House by Hoff
A Pretty Life
Modern Glam

And the sharing is happening all week long!

Monday

The Happy Housie
House of Wood
Inspiration for Moms
Town and Country Living
In My Own Style

The Turquoise Home
Amber Tysl
Deeply Southern Home
Tauni Everett

Tuesday

Sincerely, Marie Designs
Satori Design for Living
Finding Silver Pennies
Willow Street Interiors
Confessions of a Serial DIYer

Happy Happy Nester
Life is a Party
Two Twenty One
Tatertots and Jello

Thursday

Rooms FOR Rent
Shabbyfufu
Stacy Risenmay
Jenna Kate at Home

Sand & Sisal
Paint Me Pink
Place of My Taste
Maison de Cinq

Friday

The Happy Housie
Home Made Lovely
Maison de Pax
Just a Girl and Her Blog
Hallstrom Home

Jamie Costiglio
Sawdust 2 Stitches
The DIY Mommy
Summer Adams
All Things With Purpose

Merry Christmas!