Christmas Home Tour 2018

Decorating your house can be stressful. Or maybe it’s just stressful to me. We’ve been in our house coming up on two years and there are still plenty of bare walls. But when it comes to seasonal decorating, I just enjoy it more. Maybe because it’s temporary and takes less commitment? I’m not sure.

We put up our Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving and then I followed suit throughout the rest of the house. Here are some shots and product details of our 2018 Christmas and winter home decor.

The Christmas Tree

We decided to upgrade our tree this year. Last year we got one from Target for like $30 (steal!) just to have something for our first Christmas in the house. This year, we wanted one that was a little taller (7 feet) and a little fuller. We bought this one from Wayfair and were really happy with it (although the lighting situation is a little weird- the plugs have to be placed precisely for everything to work – make sure you have extension cords handy).

For ornaments, I have a few go-to stores: Cost Plus World Market (I love all their Scandinavian Christmas decor), Hobby Lobby, and Etsy. I prefer the look of matte ornaments (some shiny mixed in are fine, though) and highly recommend these Matte White Glass Ornaments By Ashland and the Red Matte Glass Ball Ornaments By Ashland.

For my tree topper, I love my 11″ Vine Star Tree Topper By Ashland. My tree skirt has cute cardinal appliques all over. The cats love sleeping on the tree skirt and leaving behind plenty of fur.

Christmas Stockings Hung on a Bannister

We don’t have a fireplace, so I typically hang our stockings on our bannister. This year I added some simple garland, too. Harvey loves chewing on it. The garland is the Canadian Pine Garland by Ashland (sold at Michael’s), and the stockings are all from Hobby Lobby.

Dining Room Table Christmas Centerpiece 

Ever since I purchased a wooden dough bowl, I’ve been filling it with different items each season – pumpkins for fall, and now pine cones and pillar candles for Christmas. It’s easy, simple, and makes the dining room table look just a little fancy. You can find white pillar candles at any home decor store, and you can find the pine cones at pretty much at craft store around the holidays (mine are fake pine cones).

 

Christmas Wreath

I bought a similar Pinecone & Berry Wreath last year at Michael’s and it held up pretty nicely in storage so I brought it back out this year. I like that it’s simple, without too much fake snow on it. It looks great against our white door and brick exterior.

Decorating a Christmas Server

Our server is the perfect place for decorating. It’s one of the first things someone sees when they walk into the house, so that’s typically where I focus my decorating. Instead of going too crazy, I kept it simple this year. I like to mix and layer my fake florals and stems so they have volume and fill up the space. For this, I used a mix of the Ashland Angel Pine Branch with Pinecone and the Ashland 19” Pine Needle & Berry Mix Spray, both from Michael’s. Then I made the focal point these adorable white ceramic houses that are all over Instagram and Pinterest. I’m basic, what can I say? To fill up the rest of the space, I added a few red hurricane glass candle holders.

Decorating a TV Stand for Christmas

I always try to find a tall piece to help cover the TV cord, and this snowflake nail and string art gets the job done (I got mine from Hobby Lobby, but it’s sold out. There are a ton on Etsy though!) I added a few berry sprigs to my Edison Bronze Candlesticks, added a tall white wooden Christmas tree for some height, a cute “Let it snow” sign, and topped it off with a wooden cardinal. Those are all from Hobby Lobby but are sold out 🙁 They really need to do a better job of restocking items online! For the base, I used this Pine and Pinecone Garland.