Christmas time is by far my and my husband’s favorite time of the year. Since this is our first holiday season in our own home, we have been starting some new traditions, lighting lots of fires and of course decorating as much as we can. Take a look to see how we brought some Christmas cheer to each part of our house.

For the living room:

 The Tree

– In our house you walk in trough the front doors to our “formal” living room. Formal meaning our dog isn’t allowed on the couch and it’s set up to look nice. This is where we decided to put our Christmas tree so it would be a focal point on the main level and one of the first things we see walking down the stairs or in to the house each day.

Christmas Pillows

– If I had to choose between my throw pillow collection and my candle collection I would be in big trouble. Mixing in Christmas pillows with my usual formal living room set up immediately made the space feel seasonal.

Traditional Touches

– The advent wreath was one of my grandma’s favorite Christmas traditions, so to honor her memory I wanted to incorporate one into our household this year and found this one to be a great addition to the formal living room decor.

For Decorating the Christmas Tree:

– Michael and I always talked about getting a real tree for our house once we weren’t living in our apartment anymore, but I am partial to fake ones. Sure, they don’t have that fresh pine smell, but they are pre-lit, no maintenance and have come a long way in the looks department. Plus, there’s balsam fir and cinnamon candles in my stash for us to get our Christmas smell fix. We got our tree at Costco this year and I am obsessed with it. 9 feet tall, 7 different light settings and the giant box it came in only takes up half of our garage 😬.

 Ornaments

– I wanted something different than the classic color combinations and since our living room has a lot of colors in it I wanted to pick up on some of the pinks. Sticking to the three color rule, I chose pink and gold and let Michael decide between green, orange or blue for the last color. Start by filling your tree with an even amount of each color, or choose one to dominate.

Garland

– The right garland makes a huge difference with the final look of your tree.  I fell in love with this gold garland from Anthropologie and it really fills in the tree with a special pop.

Shop a similar garland here and here.

 Personal Pieces

– Personal ornaments bring a more unique and homey touch to the tree so it doesn’t look too hotel lobby-ish. This was a big year for us; our first house, getting married, a new last name for me (hence the gilded D ornament along with our initials) so we wanted to incorporate those milestones along with some funny ones like sushi (Michael’s favorite food), a donut (a nickname for our dog) and a pint of beer (cheers!).

The Tree Skirt

– A fun tree skirt is a super easy way to refine the bottom of your tree and cover up some pesky wires. I loved this red velvet one because that part was traditional but the bright pink pom-poms made it funky.

Our smaller tree downstairs really needed a skirt since we didn’t put any presents by it.

Presents

– Speaking of presents, make your packages double as decor. I chose wrapping paper that would compliment the tree so they really bring the look together while serving a purpose.

For the Dining Room:

Keep it Set

– I did a post breaking down my table setting here, but for this area I wanted the table to be set and part of the decor all month long. Red, white and gold colors. Whimsical details and holiday dishes elevate our simple wooden table.

For the kitchen:

Holiday Swaps for Kitchen Staples

– We use this space the most and don’t have room for cute decorations to get in the way. Decorative dish towels, oven mitts and aprons are functional pieces that will add a little holiday cheer without taking up needed space. Trade out your year round versions for the Christmas ones and you’re good to go!

Simple Details

– We use our kitchen table the most so unlike the dining room this space couldn’t be covered in decor. Just a simple Christmas flower arrangement keeps the table festive but open to use. My Aunt brought this cute red mason jar arrangment for us and it has lasted really well.

– Dogs in sweaters also make for good last minute decor.

For the TV room:

 Christmas pillows (again) !

– For an area with more pillows to change out, try finding pillow cases that you can fit over your every day throw pillows. It’s easy to transform your sofa and then you only have to store folded cases instead of a bin full of pillows.

Deck out the mantle!

– Our fireplace happens to be in the TV room but if you have one anywhere in your house make this a show stopper area. Candles, lots of garland, personalized stockings, a smaller tree…the more the merrier. I kept command hooks in place from Halloween so it was easy to put up this peppermint garland the same way I did the Halloween garland for October.

Shop the peppermint garland here. Shop the gold nutcracker here.

Stockings Hung by the Chimney with Care

– As our first married Christmas, we thought it was the perfect time to get some custom stockings for our little family. Etsy is a goldmine for this type of stuff and they even had a perfect one for our doggy.

– I wanted stocking hangers to make a statement and these gold stars went perfectly with my other mantle pieces and the tree topper.

For the Bedroom:

Bedding

– Big impact, low storage space needed. Changing your duvet cover makes a huge difference for not that much effort (assuming you have another person to wrestle it on with). This one from Pottery Barn went on sale a couple weeks into December so I got it to make our bedroom feel more Christmas-y. I didn’t want to commit to pillow shams and sheets, so I just got the duvet cover, but a red throw blanket and red pillows we can use with other decor were a great touch.

Shop the throw here, and the duvet cover here.

Holiday Candles

Again, I always like to make candles part of my decor. This tin is so cute and it makes the space smell like Christmas cookies before bed. Win win.

Shop the candle here.

For the Staircase:

Garland

– Traditional garland was something Michael wanted. Colorful glittery garland was something I wanted. So I did both. The green garland is actually two pieces, a plain garland and a poinsettia garland layered on top. This way, if I want to change it up next year, I can layer a different piece on top of the traditional base.

For Outside:

– Aside from doing Christmas lights, I wanted to add some touches that would pop during the day. Oversized ornaments in our front yard tree, a garland entry way to frame the front door and decorations on our trellis.

Shop the doorway garland here.