In this article: Wondering how to hang greenery on a mantel for the holiday season? Today, I’m sharing the 2…
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Holiday Home Tour 2012
OK, so I *think* I’m done with the Christmas decorating. When it comes to seasonal decorating, I have a slight problem, in case you haven’t noticed by now. I have to make a full stop; otherwise, I could keep going until the 25th! But then I’d have way too much to take down later. Plus, I have to move on to a million other things on my Christmas to-do list. Like, for example, I haven’t wrapped a thing yet. Nodda. I like decorating so much more than wrapping.
So tonight, to procrastinate on the wrapping a little longer ;-), I thought I’d pull together a summary of all the random Christmas decorating blog posts that I’ve shared over the past month. In the home decor blogging world, that kind of blog post is usually called a “Holiday Home Tour”. That label is a little misleading in my case. I am only going to show you the areas of my home that are presentable at the moment. Unlike a real home tour, I’m going to shield you from the mess of Christmas bins (and glitter) that still needs to be put away!
The Porch
Our front porch is decorated with real greenery, white lights and traditional Christmas colors. I usually stick to red out there because it’s such a festive color, and is easily seen from a distance. For the first time in a decade, I also used some gold in my Christmas decor this year.
The gold and red polka dot ribbon that I used is traditional, but fun. I’m a big fan of polka dots!
Earlier in the month, I posted a tutorial on how to makeover an old artificial wreath, and create the look of real greenery using just a few sprigs of cedar.
The Tree
Our Christmas tree sits right in the center of our open concept Living Room / Kitchen area. For the first time, I decorated a 100% neutral Christmas tree this year, using champagne, white / cream and chocolate brown.
I also gave a little Christmas decorating tip / tutorial on how I added ribbon to my Christmas tree, which was a little different than in previous years. Last year, my tutorial on how to decorate a Christmas mantel (including how to add ribbon to a Christmas mantel) was really popular, so I thought this might be helpful too!
Our 100% neutral tree only lasted a few days! “Neutral”became “bleu-tral” when I added a pop of muted blue to the tree. It still feels pretty neutral, but the touch of blue blends so much better with the room.
Simple Christmas Mantel Decor (Branches & Bulbs)
Yesterday, I mentioned that our neutral Christmas tree this year is a really big departure for me. Well, the same can be said for our Christmas mantel decor. Last year, I had a very traditional Christmas mantel, with lots of layers of full greenery, and pops of saturated color. (That Christmas mantel decorating tutorial is found here). I’m a really big fan of that look, but this year I was ready for a change.
I liked the very simple, wintery mantel I decorated back in November, which consisted of branches and pillar candles. So, for Christmas, I decided to simply build on that, rather than start from scratch. I added some white lights and my sparkly reindeer, and hung some pretty glass bulbs from the branches, and called it a day!
I lie: it was a little more tedious than that… READ MORE
My Magnolia Leaf Holiday Decorating Crush
Ever since we visited NYC just before Christmas last year, I’ve been crushing on the idea of using magnolia leaves in holiday decorating. There’s just something ‘0h-so-Martha’ in the natural simplicity of a magnolia wreath or garland. Magnolia garlands and wreaths seemed to be everywhere in The City, but this particular display on 5th Ave was the most inspiring…
Perhaps using magnolia leaves for holiday decorating isn’t new to most of you. But, in my neck of the woods, magnolia trees aren’t abundant. Heck, I’m not even sure if they grow here. (Can’t you tell how much I know about gardening?!?) Even if they do, it’s not like you can just go out and gather hundreds of magnolia leaves off the ground for a decorating project. Apparently, you need between 250 and 300 magnolia leaves to make a 6-foot length of garland!
But, as luck would have it, the other day, I noticed they were selling them in bunches at Costco. Ooh la la! So I went looking for inspiration on how I could incorporate them into some of my Christmas decorating this year. Here’s a few pretty decorating ideas that I immediately fell for… READ MORE
How to Decorate a Christmas Mantel / Mantle (Step-by-Step Tutorial)
This post was most recently updated on September 22nd, 2019One question I get asked a lot this time of year…
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