Deck the Halls: Come Inside for An Elegant Christmas Home Tour

Are you looking for ways to decorate your home and create an elegant Christmas space that still feels cozy and warm? Step inside and tour a traditional-style home decorated for the holidays!

For years, decorating for Christmas at my house meant putting up a Christmas tree.

Draping some lights on the shrubs outside.

Putting some candles in the window.

And hanging a wreath on the front door.

I had some other Christmassy decorating items that I received as a gift from my mom, and depending on how busy my photography business was, I’d put those out around the house too.

However, as the kids grew up and needed me less, decorating for the holidays has become a little more involved… and even somewhat therapeutic!

Dressing my home up for Christmas brings me creative joy as I try new things each year.

Now, don’t get me wrong: I don’t buy all new Christmas decorations every year! But some new things do tend to make their way home with me.

What I really enjoy is thinking creatively and trying to use the things I already have in new ways.

Sometimes it can be as simple as changing up the kind of ribbon that I’m using.

This year, I’ve had fun adding a little bit of glam with gold accents mixed in with lots of greenery and warm vintage finds.

So grab a mug of coffee or hot cocoa, and let’s take a look around!

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Welcome to our Christmas Home Tours!

We’re excited to join thirty other bloggers this week to share Christmas decorating ideas and inspiration with you.

Whether you’re a regular visitor here, or you’re new, or you’re visiting us from Lori at The Stonybrook House, welcome! We’re so happy you’re here! Wasn’t Lori’s home so festive?

There are two of us writing for Simply2Moms and today we’re taking a look around Anne’s home all dressed up for the holidays.

Be sure to pop across the street to AnnMarie’s Christmas tour while you’re here!

Make Your Guests Feel Welcome With a Cheerful Porch

For many years, red was my go-to accent color for Christmas decorating.

I decided to use this cheery color outside, so our guests (and the UPS man!) are greeted with this snowy scene.

The garland and the wreath are both festooned with the same green and red Christmas plaid ribbon.

Then I used red burlap to to bring your eyes down to see the accents around the front door.

The flocked Christmas trees have red berry floral picks and red beaded garland. I just love the way it pops against the flocking!

Each rocking chair on my porch has different Christmassy plaid throw pillows.

Here in North Carolina, our weather is usually mild enough that we can enjoy sitting outside during the holidays.

But it’s always nice to have a few throw blankets handy in case it’s a little chillier outside while enjoying my morning coffee.

I kept the rest of the decorations relatively simple and just added some greenery in buckets on the tables between the rockers.

Small wreaths like this one are a great way to dress up a candle, don’t you think?

It’s getting a little cool outside, so come on inside and take a look around! You’ll find I’ve left the red accents outside (except for my bedroom which I decorated for Christmas for the very first time!).

Set the Tone for Your Home in Your Front Entryway or Foyer

As you walk through my front door, you’ll come into a small entry hallway.

I had fun adding greenery to both sides of this large opening that leads to our game room.

I used a mix of faux cypress garlands and some drapey non-Christmas garland that I got from Hobby Lobby.

Since the opening is so wide, I used a small wreath to visually join two lengths of garland which let the garland hang a little bit lower on the outer sides.

We added those large double doors to close off what used to be a formal sitting room to turn it into a guest bedroom space for our parents who have trouble navigating stairs.

Those doors are just begging for wreaths to be hung from them!

Olive green velvet ribbon holds the wreaths. The ribbon is attached using a heavy-duty staple gun to the very top of the door.

I love using this method to hang wreaths because it’s very secure and it doesn’t visibly damage the doors.

I found this antique hanging basket in Tennessee and knew it had to come home with me!

A mixture of faux greenery fills the basket along with some pinecones.

I used some brown packing paper to stuff the bottom of the basket to get the faux greenery stems to be the right height. The brown packing paper blends right in with the color of the basket so you don’t see it at all.

How to Keep the Focus on the Meaning of Christmas

It’s super important to me to keep the focus on the reason why my family and I celebrate Christmas: the birth of our Savior, Jesus.

This vintage nativity set was my husband’s and I just love it!

We display this set in our entryway so it’s one of the first things you see when you walk in the door, and we pass it every time we walk upstairs.

A large sign with the lyrics to O Holy Night hangs above the manger scene.

How to Decorate a Staircase for Christmas

I attached garland to the railings of my steps, then added a variety of stems to give it a lush appearance.

If you look closely you’ll see eucalyptus stems, mini pinecones, magnolia leaves, and some long olive green stems that I got from Magnolia.

Some twinkle lights help to add some glow at night.

Velvet ribbon with frayed edges makes beautiful loopy bows.

I love the more relaxed look of this style of bows this year!

Strings of gold bells also hang on each side of the staircase to add a little touch of glam.

Create an Elegant But Cozy Feeling with Greenery

Opposite the large white doors is our game room.

Technically it’s the dining room, but my family doesn’t really do formal entertaining. When we have guests for dinner we add a few leaves to the kitchen table and hang out there.

We have a lot of fun having a pool table in our house!

Since the room is so visible, I decided to give it some extra Christmassy details this year.

This is the first time I’ve decorated a themed tree, and it was so fun to put together! I also gained a whole new level of appreciation for the talented people who decorate the elaborate trees you see in stores…

The bar table was a great spot to display a variety of trees I’ve crafted over the years.

The yarn-wrapped trees and the jute twine trees are made the same way.

I also used cream burlap to make two different styles, one with fringe, and one with wide loops.

If you look at the reflection in the mirror, you may notice I forgot to put my ladder away when I took pictures (oops! LOL). But right next to the ladder is a super easy project I made for displaying Christmas cards.

I added some mini wreaths on top of the glass cylinders on the light over the pool table for a simple but festive touch.

Usually, we hang the pool table racks from this set of hooks, but it’s Christmas so I put them in the buffet in favor of displaying some pretty gold bells.

Simple Ways to Give Your Home a Touch of Elegance

My family room has two focal points that I love to decorate each season.

The first spot is my fireplace, and I tend to get a little extra with my mantel decorating… LOL

I love creating full, and lush greenery displays, adding a variety of botanicals with the greenery.

I’ve discovered a secret that helps your greenery look extra full without spending a ton of money on it.

You can get all the details about this year’s elegant Christmas mantle over here.

This is the first time I’ve ever hung the stockings grouped at one end of the mantle, and I’m kind of wondering what took me so long to try it!

There’s a secret to making your stockings hang properly so you can enjoy them before Santa visits to fill them…

Oh! I tried something new on my chandelier this year.

Usually, I swag a piece of garland around the base of the chandelier, but I was curious how it would look if I tried using little wreaths on the candelabras instead.

I used olive green chenille stems to make loops that attached to the base of each candlestick, then added a thin velvet bow.

The little wreaths were a unique but still elegant Christmas detail.

The other focal point in my family room is the large built-in entertainment shelving. I like to use a neutral color scheme when I decorate these shelves at Christmas so they don’t compete with the star of the show:

The Christmas tree!

I tried adding some gold ribbon to the tree to see if it would make it look more coordinated, but I think I missed the mark. LOL

This tree is a mishmash of ornaments from my childhood, ones my kids have made, mementos from family vacations, and ornaments that someday I’ll pack up and gift to each of my kids to use on trees in their homes.

It might not look like much, but it’s an annual walk down memory lane that I love.

Adding Festive Touches in the Kitchen

One of my favorite things that I did in my kitchen this year was hanging the wreaths on the back of the rattan counter stools.

I’ve always loved when AnnMarie hangs wreaths on her ladderback chairs in her dining room, but they never look right on my curved Windsor chairs.

So this year, I got to get that look in my home too!

I kept the centerpiece on my kitchen island simple with just a mini tree in an antique crock, plus a pinecone and a Christmas candle in a hobnail milk glass jar.

This large antique wood bowl was a little bit of a splurge for me, but it’s one of my favorite pieces that I’ve ever found.

It helps corral my centerpiece so it’s easy to move if I need to use the whole island, and the wood complements my wood cabinetry.

The centerpiece on my kitchen table is also easy to move when we have family game nights.

The cypress garland I used to decorate the doorway in my entry dropped a lot of pieces when I fluffed it. Instead of tossing those pieces, I used them to fill this antique dough bowl from my mom.

They were the perfect bed to showcase this garland of vintage-inspired mercury glass ornaments and create an elegant Christmas centerpiece..

I tucked some extra greenery around the base of the bowl when I set the table for Christmas dinner, but day-to-day the dough bowl just sits on the cream runner.

I hope you enjoyed taking a look around at my home all dressed up for the holidays and got some ideas you’d like to try in your home!

Next up on our tour of homes today is our fried Suzy from Worthing Court Blog. We know you’ll love the elegant and traditional Christmas decorating details she’s sharing from her dining room!

Christmas Tours, Through the Years with Simply2Moms

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