A sweet reader, Jackie, wrote a little note the other day and asked this:
I love how you do bright and colorful every year in your home for the holidays. This is probably a weird question but I was wondering if you could break down a section of your home with decorations and share how you do it? You always make it look so effortless. I was hoping you may share some tips on bringing things together with color and maybe give me some ideas…
First of all, this isn’t a “weird” question at all. I know a lot of people are hesitant to use color in their home, so I thought a perfect area would be our back room. We took it easy this year with the decor on the holidays front, because things are so crazy with real life. I guess this would be our most festive area… But I thought this would be a great place to start. Without further ado, how I pulled together this bright and colorful Christmas mantel!
How do we use color every year? The honest answer is, our decor is a combo of handmade and pulled-together ideas, for a real, I-shopped-my-house look. We love that classic, easy vibe in our home. It really just works for us.
If you’ve been keeping tabs on us, then you may know that since this summer with the primary addition “finish”, {yep, still waiting on those finishing touches} and then move-out-to-refinish all the floors exodus, {hold me, but it was totally worth it} we haven’t given any real updates on our own home past the kids’ new spaces or our recent outdoor work. We’re still waiting on finishing pieces. So in between clients we just haven’t had time to revisit the whole thing. See: winter months for our home updates. Get excited! #morestainedglass #thefamilyhatesme
Because some areas of the house are still a little chaotic, we decided to throw some proverbial glitter on it and call it a day. It always feels better to cozy things up!
Sometimes it’s fun to share the simple, just because. So this year’s look, in between all the chaos, is a real conglomeration of past projects meeting whatever I could fish out of the giant Tupperware tubs. See me, organizing {or at least saying that I will} in January when it’s all packed back up. Future December 2023 us, will be grateful. {Pssst… this is what I say every year.}
I’ll start by sharing a few sources, to get things started.
• Stockings: These are stockings that I “fancied up” {similar ones found here + here} a long time ago, with simple handmade tassels and pom poms. {Side note: when the kids were little, they called palm trees pom pom trees. And that will never get old.} Then we topped them off with little ornaments we found a long time ago at Michael’s.
{FYI if you’d like to find one of your own, be sure to search for “german glitter ornaments”… a diy version wouldn’t be hard, either.} And yes, the pups get one too.
• A little sparkle: Because we get a lot of questions about our mirror ball – we sourced this one here. It’s always great when that sunlight comes in, especially in the winter months. It’s kind of a permanent fixture.
• Chalkboard: And the chalkboard is a magnetic chalkboard found here. {I’m sorry… nothing beats a good old fashioned chalkboard, especially at Christmas}
• Garland {green}: We filled it in this eucalyptus garland with various ornaments from around the house for a nice, festive feel.
• Flocked trees: It was fun flanking each side of our fireplace with these flocked trees . It just makes a great colorful addition full of awesome detail. We actually didn’t bust out our massive tree this year, just these and the one by the piano. So these feel nice and warm for the upcoming month.
• Ornaments: They’re literally just found-over-time pieces but some are from here – we love adding pastel touches with jewel tones, as well.
• Garland: I spied this one at West Elm Kids {no longer available} a few years ago, but I did find some cute subs here! OR make your own with my pom pom tutorial above!
And more garland – because it never gets old – something to keep hands busy {white star garland tutorial + gold star garland}
• Candle holders: sourced here and my tutorial for the multicolored one, here.
• A word on color: I think that the key to it all comes down to distribution, repetition, and variety.
These are completely random, but also collected over time, so that we have a wide variety of color, in different ways. I love using the entire spectrum, from blues and greens to reds and purples. Orange and pink are also a must have. But I try to have color in multiple places {repetition} from the garland to the stockings and more. This just reinforces the colorful vibe. When it comes to distribution, I think the more the merrier, making it bright and happy.
It all comes down to our {always there} mantra about decorating your home for the holidays. Do what you love, and have fun. The rest will shine through. Literally.
Oh, and sweet photos of the kids as they grow are always a fun addition, too. Things have certainly changed in this space now that the windows are gone {the addition was built on the other side}. But I do love that new wall space!
As always, our amazing lights {if we do say so ourselves, since we didn’t design them but they’re oh so pretty} are from Kichler. We love their offerings for all things creative!
And our mantel wouldn’t be my favorite space in the home without Jeffrey Court Tile!
Our look really is a collected vibe over time, with fun handmade things in between. I hope this bit helps you feel inspired, if you want to start a few little crafty projects over the slower days to come! {Finger crossed that they slow down, at least. We all know how that is.}
We hope this helps inspire you to be a little fearless with color over the holidays! You can never have enough, in our book.
And for fun, I grabbed one photo of that mirrorball sparkle… the sunny days have been far and few in between here in Seattle… I mean Nashville.
What are some of your favorite easy ways to create for the holidays with colorful finds? We would love to hear.
Have an inspired day!
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