House Tour _ Simple Christmas Decor Ideas

I really enjoyed working on this house and I love meeting the clients. They were really partners in the design process which is always nice. I think the overall feeling is comfort. All the elements are earthy, it complements the outdoors, the colors are nice and subtle and it's open concept so when they're entertaining they really have the whole main floor. Last year when we finished the project was the first Christmas that they had in the home so I helped them to decorate it last year and they liked it so much they invited me back. We basically copied everything that we did last year, made a few little adjustments. It's designed in a way that you can always add more to it if you like, add more color, more layers, more texture. So nothing is rooted deeply, it's all flexible. My favorite way to decorate for Christmas is to be all natural. So it's basically twigs and lots of greenery, lots of fruit, layers of subtle colors. I think the natural palette works beautifully with this house because of so many organic elements that are already in the house like the floor and the beams and the table. So it's an excellent base. As soon as you put a wreath anywhere it's immediately Christmas. So in this case it's just on the barn door on the inside. The tree is freshly cut and all the ornaments on the tree are natural. The centerpiece for the table is all pine cones and fresh greens and there's some deer horns that we used just to give it a little bit of texture. The topiaries are boxwood balls and they are actually sprayed so they're preserved and they can be used over many years. For the plate rack I just placed fresh greens on each shelf and a few pine cones in the center and then secured the wreath with the dark green ribbon. It's a simple design, anyone can do that. For the greenery dining room we used cypress trees and they were just bought like that and they just get plopped into little pots and then I cover them with moss so you don't see the dirt. And the nice thing about that is when it's all said and done that's something you don't really have to put away. It can stay pretty much till Valentine's Day. Well the living room has multi layers in it. It has a lot of soft furnishings and fabric so it softens the whole thing and I love the bouquet. And that's just done with greenery and fresh white flowers. The mantel I wanted to keep it very simple because there's a lot of detail in that room so doing massive candles is something that I think brings a lot of softness to that room. They're all battery powered candles and some of them are even a remote control so you just flick a switch and they all light up which is great for entertaining in the evening. It's not a wood burning fireplace but we wanted to put some birch in there just to add winter in that room so it's just reorganizing the shelves, editing a little bit and making some room for the birch logs. And the boxwood wreaths on the windows give that final touch. And they can stay up after the holidays because they're just greens. I like to switch out the art if possible. If you don't have holiday art you can buy frames from HomeSense or Michaels. You could just buy some Christmas cards, put them inside and hang them up on the wall. Just brings a little bit more holiday in. Because the outdoor space is connected to the kitchen and because it has a gas fireplace and it can be used in chilly evenings or sit up there with a hot drink. Just again, simple, just a garland wrapped around the railing, lots of cozy pillows, throws and then a big display of small tea candles on the table. So when everything's lit it's a beautiful cozy spot. Everybody's been so busy these days and there's so much to do during the holidays. Buying a few bunches of greens and just placing them strategically in the right places is probably the easiest thing you can do. To feel that, yes, we're home, we've arrived. At the end of the day I think that is what you want in a holiday home or even as a guest to walk in and feel like, oh, this is so beautiful or this is so comfortable. I love coming here. Thank you for inviting me.