CHRISTMAS LIVING ROOM MAKEOVER 2025 _ HOLIDAY DECORATE WITH ME.

Hello, everyone. Welcome back to my channel. My name's Kristen, and today we're getting started on our holiday decorating this year. I'm so excited. I'm gonna be working on one room at a time until the entire house is decked out for Christmas. We're hosting for the holidays this year, so I wanna make the entire house feel like you're living in a Christmas movie. This house really is the perfect Christmas house. It's very traditional, and we're going traditional with our decor this year as well, hence the plaid jacket. We're gonna be decorating three different Christmas trees in different rooms around the house, and I wanna decorate them in different ways, but tie it all together with one simple element, so I'll share more about that later on in today's video. We're starting here in the family room. We're going classic red plaid this year. In this room specifically, I want this room to feel kinda like that Santa Claus room, you know, with the fireplace, it's super cozy. So we're gonna be doing our Christmas tree and decking the entire space out. I already started by switching out the art on my frame TV just to a Christmas print. I download those on Etsy for just a couple cents or a few dollars and upload it onto the screen, and it just instantly pulls the whole room together once it's all decorated. So highly recommend doing that if you have a frame TV as well. I'll link this art piece down below. It's like a vintage Santa Claus print. Also, I already moved our corner chair out of the way to make room for our Christmas tree. This is the viral Home Depot Christmas tree, and I can't wait to see it up this year. I've been collecting a lot of my existing decor that's all packed up from last year and some new items that I've picked up from HomeGoods and Hobby Lobby. So we have a mix of old and new here, and I'm excited to put it all together. I always like to make sure that my Christmas tree placement is in a corner that you can see right when you walk into a space. So for this room, it's this corner here. That's what we did last year as well, and it really is the perfect spot beside the mantel. Look at this. Look with the lights off. So pretty. Wait till you see it at night. I'll have this tree linked down below. It does sell out every single year in the fall. I got this tree back in September last year, so you have to get your hands on it early. It really is the perfect Christmas tree. I always forget I should do this as soon as I put the tree base down, and every single year I forget. One thing I like to do before I start decorating anything is actually hang sensicals. These are little green sticks that hang from your Christmas tree. You can kind of hide them throughout your tree, but they make your artificial Christmas tree smell like a real Christmas tree, and I feel like that just really brings it to life. So I always get these every year. This year, I'm going for the old Christmas tree scent. I think I did a different one last year, but it smells so good. So this is a must-have. I use these every single year around the holidays. We're gonna start hanging the garland on the mantel because I'm gonna be decorating the tree and the garland with similar items, so might as well have it all up at once. This is beautiful artificial cedar garland that I picked up last year. It's completely sold out, but they actually have pretty much the exact same garland at Hobby Lobby. I actually grabbed a few more of them this year, but they're super full. They just look so realistic, and they work really well with this style Christmas tree. I found that the easiest way to hang garland on my mantel is using jumbo command hooks. These are really big, heavy-duty command hooks, and I stick them kind of backwards on my mantel, just like that, so the hook is closest to the edge, and that way I can hook the garland onto the mantel, and it stays. This specific fireplace is very square, so I actually like to swag my garland so that it gives a little bit more movement and a softer look to the garland. I think it just adds a bit of style. You can hang your garland so many different ways, but this is one of my favorites. Super classic and looks really pretty with both. ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ Okay, time to get some decor up on this tree. We're going red classic Christmas this year, very Ralph Lauren-inspired, but a little bit more bright, and this year I'm adding these really cute red toy soldiers. These were 50% off at Hobby Lobby. They were having a huge sale. You saw that Shop With Me video. ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ Hicks are a must for a classic Christmas tree. They add so much texture. We're going with the brighter red, and we have a little bit larger berries as well, just to add a little bit more depth. ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ If you can get your hands on velvet ornaments, it is such an elegant look. So I'm gonna be adding in some burgundy ornaments as well and kind of create clusters. I think that'd be really cute. I'm just gonna hook one ornament into the other. Yeah, and group them together like that. That's kind of cute. Now, I might even mix in some sparkly gold in there as well. I just feel like that helps kind of bulk up these ornaments and creates a really interesting look. ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ Look how cute. I love that. It just feels so classic and nostalgic for the holidays. ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ Now, the thing that I'm using to tie together every single tree around the house this year is bows and ribbons. I'm using burgundy satin ribbon and bright red velvet ribbon on every tree just to tie them all together. You can pretty much tie a bow on anything and it will look like Christmas decor. Adding ribbon bows with long tails on your Christmas tree adds a very soft, whimsical touch. It just creates some flow on your tree. If you're not someone that likes to wind ribbon around your tree like me, bows are the perfect option. They add this nice vertical touch to your tree and it's just such a timeless look. I love the way this is looking. Now, I wanna get my stockings up on the mantle as well. I thrifted really cute stockings last year at Habitat for Humanity. All these different kinds of plaids and it was so nice because everyone had a stocking at Christmas. I even found these really cute cat stockings for Stu and Henry at the thrift store. Says, Santa, I've been a good cat. How cute is that with the little bow? So I have two of those. I even have some really plain knit stockings that are a bit smaller. We have some fuzzy white stockings. So a big mix. I kinda like mixing stockings. I feel like it makes it look collected over time and I don't know, it feels very homey. I'm hanging the stockings with these little command hooks. Again, I like the little metal ones like this because they allow you to kinda pivot and you can hang them underneath your mantle and that hook kind of hangs down, if that makes sense. So it's very easy to hook and unhook the stockings. Now below the mantle here, I'm adding in some of my favorite decor. I love these large sculptural pieces. So this is a big ornament and then these little Santa Claus boots. I'm gonna layer it in with a smaller ornament as well. I found these at HomeGoods a few years ago and I love placing them for a dramatic look by the fireplace or underneath the Christmas tree or even on top of a coffee table. I love the scale of these items. And then from HomeGoods, I also found these large books. They're actually big boxes, but I thought stacked up like this, three different colors and sizes all stacked up like this. And I just think it would look really cute just placed below here, adding some height. I could even tie a bow around them to make it look like a little gift, but I love the way that looks. It's just a nice large scale decor piece right below our mantle. I've always included small art pieces all around our built-ins here. So a fun way of making your existing decor look a little bit more Christmassy is just by swapping out your art prints for some really cute Christmas prints. I think it's such an easy, fun touch that you can use with your existing pieces. So everything can stay where it is, but you just swap out the art. So I got this whole pack of mixed art prints on Amazon. They have so many pretty options, different winter landscapes and scenes, so many snowy trees, which is so pretty, even some really pretty winter deer. I love the Santa Claus ones. They're a little bit moody and dim, but also have that pop of red. So such a fun way of just swapping out the art around your home. I'm actually gonna keep the non-Christmassy artwork right behind the Christmas print so that I don't misplace it. And then when I'm swapping it back after the holidays, I know exactly where it is. Last year, we did a little Christmas activity with our family and we all painted these little houses. They were all different styles. I think this was mine. Yep, Christmas 2024. We have so many different ones, but I think it'd be fun to include these in our built-ins as well. Just little handmade pieces with so many memories behind them. Now, the easiest way to make a cozy room like this, a family room, a living room, look festive for the holidays is just simply swapping out your pillow covers. I got these plaid red pillow covers off of Amazon. They match my jacket. They match the decor. It just instantly adds that pop of brightness to our really neutral sofa. I'm actually going right over top of some pillow covers that I already have. It makes changing them out after the season very easy. You just pull off the pillow cover, or if you have pillow inserts like this, you can just go right over top. I always love this little piano corner. It's really cozy. I love that we have a mirror, so it bounces off everything that you see behind. So the Christmas tree and the mantel, you're just looking at something pretty from all angles. So love a mirror above a piano. If you have a situation like this, I highly recommend doing that. But I wanna dress this corner up for the holidays. Of course, I'm using my favorite flameless candles. These are battery-powered candles. I've heard so many stories of candles lighting a dinner table on fire. And if you have kids, pets, or you're hosting for the holidays, you need these. They are so realistic. They glimmer and glow just like a real flame. I actually put them beside a real flame just to see the color difference, and they're identical. It is amazing. So these go on for, I think, six hours and off for six hours. They can work with the time of day. So these always come on in the evening for me, and I don't have to go around the house and shut them all off. So they are such a pretty touch. I mean, these are not only seasonal. You can use them all year round, but they are the perfect piece that I always include, especially during the holidays. So I wanna place two of them in here and just work them into our existing picture frame setup here. These gold little marching men nutcrackers, I thrifted for $3. They're so pretty. I had them across the dining table last year, but I wanna include some in here, and they fit perfectly with these candles. I'll have these linked down below. I get these off of Amazon in a pack of 10, I think, and I've bought quite a few packs because I love to put them all around the house. Love having them close to a wall so you can see that reflection of them really glowing in your space. So, now I found this beautiful oval mirror at an antique store a few weeks back, and I haven't hung it up anywhere yet. I think this corner here would be the perfect spot. I've always wanted something on the wall here, but I didn't want it looking too busy. And usually, a mirror is the perfect option for that. So, let's get this up, maybe put a bow on it, and call it Christmas decor. That is so cute. Okay, now I wanna get the fire going so I can show you guys what this family room looks like now. Fire's on, and it's finally feeling like the holidays in here. It is so festive. That was so much fun decorating this space. This room is always one of my favorites because it has such great features to it, with the fireplace, the built-ins, the pianos, the mirrors, the windows. It's so cozy. I hope this video gave you some ideas on how you can decorate your family room or living room as well. Let me know down below in the comments what your holiday theme is for the year. Are you doing classic red Christmas? Are you doing a Ralph Lauren Christmas? Are you doing something really neutral or bright in color? Let me know down below. And make sure you guys stay tuned because we are decorating multiple rooms around the house for the holidays. Next up is the sunroom, another one of my favorites. We're going with a little bit of a different look in there, so I can't wait to share that with you. If you enjoyed watching and found this video helpful, make sure you give it a big thumbs up and hit that like button, and make sure you guys are subscribed to my channel so you don't miss those upcoming videos. Click that red subscribe button down below and make sure you guys have my notifications turned all the way on so you're first to see the next video. Love you guys so much. Happy holidays, and I'll see you in the next one. Bye.