2023 Christmas Home Tour
After spending three weeks putting up Christmas decorations, I didn’t think I had the energy to take photos and share my Christmas home tour this year! It’s just so much work to decorate and then clean, clean, clean enough for the photos to look great. And of course waiting for the perfect lighting which is really rare this time of year. Since yesterday I hosted my dad’s 80th birthday party and had to clean my house anyway, I took advantage of it to take some photos of my decor. I didn’t get all the photos I wanted, but some is better than nothing, right??
Entry
I tried something a little different this year in the entry and put garland on the mirror. I’d seen this done a lot on Instagram and it always looks so beautiful. I just used Command hooks to hang it up and it’s stayed perfectly. I also added some antique gold cowbells which is the perfect Christmasy look. I lined the table with this faux fur black runner which is super soft and luxe and adds so much for a moody Christmas mood.
In the mirror is a glimpse of my front room tree. You can see more details of this tree in this post, but I love how it’s heavily flocked and is a very different vibe than my main family room tree. It’s the perfect tree for the front office.
I arrange a few ornaments in this small dough bowl I have and it is simple but lovely. I always slide in a few pieces of faux greenery (which has fallen off my garland) for that extra fresh look. I also bought a bunch of gold pears at Taipan years ago and I love the contrast in here!
Front Office
The front office has the flocked tree which I love and hate to decorate. I say hate because flocked trees are just really messy. But it is impossible to mess up decorating this tree…it’s just so gorgeous as is and I can’t do it justice with my photography skills. Especially because my front room is pretty dark even in the middle of the day. So I decided to shoot it at night with all the lights.
On the other side of the room is my old piano which has been well loved and practiced by me and my kids. It’s a great place to add a little more holiday decor.
One more shot of the Christmas tree. And please feel free to admire my sawtooth star quilt I made years and years ago just for Christmas.
Family Room
The next area I’m sharing is my family room. This is, of course, where the majority of my Christmas decor is and it is just SO hard to capture in photos. I have little Christmasy ‘scenes’ all over this area and I just didn’t photograph them all.
My Christmas tree is 12 feet tall and we bought it in 2015 at Costco. It has held up super well and all the lights still work! It’s really easy to put together for such a huge tree and we can put it together in about 15 minutes. Decorating takes quite a bit longer and I have to get out a ladder. Since I’ve had about eight years to decorate this tree, I have found that my favorite way to decorate it is actually just with ornaments. You may notice this year I added ribbon, but I don’t think I like it with the ribbon.
I’m super picky about which ribbon I get and in order to have enough for this tree I would have to buy a LOT. But I have hundreds of ornaments and so it’s fun to change up the tree a little each year and decide which color theme. I was really feeling the red and gold this year! I first add a ton of ornament balls and then I’ll add on the more special ornaments so the tree is still meaningful.
I love how my garland on my mantle turned out this year! It’s my favorite ever because I added the Norfolk pine garland from Kirklands. If you like this one, it’s pretty much sold out but mark your calendar for earlier next year and you can buy it. I bought this one in August! I also bought a bunch of the antique cowbells from Amazon and that’s pretty much all I bought for Christmas decor this year. I already have a ton and I don’t need to just keep buying more and more just because it’s “viral.” Although that Home Depot twinkling Christmas tree really is SO gorgeous.
The mantle garland itself is just such a work of art, if I do say so myself. Not because of me, but because I finally decided to invest in some high quality faux garland. I actually love the real stuff but it dries out and is a HUGE mess which I just can’t stand. So I get it for my front porch. This is a combo of three different garlands for the “maximalist” look. I have to admit, I just am a maximalist. But maybe not quite over the top.
I got the biggest antique cowbells for the garland and it really is the perfect piece of bling on the garland. Your eyes follow the natural swag of the garland and land on these beautiful bells!
Over on the buffet table I kept the display simple. I laid down another faux fur runner which is just so cozy for winter. Then I found this cute little white ceramic village at Michael’s this year and since you can decorate with houses like this year round, I love having them. I pulled out a small collection of my favorite bottle brush trees to surround it.
Dining Room
I wanted a beautiful dining table setting since I was hosting my dad’s 80th birthday party. For the “runner” I actually folded a plaid blanket in thirds and laid it down. I use these very large and sturdy candle holders from Balsam Hill but this year I added some candle wreaths from Hobby Lobby and I love how extra they are. And look how cute those little glass Christmas trees are from the Target dollar spot!
Kitchen
The last little area I’m going to share is this little spot in the kitchen. I bought these faux gingerbread cookies a few years ago and they were actually picks which I took the wires off of. I wish I had a few more actually! I also wish I had more decor in the kitchen, but I’m going to have to add that in next year. I just ran out of time to get everything I would need before it sold out. But I would love to add some garland and a few mini-wreaths in the kitchen!
To be honest, I’m always amazed by those people who decorate even the bedrooms and bathrooms for Christmas. Don’t get me wrong, it’s so gorgeous and festive. I kind of feel like it’s wasted in the bedroom unless you’re hosting guests for Christmas. But maybe someday I will make that attempt!
It seems like each year it gets harder and harder to get all my Christmas decor up quickly. I’m just in the very busiest season of my family’s life. But with Christmas approaching so quickly, I’m trying to really enjoy my decorations before the entire holiday is behind me. I’m even getting to the point where instead of wanting the Christmas tree down ASAP once Christmas is over, I actually don’t want to take any of it down because it’s just so pretty! Are you team Take it Down or team Leave it Up?
Check out these other Christmas Home Tours from years past!
