A Peek At My 2018 Christmas Decorating Plans!

After hearing so often that you guys would love to see more of my decorating process and in-progress pics rather than just the “afters”, I thought I’d do a quick post to share where I’m at with my Christmas decorating! Sometimes what I’m planning ends up morphing into something totally different from what I intended once I start playing around with everything and that’s the part of decorating for the holidays that I love most – I never know exactly how it will turn out! My holiday decor is always a mix of traditional elements that I re-use year after year plus some new finds – hopefully you’ll find a few bits of inspiration for decorating your own home! Here’s where things are at:    (post includes some affiliate links; full disclosure statement is available {here})

Family Room Christmas Decor

After two years of having our Christmas tree at the back of our family room between our bookcases (here’s a pic from last year):

Scroll & Click/Tap Image to Shop This Space:

I decided to change things up and put it at the front of the room and I’m loving it! Changing where you normally put your tree is a great way to do something a little bit different from past years without spending a dime. Right now I’ve only added the ribbon (gray velvet ribbon was found {here}) – we’ll add the ornaments after Thanksgiving. The tree collar was a HomeGoods find several years ago but {this one} is very similar. 

Scroll & Click/Tap Image to Shop This Space:

We moved the sectional back a bit to be able to fit the tree in the corner and it ended up being a great thing because there’s now plenty of room for my two new floor poufs (I ordered them {here} – mine are the “textured neutral” but there are lots of other color options)! My parents are coming for Thanksgiving and the coffee table becomes game-playing central so now we’ll have seating on all four sides of it. I only ordered one pouf at first because you never know how things you see online will look in person (and I thought it might have beads on top which would be uncomfortable but it’s just yarn loops) – turns out they’re really great looking and a sweet price too!

After the holidays I think they’ll find a home in my oldest daughter’s room – she’s been wanting a bench or some other seating at the end of her bed so I consider them a major score! As far as pillows go, I searched high and low for holiday pillows this year and couldn’t find a single Christmasy pillow that I was crazy about! Anyone else feel the same? So I switched directions and ended up going with some gorgeous cozy textured neutrals. Christmas doesn’t always have to be red and green – a mix of textures, soft velvets, and sparkling lights can give your space the same magical feeling! I’m actually loving my new finds more than the traditional ones I was initially looking for!

The best part is that I can use them year-round since they play nice with pretty much anything you put them with.  The back textured cream pillow (available {here}) is one I’ve had for a few years while the middle textured gray velvet pillow (available {here}), and the front patterned fawn lumbar pillow (available {here}) are my recent additions c/o Laurel + Blush. Love them!

Front Porch Christmas Decor

My front door is one spot where I go traditional and do the same thing every year. I clip greenery from the ginormous tree in our front yard, berry branches from our back yard, and add {these bells} and some ribbon for a quick and easy door dec that I love! This is last year’s version:

I always change up the ribbon and am thinking about using one of these two options this year (which do you like better?? I’m leaning towards the red!):

The key is to choose wire-edged ribbon for wreath bows (preferably 2.5″ wide) so you can fluff them up and give them a great shape! I found the grey plaid ribbon {here} and the watercolor red ribbon {here} (there are several pretty color options other than red too!). I haven’t figured out what I’m putting in my planters yet – I’ll probably just clip things from our yard for it but we’ll see.

Kitchen Christmas Decor

I added {this magnolia wreath} to our front kitchen window for fall and think I’ll keep it there for Christmas but just change up the ribbon to something a little more festive:

Scroll & Click/Tap Image to Shop This Space:

I’ve had a few people ask me how I hang my wreath on the window – I use one of {these Command hooks} and just fluff the ribbon up around it so you can’t see the hook. They’re only rated to hold 1/2 pound and I’ve never had an issue with hanging my wreaths from them but if you’re hanging a wreath where it would cause damage if it fell, you might want to upgrade to a medium or large hook that’s rated to hold more weight. 

One other kitchen addition for the holidays is {this 20″ gold tray} that I’m going to use on our island with some potted poinsettias and greenery clippings in vases all grouped together. I got the inspiration for using a round tray for a cluster of plants from {this Terrain book} that I included in my Favorite Things Gift Guide but will be doing my own holiday take on it! The only other thing I might do in my kitchen is to add a lit garland to the range hood – I just need to figure out if I can do it without scratching my hood or falling down on my range. 

Dining Room Christmas Decor

My every-year tradition of adding DIY star anise wreaths (you’ll find the how-to {here}) to the back of our dining room chairs will continue on this year as always:

I haven’t figured out all the details of our Christmas table yet, but know that {this super cute tasseled runner} and these {these darling beaded napkin rings} will be in the mix – so cute!

Living Room Christmas Decor

In our living room, I’ll use the same stockings as in the past few years:

but I think I might dress them up a bit with some velvet ribbon – I ordered a bunch of ribbon options that just came in the mail and they are gorgeous!

I bought them {here} where there’s basically any size and color velvet ribbon option that you can think of! These colors are the dark grey, grey, pale pink, and moss in 5/8″ width. Update: I ended up using {this 2″ velvet ribbon} in dark grey.

For our fireplace mantel, I bought two sets of {these brushed brass hurricanes} for each end (two large and two small) – they are gorgeous!! I filled them with two of {these 6″ x 6″ pillar candles} in white for the large size hurricane and two of {these white pillar candles} in the 4″ x 4.5″ size for the small hurricanes. I also bought two of {these eucalyptus garlands}. I’ll intermingle some sparkly ornaments throughout the eucalyptus along with {these frosted blueberries} I bought last year. Here’s where things are at right now with just the eucalyptus garland: 

Scroll & Click/Tap to Shop My Mantel Decor:

I also might use the hurricanes and eucalpytus garlands on our holiday table so that they can do double duty!

Bonus Room Christmas Decor

And last but not least, we’re moving the location of our second Christmas tree this year too – instead of being in the living room I put it upstairs in our bonus room:

Scroll & Click/Tap Image to Shop This Space:

The tree we’d had for years was getting pretty sad and pathetic so this year I replaced it with {this frosted frasier fir} c/o Balsam Hill. I’ve never had a flocked tree before but am loving it – even without a single ribbon or ornament on it yet, it’s beautiful and I can’t wait to get it all decorated up! Both this tree and our family room tree are on {these Caséta dimmers} so I can turn the tree lights on and off with a flick of the remote or my phone app 🙂

So that’s where things are at! My parents are coming to visit for Thanksgiving and I’m thinking I’ll be able to talk my mom and girls into helping with our Christmas decorating next weekend so things should come together pretty quickly. I won’t be posting again before Thanksgiving since I’ll be enjoying time with family so I hope that you all have a wonderful holiday! One of the many things I’m thankful for is all of you – I’m so lucky to have this huge group of online friends who enjoy and appreciate decorating as much as I do! I’ll see you back here late Thursday night for my 8th (!!) annual Black Friday Home Decor Deals post!

XOXO,