Christmas Home Tour
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I always love seeing how others decorate for Christmas, so I thought it would be fun to share how our home is decorated for the holiday season this year. My Santa mug collection has grown, so they are front and center as a part of our Christmas decor!
vintage Santa mugs
I wasn’t planning to do a lot of decorating for Christmas this year. Losing my mom in May has just put a huge cloud over the year and I didn’t think I had it in me to do much in terms of decking the halls. Once I started going through my totes of vintage Christmas decorations, though, it was hard not to pull things out to display!
Now, about those Santa mugs…
As most of my collections go, this one started out just a few years ago and has grown quickly! I was actually able to buy someone else’s Santa mug collection last year, including the Holt Howard Santa pitcher, for a song. I couldn’t believe my luck! I’ve added just a few more this year, as they seem almost impossible to find. Fingers crossed someone else decides to sell their collection sometime soon!
Since I had so many more to display this year, I wanted to come up with a fresh look for the Vintage Santa mugs. I ordered these French style drying racks and they worked perfectly for the mugs! Now I don’t have to worry about them tipping over when I try to stack them to display—they’re safe and sound…plus look really cool!
Christmas is the main holiday/season that I decorate for. It’s also a lot of work to put all those decorations out, so I’m sure to take lots of pictures for inspiration later. You can see what our house looked like the last two years in my other home tour posts:
christmas decor in kitchen
A couple of years ago, I removed the doors from a couple sets of cabinets in the kitchen to create “open shelving.” I’m still so happy that I did that because it gives me a few more spots to decorate, as we don’t have tons of open wall space or room for lots of furniture, since we have an open concept home. I like the thought of that…but when you like to collect, it makes displaying a bit harder.
I know a lot of people might think adding Christmas decorations to the kitchen would make it cluttered, but in my mind, it makes it cozy! I don’t put a lot out in the kitchen, just tuck things in here and there. I also love adding a simmer pot to the stove—we have one going pretty much non-stop, making the house smell amazing. You can learn more about that here.
In years past, I have taken down a lot of my normal decor, in order to have room to display all my vintage Christmas decorations. This year, knowing that I didn’t have much desire to decorate, I didn’t switch things out as much. Instead, I decorated around my regular decorations, adding bits of Christmas here and there. The one exception is our mantel. I took everything down except for a lonely pothos plant. It ended up looking pretty good with the rest of the decorations I added there, so I left it!
I actually didn’t move nearly as many house plants as I normally would either and you know what? I like the way the plants are coexisting with my Christmas decorations! The plants are happier too, since I’ve been paying more attention to them than I would when they’re stuck all together in a room…out of sight, out of mind.
shelves decorated for christmas
As I mentioned before, we don’t have a lot of places we can put bigger pieces of furniture in our house. Lack of wall space can make decorating difficult, especially if you have a lot of collections. The fun of having all the vintage I do is getting to display and enjoy it! I’ve had to improvise in this house, though, having floating shelves built so I have places to put all the things. I love the corner shelves in our kitchen for displaying things like vintage Pyrex and colored glassware. I usually leave the regular items out and then tuck bits of vintage Christmas in around it.
I also had shelves put in our laundry room. They are truly not very functional for me because I’m too short to reach any of them except for the bottom one. I do still love them, though, because they give me another opportunity to decorate with lots of my favorite vintage finds! This year, I added a few jars with mercury glass garland wound safely inside. I also put a few bottle brush and feather trees out, to add height and interest.
Glass jars are one of my go-to’s for decorating…especially at Christmas time. They allow me to see my collections, while keeping them safe at the same time. At the time that I’m typing this out, I’ve only broken one ornament this season. Let’s hope that’s the only one!
christmas entryway
Normally, people come into our house from the garage, but I still love making our entryway pretty. Honestly, it’s a pretty big chunk of our main living area, so it would be weird if I didn’t make it look nice, even though no one really uses the front door…other than to grab all the deliveries we’ve been getting.
The entryway is also one of the only spots that will work for my favorite little fuchsia painted commode. We had it in our kitchen at our last house and it’s one of my favorite pieces. The shelf and hooks above it were here when we moved in. I’ve thought about taking it down, but two things: 1. I think it would destroy the wall, which would mean patching and painting (yuck) and 2. Again…I have limited spots to display my vintage collectibles, so why would I remove a place that currently works?
I also find the entryway is a catch all for random items that I need to move for one reason or another. It also ends up being where I stick new things I get until I find the proper home for them. It makes me happy, though, that my decor all seem to jive together, since it’s heavily focused on mid-century gram kitsch, with a little eclectic fun thrown in—like these disco balls!
These deer head bookends are a purchase I made this Fall and I love them! I don’t know why, but I’ve been very attracted to deer images and figures lately. They seem to be seeking me out and I’m ok with it!
christmas bedroom
I’ve been switching out the duvet at the end of the bed with covers that work for each season. I grabbed a plaid duvet cover for winter/Christmas and I can’t believe what a great addition it has been to the room. It really pulls together the other little touches I added in here.
You do not need a big bedroom in order to decorate it for Christmas! I am thankful that we finally have space to put a small pre-lit flocked pencil tree in this one, but if I still had the small bedroom like at our old house, I would still add some cozy bedding and change out my art a bit.
The other fun thing I did this year to make our bedroom a little more festive, is to add winter themed art as a screensaver on our tv! We don’t have a fancy Frame TV, but no worries! All you need is a smart tv or some way to share YouTube to it. Then just search the kind of art you want and hit play. I’ve found several that play for hours…it’s so fun!
Christmas vignettes
I’ve been wanting a cuckoo clock for so long and finally tracked one down in my budget. I love the cuckoo it makes on the hour and the charm that it adds to our space. It truly adds a bit of cozy magic.
As I look through all these pictures, I’m amazed at how well I was able to create the look of Christmas in our home without putting away all of my regular decor. The main reason I think this method works for me is that I know what my aesthetic is, so all my decorations work together—holiday and non. The second reason is that I just tuck little bits in here and there. I have some larger displays, like the mantel and tree area, but the rest of the spaces are just little Christmas moments.
I have so many vintage Christmas ornaments. Most of them are Shiny Brites, but I have lots of others that are from West Germany and Poland. Since I couldn’t begin to fit them all on a tree, I have lots displayed in jars and bowls around the house. I have lots of these jars with lids, so I actually leave the ornaments in them and just store them away—easy peasy!
I thrifted this Christmas trivia game, but I think this Christmas game bundle looks fun!
I discovered an old check book box of my grandma’s as I’ve been cleaning out stuff from my mom’s house. Tucked inside were two strands of mercury glass garland! I couldn’t believe my eyes! I don’t remember them being out at her house, but honestly, my grandma has been gone for years and her decorations were very minimal even from what I can remember. I love just knowing that they were hers and that she lovingly stored them away. She was so careful with all of her stuff, as were most folks of her time—that’s why we’re able to still enjoy all these vintage treasures almost 70 years later!!
Vintage christmas tree
We get a real Christmas tree each year—a Frasier fir. While I love the real ones (and don’t think we’ll ever go fake), it makes decorating ahead of time a bit difficult. In the blogging world, we’re prepping way ahead of everyone else, to make sure we have the inspiration ready for you when you need it. Since I can’t decorate the tree until after we get it the weekend of Thanksgiving, I do try to have the majority of my other decorating done and ready to go!
I love vintage putz houses and think they look so sweet tucked into our Christmas tree. They seem to be harder and harder to find these days, but I’ve linked to a few putz house options, in case you’re interested!
I did something this year that I’ve wanted to do for so long. I strung bunches of my vintage Shiny Brites into clusters! I absolutely love the way they look on the tree and how unique they are! I haven’t decided if I’ll store them this way or pull them apart, but either way, I am so happy I took the time to try something different. Just an encouragement to you to look at your Christmas decorations in a new way—you don’t always need to buy all new, just need to get creative!
christmas living room
Since our home is open concept, it’s really important that the colors and themes flow. My decorating style has ebbed and flowed, but it always has a vintage vein. I also gravitate toward a particular color scheme, so that helps the decor to work together…both regular decorations and Christmas.
I have pictures from the last two Christmases with Cooper in pretty much the same spot. He loves this time of year because we move the loveseat away from the window to make room for the tree. He gets a whole new vantage point!
christmas mantel
Having a mantel in this house is still so exciting to me! I love decorating it for different seasons, but Christmas is the big show. I finally invested in garland this year. The last time I bought any was almost 20 years ago and, while I still have it, it’s just a lot bulkier than I prefer. I love the look of cedar garland, but it always dries out really quickly. The fake version stays looking great and seems pretty realistic to me! I also love the look of layering other garlands with it. Any time I can add brass bells, I happy.
I’ve always wanted one of these vintage jewelry Christmas trees and finally bought one this year. Ok…my collection may have grown from zero to five already this Christmas…so be ready for a whole post on them next year! I also finally splurged on garland this year. I love the look of this cedar garland, but it goes in and out of stock. I did find one that looks close to it, though, HERE, in case that happens again!
decorating with vintage christmas decor
I’ve drooled over the Gleaming Primrose Mirror from Anthropologie for years and finally bought it. It’s even better in person and looks so good draped with a bit of garland!!
Even if you don’t decorate with vintage Christmas decorations, I hope this post has inspired you to look at decorating your home in a different way. I take inspiration from lots of different places even if the styles are the same as what I prefer. I love the idea that something you’ve seen here has sparked some creativity and new ideas for you!
What has your favorite part of the Christmas home tour been? If you try any of the ideas I’ve shared, I would love to see! Share a picture of your Christmas decorations in your Instagram stories and tag me when you do! You can find me on Instagram at @hilaryprall.
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