Welcome to our Holiday Home Tour. This year, I decided to add a little sparkle to my decor so this title fits perfectly. Actually, every year I tend to add a little sparkle!! I just love all things sparkly and twinkly around this time. Don’t you? Our family enjoys the lights and the warmth of the season so it’s always great to add some decor to our home for the holidays.
As an inspiration team member for At Home stores, I’ve received some of their products to use in our holiday home. The main item being our new Christmas tree with a few other items sprinkled throughout. You’ll want to check out At Home’s wide selection of affordable holiday decor. I mean, they basically have a something for every style imaginable! I was so happy to discover it when my husband heard about their opening in our area a few years ago. I’ve been hooked since. If you have a store in your area it’s worth the trip!! I have also linked to all the ladies participating in the Sparkle tour. Be sure to check out how they have brought a little sparkle to their homes this Christmas. Now come on in and have some hot cocoa and a few cookies as I show you around!!
Our porch is not fully decorated. As we were outside on the first snow day a few days ago, one neighbor asked me if I was not decorating the outside of the house. Well, I guess now I must. You know those neighborhoods where everyone is particular about how their homes look during the holidays? Yep, that’s the one! After all, who wants to be known as the boring neighbor who don’t decorate their front porch for Christmas? Not I!! (Kidding). But seriously though, we really had good intentions to decorate it early. Things are moving slow over here and it does not help that Basketball season has opened back up and my hubby’s schedule got busier since he coaches after work and on the weekends. His plan is to add some lights outdoors. Hopefully, he could get to it soon.
I went with a gold and soft pink color pallet. Well, at least that was the plan. I think I ended up with more gold than anything else since I had some from last year. It was my color pallet with green in one room. And somehow, my red ended up in another room even thought I was not trying to add red. The struggle was real and the classical colors took over. But this year, I was excited to try a little soft pink since the girls love all things pink and are inspiring me to use it more and more in our home. I’ve got to say thought that I think I’m naturally drawn to a finished look rather than the other way around. I tried it for a few months and while I like seeing it in other homes, it did not work out too well with us. Anyway, back to this holiday’s color scheme. I did not add as much soft pinks to our holiday decor – just a few touches to enhance the main tree decor. And speaking of trees, that seemed to be my ‘theme’ this year. I just can’t seem to have enough tiny ones. They are all over and come in all different shapes and sizes. I also have a few deer throughout the house. There is something about deer decor during the holidays that I love. So overall, I guess you could call it a sparkly rustic type of thing.
Last year, we lived in a smaller home with some storage but not enough on the inside to hold our Christmas stash. I decided that the garage was a great place to store all the extras. My husband never really got around to putting them in the attic. Certain little animals made their way through our garage and into most of my decor. Not I or my hubby wanted to dig through any of it. At first, I thought of getting a big hose and lots of soap and disinfectant and spraying them all down then letting them dry. Once I looked through some half opened bins that plan quickly changed. Well, by now you may imagine the end of the story. Into the trash most of it went. We were only able to keep a few unopened bins.
I was a bit sad for my new Christmas tree. After years of having scrawny looking $20 – $40 trees, we decided to invest in a sensible tree and some other decor. The tree and decor altogether weren’t too bad but they just needed an upgrade. That too was gotten rid off as my hubby thought it was best not to take it with us when we moved. I was happy to find a replacement from At Home. The exact color but only bigger.
Our home is really not full decorated neither is it designed catchy (as far as furniture and placement of things). In fact, you may spot lots of empty spaces throughout the house. When we first moved in, I imagined going all out with decorating. That all quickly changed once we got back into a routine and life got busy. Nope, ain’t happening. If you followed our summer move story, you know that this is our rental home. Our previous home turned out to be more problematic with underlying issues than we imagined and the market was right for selling. This one turned out bigger than we really planned and since we don’t really own it, customizing is not an option. But we do what we can to make it feel like home. And did I mention that the paint colors are really something? I know I keep singing the song about it but hey, it’s helpful to have paint that actually enhances the decor right? You’ve seen the orange and yellow rooms but you’ll see more of the green room today.
Anyhow, be ready for loads of pictures as I took wide shots and close ups. You are getting some views of spaces that I have not showed before (more so because they are really unfinished). I admit that I do feel a bit vulnerable putting this out there. Not like I have done this in our previous homes. I always show our homes decorated for Christmas. But this one is much bigger with so much more areas and wider shots that I’ve been holding back from sharing. But anyway, hope you enjoy the tour. When I was done taking photos for this tour, I decided that I no longer wanted to be the aspiring photographer that I dreamed about becoming:) Way too many photos and way too tiring!!
The stairs got a tiny bit of decor. Nothing much on the steps since we have little hands and feet running around here. I placed a garland and added some bows. The tree holds some of our ornaments. Most of them are what we each chose to hang on our tree (something we started last year). Some are also handmade salt dough handprinted ornaments from the kids. We’ve been making them each year and it’s always fun for the kids to see how bigger their handprints are now as opposed to the other years. We’ve also made sparkly salt dough ornaments using cookie cutters in the past to hang on their tree.
Now that you’ve made your way through the entry, let’s head to the kitchen to warm up with some hot cocoa, coffee, or tea (whatever you prefer) and cookies. Shall we? It’s not the most glamorous, but it will definitely keep you warm. I love this little mug holder I picked up from At Home. I’ve always wanted one and was happy to spot it while I was shopping.
I added a few holiday touches to the kitchen. Just things I had around the home from previous buys (including some from At Home). Not too much to overwhelm because I love free spaces in the kitchen (notice that all big appliances are not on the counter). The two photo stands holding plates are new finds from At Home.
Our food jars got a bit of a sprucing up with DIY printable labels. No need to put them away. You’ll also notice my small display of cookie globes. They are fun to make and are easy holiday kitchen decor.
The kids made these reindeer while crafting out a few Saturdays ago. I filled them with candy and are displaying them over the sink. I’ve been sneaking and eating them and hoping the kiddos don’t catch me!! Anyone?! I’ve also added tiny bottlebrush trees.
This corner of the kitchen leading to the dinning room got a fun ‘O Holy Night’ chalkboard art. I made this easy no paint chalkboard menu wall a few months ago and love having this song and a tiny manger displayed there. I made a printable with the words that I wanted to enlarge but didn’t. This wall worked out great! No special handwriting to go with it at all.
Our dinning room is simple. Just a few little trees on the table and we’re good for now. I thought of dressing it up just because but I may just keep it this way since our everyday breakfast table got thrown out. It badly needed an upgrade.
Back into the hallway, I keep a photo display of each kid at 6 months old. It was nice to capture them when they were able to sit up long enough for a professional shot around that age. I used that wall to display some Christmas photos too.
Enter our holiday family room. I shuffled furniture around so it looks quite spacey. At first, our bigger tree was placed on the left of the fireplace but things looked too cluttered. Christmas trees next to fireplaces look great but I was not feeling the clutter. Moving it to another location is a more functional option for us.
The mantle was created from glittered cone trees I already had, new candle stands and a few smaller ornaments both old and new. The standing reindeer are ornaments I had from last year. There is just something about standing reindeer holiday decor that I adore. Both garlands are from At Home. Because the mantle is yellow, I really needed that pop of green to tone it down a bit. The white garland ties everything together. Last year’s mantle had a garland too but certain little people got hold of it after Christmas and that was the end of the white garland.
The coffee table is it’s own special attraction with lots of tiny trees including a candle-shaped one. My lovely gold tray corral them well. I added a touch of decorative silver flowers (or whatever those things are called) to the hydrangeas for a holiday look.
Those cute little trees of all different shapes and sizes and styles, are all from At Home. A little rustic, a little glam, a little fancy and a little plain. Seriously, I just can’t get enough of little Christmas trees. They are so fun! Who knew?
My ‘Merry & Bright’ sign is a printable I made, downloaded, and printed out. It took bout a minute or two! I love creating free printables to use in my decor and have about 6 or 7 of them that I created for this holiday.
We are in love with our mini wonderland! Those white trees came in a pack of three. I snagged them form At Home on Black Friday weekend. My hubby loves them even more than I do!! A few pieces of ribbon later and that is all they needed.
The other side of the room is not visually appealing by any stretch of the imagination. A couple bookshelves and TV and that about sums it up. Nothing special and my bookshelves could use some more decor and books.
The family room and the front room is one big opened space. I’m taking you back to the front room (green room) where I have the bigger tree. Naturally when you come in you’d see the front of course but because this is virtual tour, I chose to do it the other way around.
I created a manger scene on the entry table. The wooden tree is the kids Advent calendar with numbered ornaments. They’ll put on ornament on the tree each day. You can read more of that here. The deer and manger are At Home finds and so is the large glass jar earlier this summer. Everything else I had on hand. And my kids and I made the glittered stars.
The other side of the room holds the star of the show. Our new tree from At Home is such a statement in the room. They have a wide selection of all different shapes and sizes. I chose a 7 ft. Bradford Spruce tree pre-lit with 500 lights I shuffled the furniture around in here to create the look. The tree was so easy to set up. The branches literally dropped into place once I connected the three large pieces. Of course, I still had to fluff it out a bit not too much. But as I mentioned earlier, I think the tree works well here rather than next to the fireplace.
For the tree decor, we chose soft pink, gold, and silver ornaments. I also love the ribbon around the tree look – it’s easier for me to do than those complicated yet beautiful designs. The topper is ribbon too. I don’t know that the ribbon topper and the ribbon around the tree is a “thing” but I loved them both and did not know which one to use. So I decided to use them both and kept the topper from draping down the sides of the tree.
There is nothing like cozy-ing up a room with lots of pillows and blankets during the winter. Most of these pillows are from At Home earlier this Fall but I love that sparkly snowflake holiday one that I found there. The soft blanket is another new find there, too. And so is the gold mirror on the wall.
I made this DIY wooden tree using paint sticks and a piece of ply (a tad smaller than 16×20 or so) and added gold glitter to match the rest of the Merry and Bright sparkly theme. I really can’t take credit for it. I looked at a similar example online using pallet wood and then threw something together one evening. I had that other ‘Merry & Bright’ printable in the space but it looked a bit tacky. This looks better in the space, at least in my opinion. My family seems to really love it too. Must be the glitter!!
Here is the close up of it!! What do you think? Of course, mine looks nothing like the original but I like mine better for a customized look. And it’s more sparkly!!
That’s basically the decorated downstairs. We don’t have much upstairs. I started to do my room but decorating got too much too handle. But the girls shared room got a small tree and color banners. Something pretty and kid-friendly to look at! I have not showed you this room before. There is really nothing much to see anyway except their new bunk bed. And they have a walk in closet. I’m in the process of collecting items to make it better with organization and decor (in my mind’s process, that is).
We love having their yearly tree in their bedroom. They added some new colorful ornaments and a DIY pom pom banner to the tree. They decided that they wanted this year’s chosen ornaments on their tree. They each did a salt dough hand print ornament too but it’s on the smaller tree on the stairs. And don’t you just love their tree skirt (AKA) one of their tutus. It’s called coming up with a new idea after I accidentally threw away their glittered purple one. I had it in a small bag along with some of our holiday pom pom banners and thought the bag was trash. Oops!!
That’s all the holiday touches upstairs. Really!! I was going to put a tree in our little son’s room but I don’t think it is necessary. Plus the kids have a Jack and Jill room situation going on here so it’s easy for the tree to be seen from his room anyway (as if he cares – he’s only 23 months old). I consider the tree in the girl’s room his too despite the colors!! He loves it and all their special chosen ornaments are on or around it. This guys wants to take down all the ornaments. So far, he’s done well by keep them up.
Here is a ‘skyscraper’ view of the front room from upstairs. It is a cozy little spot and we enjoy sitting over there and gazing at that beautiful tree.
And at night – nothing like the sparkly lights of a Christmas tree at night. I love that it is by the front window, too!! It’s nice to see others Christmas tree lights from their window view.
Well, I hope you enjoy the tour with all things gold and glittery and sparkly!! It took me a while to get it up but I’m finally glad to have it done. Once our home looked holiday ready, I felt so free to just be me again. I mean, don’t get me wrong. I love ‘all things’ Christmas decor, but a bigger home is more work for this mom who is constantly chasing after little ones:)
Do you decorate for the holidays and do you go all out or just sprinkle in a few touches here and there? I’d love to hear about it in the comments.
Also, I’m linking this post to the Sparkle Holiday Home tours. These other ladies are sharing their holiday homes and would love a visit! I love touring homes during the Christmas time. It’s so much fun to see what others come up with for their homes and to hear their reason behind the decor.
Open House Begins Dec 8th at:
Open House Begins Dec 9th at
Open House Begins Dec 10th at
Open House begins Dec 11th at
