Here it is, guys! The big reveal! Okay, so for most of you, seeing how a complete stranger decorated her home for Christmas probably doesn't sound all that exciting, lol. But just because we don't know each other, doesn't mean we can't spread some festive joy and inspiration amongst ourselves, right? Who knows, maybe you'll see something I did in my house that'll also look perfect in yours!
The point is, I hope you enjoy all of the work I put into decorating our space for the 2018 holiday season. Every day, when I walk down the stairs and see decorative accents scattered all over the place, not only am I instantly filled with festive spirit, I'm also inspired to continue doing what I'm doing, which is being my crafty, creative self.
I think for most house tours, the best place to start is the front door, so that's what I'm going to do!
Before guests enter our house, they're greeted by a DIYed wreath made up of ornaments and a painted Christmas tree accent. I love how the colours of the wreath perfectly compliment the colour of our front door. In my opinion, this piece will make anyone feel welcome the moment they see it.
For a full set of instructions that'll teach you how to make a wreath like this for yourself, check out my easy-to-follow tutorial, here.
Now, because it's probably freezing outside (we do live in the snow belt of Ontario, after all), the last thing anyone wants to do is stand at the front door when there's a warm and cozy living room right behind it. The wreath may be nice, but not freeze-your-butt-off nice!
As soon as you enter the house, you're met by a sideboard filled with Christmas-inspired goodies that I've either collected or made over the years.
LED fairy lights line the table and emit a warm, whimsical glow. Numerous bottle brush trees, and a ceramic piece I picked up from a small shop in Michigan, come together to form a miniature winter forest on one side of the table. And on the other, a Charlie Brown tree, of course — over-sized ornament and all!
Watching over everyone and everything is a cardboard Rudolph decoration I made out of a dollar store puzzle and a red pom-pom. Make sure you check out that tutorial, too! I'll put it right here.
And what would a holiday display be without a letter board? BORING! That's what! Some of you may recognize the quote, and if you don't, you have to watch Elf immediately after you finish reading this post.
Last winter, I found two throw pillow covers at the dollar store, and, this year, they made their way on to our couch. Seriously, guys, Dollarama has some amazing finds this time of year, and they can easily help you achieve a festive look on a shoestring budget.
If you read my last post, you already know all about my craft paper decorating hack! But if you missed it, all I did was use the paper to cover non-Christmas photos and accessories in order to give our picture rails a classic, farmhouse-inspired look for the holidays. Head over to my original post so you can learn about every crafty detail.
Against another wall in the front room, we have a second sideboard that holds one of my prized possessions: an antique typewriter. It may not work anymore, but this thing oozes vintage charm, and it's something that can easily fit into any holiday display.
The two fake boxwood plants on either side of the table are also from the dollar store, and then the pillar candles at the back are displayed on giant spools I found at an antique market a few months ago. Pretty cool, right?
Underneath our coffee table is something incredibly special to me. This Christmas village belonged to my grandmother, and it's one of my favourite pieces to display every year.
Some of you may recognize the book tree from a previous post. All I did was stack a variety of old, green books on top of a dollar store bucket. And to give it the full Christmas effect, I topped the books off with a miniature star, and wrapped everything with a strand of fairy lights. Here's the complete tutorial, in case you missed it!
I think it's safe to say that a Christmas display isn't quite complete without at least one nutcracker thrown into the mix. I picked up both of ours at, you guessed it, the dollar store. I chose to cover one of them with a pretty silver spray paint, but left the other au naturel. Aren't they adorable?
Normally, this rack in the kitchen holds coffee mugs, but during the holidays, it transitions to stocking duty. Even though I wish we had a fireplace for this aspect of Christmas decorating, I think this is the perfect alternative for the time being!
Finally, the pièce de résistance, our tree! We had to replace it this year but the last thing Andrew and I wanted to do was drop a bunch of money on a new one. Thank goodness for Costco!
Not only was this beauty reasonably priced, it also came equipped with a number of cool and handy features. One perk is that we don't have to fiddle with plugs throughout the tree anymore. Simply stacking the three sections connects all of the power sources for the lights! Oh, and the branches don't have to be pulled apart and fluffed, either, which is a HUGE time saver.
However, I think the coolest feature of this tree is its wide selection of light settings. We've chosen to leave it on the regular, multi-colour one, but, if we wanted, we could change it to all white lights, colourful, fading ones, or even a back-and-forth between both. Seven settings in total!
Obviously I can't show off our tree without also showcasing some of my favourite ornaments. This is just a small sampling, though — I have a slight obsession with ornaments and this post would be way too long if I shared pictures of all of them, lol.
I love all of them so much! And I can't get enough of how awesome they look against the colourful lights.
That's it! The tour is now complete, and I thought I'd end things off with a shot of our tree at night. If you're a grinch, don't look directly at it — it will make your heart grow three sizes!
If this post inspires you to get in to the holiday spirit, let me know by sharing your creations and decor with me! Leave a comment or use #katiesaracreates on social media. And don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss out on future posts.
Happy Holidays and happy crafting!
