Tips to Decorate for Christmas Like a Pro

How to decorate for Christmas with less stress and create a vintage, farmhouse Christmas feel. See the inspiration and how we tied it all together.

The beauty of Farmhouse style is that it can look different for each person. It probably has many of the same features but we all put our spin on it in our own way. When it comes to decorating for any style or how to decorate for Christmas, the starting point should always be the same though, to find our inspiration or “jumping off point”.

Find your Inspiration

For this part of our Christmas home tour we are focusing on our family room. The color story is a bit different than in the Christmas Foyer I shared before because the inspiration piece is a bit different. This was my inspiration for our Christmas decor in our family room. Classic red and black.

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I chose these pillows because I wanted to create a bit of a rustic, nostalgic Christmas feeI and the black, red and warm white spoke to me. It’s so classic and I love using black in my decor because it feels very grounded in a space. It’s like it’s the glue holding everything together. White is the same way but for me. using black as a neutral in a space, especially when combined with wood tones, has a warmer, cozier feel and for Christmas.

I also like this color story because I already have a lot of the same color pieces so it would be easier to create a look and feel I was going for.

So for the tree in the family room, I pulled the red out of the pillow and used red balls combined with silver balls with a red plaid ribbon. Again, it’s not the same plaid but the base colors are the same so it works. The same with the wrapping paper, especially when tied with the black ribbon.

This antique sled is the perfect base for the tree because the color has a lot of black tones in it and it adds contrast to the green of the tree and the red and white ornaments.

2. Use lots of greenery

Greenery adds that pop of color and a festive holiday feel. I love the way the wrapping paper not only ties in with the red and black plaid, but the greenery pulls out the green as well.

Tip – look for wrapping paper at the end of the season to plan out your color scheme for next year. You’ll get a better deal and a new look. Just don’t go completely in the opposite direction or you could be starting from scratch and that can get expensive.

3. Show each of your colors in at least three places.

See how the black in the chalkboard connects to the pillows, the ribbon on the presents, the tool box on the coffee table and the other accents on the shelves.

4. Use everyday accessories/decor in the same color story

You don’t have to buy all new Christmas decor in a new color story every year. Use your everyday accessories like the crocks on the top of this cabinet, the chalkboard, and the door knob set here to work in with your color story. Even if I wanted to eliminate the red next year and go more neutral, it would all still go.

Don’t forget to add in wooden elements for warmth, too.

5. Use the same style accessories.

All of the decor I combined with the Christmas decorations is the same “feel” or style. I stuck with all darker tones, vintage and antique pieces in all the same color story (brown, white, black and red). Also, everything has a matte finish except for the amber bottles which add a warmth of their own.

If I had thrown in some bright colors or more modern pieces, it would have felt out of place.

6. DIY Christmas decorations

Why not DIY your own unique Christmas decor to match your color story. I will be sharing this DIY Christmas garland made from bingo cards soon.

It adds the same red, cream and black as the pillows.

You can find more tips on how to decorate for Christmas and DIY Christmas decorations here.

7. Warm up the space with candles.

You can add color with the seasonal colors or stick with white/cream and they are more versatile for use all year.

You can see more Christmas home tours and holiday decorating ideas here.

I hope you found this farmhouse Christmas decor 2020 post helpful and that it makes your holiday decorating easier this year. It doesn’t have to be stressful especially if you plan ahead and stick to a simple color story. Do you have a color story in mind for this year? How do you usually approach decorating?

If you have other questions about how to decorate for Christmas, please email me or message me on Facebook. I’m happy to help!

Stay tuned for next time when I’ll be sharing our great room and Christmas mantel decor as well as the DIY Christmas garland.

Happy Holidays, friends and Happy DIY’ing!

Col