How to Decorate Your Home for Christmas

Step by step instructions on where to start and what to include for a pulled together festive look when you’re planning how to decorate your home for Christmas.

There were times early on when we moved into our new house that I would super stress about decorating for the holidays. I would spend so much time bouncing from room to room staring at the bins of my Christmas decorations and slowly pulling out different pieces not really knowing what to do with them. It would take me weeks to pull any type of look together. I just didn’t know where to start. Does this happen to you?

So where do you start when it’s time to decorate for Christmas? How do you know what pieces to put together so it doesn’t look like a jumbled mess? Here are the steps I take now to save time and money when decorating for the holidays. Keep in mind, these are not “rules”, just things that work for me or best practices.  They can be used with any style decor but this happens to be farmhouse. 🙂

Each space I share this year, I will be explaining why I used the pieces that I did and what my thought process was behind the look. For this example, I will be decorating our foyer.

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Steps to save money and time when decorating for Christmas:

1. Find your inspiration or “jumping off point”.

This is the most important step!! It guides your decisions for everything else. Start with a pillow or a blanket or a piece of art and choose a color or up to three colors to base your decor on.  Black and white are staples.

This year, I’m super into deep red and green which I will be pulling out of a couple of things. It started with these pillows I picked up last year on clearance which will be the foundation for our great room and entryway:

 

 

I love the combination of classic Christmas colors with the background of black and white. Plus, I really like the way this pattern and color combo feels a bit nostalgic and the way it fits in with my antique and vintage pieces.

Then I found this adorable throw blanket and berry branches from Target:

 

 

The plaid is of course different than the pillow but it has the same base colors so it “goes” with the pillows.  I pulled together some other pieces that would compliment the colors in the blanket and pillows while keeping with the antique feel.

 

2. When you are buying Christmas decorations stick to the same colors you already own.

That way, things will almost always go together. If you have bins of red and green at home and you buy new blue and silver pieces, you’ll spend way more money than you may want to. Save money and stick to one color story. If you do want to go in a different direction, build up your collections slowly and start with one room (not connected to the others). You can also look at garage sales and flea market for new pieces. See more tips on decorating for Christmas on a Budget.

3. Start with the bigger pieces.

In an empty, clean space, start by placing the larger pieces where you would like them first. Here that includes the blanket and stool.

 

 

 

 

Then I added more of the larger pieces. You can see how I spread out the colors so that there is not too much of one color in one area so the space feels balanced.

 

 

Then I added the medium pieces. See how the different pops of red tie the pieces together? Even though the plaids don’t match, they work together because they have the same color tones.

 

You an see more Christmas home tours here.

 

 

Add more layers…

Here I pulled in more black with the skates and the folded blanket. The skates also tie in to the nostalgic vibe along with the wooden 25 sign and the black and red buffalo check in the blanket.

 

 

4. Mix in everyday pieces.

Not everything needs to be Christmas decorations. Here I used the crocks, the antlers and the stool to pull in neutral colors but keep the same rustic feel.

5. Layer in with the smaller pieces

I added in the books, the red lantern and the small Christmas tree to fill in some of the empty space.

 

 

6. Add in wood and woven elements for warmth.

I also like to bring in wooden elements like the small DIY sign to warm the space up a bit as well as the basket on the bottom.

7. Take a step back every now and then.

Take a minute to look for “holes”, spaces that just still seem empty or if you think you have too much. This is completely a personal preference. You can also add things and take others away

 

Here is the final product.

 

 

You can see how the reds pull your eye around, the black and green are balanced with at least 3 representations of each placed around the space. Each of the pieces also fit together in terms of the “theme” or a rustic, antique feel.

Here you can see how it already ties in with the pillows on the sofa in the great room. You’ll see those color throughout each room.

 

 

It’s really just a matter of sticking to one theme and/or color story. When you decorate for Christmas or everyday, don’t be afraid to mix plaids as long as they have the same colors.

Here’s a sneak peak at how I continue the dark red into the great room and how I started the mantel…

 

 

I hope you found this helpful and are inspired to decorate your home for Christmas. I can’t wait to share the other rooms and will have similar posts on the  with my though process for each room on how to decorate for Christmas along with a few easy Christmas DIY projects so stay tuned!

Happy decorating, friends!

Col

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