Christmas Staging Tips & House Tour

Christmas season is my favorite time to decorate, actually let’s be serious decorating anything anytime is my favorite!! I do love decorating during the Holiday season mostly because the options are endless. Not only are the options endless but, it is perfectly acceptable and even appreciated to GO big. Go BIG…or go home, right??? So come with me on a tour of my home and see all the details I added for this Christmas Season. Make sure to scroll all the way to the bottom to see all my staging tips for the Holidays as well! 🙂

…Front Porch…

My Front Porch this year is filled with new and old, like so much of my home. I love switching out the decor for each season. Some of my favorite things are my layered mat, of course, and my wagon wheel from Germany, which weighs probably 5oo lbs, don’t let that bad boy roll over you! I added a few of my DIY Flocked Christmas Trees to the porch this year. There is even an added pop of color, which I normally never do. Switching out my florals in my flower boxes is also a great touch for every season. I try to go to the dollar store before anyone is even thinking about switching seasons and grab all the best stuff. Then I add a few really nice florals that I get from Hobby Lobby to spruce it up and look fuller and nicer. Last year, I made a wooden star out of tree branches for my chimney, which I love that you can see from the road. So unique!

…Entryway…

My entryway is one of my favorite spots in the house! Decorated for Christmas it is a real focal point from the front door and I absolutely love that. This area has gone through major changes since we first moved in. It’s still not completely finished, but what really is. The main wall is shiplapped, which you can read here on our DIY Shiplap tutorial on how to do that. The main piece in the Entryway is this sideboard table. This was one of the last pieces I bought while living overseas in Germany. I found it in France, at one of the thrift stores and somehow snuck it into our big PCS move. If you could only have seen Greg’s face when it got off the truck in the states!! lol;) For Christmas, I added a ton of my DIY Scandinavian Wreaths, they are all hanging with twine and fishing wire.  The main piece for my sideboard is an old chicken feeder, which I have used as my centerpiece. One of my favorite things to do is to find something old and reuse it for something completely unexpected. You will see that a lot throughout my home.

Christmas Decor Entryway

…Living Room…

Believe or it not, this room actually always looks like this…So crazy, I know! Somehow I think I have scared every single person in my home to not sit or play in here. Oh, well…one clean room for me..Win!! It is also the first room you see in the house, so I do love that it is always put together. Just don’t look around the corner! 😉 This room also, went through so many changes since move in…new floors, lights, painted walls, trim, fireplace and celling. I added the medallion stencil for an accent wall. Fireplaces and mantels are by far my favorite and in my opinion the easiest places to decorate in the whole house. Some of my favorite things in this room are again pieces I found while living in Germany. My Mora Clock is from Sweden and it’s my prize possession. Our couch is from Italy, also love so much. Tons of little pieces are in this room, dough bowls, spritzer bottles, olive baskets, metal trays, old coffee tins, sifters, …all things I got from different countries that all have a special meaning to me. That’s probably why no one goes in this room…they are all scared for their lives…and they probably should be 🙂

DIY Coffee Mug Rack for Christmas

…SunRoom…

This is one of the best rooms in the house and a room I knew it would be well loved. You don’t see it much, because it has been a work in progress. Also, it’s the most lived in room in the whole house!! 😉 I used most of my DIY Flocked wreaths in this room, because it is filled with windows. I’ve reused a bunch of stuff in this room. Ammo boxes are my end tables and an old wooden spool, which I found at the Farm Sale I went to with my grandfather is the coffee table. Everyone laughed as I pushed it away, but I said I would find something amazing to do with it…and it really finishes this room.

…Sitting Room & Kitchen…

When we bought this house, I loved that their were two fireplaces and one in the Kitchen area. I turned this eat-in Kitchen area into a Sitting Room. There is so much I still want to do to this space, but it was the most finished so I’m waiting till the end to get here. I did a few things though, slowly. The wood beams had been painted, so I changed them back to wood color. I also, DIY Shiplapped the Kitchen Island, added pendent lights above the Island and of course painted the walls, trim and ceilings. For Christmas, well actually all year I love decorating this mantel. That is why I changed it into a sitting room, when I had a dining room table in this space it blocked the entire area and really took away from a great focal point. I added a few of my DIY Flocked Trees and Wreaths into this space as well. Have you been counting? That’s 10 little trees and 8 wreaths… Lol!

In the sitting room, I reused a few items again to make something unexpected. Storage crates are flipped upside down as end tables and an old crate I found in France that is being used as the bottom of my coffee table. I just added a piece of round glass, from an old table on the top to finish it off.  I added lots of Winter Florals to my garland and to my DIY Coffee Rack to tie everything together.

Coffee Rack for Christmas

…Bedrooms…

This is the first year I’ve decorated any of the bedrooms. So I only got to Brock’s room and the Master-Bedroom. Next year, I will start with the girls room, because they are so jealous their room isn’t decorated. Sorry girls, mama ran out of money!! Who thinks I won’t live that decision down? Brock’s room went through a major renovation, you can see all the details here on our Before & After Boy’s Room blog post. For Christmas, I add a pop of red to his room, which I thought really stood out will all the gray. I also added a few trees that I found a target for $3 and $5, I used those trees all over the house this year. You can’t beat that price and they are super cute!! I finished his room off with a garland. I have soooooo many garlands this year…where am I going to put all this stuff when Christmas is over???

For my bedroom, I kept it pretty simple. I added a new Christmas wall decor above the bed with again a Scandinavia Wreath & frame and a garland over the bed frame. I also added my favorite mini Christmas trees from Target. My dresser is decorated with my giant doughbowl from Germany, it is filled with ornaments and Christmas florals. I shiplapped the main wall as an accent wall in the room as well, the blog post tutorial for DIY Shiplap is here.

Well…that’s it for this year!! Hope you enjoyed! Happy decorating & be sure to check out all my Holiday Staging Tips!!!

Favorite Staging Supplies:

• Ornaments
• Garlands
• Christmas Trees of All Sizes
• Wreaths
• Beads
• Live Greenery
• Fake Greenery and Florals
• Gnomes
• Lanterns
• Personal Items
• Dough Bowls
• DemiJohns
• Vintage Books
• Arches
• Pinecones
• Ice Skates
• Baskets/Buckets/Pots
• Layered Mats
• Decorative Signs
• Stockings
• Pillows
• Lights

Some of my favorite/easiest places to stage/decorate:

• Mantles
• Fireplaces
• Front Porch
• Sideboard Tables
• Centerpieces
• Stairways
• Entryway
• Coffee Tables
• End Tables
• Dining Room Tables

Some of my Favorite Staging Tips:

• Group in 3’s
• Find a Focal Point
• Look at it from Different Angles, I always look at everything from the Front Door…First Impressions are KEY!
• Add Balance with Height…Books are good for this!
• Add Layers with Different Textures…Pillow and Throws are always good. Wreaths, layered onto something else is always good for this, too! 😉
• Always use Something Personal…I always add something from my travels Overseas!
• Mixing Metal and Wood Together Adds an Cool Twist

We’d love to see your favorite Holiday Decoration!

 Happy Holidays!! 🙂

~J & J~