Eclectic & Cozy Christmas at Home

I’m still digesting Thanksgiving leftovers, but today I’m excited to share my home with you as stop number five on the Jennifer Rizzo Holiday Housewalk. This tour will be the only one I am doing this season, so get ready to snuggle in – I’ve got a lot to share. Our main bedroom, porch, entry, kitchen, dining room, living room and family room have been decked out for a simple, eclectic and cozy Christmas at home, which is exactly where we’ll be spending it. Be sure to pop over to Jennifer’s blog to start at the very beginning (sing that in your best Julie Andrews for the full effect).

If you are popping over here from Fox Hollow Cottage, welcome! I adore how Shannon creates such a beautiful holiday home with texture and layers and I am into her colors. She’s a tough act to follow.

To be honest, I love Christmas. I love to go all out and there’s nothing I love more than the scent of fresh pine throughout the house from garlands swagged on windows and bed frames. But this year has been a doozy. Between having a husband with a schedule that has rarely allowed him to be home, parenting three kids often on my own, recently grieving the loss of a close friend and just trying to keep my sanity while I continue to put one foot in front of the other, this year has been challenging. I struggled to find my spirit. I began decorating my mantel and something about the string lights ignited a little spark in me. As Chris Martin sings:

Small Porch with Southern Snowman

Welcome to our North Carolina Ranch home. Before we head into each space, I want to let you know that underneath the last photo of each room is a shoppable gallery where you can find the items I used – or similar – for your own home. (Aaah, home sign isn’t available anywhere but here.) Let’s begin at the entrance. Our porch is small, but mighty and has easily become one of my favorite spaces to decorate for the season.

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As you can see, our mums are still in full bloom here in North Carolina, so I decided to let them stay for Christmas. Or at least until they’re dead – whichever comes first.

The grapevine snowman wreath has been a staple at this house in this very spot each Christmas for the past couple of years. He was made simply by just using wire to connect three varying sizes of wreaths.

Here in the south, we don’t get much snow, so I am calling this year’s porch my “Southern Snowman Porch.” The curtain lights are a new addition and I love that they mimic the look of falling snow.

Around the front door, I hung magnolia garlands with twinkle lights, and added golden vintage-style bells tied with black velvet ribbon in the corner.

And, of course, one of my all-time favorite decorations is my brown leather vintage skates. I remember wanting vintage skates and finally finding some, slightly bummed that they weren’t white. Now, I can’t imagine them in any other color. The brown suits the earthy vibes of our home.

Before we head inside, I want to show you how magical the snowman looks lit up at night. You can really feel the effect of the “falling snow” lights when it glows.

This is probably as close to falling snow as I will get here this year, so I am soaking in the magic.

Around the door, I added some small LED strands to give it a little glow-up as well.

Everything looks better with string lights, which seems to be my motto this year, as you’ll see throughout our home.Find porch decor here:

Eclectic and Simple Entry in Black and White

Let’s head inside to our entry. This space is also on the petite side, but small spaces offer great opportunity to add personality.

One of the first projects I completed when we moved in a few years ago was the stenciling of these walls. Still love those stars as much as I did then and they seem to work with any season, but especially this one.

I replaced our art print with a different design from the same artist. I love this Buddy the Elf quote.

The bench is always here, but typically has a pile of sneakers on it. I just made it look nicer for this tour. You’re welcome. (BTW, my boots are new this year from a new-to-me company and I love them! They’re comfortable and cute.) In my opinion, a disco ball makes anything look festive.

From the entry, you can peep into the kitchen, but we’ll get to that in a bit. I want to take you downstairs first, to our family room.

Shop the entry here:

Cozy Modern Family Room & Mantel

I wanted to come downstairs first this year because this room is my favorite this time around.

This is the room that we spend a lot of time in watching movies and it’s where our family Christmas tree will be once we get it. (We always get a fresh tree for the family room.) We purchased a new sectional this summer and now we can all easily fit to cozy up with Christmas movies.

We recently introduced Emmy to one of our favorite non-Christmas Christmas movies, Mean Girls.

As you can see, this room is the one that boasts our fireplace. I haven’t yet put out stockings, but I did have a lot of fun decorating it this year. It’s my favorite spot in the house right now.

Hanging from the mantelpiece, I strung vintage fringe, a wooden beaded garland, a gold mercury glass style ball lighted garland and a brass Merry Christmas banner I found this year.

On the right side, I added vintage books by O.Henry (I got them when the local magazine I work for moved offices – we’re named after the author), vintage brass deer and new-this-year large bottle-brush trees.

On the left side, I balanced it out with tall modern candlesticks with ribbed terra cotta candles and vintage amber glass bottles topped with gold vintage ornaments.

I adore how these amber bottles look with the lights sprinkled around them. The colors all tie into the pillows on our sectional.

On either side of the fireplace, we have Besta cabinets and shelves. On the right side, we have our TV, so I kept it rather simple.

Plants that had to come in for the season, vintage style snowman and a painting Wilder made with my help greet us as we walk into the room. (Above is the view from the doorway.)

But seriously, how cute is this little deer.

On the shelf, more vintage style snowman in warm colors and vintage bottle brush trees lend to the earthy vibes.

And on the other side of that shelf sit more bottles with ornaments.

The left side has much more room for playing.

I added more of my vintage bottle brush trees, plus my favorite little vintage VW bug.

On the far end, a highland cow collage Emmy made for me fits perfectly with my neutral and natural vibes. I found those vintage snowball ornaments years ago and like to sprinkle them in. I opted not to fill a bowl with them this year because I have a three-year-old who loves to throw them.

Now let’s head back to our new sectional, where we can often be found watching Christmas movies.

Above the sofa, I hung some old family photos. I really need to get some new ones printed so that Wilder is represented. One day. Above those, I hung a wooden Noel sign my neighbor in Maryland made for me.

On the sectional I mixed black plaid pillows with green velvet, amber velvet and gold sequins.

And now, I will reveal to you the hidden secret of this room. It’s also got my little home gym and Peloton. It’s not idea to have a Peloton next to the couch, but our home is about making it work for us. So here it is.

Just beyond the bike is my workout space, complete with weights, weight bench yoga mat (I practice many afternoons to destress) and all of our spin shoes. I use this little nook every day so it’s completely worth it. We do still need to change the lighting because it interferes a bit. When we add Wilder’s photo, we’ll do that, too.

Before we head upstairs, here are the links to anything you might be looking for in here.

 Modern Boho Bedroom

Now that I’ve show you around a bit, I feel comfortable inviting you into my bedroom.

I kept is simple and cozy in here with string lights and little touches. Over the bed I added a hand-cut and rather worn “Oh my garland” banner. But the saying still makes me laugh, so it stayed. Along the headboard, I added string lights and faux greenery. (BTW, the jackalope is no longer available anywhere.)

From bed, I love to watch Christmas movies. Or murder shows. (Balance, ya know.) I added string lights to make my view a little happier this season.

They’re literally the only festive touch on this wall.

Above Chris’ dresser, I added a little gold with this thrifted Moravian star garland. It was painted gold at some point and I love how it shimmers.

In a gold bowl sit more gold vintage ornaments. (You guys should see my stash of vintage ornaments! I am just waiting for Wilder to get older to use more of them again.)

It’s rather simple in here, but feels just right.

You can shop our bedroom here:

White and Gold Kitchen with Simple Holiday Touches

Our kitchen was renovated a couple of years ago and is the heart of our home. This year, I brought in white village houses, lights and created just a few small moments.

Open shelving offers the perfect opportunity for seasonal touches.

I simply added some thrifted village houses I painted white with LED string lights around the room,

As you can see, I added village houses to each section of shelving.

Small vintage deer also abound because I’ve always had a fondness for them. Also, if you didn’t read this letter board in your head as the intro to Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy,” we can’t be friends.

But seriously, how adorable are these guys?

This guy is off to the beauty shop to get a sparkly new ‘do. 😉

It’s simple and you really only notice the Christmas decor in here if you look for it, but it’s enough.

Shop the kitchen here:

Vintage Modern Dining Room with Banquette

Just off the kitchen is our dining nook, where we gather as a family for meals, game night, puzzle building and more. It’s also the spot that I work from these days because it gets great light.

Our home isn’t large and I like to keep it feeling as open as possible which leaves me with little surface to actually decorate. Sometimes that makes me a little sad, but overall it certainly helps simplify things. Since we use our table everyday, I don’t like to have a lot of “stuff” on it. I added some vintage candlesticks, more terra cotta candles and some gray yarn trees my mom made me years ago.

On top of our vintage cabinet, I placed some pink glass trees found in Target’s Bullseye’s Playground. They looked a little small up there, so I purchased a couple of larger clear glass trees I found at West Elm (now sold out, but these are similar) and mixed them in.

And, of course, more vintage deer. These two are a pair of flocked white deer.

She’s even got a little touch of glitter.

The last addition to this room is our Christmas countdown, which I layered over a piece of macrame art.

Pink, Gold, Silver and White Living Room with Flocked Tree

Finally, we have made it to the last room I want to share with you today, our living room. This is one of the first spaces people see in our home and where we spend a lot of time playing with Wilder.

Once again, the decor in here is pretty minimal. We are letting the tree take all the attention.

The tree is decorated simply with lights, shatterproof ornaments (because we play with our toddler in here!), a banner I made years ago, faux sheepskins and a snowy owl topper.

The colors in the tree all tie into the colors in the living room and the new-to-here-rug I recently took out of Wilder’s room. I 100% put it here because I thought it would look great with the ornaments. It was worth moving all of the furniture myself.

Don’t look too closely at our TV or you’ll see evidence of toddler fingers, but my husband has put the fear of the Lord in me when it comes to cleaning his TV screen. So I just live with it.

In the corner of the room is a little gallery featuring our felt letter board.

As you can see, I like to infuse humor through wordplay in my home. And in my life, if I am being  honest.

On our sofa, the pillows all stayed exactly the same, but I added one tree pillow because I’m festive AF.

I found this pillow last year at Marshall’s and can’t seem to find anything similar anywhere.

As you can see, this room brings us right back to where we started at the entry.

You can shop our living room here:

Thank you so much for visiting with me today. I hope you found something to inspire you and that you’re reminded that it’s not in how much you decorate, but the pleasure found in what you do. Now be sure to head over the Kindred Vintage to check out Susan’s glorious home. I am always in awe of her style and especially love what she does to her kids’ spaces this time of year.