I hope you have enjoyed watching this year’s musical tour video of The Seasonal Home (link below).
Below are some still photos (plus a Tutorial!) of this year’s themed decor in case you’d like to view it in more detail.
As a BONUS, also included are some photos of a few decorations that didn’t make the video.
As always, I hope you find an inspiring idea or two you can use…
ENJOY THE CREATIVITY!
{CLICK ON PHOTOS FOR A LARGER VIEW}
ENTRY ~ A Peppermint Porch
FOYER ~ The Miracle of Christmas
LIVING ROOM ~ Sweets for Santa
Check out the Peppermint Logs!
Underneath them is a strand of fading (in & out) lights, to give the effect of burning logs. LOL
KITCHEN ~ North Pole Ritz
Hot glue different sizes of snowflakes together to create more interest AND some inexpensive, unique wall art!
These glittery, black place mats are 50 cent-Halloween leftovers (The Christmas Tree Store).
$2 plain white plates are dressed up for the holidays with Dollar Tree snowflakes & tiny ornaments.
A layered look centerpiece ~
created from items I already had: red cake plate, round mirror, white artichoke and a silver-textured ornament,
finished off with a sprinkle of snow, of course!
And I decided to splurge on a $13 glitzy runner (Home Goods) because it will double for New Year’s Eve! 😉
Check out my “icy” tree skirt… 9 glass blocks (from the DIY store) back-lit with a strand of lights… brrrrr
BONUS: these are super easy to sweep or vacuum around!
Do you remember my $10 penguin purchase (at a warehouse supply store & used Christmas 2011) “plus” the red hat (from Christmas 2012)?
Check out how I re-used them this year!
And if you look back at what this year’s “Family” tree is sitting inside, you’ll recognize the red, tin bucket too. 🙂
Place smaller holiday art on a (plate/platter) stand to give it more presence on a counter top, table or above cabinets…
Utilize everyday food (like mini marshmallows in a small jar) & ornaments to help you create mini, themed vignettes…
Make everyday objects festive too!
Use ribbon, greenery & an ornament to decorate things in your home (like a lamp)…
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Christmas kitchen without a Hot Cocoa Bar!
Don’t have any Christmas-themed containers for your ingredients, then utilize your stemware.
BONUS: it lifts the topping ingredients, closer to your guests, for easier serving!
This early in the season, I don’t have time to create real baked goodies,
so I use these American-made, fabulously scented, realistic-looking candles & cookie melts
from The Hat Creek Candle Company (www.hatcreekcandle.com) for now.
YES! These realistic cookies are scented wax candle melts!
This company has such cool products that they were featured on The Food Network ~ that’s how I discovered them!
Not only do they LOOK realistic, but before I lit them, just opening & setting them out created an aroma as if I’d been baking all day.
I wish SMELLS could be transmitted through the internet, because these smell oo la la YUMMY!!
FAMILY ROOM ~ Retro Whimsy
When it comes to decorating, I put EVERYthing to work… including a few gifts I’ve bought & gift wrapped early! LOL
Looking for a unique ornament design?
Check out this video tutorial to see how I wired ornaments together to create a contemporary Holly & Berry look
for my retro silver (tinsel) tree:
If you have a larger tree (like a 9′-12′), just use larger ornament balls (i.e. 4″ & 2″ in diameter)!
I also wanted to include a single strand of retro Bubble Lights,
however, they come on a green wire and my tree is silver… hmmmm… no problem ~ spray paint to the rescue!
Because my retro-style tree was silver, I used Krylon’s Metallic Silver paint to spray paint the green (light) cord silver and viola’!
My single strand of bubble lights is nicely camouflaged on my silver, tinsel tree…
I made this inexpensive 6 foot tall tree look taller by gift wrapping the box my printer came in,
placing the tree on top of it and adding a large bow to each side (to hide the tree stand)…
Do you spot more “ornament combining”? Check out the wreath!
Groupings of 3 small, red ornaments, a bow & Santa (I already had) took my $7 wreath from Big Lots to the next level…
Do you have an unwired garland (like this silver tinsel one) and wish it could hold decorations?
By looping/wrapping a stiff or wired ribbon around it and using lightweight decorations
(like these that I pulled off a garland I purchased at Hobby Lobby), you can!
Combine “like” ornaments to create whimsical holiday scenes…
it’s a nice change to placing them all on the tree, garland or wreath.
Here’s a short video I created that demonstrates just one of the recordings on this adorable, full-size
Christmas Countdown Radio (by Hallmark)
Two more creative decorations in this theme ~ bright ornament balls on top of shiny red candlesticks (a Goodwill find!)
and a lighted house (featuring old-fashioned C-9 Christmas light bulbs) displayed on a snow-filled (dollar store) tray
accented by more shiny ornament balls….
And last, but not least… a simple garden scene outside The Seasonal Home:
Hoping you have a blessed & MERRY Christmas!
As promised ~ here is the link again to this year’s video tour…
You continue to absolutely amaze me!
Wonderful Pictures and ideas!
Love these elves! All them are adorable!
Eileen,
Your Christmas decorations are absolutely breathtaking! I love your use of space, reuse of materials and good ole imagination! I have gone a little nutty with decorating my home this year, but we all enjoy it so much. We spend lots of time together just looking at everything and of course telling stories. How wonderful would it be to add the 2 Elves to our display!!
Merry Christmas to you and your family!!
Gorgeous 🙂
Your decorating is amazing . You are so talented. The front door display that you are giving away would look beautiful around my front door. I sure hope I am the lucky winner. Thank you so much for doing the contest and giving all of us following your blog a chance to win something beautiful made by you. Merry Christmas!
Love all the pics. Get such great ideas. Just love the elfs. They are our addition this year. Merry Christmas to all.
You’ve done it yet again! The house looks utterly gorgeous! Thank you for allowing us in your home and in your head! Have an awesome Christmas and th ever merriest new year! Good luck to all!
So wonderful to see a Christmas design that includes my favorite Christmas decoration, PENGUINS!!!!!!
Those elves are adorable! Hope you have a Merry Christmas, Eileen!
Eileen, the elves are adorable!!! Would love to win them to put in our Elf village! Although ours are plush, these would be outstanding! You have the most creative mind and I have “stolen” some of your past ideas!! I love the glass block design under the tree! Cool idea! lol Please keep sharing with us! Have a very Merry Christmas!!
Your decorating skills are Amazing … Love everything you do !
Love the pictures.Everything looks amazing.
I came across your website 3 years ago when I was looking for something different to do with all the Hallmark ornaments I’ve collected through the years and I just want to say that I was blown away. Your creative use of them is just amazing and I look forward to your videos every year. Thank you for sharing your creative ideas with us. May you have a blessed Christmas. I LOVE the Elves.
Love the idea to spray paint the bubble lights! I may do that to use on my white tree next year! Thanks, Eileen!
Wow! I looove all you do for decorated for Christmas.it is so beautiful and I love every thing that you have shown! could you tell me how to do those peppermint in the fire place and the ginger bread on each side or can you buy them? keep your wonderful ideals a coming! have A Very Merry Christmas and a Bless New Year to you and your family!!!
Hi Wanda and thank you! The peppermint logs came from Big Lots several years ago, but you may consider putting red stripes on a length of PVC, using ribbon may be the easiest? If it looks too homemade, try wrapping it in clear basket wrap & tying it off at both ends with a pretty ribbon. I found the gingerbread men 1 or 2 years ago at Old Time Pottery (very inexpensive!). You could consider cutting something similar out of styrofoam and spray painting it light brown (use Design Master paint to keep the styrofoam from melting when being painted). Merry Christmas! Eileen
As always, it is so relaxing and enjoyable to go through your home virtually. I am in awe and inspired! Just beautiful.. I have incorporated some of your ideas. Merry Christmas and thank you for allowing us a peek into your Christmas wonderland…
Lordy Lordy Me,this is beautiful,went through it few times make sure didn’t miss anything Thank’s so much & merry Christmas…
Love to watch your videos and check out your decorations. You always have such good ideas that are easy and inexpensive to make. Really enjoyed this year’s video. Thank you for sharing your creativity with us.
As always, love your wonderful ideas and beautiful decorating. Thank you so much for sharing. Love the cute elves. They are adorable. I look forward to your posts so much. I wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas!
Thank you for sharing your love of collecting and decorating with us to enjoy. Your talent is always so very inspiring and your creativity is limitless year after year creating such seasonal magic. The elves are also so adorably cute! The one reminds me of my father who would tell us Santa’s elves would only come at night when everyone was asleep to decorate for the holidays, much to our morning surprise. I still carry on that seasonal tradition. Merry Christmas to you and your family!
I always look forward to your emails, because I know, you will have something joyful, for me to see. Everything is so pretty! I love the idea of how you looped and wired the wired ribbon around the unwired garland. Very clever!
Merry Christmas and be Blessed
Thank you for sharing all your wonderful ideas. Each year it is just a delight “visiting” your home to see your new themes and how you incorporate new decorations with those you’ve used before. Never thought about spraying light strings that aren’t the right color for a tree but hope to use that idea in the future. Merry Christmas, Eileen!
Your Christmas designs are great inspiration to help decorate the trees at work. I do like the large faux candy.
You never cease to amaze me. I am loving your Christmas decor this year. I especially love the idea of how you spiced up the tinsel with the ribbon and lightweight decorations. GENIUS!!!!! Thanks for sharing and have a Happy Holiday!!!
I love these elves! Also, I gain so much inspiration from your decorating! Thank you!
Merry Christmas Eileen to you and your family! Thank you for inviting us into your home this Season and sharing the inspiration. I watch your videos from past years over and over!! The elves are just so realistic and are on my “wish” list for sure.
Beautiful as always sister !!! The elf on the rocking horse reminds me of your momma!!
Oh my goodness, everything is just beautiful! I am always amazed at how talented you are. Keep sharing all of your talent as I enjoy seeing what you will come up with next! The elves are just the cutest! I hope you and yours will have very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Hello, Eileen!
I noticed that you use mostly white lights on your trees, which I love! But next year, my three boys want to use color lights. I am going to try to get traditional color lights because I’m not a huge fan of the LED version.
What color ribbon do you recommend I use with the color lights? Oh, and what color balls should I use as the foundation? We have a huge array of different ornaments and I don’t want it too look…messy. I need your help tying it all together!
Thanks so much! Your 2013 decor is divine! Merry Christmas!
Hello Katherine and Merry Christmas! I love multi-colored Christmas lights too. 🙂 Traditional (color) ribbon is always the best to use with multi-colored lights… especially red. And choosing red ornament balls also would really give your eye a place to rest on a tree full of diverse decorations. I think using a fabulous “color” as the main ingredient draws your holiday visitors over to your tree and once there, they will enjoy the main surprise in all of your different, hand-picked ornament treasures. I hope that helped! Eileen
That was awesome advice! Thank you, thank you, thank you! My Winter Wonderland tree this year looks magical because of your inspiration and ideas! *big hug*
Well I missed your giveaway but feel like I am a winner anyway because I got to see this post! You know I’m a big fan of yours. This year I put up a white tree in my dining room and decorated it with bright candy colors. Everyone loves it! I was inspired by you. I didn’t get to make the wreath or garlands this year 🙁 Was way to busy. But I did put up two trees this year and got garland up in the living room on the fireplace. I do feel like because of what I’ve learned from you this year looks more pulled together. Thank you for all your ideas. I only wish I had the time and energy to do what I want to do 🙂 I love love love when you tell us where you purchased your items. Please continue to do that. Where do you purchase most of your bigger items from? I have tons of Christmas figures but most are smaller and I think having bigger items really help with the WOW look.
Awww, I’m sorry Joanne. Stay tuned… there are always more contests on the horizon! I’m so happy you felt inspired to purchase a white tree and it sounds like you did an awesome job decorating it! And don’t worry that you didn’t get to put it all up… I think it’s always an accidental good thing when we don’t get to everything we planned because it gives us something to look forward to the next holiday season! 🙂 I wondered if it helped to mention where I find my treasures, so with your encouragement… I’ll continue & thank you! I find my larger items in many places, but mostly at Home Goods, Old Time Pottery, Hobby Lobby and Big Lots. I rarely pay a lot for anything and my secret is that in most cases… stores don’t sell the really large, expensive items before Christmas, so I am often lucky enough to pick them up after Christmas for a minimum of 50% off (usually 75-90% off). I try to purchase big things that are encompass typical holiday themes, like my penguin from this year. That way, I know I can change them up by changing their accents or just popping them into a different surrounding. The penguin went from a snowy artic theme in 2011 to a glitzy ritz theme this year. I can also combine him with a large peppermint lollipop and place him in a candy theme in a future year or an elf hat on his head with gifts and make him Santa’s helper. Purchasing a few large items really creates versatility for you and once you gather a grouping of solid ornament balls & traditional ribbons, you have all the ingredients to create Christmas variety for years! Shop after the holiday is over with your favorite themes & colors you’d like to try in mind because you might be surprised at how a group of 90% off ornaments you might normally pass by fits your next theme perfectly! Hope that helped & Merry Christmas! Eileen
Love those gingerbread men flanking the fireplace, and the garland above it. Where do those come from?
Cracker Barrel had them 😊
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