Christmas Decorating - Classic Reds with Modern Patterns & Splashes of Color

Christmas Decorating with Modern Patterns and splashes of Color

Merry (almost) Christmas Everyone!!! Can you tell I'm just a liiiittle excited for the month of December!?

:)

Christmas is absolutely my most favorite holiday, and each year I get so anxious for December to creep closer and closer so that I can start decorating! Last year I started in October (yes, that was a little on the crazy side)... so this year I waited till mid November. That's good enough, right? ha!

Also last year we were out of town for the holidays so we didn't have the opportunity to put up a tree or really decorate all that much, except for our ever-changing kitchen shelf vignette area.

  

  

We also didn't use any red color in our decorating. Not because we didn't like it... but because I wanted to try something a bit different! I really liked stepping outside the box, but this year... I was itching to use reds ALL OVER my home! I also had a goal in mind, to work in some trendy patters and colors that we already loved, to make this years Christmas... traditional, with a twist of modern. Perfect for our home!

Here are some photos below and info on how we did it!

Originally I had thought I might make stockings this year, but then I found these simple natural colored ones at Tai Pan for only a few dollars each! So instead, I just bought these little glittery initial tag hangers from Pottery Barn and then attached some small snow-dusted pine cones to them, to give the stockings a simple, classy touch.

One of my favorite DIY pieces is this chunky square frame that I made. I love the bold statement it makes in the room.

I started out with one of the DIY Frames, (that we now sell in our shop) painted it white, added this red trend vinyl decal over the top, used an exacto knife to cut out the vinyl where the non-glare plexiglass goes. Then I adhered the 25, dark grey decal to the plexi, and that was it!

You can purchase this whole kit or just parts of it, in our Design Shop HERE.

So you know me and pillows right? I'm a lot obsessed with great pillows. ha!

Normally I try to make or find all of my pillows on sale, but when I saw this Celebrate pillow from Pottery Barn I knew I HAD to have it! And the large yellow bird pillow was on sale at Bijou Market this past Saturday at The Sewing Nerd's booth for a fabulous price, so I snagged that too. And I'm SO glad I did, because it really ties in all the other yellow in the room that we have going on!

The cute red pillows I DID make though. I looked everywhere for the PERFECT red pillows, but couldn't find them. Until I went to Pottery Barn and found these adorable red and white polka dot dinner napkins! They were only $7.50 each and so I just used some inexpensive white cotton fabric to sew up an envelope backing on each napkin, and wa-la! You have the perfect red pillows!

You gotta love gettin' "the Pottery Barn look" for more then half off the normal price of a regular pillow cover :)

Like I said, touches of red are everywhere this year. From the wooden beads strung on our tree, to the pretty red poinsettias that we used. I love the warmth that red brings to a room, it just screams Christmas!

You can purchase the Dove/Peace decal and Jingle Bell lettering in our Design Shop.

Of course we had to do another Christmas vignette in the kitchen too!

Berry wreath, Ornament bucket, Ornaments, Bells and Greenery, Burlap - Tai Pan Trading

Poinsettias - Western Gardens

Metal Buckets - Joann's Fabrics

White doily plates - Pier 1 Imports

Vinyl lettering and White Vinyl Design on Window - The House of Smiths Designs

Trees - Bijou Market 

And because you can't do a Christmas tree any justice in the day time... here is a shot of our simple, classy beauty at night, all lit up.

Red scribe ribbon: Pottery Barn, Ornaments: Hobby Lobby, Star topper, red beads, white snowflakes and burlap ribbon: Tai Pan.

So what do you think? Do the reds and traditional touches, like the poinsettias, resonate Christmas memories to you, like they do to me!? I guess the thing I love about decorating the most (especially for the holidays) is that, if you start out with a great canvas, you can work in any type of style, color and pattern into your space and just tweak it to make it your own! Plus, you can kind of go crazy and over-the-top if you want, because it's just for the holidays!

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Now for my last question...something I posed on Facebook the other day...

(said in my best English accent, since for some reason I feel like I look like a proper english-woman, via this ornament photo I took...maybe even the Super Nanny?)...

hee hee

...and are YOU ready for Santa?

If you're looking for a little help with your Christmas decor this year, then head on over to

The House of Smiths Design Shop and stock up on everything you'll need!

Yahoo! So stock up on gifts or goodies for yourself!

 ...But only If you've been "nice", of course

:)

Happy Cyber Monday!