Hello and welcome to my first ever holiday home tour! This year, I am partaking in the Walking In A Winter Wonderland - Holiday Home Tour with some of my favorite blogger friends. Our tours are filled with holiday decor tips and tricks that are sure to leave you inspired. We all have unique styles of decorating - so there is something for everyone during this week long blog hop! Be sure to check out everyone on the tour at the very end of this post.
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If you are joining me from Shawna's home at Willow Bloom Home, welcome! I'm absolutely thrilled to have you stop by! If you have been following along for a while and you are coming back for more - I appreciate you being here as well! My home tour this year is literally brimming with holiday goodness that I am so excited to share with you. My holiday home is filled with new themes and color schemes - so without further ado, grab a cup of hot cocoa, tea or coffee and let's jump right into it!
If you have joined me on my previous home tours, you know I love to decorate my front porch for each season. And Christmas is no exception! I love the way a large lit wreath on the front door greets guests as they walk in and I love lighting up the greenery that flanks the doorway.
The view as you walk in is also very special to me. As you open the door, you can catch a glimpse of the 9 foot tree in my great room and the garland that drapes my stairs.
To the right of our entry way is our study. This room is very near and dear to my heart, because I made it over for my very first One Room Challenge (before I even had a blog!) and it also houses some of my most precious memories in the form of a travel gallery wall! You can see how I created this gallery wall in this blog post here.
Because the rest of our home is all decked and styled, I decided to keep things pretty simple in the study. I placed a 3 foot mini Christmas tree in an old plant stand and called it a day! To keep the colors fairly neutral, I decorated the tree with pastel ribbon and ornaments and added fairy lights for a bit of whimsy. I was really going for a "barely there" look with a touch of color and brightness.
I love the way the colors of the tree bring out the colors of the gallery wall behind it.
In keeping with the simple theme in here, I styled the shelves in my study with bottle brush and mercury glass trees, and a few Christmas houses. Throughout my home, you will notice the use of three things: Christmas houses, bottle brush trees and a ton of fairy lights! I literally have sprinkled them everywhere!
I also tucked in a few bottle brush trees into a small lantern and added some fairy lights for a lovely glow. To create the perfect holiday vignette, I added my favorite candle from Anthropologie called "fireside". I've been lighting this candle on the daily and enjoying the mini-forest I have created on the shelves!
When you head out of the study, you will find yourself looking directly into my great room. Since the holiday decor in my great room is fairly elaborate this year, I kept the garland on my railing and my entry way table fairly simple.
My great room is filled with red, gold and flocked branches and I wanted to keep the look of the garland that drapes my railing the same. I mixed in both flocked and green cedar garland and added frosted and plain berry picks. I completed the look of the garland with some fairy lights and red ribbon tied up in pretty little bows. I decided against using any fresh greenery this year to avoid the mess and the clean up!
I just love how the red and green pops against the neutral background of the stairs and the trim accent wall.
As we turn the corner, we see the highlight of this entire holiday home tour - the great room Christmas tree! This tree is from King of Christmas and stands 9 feet tall. I opted for a slim pre-lit Christmas tree because although my great room is large, I didn't want the tree to overpower the rest of space. It's an all green Christmas tree with tiny little lights that look like fireflies! I decided on adding a ton of flocked and white branches to give the tree a snow-fallen look and I just love how it turned out!
Many of you will remember that I recently made over my two story great room for the fall season of the One Room Challenge - you can catch the reveal here. The great room is actually very modern and to give this space some contrast, I went very traditional with my Christmas decor in the space. I actually have never decorated with green and red for the holidays before, but I love how the color combination works in here and I may have to bring this look back for many years to come!
The decor on the mantle is not quite the same as the Christmas tree, but I wanted to reuse many of the items I already had on hand. I simply mixed in faux cedar garland (the same as you see draped on my stair rail) and a garland of green and blue tinged eucalyptus. I didn't have any more flocked branches (I used every last bit in the tree), so I added some faux white floral strands to give the mantle a "flocked look". I added a few frosted and regular red berry picks and completed the look with a few fairy lights.
I'm sure you can see from these up close shots that the tree is brimming with flocked, white and berry picks. I used a large red and gold velvet ribbon for extra color and added some shimmer by weaving through a mesh gold ribbon. I just love how the berry picks look against the white flocked branches! The tree also holds green, gold, and mostly matte red ornaments that add the perfect amount of color.
To finish off the look, I used an all-white throw as a tree skirt, added some gift boxes with red ribbon and a few left over ornaments under the tree. I have a detailed post on how to achieve the look for less when it comes to decorating for the holidays where I share my very best tips and tricks. You can find that post here.
The cherry on top in the space is really the gas fireplace. Now that this space is all dressed for the holidays, I plan on curling up on the couch with the fireplace on and enjoying many nights with hot cocoa and a good movie!
I know I have said this many times on Instagram, but I have to say it again on the blog - I just LOVE my silver reindeer and look forward to bringing them out each and every year during the holidays. This year, I decided to dress these guys up in red bows to match the Christmas tree. Don't they just look dapper?! I wish I had purchased more of these guys when I had the chance!
Another favorite decor piece that I always like to add during the holidays is candle light. Some of you may recognize these votives from a holiday tablescape I recently put together. You can find that post here. Again, the goal was to repurpose a lot of my decor. I thought these red/pink ombre votives would work very well with my great room Christmas tree - so I brought them out to add the perfect touch of cozy.
No holiday home tour is complete without plush throws and pillows! I decided to keep my throw pillows fairly neutral in this space. The light and dark grey antelope print pillows from Land of Pillows adds the perfect pop of whimsy while keeping things light and bright.
Before we head out of the great room, let's take one quick look back at the entire space.
I've mentioned this before, but you can see that I have a very open concept home and the great room flows directly into my kitchen and my dining room. Most days when we enter our home, it's through our garage and the view of the two trees together is just spectacular!
Although my great room Christmas tree shines in all her glory, I still wanted to add a bit of Christmas charm to my dining room. I opted for a 7 foot Christmas tree in here and this one is actually from Walmart. I've had this tree for many years, it's fairly inexpensive (maybe $20?), but I just love dressing her up for the holidays. I follow a few simple steps when decorating an inexpensive Christmas tree and have a step by step blog post on how to take a Christmas tree from drab to fab, which you can find here.
You may also notice that I've added a rug to my dining room! This gray one is from Ruggable and I just love how functional, durable and stylish it is! It comes with a nonslip velcro pad, and is machine washable - imagine that! I thought the messiest part of my home (we spill a LOT when we eat!) would be the perfect spot for a rug as amazing as this one. If you are in the market for a new rug, look no further and use this promo code at check out: FUNSIMPLICITE15 for 15% off your purchase!
I kept my dining room decor fairly neutral this year. A pop of greenery and all the candlelight were the name of my decor game! This centerpiece had to be the easiest to put together! I simply gathered all the candlesticks I could find and placed them on a white table runner. Voila! A warm and cozy table centerpiece was created! You may recognize the DIY olive green wreath that hangs on the chair. I used the same wreath for my summer home tour - only it hung above the TV. For the holidays, I decorated this little wreath with a gold bow and placed it above my kitchen venthood.
Since the holidays are all about extra pizzaz and shine, I wasn't afraid of mixing all my metals! The candle sticks are all different shapes and sizes and are of glass, chrome, gold, rose gold and mercury glass finishes. They are an elegant bunch and look beautiful all clustered together!
You may notice that I have several lanterns tucked in various corners of my home. Here's why I love to use them during the holidays: they are a great way to add a little holiday scene either on a countertop or underneath a tree and they hide all the unsightly plugs!
Just behind my dining room tree, I added a little bit of holiday cheer with a hot cocoa station. I absolutely love styling bar cars for any season and this year I placed one underneath a little wall forest! I recently shared my own twist on the classic hot cocoa recipe on the blog and this has been my go-to for a few winter seasons. You can catch the recipe here. Needless to say, we will be enjoying many a cup this holiday season!
Next up on this home tour is my kitchen! Rarely, is my kitchen every as clean as it appears in this photo - so I totally took advantage!
Again, I kept things fairly simple in here. My kitchen is always working overtime around the holidays, so decor has to be a minimum! You can see my obsession with reindeer and candle light is still holding strong! I dressed up my counter with a few votives and an all white reindeer for a classic Christmas look.
As we head over to my bar area, you can see more Christmas houses, bottle brush trees, lanterns and fairy lights!
Here's one last view of the kitchen/dining area as we finish off the rest of the tour.
One of the last stops on this tour is my guest bedroom! We have a guest bedroom on the main floor, and my goal for this space was to add a pop of color and Christmas, all the while keeping this space tranquil and serene for a good night's sleep!
I added a minimal eucalyptus wreath from the Virginia Artisans and left the rest of the bedroom fairly simple. Again, this wreath was repurposed form my fall home tour. Because it is a great neutral, I can use it all year round!
The last stop on this tour is my master bedroom. As you walk up the stairs, you can immediately catch a glimpse of my master bedroom that I made over for the spring 2019 One Room Challenge (you can catch that post here).
How that cold weather is here to stay, I traded in all my light covers and pillows for heavy duty ones to stay warm!
As you can tell, I'm a huge fan of antelope print and have used various shades of these throw pillows all around my home. They are from Land of Pillows and you can check them out here.
Now for the most exciting part - the Christmas tree! I shared my King of Christmas tree in a recent blog post (which you can catch here) and I described how I decorated it. If you are still in the market for some Christmas decor, check out King of Christmas and use promo code THISISSIMPLICITE for 10% off your entire purchase and free shipping!
I decided to mix in blush pink and navy ornaments and ribbon and just love the look!
The holiday scene was complete when I added in these sweet nutcrackers.
Thank you all so much for stopping in and visiting me on the Walking In A Winter Wonderland Home Tour! I had a lot of fun putting this together! There are more fun holiday home ideas on the way, so be sure to subscribe to my site be the first to know! If you noticed something on today's tour that you are curious about, or if you want to know more I would love to hear from you! Leave me a comment below or email me. Feel free to share this tour on Pinterest by pinning any of the images in this post or come say hello on Instagram @thisissimplicite. Before you leave here today, be sure to check out all the holiday home tours linked below!
Mansa, I love your blend of modern and traditional styles! Each of your trees is gorgeous; I think the one in the dining room is my favorite. Loving your new accent wall by the stairs. Thank you so much for hosting this fun hop! :)
Wow Mansa! So many amazing details throughout your home... it truly is a winter wonderland!
Everything is so clean and modern! All of the lights really make it look magical in here. So pretty! Looks beautiful!
Wow, Mansa! So much inspiration in one post. Especially love how you decorated your staircase - I want to do mine next year!
Holly with Chandeliers and Champagne
Your home is just stunning! Those trees -- swoon! You're a pro!