Seasonal Simplicity Christmas Home Tour

It’s Christmas Home Tour day up in here! It’s the last round of the year of the Seasonal Simplicity Home Tours hosted by House by Hoff and The Happy Housie. If you’re coming over from Deeply Southern Home, welcome! I’m so glad to have you here, come on in!

If I’m being completely honest, I’ve been SO stressed about this tour this year. Last year I started decorating in October for Christmas (partly out of excitement, partly due to blog deadlines). I decked the hell out of these halls and then it took me until like February to take it all down. Christmas is MY JAM. I LIVE for this time of year. In fact, my husband says that Christmas is a whole other “brand” of Jenn crazy, but last year got a little overwhelming even for me. With a three month old baby this year along with the usual hustle and bustle of life at Christmas time, I was craving a little more simplicity and minimalism. You guys, I haven’t even put my second tree up this year. That’s like unheard of for me.

I added a new bench in the entryway (from Simons Design Studio) and then just a few simple things on the table, including a needlework that my grandma made. It’s one of the things I look forward to pulling out every year.
I went with muted colors black, white, gold, and silver, with the Christmas greens, and tried to keep things pared down. And as tends to be the case when I take things a little easier and go a little more minimal, things feel so much better…calmer…less cluttered. Probably because there is actually less clutter. Go figure. Also, I had lofty goals for something funny on my letterboard, but our newly acquired Elf on the Shelf came this year and this is the looming message he left. My husband told me that it might as well say, “I’m standing next to your bed watching you sleep.” That was sort of my goal, so mission accomplished. And another thing, I wish I had bought like 30 of these black pots (from Target) in the summer because that tree in that pot might just be my favorite thing this year. Little things.
I talk a lot about the small, VERY open space we live in and this gives you a pretty good idea (please ignore those awful boob lights that still need to go). Just small touches here and there, nothing too cluttered or crazy this year. That garland over the kitchen sink though is always a Christmas must. It’s one of my favorite things.

I shared our Christmas table on Tuesday, but here’s the full view of the dining room. I’ll be scaling up this set up this weekend when we host our annual Merry Friendsmas dinner with about 20 of our friends. Something we look forward to all year.

This Nutcracker bottle opener is probably my favorite purchase this year. Actually it’s really my only purchase this year besides new stockings–another victory on my simplistic Christmas journey (pats self on back).
Nothing fancy on the tree. I used lots of silver, gold, and white ornaments and my favorite pom pom garland (you can find the tutorial here).

I haven’t gotten around to wrapping the gifts yet, but the wrapping paper is sitting by the tree ready to go, along with all of our Christmas books. One of my favorite things to pull out at Christmastime. I got this tree last year from Home Depot as part of the Holiday Style Challenge and I can’t even tell you how much I love it. It has needle-y branches, frosty branches, and pinecones scattered in and I just LOVE it. Also, these vintage toy ornaments–all the heart eyes.

Oh, and meet my little assistant. He just makes my heart melt.
One of my favorite tricks for easy Christmas decor: throw a bunch of ornaments in a bowl or basket. Quick, shiny, perfect. You’ll notice them scattered around the house.I’ll leave you with a little evening Christmas tree glow. Is there anything more magical than night time at Christmas when the lights just twinkle and bounce off of everything? I think not.
Thanks so much for stopping by! I’m the last stop on today’s tour, but there’s tons of other inspiration from the other stops on the tour from earlier in the week. And come back tomorrow for the final stops.