Hi all…happy Saturday! I don’t know about you, but I honestly can’t believe that Christmas is just over a week away. I hope you’ve been taking some time to relax and savour in the season despite the busyness of it all. Have you been checking out any fun holiday activities? If so, please let me know – I always love hearing local recommendations!
If you read my last post about Vandermeer Nursery, then you know how much I love decorating for Christmas. So for today’s blog post, I thought I’d do something a little different. Instead of taking you on a virtual tour of a local attraction, I’ll be taking you on a tour of my own home! I always love seeing how other people decorate for the holidays, if my ever-growing Christmas Pinterest board is any indication. In fact, I’ve gotten some of my best decor ideas simply from visiting friends and family over the holidays and seeing how they’ve decorated their own homes. So today, I thought I’d share my own decorations with y’all in a little virtual holiday house tour!
This is a particularly exciting Christmas for us, because it’s the first year we’ve put up outdoor decorations. Tania and I moved into this house in the summer of 2022, and it’s undergone pretty extensive renovations since then: new flooring, a new kitchen, two new bathrooms, and a new exterior “face”. Last Christmas, the exterior of our home wasn’t the prettiest, so we didn’t see much point in drawing extra attention to it with decorations. This year – thanks to new stucco and a brand new front porch – she’s looking a lot better, so we thought we’d treat her to a little holiday makeover! We strung up these lights from Amazon, which I love because you can switch them from white to multicolour with a click of the remote. I find most folks are firmly in either the white lights or multicolour lights camp, but I honestly adore both! White is definitely more classic and elegant, but multicolour is so joyful and nostalgic. So now I get the best of both worlds! The adorable reindeer and sleigh set is also from Amazon.
We have an artificial wreath indoors which is the most practical, but I love a natural wreath for outside! You don’t have to worry about vacuuming up needles, and natural greenery holds up better in the cold than it does inside. I actually made this one myself at Novotel Toronto’s wreath-making workshop last week. I’m not the craftiest person in the world (okay, I’m pretty terrible at it) but I don’t think mine turned out half bad! I’d initially decorated it with some gold and silver ornaments, but they kept falling off (I simply didn’t have the patience to hot-glue them on…see what I mean about my lack of craftiness??) So I ended up taking everything off, and just added a simple bow from Dollarama for some flair.
Tania’s mom made us two beautiful planters with natural greenery, pinecones and holly berries. She definitely has a talent for it! Almost every major grocery store sells pre-made planters like this, but they’re always ridiculously expensive (I haven’t seen one for less than $50-$70) and I don’t think they look half as nice as these ones!
Inside, our artificial wreath hangs on the mirror above our entryway table (side note: this is the Hemnes shoe cabinet from Ikea and I love it! It’s so handy for storing shoes, hats, gloves and other winter paraphernalia.) I decorated the wreath with baubles from Dollarama, and I store it with the decorations on – that way I don’t have to redo it every year! I buy the decorations with clips so I don’t have to fuss with stapling or hot-gluing. Easy as pie!
The “Welcome Home” sign is from Wal-Mart and actually lives on our entryway table year round, though it definitely has a Christmas vibe. The Joy sign is from Dollarama, the snow globe is from HomeSense, and the nutcracker and deer were gifts.
We just bought a new Christmas tree this year: the 7-foot NOMA pre-lit Kensington tree from Canadian Tire. I know I’ve previously shared my thoughts on the pros and cons of a real vs. a faux tree. I truly love both and I think each has their merits, but for practicality’s sake, Tania and I are team faux – at least for the time being. I love that I don’t have to mess around with stringing lights, watering or vacuuming up needles!
In my opinion, the stars of the tree are the brightly coloured fabric ornaments from my Grandma. A very talented lady – and a lot craftier than her granddaughter – she made every one by hand. She started with Styrofoam balls and would painstakingly sew on fabric, ribbons, lace, sequins and beads. I remember her going into her basement sewing room and working away for weeks on a single ornament. They are truly works of art, and having them on the tree is a nice reminder of her: her talent, her eye for beauty and her knack for making everything feel so special.
The other ornaments are an assortment: some from HomeSense, others from Kitchen Stuff Plus, and others are gifts or hand-me-downs from my mom. I’m not super disciplined when it comes to sticking to a colour scheme, but I tend to go for warm and metallic shades: gold, dusty pink, rose gold and silver. And lots of glitter, of course! Instead of a tree skirt, I just use this pale gold tablecloth from Kitchen Stuff Plus. I love a decor item that does double duty!
Another great tip if you’re looking to cut down on costs and clutter: instead of buying separate throw pillows for the holidays, I use the same pillows and just swap the covers out each season. I have different pillow covers for fall, Christmas and Easter. These specific ones have either sold out or been discontinued, but the brand is Aeney and they have tons of cute ones on Amazon.
On the little side table beside the sofa, there’s a miniature version of the classic vintage ceramic tree that we all know and love. Tania got this one from Canadian Tire. And here’s an easy holiday decoration you probably already have: votive candles! If a surface is looking a little bare, I just throw a votive on it. It adds instant warmth and sparkle.
I also love throwing a couple of scented candles in the mix – just not too many! I err on the side of caution when it comes to candles: I don’t like anything too strong, especially when entertaining. Nothing’s worse than cooking a beautiful holiday meal only to have it overpowered by a cloying gingerbread cookie candle! I prefer clean, fresh scents, like this Silver Spruce one from DW Home’s Ninety Six line. By the way, that precious wood “Joy” ornament is a keepsake from last January’s visit to Winterlit – an enchanting winter experience in Milton that I’d highly recommend.
This is a fun idea that I found online: simply fill a glass cloche with miniature ornaments! It makes such a cute and easy – yet eye-catching – decoration. You could also fill one with bottle brush trees, miniature houses or figurines, and create a cute little holiday scene. Check out Pinterest for some ideas!
An easy way to add warmth and coziness to your home is with strands of Christmas lights. If you’re anything like me, you’ve got at least a few errant strands of lights hanging out in a storage bin somewhere (bonus points if you have no idea where they came from.) I’ll throw a strand anywhere that can use a little jazzing up, from the TV stand to the bar cart to the banister. I always turn on the built-in fireplace in our TV stand (a recent Wayfair purchase) for extra cozy vibes, and I love to have classic Christmas movies playing on silent in the background for ambience. White Christmas is my absolute favourite!
I dressed up the upper shelf of our bar cart with a miniature tree, a delightfully flamboyant nutcracker, a farmhouse-style wooden sign (all from HomeSense) and a mint julep cup filled with candy canes. If there’s a time of year when it’s appropriate to have candy in every room of your home, it’s certainly December! I always put out several dishes filled with candy canes, peppermints and Lindor chocolates. It’s a nice offering for guests, not to mention, a great pick-me-up for when your afternoon sugar cravings hit.
Admittedly, I’m not a huge fan of Christmas decorations in the kitchen – this is the one room where I’m about function over frills – but festive tea towels are an easy way to add some cheer to the heart of the home. Both these sets are from HomeSense (I promise, HomeSense didn’t sponsor this post – they’re just a great resource for cute and affordable holiday decor!)
I’ve mentioned it before, but one of my favourite decorations is my Christmas village, which sits on the sideboard in our dining room. This is a far cry from the fancy villages you’ve probably seen on Pinterest and in magazines. The collection is small, nothing in it was expensive (most pieces came from Wal-Mart or Dollarama) and it’s pretty hodge-podge: I just buy whatever catches my eye, regardless of size or scale! But I love its mismatched, “collected” feel. And I absolutely adore its new centerpiece: the gorgeous glittery “gingerbread house” I recently picked up from Vandermeer Nursery. The silver disco-vibe tree on the left is from HomeSense, and the blue-and-white ginger jar on the right is a treasured find from the Aberfoyle Antique Market. I filled it with some faux holly berries for a festive pop of colour.
Well, that’s all, folks! Thank you all for joining me in this virtual holiday home tour. I hope it provided some helpful ideas, or at the very least, put you in a warm and fuzzy mood. If there’s one thing I hope people take away from this post, it’s that holiday decor doesn’t have to be expensive or over-the-top to be beautiful. The majority of decorations featured in this post are affordable finds from stores like HomeSense and Dollarama. It’s all in how you put it together – all you need is a little bit of creativity! Check out my recent Instagram Reel for a video tour, and be sure to follow me on Instagram for more seasonal decorating ideas. I share them all year round!
What’s your favourite room – or space – to decorate for the holidays? Is there a favourite decoration in your collection that means something extra special to you and your family? Please share your stories in the comments… I’d love to hear from you!
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