Posted by Traditionally, many people wait until the day after Thanksgiving to start decking the halls. As a design enthusiast and freelance designer, I start a little earlier than most, I absolutely confess. But this year I started earlier than usual. After packing, unpacking and packing up again my personal Christmas decor for the Holiday Homes for Hope Tour (see my previous blog post titled holiday + hope) I looked at the mountain of plastic totes in my foyer on November 11th when the tour concluded and thought, “Well? Why move all this back to the basement for a few weeks, might as well start now.”
I’d picked up the eucalyptus garland from the Hearth & Hand with Magnolia collection from Target for the Holiday House along with some simple beaded garland. I decided to replicate that for my own mantel. I then layered it with white berry traditional garland from the same line along with an extra swag of Magnolia wood beaded garland (which is now sold out everywhere and the only place I can find it for $50 on eBay, to say this beaded garland is a little popular is an understatement). Here is how it turned out with the extra additions:
I also added Hearth and Hand Magnolia wreaths to the windows flanking the fireplace. (Command hooks from 3M are a must! Shout out to Carrie Brusven from Gathered for introducing me to the magic of these must haves.)
I have a Merry Christmas sign on order that will replace this one in a week or so but for now I think this is my most favorite mantel yet! I plan to hang the stockings a little closer to Christmas time beneath the garlands. I stick to a mainly neutral pallet in my home, here are more examples of the places I decided to tuck in a little Christmas in my early November decorating.
I went with a flocked neutral pallet for my formal dining tablescape (stems are from Burlap Rustic Chic Boutique here in Fargo) and bunched up a white runner from Homegoods to emulate snow.
I don’t do a lot of Christmas red but I do tuck it into corners and places that are a little set off from the main living areas even though our home is an open concept four level split. I couldn’t resist the great contrast adding these red pillows to this repurposed bench at the top of our landing just above our Christmas tree.
I also add red to our kitchen for the holidays as again, the red with the white is a happy contrast I just love.
The kitchen is a work in progress, I just ordered some life like cedar garland from Terrain (link to order is here) that I can’t wait to put up. I may swap out the garland on my chandelier in this photo for it, it really swags so nicely.
But for now I continue to tuck in a little Christmas here and there and love how it is coming together. The sign above our bed is from Burlap and the accent pillows are from the Hearth and Hand with Magnolia line at Target.
I’m humbled if my ideas provide a little inspiration as you begin your own nod to the Christmas season.
Happy decorating! May the joy of the season be with you and yours!
Peace, Joy and Blessings,
~Audra
“And there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them.”
Luke 2:8-9
Audra Mehl Design Blog 