Decking the Halls for Christmas

December is certainly the most wonderful time of the year. Christmas is my absolute favorite season and I could not wait to go all out this year decorating our new home. We purchased this house last year and with all of the added expenses of furnishing it -we came from a small one-bedroom apartment in Santa Monica- as soon as we got it, we decided to wait until 2018 to buy Holiday decorations. Being crafty is no easy task for me, so I enlisted the help of my mama, a Christmas decoration extraordinaire, to help me create the classic look I was going for. 

Decoration style varies from home to home and while I enjoy seeing the pink trees and striped black and white ribbons, I am more of a traditionalist myself. I love a red and gold Christmas that is very elevated and elegant. My mom was able to capture my vision perfectly and over the course of five days we decorated all of my downstairs, including the guest bedroom! (And by “we” I mean I was her elf, because I had no idea what I was doing).

Christmas Tree

The focal point of the house and gatherings. I was very excited to partner up with Treetopia for my greenery. I selected this 9’ Alexander Fir Artificial Christmas tree since we have high ceilings. I have never owned a Christmas tree this big and am totally obsessed with how grand and full it is. It is pre-lit {which my husband was super excited about} and the set up took all of five minutes. It is quite heavy and substantial so if you decide to purchase it make sure to place it right where you will want it for the rest of the season. Moving it is so hard!

Mom decorated it with ornaments in different scales and materials, as well as printed ribbon. We then added the ornaments that are most special to me. Like our wedding keepsakes and travel souvenirs {I buy an ornament in each place we visit together}.

Bar Wreath

Because our home has an open floor concept we incorporated the Balsam Spruce Christmas Wreath over the bar to bring some of the décor into this corner. The wreath is battery operated so I did not have to worry about ugly cables hanging from the wall. And my favorite part of all Treetopia items is that even though the lights are LED, the color is actually very warm. Like a traditional Christmas string light. We added these Timeless Figures mini ornaments to the wreath for a fun touch. We also have a donkey head we purchased in Ibiza, her name is Camila.  Mom decorated it with a bow around her neck.

Stair Garland & Mirror Décor

Again, a first for me. Never really had a banister to decorate before. We added the Balsam Spruce Garland, which is pre-lit so no need to worry about cables here either. My mom incorporated the ornaments and colors ending it with a beautiful waterfall detail. This matches the piece she created for the mirror. This is perhaps one of my favorite pieces of décor in the house. This is on my foyer so it is the first holiday item guests see when they walk in, setting the tone for the rest of the house. 

Kitchen

And of course we brought the decor into the kitchen by adding more of the Balsam Spruce Garland on top of the cabinets. Because we had decorations going on at the bar, stairs and foyer, we decided to keep it simple by adding a few red ornaments here and there. We let the density of the pre-lit garland shine on its own. I love cooking in here even more!

Guest Bedroom

I always wanted to be one of those over the top people that decorate every room in the house, and my dreams are slowly coming true HA! I added another Balsam Spruce Christmas Wreath in the guest bedroom, swapping it for the usual picture that hangs over the bed. My mom continued with the red theme and added some sparkle with touches of gold. We also added a yummy red throw to give it extra color. My in-laws will be staying in this room over Christmas, so I wanted to make sure we brought the holiday spirit into the room.

That is all for my indoor holiday decor tour. Thanks to Treetopia for this wonderful partnership and to my mama for bringing her fabulous talents to Austin. 

xx, Nicole

Design: Norma Orozco
(How cute is she!?)