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Our Simple Holiday Home Tour

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When we decorate for the holidays, we keep it relatively simple. One year, as my mother-in-law was handing me a decor-related gift, she joked, Kim, I know you don’t like a lot of ‘stuff,’ but I think you’ll like this! That surprised me, because I never really considered myself a minimalist by any stretch of the imagination – and for what it’s worth, the gift was cute, and I did like it! I do, however, like it when everything has a home, a purpose. (And if that purpose is simply that it makes us smile, that totally counts, by the way!) Thankfully, Scott is the same way, and we lived happily ever after.

But I digress; back to Christmas! For as long as we’ve lived in this home – 3 and a half years now – we’ve been putting up the same tree we used in our former condo. It was a 6′ tall skinny tree, perfect for our 650-square-foot home at the time. Until this year, we’ve never really felt that this first floor felt very finished, but now that the kitchen is done and I’ve finally addressed the elephant rug in the room, we feel happy with how far this space has come! To celebrate, we both agreed that we should get a larger, fluffier tree for our conjoined living and dining rooms. (On it!, I all but screamed.) I picked out a handful of trees online and showed them to Scott, and he helped me narrow it down to this one – a pre-lit 7.5′ flocked Norwegian Spruce (bonus – it’s on mega sale right now!):

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He loved that it was only lightly flocked (although more than the retail photo might suggest), and I loved that it was flocked at all! We both loved the blue-green hue, and the slightly sparse top is so, so charming. This is our first pre-lit tree, and it easily locked together in 3 pieces. Each individual branch can be twisted just so, and there’s a faux-bark center pole, which although a little gimmicky, is a really nice touch! I picked up a handful of new ornaments this year from this site – including a bundle of oversized 6″ shatterproof balls in gold and matte black – and they tucked into the branches so nicely. Of course our favorite part is how she looks all lit up:

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We opted to move our philodendron upstairs, and we put the tree in-between the two living spaces. We would’ve had to lose one of our chairs had we chosen the coveted window spot, and with so many friends and family coming in and out, we would have missed the seat. Not to mention, we always struggle with where to move the furniture when it’s time to put up the tree, and this was the happiest middle ground – literally! It can easily be seen from anywhere in this room, obviously, but also the nook, kitchen and entryway, too. For reference, our ceilings are a little more than 9.5′ high, and the 7.5′ tree height feels substantial without overwhelming the rooms.

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On our fauxdenza, we hung the kids’ stockings with these hooks from Target (a steal!). The stockings are one of our favorite holiday decor items; we found them in a thrift store years ago, and we couldn’t scoop them up fast enough! They’re so sweet with the right amount of throwback.

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A while back, we began the tradition of clipping instant photos to the socks, but this year was a little bittersweet when we realized that this would be the first time Libby would get her very own stocking. She normally shared with Maddie, so instead, we tucked Maddie’s photo inside their sock for safe keeping. (On a side note, the gold tree is an older CB2 item, but they have so many cute things this year!)

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We teamed up with Treetopia to deck our home’s exterior and entryway as well (we’re sharing a promo code below!), choosing this Harvest pine wreath and pre-lit garland to add more traditional greenery inside and out:

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We combined four 10-foot strands to line our porch railings, and it’s the prettiest festive touch. I cut off most of the white berries, preferring the pine cones and wispy needles be the star of the show. Scott set the lights to turn on and off with a timer, and I love driving up to our home at the end of an evening of errands. From inside, we can see the garland through that front window, which is something we’ve missed in years past by only draping garland on the door!

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That’s it for our somewhat-minimalist holiday home tour, although, one of these years, I think we’ll need to get a bit more festive in the studio. (Another tree, perhaps!) And if you’re a tree person, too, where do you stash your misplaced furniture?!

PS! If you’re still on the hunt for anything Christmas-y, Treetopia is offering up 10% off any orders over $275 when you use the promo code TT10%Off275Kim (you might want to copy and paste that one!). Here’s another flocked option, and how adorable is this stocking?

Treetopia provided us with the wreath and garland, and all opinions belong to us. Thank you for supporting the brands that support this blog!

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  • Ann12.7.16 - 9:12 AM

    Your home looks simply beautiful . I wish I could see it in person!ReplyCancel

  • Allison12.7.16 - 9:49 AM

    love it! everything looks wonderful!ReplyCancel

  • KLP12.7.16 - 10:26 AM

    I spy a new coffee table! Details, please! I’ve considered going coffee table free (like you guys did), so I’m interested to hear what brought you back around.ReplyCancel

    • Kim12.7.16 - 10:49 AM

      It was nice not having a table for a while – so much room to streeeetch! – but it wasn’t meant to be permanent. We just needed to get something smaller, and in this case, round! It was a fun DIY, and we’ll definitely share the details in an upcoming post!ReplyCancel

  • Brynne12.7.16 - 8:17 PM

    Absolutely lovely! I adore your new tree!ReplyCancel

  • Sammy Baker12.8.16 - 7:11 AM

    Thank you so much for sharing this valuable information.ReplyCancel

  • AmyLynn12.8.16 - 4:10 PM

    So pretty!! I love it! :) Happy Holidays Friends!ReplyCancel

    • Kim12.8.16 - 4:31 PM

      We miss you! Hope your first Christmas in the new home is the BEST.ReplyCancel

  • Chrystal J12.19.16 - 11:17 AM

    Can you tell me more about the different gold ornament ball colors you got from Christmas Central in both matte and shiny? Were they vegas gold, champagne gold, shiny gold?ReplyCancel

    • Kim12.19.16 - 11:25 AM

      Sure thing! We got vegas gold in matte and shiny, champagne in matte, and we also got jet black matte ornaments as well.ReplyCancel

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