Sentimental Christmas Living Room Decor with Vintage Collections

Vintage collections are the foundation for this christmas decorated living room with sentimental touches

This year’s living and dining room Christmas decor has a definite leaning towards the sentimental. Which makes sense, since this is my first Christmas without my mom. The cutesy homemade ornaments I made as a child and the custom-made home blessings she had gifted me through the years needed to be on the tree. Enjoy my Sentimental Christmas Living Room Decor with Vintage Collections tour!

Sentimental Christmas Living Room Decor with Vintage Collections

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My sentimental ornaments have not made a showing on our living room tree for many years. I love them, but don’t usually like our main tree to look cluttery. I prefer our live, living room tree to have a more thematic, harmonized look to it.

But this year, sentimental just seemed to fit. Mr. Fix-it bought our tree himself and got the smallest, shortest (probably most inexpensive) tree we’ve ever had. Yes, the decorator in me was kind of irritated, but I was going to skip the tree altogether, honestly.

So, I decided to embrace it’s “cuteness” and fill it with the sentimental, memory-filled ornaments. I do love seeing my now adult kiddos little preschool faces smiling at me:)

“Homespun” is this year’s Christmas decor theme in the living and dining room. There are no Shiny Brites in here, just simple textures of yarn, wood and metal. Folksy charm and plenty of vintage collections that have been packed away for a couple of years. Pour yourself a cozy cup of something and enjoy the picture-filled tour!

Christmas Tree Decorated with Sentimental Ornaments

My mom was sentimental to the core, much more than I am! Many years she had custom ornaments made for me celebrating our first Christmas together, our homes, each kid’s birth, etc. Combined with my own kid’s preschool ornaments, the height-challenged tree filled up pretty quickly.

Vintage Tree Stand Collection on the Mantel

I knew I wanted to use Mr. Fix-it’s hand-carved figurines from his grandfather on the mantel, but I was struggling with what to hang on my favorite green bedspring behind. Then I remembered my fun vintage Christmas tree stand collection. I’ve hung them from a ladder in the past and also used them for my centerpiece. {“A Christmas Tablescape with Vintage Tree Stands”, “Fun and Unique Ways to Decorate with Vintage Ladders”}.

I love featuring this fun collection!

Vintage Suitcases and Old Sleds as Christmas Decor

My vintage suitcase collection is starting to take over my house! To enjoy them without sacrificing precious square feet, I stacked them in the corner of the living room. Of course they needed to get some Christmas spirit, too! I simply tied our Christmas stockings to the handles and added a sign up at the top.

On the other side of the mantel, one of my old runner sleds is featured. This year I’m enjoying two of them inside and two outside. {You can get more ideas in “10 Ways to Decorate a Vintage Sled”}

Vintage Milkglass for Nighttime Glow

My vintage milkglass collection has been packed away for 2 years (we thought we were going to move and didn’t). It was so fun to unpack; I wanted to really enjoy it this year. Pop a few votive candles inside and the nighttime glow is beautiful (and safe).

I spread it around both the living and dining rooms (yes…another large collection;). I’d definitely recommend starting a milkglass collection for yourself!

Simple and Sentimental Decor Accents

In keeping with the Homespun theme, I decorated the (still unfinished) bannister simply with garland, yarn balls and red cardinals. The big metal cubby was adorned with simple wood cut garland and a wooden town set I’ve had since childhood.

Vintage Quilts and Embellished Pillow Covers for Christmas Cozy

Our living room is small. Or we can call it cozy?! With a fire in the fireplace ( I just use the fake logs), it’s a wonderfully cozy place to be in the winter. I like to have plenty of vintage afghans and quilts to wrap up in and squishy pillows to prop around me. My new obsession is adding fun embellishments to purchased pillow covers. They’re a great way to switch up your decor for the season. {See how in “How to Easily Give Purchased Pillow Covers Custom Charm”}.

I also tucked a cute old tablecloth into the ice chest on the fireplace, just to bring a bolt of color and softness to all that hard brick.

Sentimental Dishware and Vintage Graphics in the Dining Room

Yes, there’s more! I do really pack it in at Christmas. And once January comes, I’m ready to see blank spaces again:)

Quite a few furniture pieces came out of the storage building, too! I was excited to enjoy my buffet again and display it with Christmas pretty. New, made to look old, bottlebrush trees have been multiplying!

The table isn’t set yet, but I know I’m going to use the hand-made Christmas tree set from a dear old, childhood neighbor. She was a creative lady who loved pretty things, too. I’ve got several sets of colored glasses from my mom. I’ll come up with a mix and match table so I can enjoy as many of the sets as possible.

The table centerpiece will be one of my latest repurposed ideas {“Upcycled Old Garden Fencing Cloche How To”} with a pinecone and fresh greens-stuffed milkglass bowl. A wood cut tree mimics the dishware nicely. I may string some fairy lights in there, too.

Travel Themed Ornaments and Vintage Wheels

Guess I hadn’t realized it, but our family travel-themed tree totally works with my collection of vintage wheels! Sometimes these things connect in my brain and I don’t realize it until after I’ve done it; ha! I’ve been hacking the wheels off strollers and shopping carts for awhile, and scooping them up at vintage shops. They just have architectural appeal and I love decorating with them all through the year.

Vintage Packaging and Music Love

Instead of hiding all those cute vintage Christmas packages away, I amassed them in the bed of my childhood wagon. It’s a whimsical, fun display for the bay window shelf, without feeling too cluttered.

Last, but not least, I always have to decorate our beautiful, old piano. We are a music-loving family and celebrating our Savior’s birth at Christmas is what it’s all about! A vintage music book with fun graphics is displayed and my cute choir boy lifts his face to heaven in praise.

Man, that was a lot of pictures! Hope you enjoyed the tour! It’s definitely going to be a different year without my mom. She had a way of making everything special. With each Christmas preparation, I remember her. You that have lost your precious mother’s know, the grieving process is particularly hard during the holidays. You’ve got to keep the tissue nearby!

Stay tuned… next week I’ll share our kitchen, with a sweet Shiny Brite theme. But first I’ve got to bake a few dozen cookies…and then clean up!

For more of my home’s Christmas decor, see HERE.

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