Living Room Christmas Tour, “All is Calm, All is Bright”

Every year my Christmas decorating scheme gets a theme. The colors and textures I use come out of that theme. Smaller vignettes may have a theme also, but they all need to work with the overall look, since my house is fairly compact and the rooms can all be seen at the same time on the main floor. This year’s theme is “All is Calm, All is Bright”.

I was determined to not use any red on the main floor. It just seemed too full of energy for this year. I did use red on the porch with blues, greens and black {see “Add Holiday Flourish to Your Outdoor Furniture”}. I also used red combined with sweet pink in our bedroom {see “A Sweetly Vintage Christmas Bedroom”}. For the main floor I wanted everything to feel calm and natural, with a little bright sparkle. There were some complaints from the peanut gallery that our house looks “wintery”, rather than red and green classic Christmas…but they can do what they want when they have their own homes, right? They know their mom is a crazy decorator lady;)

A flocked tree just seemed to fit into this theme nicely…

Remember when I talked about planning out your color scheme for Christmas {“How To Plan Out Your Christmas Decor”}? This year I wanted calm aqua and gray with some subtle greens and natural wood textures. I also added this fun tinsel garland I found at the thrift store for a little sparkle; it helped punch up the vintage Shiny Brite ornaments.

I used all my snowflake and snowball ornaments I purchased on clearance last year for my “Comfort and Joy” theme {“Comfort Christmas House Tour”}. This year they look completely different on a flocked tree next to cool, blue tones.

Our mantle and bannister were dressed in simple greenery and lights. I added a few hand-made wood slices hung from string, some yarn poms and some extra white-tipped and glittery sprays. The “Coal Bucket Hostess Gift” I created sits in front of the fireplace opening when we don’t have a fire burning.

My $15 vintage church sale chair looks pretty, darn cute next to my unpainted bannister. {one of the projects I had to “Cut Your Losses…and Move On” with} I’ll share my nativity vignette that’s peeking in the background on Christmas!

The baskets of sticks that change with the seasons got cozied up with some of the yarn poms, a galvanized snowflake and some braided yarn. The sticks always stay, but I add different seasonal items throughout the year.

Our big vintage map that got the royal treatment styling last year {“Christmas Map Display”}, was happy with a “Joy to the World” theme this year…much less time consuming! I just have so much fun styling this awesome scaffolding shelf {see “Styling a ‘Shelfie’ Tips”}, even though I have to climb up a ladder to do it!

Sarah at Sadie Seasongoods blog inspired me to spray paint the retro plastic candlesticks when she painted hers for Halloween {“When Christmas Window Candles Go Halloween”}. That girl has got some serious creativity! I’ve got more to paint for next year;) I decided my vintage baby scale was perfect for Jesus’ birthday, especially since it was aqua and had a star on it! I love showing the vintage Shiny Brite boxes and used only the green and aqua Target trees from a couple years ago {“Shiny Brite and White” Chistmas}.

The world theme spilled across the room, too…along with another spray painted candleabra. Votive candles in white milkglass cups look pretty on a funky candle holder that my sister had questioned me buying at a church sale. Never doubt, little sister;)

And after realizing I had amassed quite the collection of Christmas tree stands, I decided they needed to be elevated to still-life art status instead of the stockings of last year {“Got a Ladder? How about Stockings?”}. I’m loving their architectural look on my rustic ladder.

Our industrial shelf was simply dressed in “Family” themed accessories, adding just a few Christmas items, greens and yarn poms to carry through the theme. Simple. Easy.

And our “Bedspring Family Photo Wall” did not get a Shiny Brite tree displayed like last year {“Bedspring Shiny Brite Tree”}. I just added a few greens to the display for some Christmas style.

More of the “All is Calm, All is Bright” Christmas Home Tour to come…the kitchen and the dining room/table! So many pictures to take and edit!

Hope you’re having a Merry Christmas season!

Sharing at these lovely parties:

Farmhouse Friday

Friday Favorites

DIY Salvaged Junk Projects

Thursday Favorite Things