Style influencer Aileen Allen shares how she’s been preparing for the holidays. See how she put together this soft, winter-ready look.
Now that Thanksgiving is over, it’s time to deck the halls for Christmas! Traditionally, this would entail pulling bins and bins of holiday decor out of storage, untangling Christmas lights, hanging wreaths accented with red velvet bows, and trimming the tree with shiny ornaments. This kind of traditional holiday decor evokes the comforting, nostalgic feel of childhood Christmases and cozy warmth. But if red and green isn’t really your style, don’t worry – these days, you have lots of other options for holiday decorating.
Colorful Christmas Chic
A modern Christmas is more about mixing in simple, creative ideas that blend with your everyday style and less about covering every inch of your home with Christmas-specific decor. Think bottle brush trees and sheepskin instead of nutcrackers and Santa pillows. And instead of red, green, and gold, simply decorate with the colors you normally use and love.
My husband and I recently bought a house, and we’re excited to spend our first holiday season in it. We could have gone all out and bought a ton of Christmas decor, but we intentionally decided to keep our decorations simple, modern, and minimal – like we always have in the small apartments we rented before. We love how easy and stress-free it makes decorating for the holidays, plus we save a lot of money (and storage space) by not buying a bunch of decor that’s only relevant for one month of the year!
I purposely tried to bring in items that we could use beyond Christmas – maybe even year-round. Our new armchairs, upholstered in a gorgeous blue velvet, will definitely stay in the living room all year. Same with the modern sideboard table, which I topped with a turquoise record player and a metallic antique-style mirror.
DIY Holiday Touches
Our living room already has a lot of mint green, blush pink, and mustard yellow, so I made some DIY yarn-wrapped trees in the same colors. I mixed in some silver bottle brush trees and added a felt ball garland and a basket of Christmas records. On the opposite wall, I taped some big 3D paper snowflakes among the frames in the gallery wall.
Perhaps my favorite part of the room is this greenery arch that leads into the living room from our entryway, made up of several pre-lit faux spruce garlands. It instantly made the space feel more festive.
Another easy, simple way to add holiday warmth is to bring in pillows and throw blankets in cozy textures like sheepskin, chunky knits, and fur. Choosing solid colors and simple patterns instead of reindeer and Santa pillows means you can keep the same ones throughout the whole winter.
I hope this shows you that you don’t have to go all out to decorate for the holidays. Some colorful modern trees, a new throw blanket, and a few garlands of greenery might be all you need!
–Aileen Allen, www.athomeinlove.com
