Decorate for Christmas With Me I 8 Tips |  Graceful Living Room Edition!

Do you need some fresh ideas for the holiday season but don’t want to go overboard this year? Then decorate for Christmas with me and I’ll take you step by step in the process of what I did to create an elegant living room without much fuss or clutter!

The holiday season seems to come earlier and earlier each year. Or is it just me? I’ve been enjoying having the decor up ahead of the rush of the kids coming home with some quiet time to myself. I’ve even gotten the presents all ordered and wrapped and the stockings are now filled! If you still need some stocking stuffers, check out my post – 50 Last Minute Stocking Stuffers For The Family Under $25. It even includes the pets like sweet Darby who is by my side in the French chair, watching as I decorate!

Decorate for Christmas with Me – Step by Step

The first thing that I always do when I decorate for Christmas or for any season is to clear out the room of clutter and accessories. Actually in this case I moved everything out (with the exception of the china cabinet) since I knew that I wanted to rearrange the sofa and pair of French bergere chairs and change out the area rug.

Now the sofa faces the bay window that looks out to the front of the house and the chairs face the sofa. The faux sisal rug is nice and cushy, cozy for the winter season and you can find it available here. It’s truly my favorite and I just wish that it came in larger sizes, but this is an 8 x 10 and it works for this area.

Step by Step Guide To Decorate Your Living Room For Christmas:

• Remove all past seasonal decor and put in storage. I keep my own seasonal items in clear plastic bins in the garage, but a closet or any space that you can tuck things out of sight will do!
• Give the room a good cleaning. I dusted surfaces, vacuumed the floor and gave my furniture a deep cleaning with this Little Green Clean Machine. If you don’t have one of those yet then get one if you can. You will save money in the long run and it’s great for any upholstered surfaces both indoors, outdoors and the car!
• Decide on a theme for your holiday home and/or a color scheme. Sure, you can change things as you go along but I find it extremely helpful to choose a basic theme/colorway beforehand!
• The Christmas tree is the largest item that you’ll utilize when you decorate for Christmas in your living room. Determine the best placement to allow for easy traffic flow and consider the view of the tree. Undecided? Take a quick photo with your phone which can be so helpful in terms of space planning! You might find my recent post on 100 Christmas Tree Decorating Ideas to be helpful!
• Once your tree is in place, decorate it first and then move on to the rest of the room and begin to add any other Christmas decor layer by layer. It’s akin to putting together a layer cake!
• If you have a mantel in your living room, that is likely a focal point. Add festive garland and then embellishment or fill out the area with candles, pine cones, ornaments and collectibles. Don’t forget to freshen up the firebox!
• Move on to decorate your coffee table and any other flat surfaces that need a bit of holiday cheer and charm. Step back and take a look and if you believe that you’ve overdone it there is no shame in pulling some pieces back!
• My own last step is to add seasonal pillows and throws to the sofa and chairs. Adding pops of your color choice for the tree will endure the living room stays coordinated nicely!

My Christmas Tree – Beautiful Natural Looking Noble Fir (pre-fluffing)

I have always loved the look of a natural noble fir evergreen tree. But if you’ve seen any of my previous Christmas posts, almost all of my trees are from King Of Christmas. I have several flocked trees (such as this one), and for this Christmas my theme was a Natural Elegant Woodland Holiday! Definitely a departure from previous years but change is a good thing and I embrace it! I received this 9′ King Noble Fir with 700 warm LED lights and BOY OH BOY it is gorgeous!

It took me no more than 5 minutes to put up this snap together tree and maybe 10 minutes to slightly fluff it. The tree comes with a remote control for the lights, a storage bag and even gloves to protect your manicure while fluffing. It’s a winner and a tree that will last you for many years. I considered just leaving the tree au naturel sans ornaments, but decided to decorate for Christmas with a theme of silver, ivory and champagne.

By the way, if you need a new Christmas tree this year and are undecided, I put together this guide that talks about the type of artificial trees you’ll have to choose from and some sources.

For the mantel I purchased two of these Norfolk Pine Garlands and mixed in some garland that I already had in my stash. I embellished with a couple of strands of these battery operated copper strand twinkle lights that are so reasonably priced and come in a four pack. I really love to get a lot of bang for my buck when decorating seasonally and save the splurge for a long lasting tree!

Next I added a trio of stockings including one from this set of beautiful cable knit stockings and a few pine cones that I painted white (see my tutorial here). I also hung some brass bells with vintage silk ribbon and in the center of the mantel added a trio of these alluring faux candles that are so realistic!

Our mantel is faux, and since we never have cold weather this far south I fake it with some birch logs and more of those twinkle lights! You can see in my close up how pretty these twinkle light strands are in copper. I have had my sets for several years now and they work great!

I’ve also added a pair of tall French style candlesticks to the mantel on one side.

On my coffee table sourced a (similar one here) I set up a “vase” which has an interesting back story! My husband and I were taking our one hour morning walk a few months ago and I found it in a trash pile. It was part of a large post light that the homeowners took down to replace with a more modern one! I knew that it would make a fabulous large vase and got the eye roll from my husband who hauled it home for me. Haha! Just look at that patina!

I filled it with these stunning realistic Norfolk Pine stems that come a dozen in the box.

This pair of real wax flameless Christmas tree candles helped me decorate for Christmas with just the look that I was going for. Simplicity with just a few elegant items that make a statement and nothing too over the top! The “bowl” is a vintage crystal beaded French ceiling light filled with the same silver, white and champagne ornaments that I have on the Christmas tree. What do you think?

The vintage French style white tufted sofa was moved to the other side of the room and I like this layout better than the previous room iteration. I added a pair of yummy green velvet pillows with pom pom trim. You can find this pair of velvet pillows here, and they are so budget friendly that it’s almost a shock! Pillows like this can be used not only when you decorate for Christmas, but year round of course! The vintage Merry Christmas needlepoint pillow is a treasure and is some of the only pop of red that I have. The wreath next to the fireplace balances out the room.

This was a wreath that I had in my storage and I simply added some beautiful velvet fringed ribbon that I found at Hobby Lobby and more twinkle lights.

Just behind me when I shot this is a wall that has a vintage Thomasville coastal style caned sofa table. I covered it with a white tablecloth and set up this little vignette. My late mother-in-law did this needlepoint and we put it up every year when we decorate for Christmas.

Another vintage Christmas needlepoint pillow on this old French caned chair in the entry foyer.

I hope that this gives you some ideas to use when you decorate for Christmas! Let me know in the comments.