Classic Christmas Home Tour

Welcome to my Annual Classic Christmas Home tour. Our home is a reflection of my traditional style and love of antiques while always searching for a way to keep our home feeling fresh and welcoming.

This year a mostly neutral metallic scheme fills our open concept living space. Pops of a deep red in the kitchen are a nod to the traditional color scheme. But don’t miss the fun pop of color in the last space I will share with you today.

I’m thrilled to join 33 other talented bloggers in the Seasonal Simplicity Christmas Home tour hosted by Krista at The Happy Housie. Be sure to see them all linked below. If you are coming from April’s lovely and elegantly decorated home for Christmas, House By Huff, welcome!! If you are new here, I’m Leslie and I am so happy to invite you into my home this Christmas!

Welcome in the Foyer

I love having the opportunity to invite you in for a full Christmas Home tour. This year it seemed appropriate to share a majority of our home. We moved here, to our downsized home, at the end of last fall and so much has changed already. So grab your favorite warm drink and snuggle in as I share our home with you.

The dramatic paint color above the chair rail height paneling, made this the perfect spot for our tinsel tree. I’ve had this little tree for many years now and the glistening branches bring a festive mood to any room.

I truly love the contrast of the silver against the deep blue. To carry on that metallic theme, I added an antique silver candelabra I picked up on my trip to England a few years ago and a collection of smaller bottle brush trees in glittery white, silver and grey.

When we moved here, I started hanging matching wreathes on both sides of the front door. Because of the large window in the door, I disliked seeing the back of a faux wreath. This looks lush and beautiful and solves that problem.

The Dining Room

Just beyond the foyer is our dining room, which is where we have most meals. I like to keep the tablescape fairly minimal and unobtrusive for our daily use.

A set of candlesticks and a paper mache bowl filled with moss, greenery and ornaments feels festive and appropriately minimal.

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The silver santa salt and pepper shakers were a favorite find at a recent Vintage Market Days here in Birmingham. They are so petite and full of details. I just love them.

On our buffet, I love to display my nativity. This classic, white porcelain set was a gift from my mom years ago.

The Living Room

In our open concept space, the only transitional piece we have is this antique china cabinet. It seemed appropriate to place the tree here by the fireplace too.

I shared our mantel decor last week in this post. Since we moved into our new house last fall, before there was a fireplace, I couldn’t wait to decorate it for Christmas this year.

For the pair of coffee tables nestled between the matching sofas, I balanced stacks of books with two different thrifted vintage bowls of greenery and my favorite mercury glass ornaments.

Our Christmas Tree Tradition

While each year our tree may change a little with different ribbon or combinations of colors, our family ornaments are always added. Always. I believe a Christmas tree doesn’t have to be either a beautifully decorated theme or a family tree. My goal each year is to try and combine those two seemingly competing decorating styles.

You may have noticed, I have not one single wrapped present under the tree! I didn’t have time to even wrap fake presents! This year, I have been blessed with client work that has taken me away from these types of little incidental projects.

Across the room from the tree I added a small faux potted tree and left it completely unadorned.

The Kitchen

The warm tones of the brick walls create the perfect room to add just a hint of red. As I mentioned at the start, I found the most beautiful shade of deep red velvet ribbon to work with this year.

For the island, I was inspired by the dramatic dried floral arrangement I created in this thrifted vase from the fall. I am hoping it will last all season if I keep fresh water in the vase.

I picked up these alstroemerias at my local grocery store, on sale for $2 a bunch. So even if I have to replace them in a week or so, I haven’t invested much.

The greens are a mix of incense cedar and ming pine from a local nursery. I wrapped a candle in a shallow bowl with the leftover bits of pine garland from the fireplace. I never let any fresh greenery go to waste.

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Instead of a wreath on top of the hood this year, I added faux greenery. It has been my experience the fresh garland tends to get crispy quickly in the kitchen.

It’s a family tradition to pull out our Pfaltzgraph Christmas Heritage dishes and use them every day during the season.

Our small open shelves around the sink are the perfect place to keep the smaller dishes and favorite Christmas decor. This vintage poinsettia print is a printable available here. It’s the perfect piece of art to swap out for the season.

And just like last year, after the pantry was built out, I added a few touches of Christmas decor. It may seem a little over the top, but it took minutes to create this little vignette and it brings me just a little extra dose of cheer. I mean, can’t we all use a little extra cheer this year?

The Laundry Room & Dog Wash

Just off the kitchen is our mudroom and laundry room I just finished renovating for the Fall One Room Challenge. I couldn’t help but add a wreath to the new brick wall that now echos what is happening in the kitchen.

The few minutes it took to hang the wreath and pot the poinsettia is more than worth a season of simple joy.

You might have noticed our @readyfreddiedoodle lying around on his favorite sofa. He keeps me active with daily walks or hikes and it is so nice to have an elevated dog wash station to clean him up afterwards.

The Main Bedroom

When new paint and art were added to the foyer, these seasonal prints were left with nowhere to go. I realized the symmetry of pairs of prints on either side of the bed would be just what our room needed.

These vintage pine prints I use all winter but then I swap them out for other seasonal prints. You can find similar ones to these to print for your home on my friend, Jen’s blog, Noting Grace. I keep each seasonal print tucked within the frame and swap them out as the time comes. While this may not be the permanent art solution, I like having a nod to the seasons in our room.

Another simple arrangement of $2 flowers and mixed greens bring in a hint of red that I am quite happy with.

Studio & Office

I can’t think of a year I decorated my office for Christmas but once my husband lamented about bringing down another Christmas tree from the attic, I had the idea that it might be fun to decorate a tree for my studio space. (This tree was used in the basement of our previous house and last year I set it on the front porch.)

In addition to being my office and creative space, it is also a secondary lounge space, so it seemed appropriate to decorate for Christmas. At least that’s what I’ve told myself.

To be totally honest though, I think Freddie uses this sofa more than anyone else. When he’s not napping here while I work, he’s usually hanging over the back looking out the window, spying on the neighborhood.

The initial idea was to create a pink tree. I purchased pink glittered picks and pink blossoms from Michael’s, lovely pink hued mercury glass balls at Home Goods and frosted branches from Hobby Lobby. Then I pulled ornaments out of the attic to fill in and I realized I had a number of teal and soft green balls and ornaments I’ve collected over the years that perfectly matched the walls. Once it was mostly decorated, I stepped back and realized the tree was literally a Christmas tree version of the wallpaper and I became obsessed.

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I have a feeling this tree will stay up long after Christmas. I’ve told myself, at least until Mardi Gras. But I am already scheming on how I can improve this look for next year. Maybe a bigger tree?

I hope you enjoyed this thorough tour of my holiday home. Don’t miss my friends sharing today and all through the week. Up next on your stroll through this holiday house tour is my sweet friend, Sarah from Grace in My Space. Her home is so cozy and inviting all year, but at Christmas her simple, creative touches are worth seeing.

This week I’m joining some of my talented blogging friends for the Christmas Seasonal Simplicity Series home tour week! We’re all sharing part of our home decked out for Christmas. Be sure to check out these fabulous Christmas decor ideas by clicking on the links below each image.

Sharing with me today…

Friday

The Tattered Pew / Life is a Party / Rambling Renovators / House by Hoff

Deeply Southern Home / Grace in My Space / Taryn Whiteaker Designs / Just a Girl and Her Blog

And sharing the rest of the week…

Monday

The Happy Housie / Inspiration for Moms / Maison de Cinq / This is Simplicite

Chrissy Marie Blog / Modern Glam / Nick & Alicia

Tuesday

Cassie Bustamante / Cuckoo4Design / Lemon Thistle / Love Create Celebrate

tatertots & jello / Jennifer Maune / She Gave it a Go / Clean & Scentsible

Wednesday

The Handmade Home / Finding Silver Pennies / Joanna Anastasia / Amber Tysl

The DIY Mommy / My Sweet Savannah / Dans le Lakehouse / Fynes Designs

Thursday

Two Twenty One / Cherished Bliss / Life is Better at Home / All Things With Purpose

This is Our Bliss / Home Made Lovely / Place of My Taste