Decorating a Christmas Family Room to Blend with Your Decor

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Don't get me wrong, I love a traditional red holiday-themed home. Nothing says Christmas like all things red. I loved pulling out all the traditional Santa Clauses and Christmas things when the kids were younger and still at home. 

It has always given me great joy to create a magical holiday season for my family. I used to have mountains of bins full of Christmas decorations. The Christmas season is perhaps my absolute favorite time to decorate our home. 

Now, our main holiday decor is our trees and greenery used with our everyday decor items.

The Tour Details

Each day this week, you will be introduced to a new set of gorgeous homes on this week's Christmas tour of homes. You will find the entire list of homes with links directly to their posts. If you are visiting from Lyndale Drive, I am so happy to have you here!

Our Family Room

As I continue to share my Christmas home tour this season, you will see how I've kept things rather cohesive in the downstairs rooms. 

​This will be our second Christmas as complete empty nesters. Last year, I gave some Christmas decor to the kids. This year I filled the garage with things that I no longer wanted to use, and they shopped from those items before they were donated. 

I still have a lot of Christmas decor, but it has been greatly decreased which gives me such a calm feeling. 

Here are some tips for decorating a Christmas family room to blend with your decor. 

Picking a Color Scheme

Look around your room and pick 1-2 colors that you love.

An easy way to do this is to look at a piece in your room where there is a pattern. This could be a piece of artwork, throw pillows, or even a rug. What colors are pleasing to you when you look at the color palette?

My inspiration came from the mantel oil painting. 

Green is one of my favorite colors. 

It is very abundant in the art. It is also in our oriental rug, pillows, and blankets around the room. 

Come to think of it, green is a prominent color in our entire home.

Green was the color that I decided to focus on for my Christmas decorating this year. 

I also decided to add an accent color in the form of soft and pale gold. 

I purchased very little this year in the form of new decorations to complete this year's look. I started moving towards this restful color scheme last year.

I purchased a few spools of green and gold/tan ribbon. I also purchased an inexpensive multi-pack of shatterproof green ornaments from Hobby Lobby. 

I opted for a multi-pack of ornaments that are all green, but have variations of green. This helps to keep the Christmas decor from looking flat. 

Ribbons Used in decor and gift wrap last 2 years

• 2-inch wide green velvet ribbon
• 3-pack of gold velvet ribbon in varying sizes
• 3/8 inch gold velvet ribbon
• 1 inch green velvet ribbon
• 1-1/2 inch gold velvet ribbon
• Gift wrap that I use with the green color scheme

For example,  my ornament set had dark green, shiny sage green, matte sage green, and deep green glitter ornaments. 

Christmas does need a bit of sparkle and shimmer! 

Determining the Focal Point

What will your focal point of the room be?

The most common is a fireplace, if you have one. 

It might be your Christmas tree.

It could be your entertainment center. 

A great way to decorate my focal point, the mantel, is with a garland.

Garlands aren't just greenery. I made a garland for the front of the mantel with green ornament balls and some thin twine. It is attached with small Command Hooks. 

Layer your garland for even more drama. This wired crystal-like beaded garland was used in our bedroom for many years. I moved it here for the first time. 

TIP: Unpack your holiday decor and group in areas in your home. Then shop your home to create a unique look each year. It's okay to move your holiday decor around your home for a new festive look!

​Incorporate Natural Elements

This is perhaps the largest chunk of our Christmas decor. All of the greenery in our family room is faux. Faux greenery has come a long way in recent years. 

Last year, I purchased the real touch Norfolk pine garland. I see what the hype is about. It is stunning. It always sells out. I bought the staircase garland over the summer.

I only have one of those on the mantel. I typically have 2 but ended up needing one extra on the staircase. 

I added more fullness to the mantel with additional faux picks and berries. 

Staircase Gallery Wall

This year I replaced our almost 20-year-old staircase garland with the same garland as the mantel.

Perfect mirror for a narrow space! | Stool Makeover

I love the look of it. It isn't as full and heavy as the old garland. It takes up less storage space which means fewer crates. Here is a post on Christmas Decor storage ideas.

It's such a softer look that blends in more with the space. Keeping with the natural look, I tied long dark green velvet bows to the staircase. Zip ties hold the garland in place. 

Faux these days mimic fresh greenery. 

Christmas Lights

Lights and more lights are so fun and create magic in the room. 

Our tree by the fireplace is my favorite tree….ever! It is prelit with golden LED lights. I feel like I got fairly lucky with my LED lights that we've added gradually over the years. I always purchase warm lights. Read reviews if you can. Some warm LED lights have a very bright white light. I prefer the golden light. I am not a fan of the cool LED lights which have more of a blue light. They are pretty, just not with the green and gold that I use. 

Here are some of the lights that we use.

• Candle lights on the tree (LOVE these)
• Exact Christmas Tree
• Fairy lights on the mantel
• Clickers to operate the lights easily
• Battery-operated taper candles
• Not in this post, but gorgeous window candles
• Curtain string lights in the dining room and study

Seasonal Decor

I used to pack up my everyday decor and use all Christmas decor everywhere. 

While I still love a few Christmas decor items, I prefer to leave out my everyday decor items and glow them up a bit! The tree in the background is our real tree with our collected ornaments through the years.

I may take a topiary out of an urn and add holiday greens to it instead. Teacups and small urns make great vessels for mini trees. 

I'll remove items from a bowl on the coffee table and fill in the gorgeous golden ornaments surrounded by picks of faux seasonal greens. 

Exact Ginger Jar | I also have a pair of these

I leave out all of my chinoiserie and change out the florals in it to fit Christmas time. 

Simple ribbons make great Christmas accessories. I love simple velvet bows these days. 

You can vary the width of the ribbons as well to add interest. 

Ribbons look lovely tied on mini trees, around vases, and ginger jars. 

This nativity scene is especially precious. My husband was in Israel with our church for a tour in late May of this year. I elected not to go. I was honestly worried the entire time. My one request was that he bring back nativity scenes for us, the kids, and my mom. This is the one he brought back for us. I love it. It is so special in that it came from Bethlehem. It is hand-carved all in one piece which makes it unique. He had their nativity scenes shipped back. They are so pretty. They are larger and have individual pieces. We gave them to everyone on Thanksgiving.

I have 2 sets of large bells: Set 1 and Set 2

As you look around our family room, the only decor items sitting around are a few mini trees and one of our nativity scenes. I also have a pair of deer on the mantel that I end up leaving out all winter long. 

Dickens Village

Last year I started using my Dickens Village again. I only have 3 houses and I'd love to get maybe 2 more. Last year I displayed them in our secretary. I like them out of the way and uncluttered. This year I used one of the candles from the tree set. They light them up beautifully. It's so much easier than trying to light it all up with cords inside the cabinet!

This old-world Santa that I have had for years works beautifully with the more green and gold theme.

Velvet Pillow Covers | Pattern Pillow Cover

By decorating with naturally occurring colors in our family room, the room just feels so calming. I didn't even change out the pillows that I used this fall.

Be sure to stop by and visit my sweet friend, Shelley over at Calypso in the Country!

Shop my Christmas Must Haves!

Whether you are looking to scale back on your holiday decorations as an empty nester or go all out, I hope your holiday season is full of blessings and love. XO, Christy