Come along on a tour of my Victorian Christmas living room! It’s all styled up & ready for the holidays.
I love a Christmas tour – and this year I’m starting with my Victorian Christmas living room! I loved putting all of these elements together and can’t wait to share them with you. I hope you come away feeling inspired with touches you can incorporate into your own home.
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It’s been a while since this room was highlighted here on the Journal – and you might notice a big change… our walls are no longer SW Slate Tile, but are now SW Accessible Beige! Earlier this Fall I realized I was ready for a change and LOVE how much lighter the room is again.
We kept the beautiful Slate Tile on the trim, and I think the contrast is just right between the two. Our drapes are in the shade “Natural” from Two Pages, and I can’t recommend them highly enough for custom pleated drapes! Use code SHEHOLDSDEARLY for 15% off your order at this link!
I’ve been looking for a nice, tall faux noble fir Christmas tree and I found one from the brand, “King of Christmas” last month on Facebook Marketplace for just $150! I had previously collected about 6 artificial trees, and was able to list the ones I was least interested in to offset the price even further.
For decorations, I originally was planning to go all out with my favorite warm white lights wrapped around the trunk and each individual branch. But after a trip to Home Depot (thank you to my husband, Colby) and adding 800+ lights, I realized it wasn’t giving off the Victorian Christmas feeling I was inspired by for this year’s living room.
Fast forward 45 minutes and I removed all of the light strands. I share this to encourage you that even professionals have to reevaluate and pivot during our designs, even in our own homes!
I added in my clip on candle lights and knew instantly that they were all that was needed. I love these because they’re coated with real wax to look realistic and can be controlled with a remote control, so you don’t have to flip them on and off individually!
I alternated between a white pom pom garland and a mercury glass garland I made during my Handmade Holidays series this year. I also share a quick tutorial on how to upcycle the simple garland from Walmart in this video.
I added in sweet “Merry Christmas” banners that I created on Canva and printed onto vellum. I love that they look like frosted glass and that you can see some of the lights shining through them at the right angles!
For ornaments, I used some of the golden woodland animals that I created in my Handmade Holidays series. This is such a quick & easy DIY and is so customizable for whatever theme or color scheme you’re following in a given year!
If you’d like a FREE printable tutorial for making these DIY ornaments, enter your email address below and a copy will be sent directly to you!
Beside the tree I set my thrifted golden bird cage with blue birds.
Underneath the tree is Virginia – the doll my Grandfather gave to my Mom the first time he met her after coming back from the war. My sweet friend Kristin Hoffman gifted me the beautiful long-sleeve dress when I was there visiting during our YouTube retreat. I had mentioned to them that I was looking for a white dress for her for Christmas, and she found one!
You can watch us chatting about our thrifted haul during that trip HERE.
We don’t have a true mantle in this living room, so I always like to use the top of my piano as a focal point in a similar way that I would treat a mantle, especially at Christmas.
This year I hung up my patent prints on my large black chalkboards with my pom pom garland laying flat at the base. Then I added in a small asymmetrical vignette with a selection of Christmas trees and a pair of ice-skates on the left side.
It’s elements like white pom-poms that look like snow balls, and ice-skates that are reminiscent of outdoor winter activities that I love to add in as elegant touches. They’re touches that only those of us who are sensitive to our surroundings often notice and appreciate.
Over a book of my Grandfather’s piano music, I created a tiny swag with leftover pieces from another greenery garland.
This little piece is one of my favorite parts this year!
In the window seat area I hung a real pair of old ice-skates with velvet ribbon.
I swapped out some of my pillow covers for my white velvet covers with pom pom edging. I’m asked about the floral fabric on the other pillows all the time – it’s called “Into the Woods” by Kaufmann.
And that leaves us with just a few finishing touches before this Victorian Christmas Living Room Tour is complete!
My nativity is styled up with a small bundle of dried flowers. I had planned on adding more… but our new puppy found them as they were drying and they’re no more. I do like the little unexpected pop, though.
I’ve shared about this before, but when I thrifted this set, I knew that I didn’t love the colors that had been chosen for the characters. The first thing I did when I brought it home was give everything a coat of my favorite creamy white spray paint, Heirloom White by Rustoleum.
Now they’re some of my favorite pieces to set out each year as a reminder of the real reason to celebrate Christmas.
A few more finishing touches:
And that’s the end of today’s tour! Come back soon and I’ll be featuring a few other rooms within the house!
Merry Christmas to you & yours!