Moroccan Rugs: How Sara Created Her First Traditional But Youthful Christmas (With All Target)

Guess who’s back? Like the badly wrapped, yet extremely sentimental gift under a tree, it’s me. And as promised in my Halloween post, I’m here to share my freshly decked halls (…we can all agree that phrase isn’t inappropriate, but for some reason it really, really sounds like it is, right?).

I know, I know. It’s not even DECEMBER yet. So why am I here? First, I was ready. We’re spending a ton of time in our house (all day, every day), and so we decided we might as well get the MAXIMUM amount of enjoyment out of our decor this year. Secondly, because a lot of other people are also feeling this way, and we wanted to make sure we could share all these good Target links with you before it all sells out.

As a few of you dedicated readers might recall, the last time I tried to decorate my old living space for the holidays it…uhhh…burned down. IT WASN’T MY FAULT. The fire had nothing to do with a Christmas tree set a blaze by one rogue light. The fire started in the apartment below ours, but it crept up and incinerated one full half of our living room. All the decor it didn’t turn to ash was melted. It’s now a hilarious memory, and we even took our holiday card photo that year next to our mostly melted tree among the rubble and ash. But the event left us pretty bare of holiday decor. And last year, around the holidays, we were still deep in renovations and had zero energy to decorate.

So when we were thinking of safe set locations for this year’s Target holiday shoot, I threw my “house hat” in the ring. I could kill two birds with one stone – Provide a safe shoot location, and have my home PROFESSIONALLY styled by professional stylists Emily Bowser and Erik Kenneth Staalberg (a literal dream team). We ended up swapping out a few of our furniture pieces for Target pieces to give y’all shoppable “get the look” vignettes, and we went full out MAXIMAL on the decor (we’ve pulled it back just a little for our actual everyday holiday living). But it was so fun to style, shoot, and now live in. Yes, I am drinking hot chocolate, listening to the “Christmas Cocktail Jazz” playlist, while burning 4 different varieties of holiday candles as I write this. If you celebrate Christmas, I highly recommend it.

Now I’m going to throw it to Emily (Henderson) to walk you through some easy tips so you too can make your Christmas dreams come true. Take it away, Em!

Make “Red and Green” Feel Edgy With Hits Of Darker, Moodier Colors

Sara wanted the traditional red and green and of course, I support any and all Christmas color palettes but I was curious how she was going to do it to feel fresh and youthful. When I walked into her living room I was so impressed that it did feel SO fun and not “grown-up” traditional. They did it by mostly adding in a heavy dose of black, navy, and darker reds. The black houses on the mantel have a modern feel, there are dark blues in the pillows and ornaments and they brought in more of a cranberry red in the pillows. WELL DONE.

Don’t Be Afraid Of “Christmas Kitsch”

Everywhere you look, there are traditional elements but mixed in is a lot of unexpected “Christmas kitsch” that took me a while to put my finger on. I was like, ‘why does this feel so fun’ and then saw it – kitschy elements everywhere. The Santa Clause garland over the sofa is so playful (but in the black works so well here). There are little deer on the cabinet on a bank of snow. Vintage-style metal cars with trees on top are peppered around and even the bike advent calendar.

I’m really hoping/requiring that Mac or Sara fully embrace the “elf on the shelf” tradition and hide it every morning in weird places and threaten each other with Santa being able to see if they are good or not. IT’S SO WEIRD BUT of course, we do our lazy parent version of it.

Add The Holiday “Glow” With Candles, Lights, And Light Up Trees

If you only do two things to set the mood it should be this – greenery and good lighting in the form of sparkly lights and candles (real or flameless). And bonus points if you get holiday scented candles – pine, cinnamon, cranberry. When I walked in it smelled SO GOOD because a lot of the candles in the fireplace were indeed scented and mixed together. This is especially awesome when you don’t have real greenery. They truly made the room smell SO good.

It’s also such a great non-functional fireplace hack – load it up with red, green, and white scented candles and make sure to vary the candle heights (use candle holders too!). It makes the room GLOW.

You’ll also see that those houses (stocking holders) have lights in them (and are only $30 for the set of 4!), which is another super easy way to bring in ambiance, and little pops of glow that at night make the room sing.

The trees on the dining table are so awesome (I have them in blush) because they are battery operated and glow up evenly – we haven’t changed our batteries in a couple of years. BIG fan. And if I can give one tip for the lazy decorator it’s ‘pre-lit’ trees, garlands, and wreaths. I know not all of them come with lights, but I always end up adding string lights so if you can get them lit, just do (like the trees on the black cabinet).

Such good holiday glow and cheer everywhere. I love those muted red velvet pillows with tassels. Can you believe they are only $20?? So super affordable and add a ton of style (they come in blue, too).

The No-Fail Dependability Of Wreaths (And How to Customize)

Wreaths add such high-impact “holiday” considering they are hung with just one nail (or command strip). Putting one over the mirror on the mantle (how good is that “mantle mirror“?? – GENIUS) transforms the mantel with just a simple shape and color.

They customized both of the above readymade faux wreaths with ribbons, which made them feel more custom and special. GOOD MOVE, team. The shape is so simple, so adding a twist to it is certainly a fun way to shake it up.

A New Way To Display All Those Cards

This year I’m desperate for cards – more than any other year. I’m tempted to make my address public because getting something personal in the mail, that makes me feel connected to the world seems like what we need right now. They came up with a genius way to display them with a super sweet garland and clothespins. I also love the creative garland “design” with the double layer, that you can obviously add more and more to. Please send me cards. I’ll do this and then keep them forever…

Little Affordable Festive Touches

Even if you don’t have a big space, you can still add in little “moments” like Sara, Bowser and Erik did in these shelves. I have those light-up tree faux candles, too and put them in my bathroom (by the way). And another wreath hack that they did was bind two sprigs together to hang above that horizontal space above the bookshelf. So good and easy.

Give The “Little Village” A New Spin, On Your Mantel

I love how they styled the mantel like a village scene – trees, houses, and even vintage style cars. It’s an updated “little village” (by the way, how shocked are we all that I haven’t gone crazy creating a miniature Christmas world yet? Don’t worry, will do now that the kids are older). The stocking holders that are a house make it easy to do this then add a few bigger and a few smaller.

You Don’t Have To Take Your Tree Too Seriously

I love how they just went for it, void of any pretentiousness. Some candy canes, some animal figurines, Mac’s nutcracker collection (how cute is that?). It’s just fun and unexpected, but easy to do. You don’t NEED a garland or even a star (!!!) if you have enough happening in the room, and it lets their eclectic ornaments (some of which they had collected post-fire) shine.

I am so happy for these two who can celebrate this year, fully decked out. A huge thanks to Target for partnering with us on this (yes everything is from Target besides the sofa and dining table furniture). Yes, even the rug which I couldn’t believe (it’s also just an affordable price for an area rug).

Congrats Sara and Mac on their first holiday in this home. I hope you all got some great ideas here – my EHD team – Bowser, Erik, and Sara really knocked it out of the park (and thanks to Mac for letting us invade your house for days. xx

And if you were worried that we wouldn’t give you ALLLLLL the links, worry not: