Holiday Glam Christmas Home Tour

Welcome to Christmas at The Gathered Home, my friends! Truthfully, it’s been Christmas here in some form or fashion since November 1st. As soon as it starts getting dark earlier, I can’t get the twinkling Christmas lights up quickly enough!

I’m happy to have finally put the finishing touches on this year’s holiday decor and to get to share it with you all as part of the Winter Eclectic Home Tour hosted by Jess from Domicile 37.

If you’ve never stopped by The Gathered Home before, I’m so glad you did — making new friends through blogging has been the biggest and most surprising blessing to come out of these last five years. I’m always searching for ‘kindred spirits’ who love vintage treasures and thrift store finds as much as I do! Please enjoy a peek into my home all decked out for the holidays…

This year, I’m finding myself frequently jamming this old favorite Christmas album, so I thought you might enjoy doing the same while you peruse! If you have Spotify, this should open in the app for you, and if not, it’s free to download so you can enjoy 🙂

Come on inside!

Granted, this isn’t what you see right when you walk IN the front door, but I love this angle because it gives you a peek into the library nook that’s tucked past the front door. This space has come a long way since last Christmas’s home tour!

The absolute biggest change is the laminate flooring I laid over the holidays last year. Fun fact: Last year, I decorated the house for Christmas, photographed everything, and then packed all the Christmas decor away before Thanksgiving so I could share a holiday home tour and then rip up carpets and get to work on the floor! Yes, I am a crazy person. I tend to prefer ‘ambitious’, ‘strong-willed’, ‘goal-oriented’… but you know, ‘crazy’ probably sums it up the best.

*Today’s post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through an affiliate link, I may receive a small commission that helps me continue to host and create content here on The Gathered Home. You can read my full disclosure here. I hope you all know by now that I do only share things I really truly love!

In general though, Christmas in the Delerson household tends to be heavy on the traditions. My decor may be more eclectic than traditional, but I’ve always loved the ritual of pulling out the same pieces year after year and finding a space for beloved favorites.

In the entryway, I decided to reimagine my DIY sunburst mirror as the Star of Bethlehem, shining over this vintage paper mache nativity scene. I stacked two large books to give Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus a little extra height and surrounded them with a simple faux pine garland (similar here) draped with mini copper wire “fairy” lights.

The Library

I like to be fancy and refer to the front room as “the library.” The yellow velvet sofa usually sits in front of the window between the corner bookcases, but that spot was just made for a Christmas tree! I used my favorite furniture moving trick to rearrange the room for the holidays in about half an hour.

This year, I decided to go for a Wes Anderson theme for my white Christmas tree.

There are two very important pieces of information in that sentence so let me break it down for you a little further:

1) That’s right… there are TWO Christmas trees in this house this year!

2) Wes. Anderson. Christmas. (If you’re not familiar with my love of the filmmaker Wes Anderson just yet, I created a tag just so you can browse my posts inspired by his work!)

I’m going to be sharing a LOT more about my Wes Anderson-themed Christmas tree with you all soon, but suffice it to say, the raccoon cap is a nod to Moonrise Kingdom, and there’s a whole collection of DIY scout badge ornaments too, and even a family of dalmatian mice a la The Royal Tenenbaums!

This room already felt very Wes Anderson-inspired to me, with the yellow velvet sofa, but I also included as many fun nods to Wes Anderson films as I could, even if only for my own enjoyment.

If you’re not a Wes Anderson-afficionado, never fear! There’s plenty more Christmas cheer and whimsy in this house to enjoy.

For example, when one possess a miniature architectural circular staircase model, one is practically compelled to string the banister with miniature lights for the holidays.

And any animal statuary you might have handy absolutely must don festive headgear. (This little furry Santa hat I found at a thrift store was originally meant for someone’s pet to wear.) Sprig of holly not required, but highly recommended.

Get the library Christmas look:

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The Dining Room

Although I do love coming up with fancy tablescapes, I kept things nice and simple in the dining room this year. A simple, pre-lit garland on the black and gold leaf sideboard and a giant thrifted bowl full of ornaments on the table.

I found the giant bowl at a thrift store a few weeks ago. It’s very heavy and laminated with this beautiful tribal-patterned cloth. I thought it made the perfect contrast to my extra shiny glass ornaments.

And I just have to tell you the story of this candle! First of all, this is a $90 candle. I’m sharing that link to where you can find it on Amazon not because I expect you to run off and buy your own $90 candle, but to prove that I’m not making things up here. The brand is Diptyque and I recognized the name when I came across this candle at the Salvation Army for $2.

The wick had never even been lit once.

There’s some kind of crazy moral hidden in there about inherent vs. perceived value. All I can tell you is no, I wouldn’t spend $90 on a candle, ever. But I do give my $2 purchase a hearty thumbs up.

The Living Room

Our living room is a straight shot back from the open front half of the house, just past the kitchen. I know I just shared this space with you, so you’ll have the perfect chance to compare it before and after my recent adventures in hall decking!

Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to present to you Christmas tree numero dos!

Last Christmas, I found a gorgeous artificial blue spruce Christmas tree at Goodwill for just $7 and knew at that moment that I would absolutely have two Christmas trees in my house this year.

This is not that tree.

After unboxing the tree and trying to convince myself that its 7′ height really didn’t look completely dwarfed in this room, my next hurdle were the prelit branches that no longer lit up and were undoubtedly the reason the whole thing ended up abandoned at a thrift store after Christmas. That was the reality check I needed to stop trying to convince myself that the tree was the right scale for the room, but at that point my heart was set on setting up a giant green tree in this corner of the room!

While I really wanted to be that person who rescued a $7 thrifted Christmas tree and brought it back to life, in the end I went to Home Depot and paid full price for this 9′ slim Alexander pine tree from Martha Stewart.

I absolutely love it! The height is perfect for this room’s tall ceilings and the slimmer 48″ diameter of the bottom branches means it fits perfectly in the corner to the left of the fireplace! The lights are also warm LEDs, which is good news for many happy future Christmasses.

I usually work right here from the green velvet couch each day and you’d better believe this Christmas tree is the first thing I turn on in the morning and the last thing I turn off at night. (It even has a handy little pedal switch, you guys!)

I have so much to share about decorating this Christmas tree, too — never fear, I’ll be sharing it all in another post on Thursday!

For Christmas, I switched up a few of pillows on the couch, bringing in black florals with this vintage kilim pillow and little needlepoint thrift find. I can’t believe I hadn’t tried out this arrangement before. I really love them in here!

This year, I kept the mantel on the simple side to allow the tree to be the star of the show in the room. The mantel is so narrow there’s just barely room for this prelit garland (similar here) and some shiny objects to catch the light on either side of my favorite vintage patent image flying machine print.

All the mantel needed to finish it off were these two brass gazelles who are honorary reindeer for the Christmas season and one beautiful “brutalist” brass menorah I thrifted earlier this year. And a little felt cap for Mr. Spalding (the flying machine man), of course.

I kept the coffee table fairly simple as well. Just a pair of brass gazelles (similar here), some beautiful coffee table books, and a pair of Christmas tree shaped candles.

I’m loving this year’s Christmas decorations so much, I think it’s going to break my heart to have to take them down once Christmas is over! This year’s sideboard is a favorite, for sure.

Decorating around a tv is just a reality in our home. Instead of trying to hide it, I just embrace the black box and use the space on either side of it on our huge antique French sideboard to surround it with pretty things.

I gave these brass reindeer head bookends a quick shine with Bar Keepers Friend to get them ready for their holiday closeup. And I found that perfect crimson and gold pitcher at a thrift store just a few weeks ago!

This little grouping of vintage obelisks and a beaded wire Christmas tree is on the other side, with more vintage books (my signature decorating move!) and a little vintage tin full of thrifted wood and brass dominoes.

Aaaand that’s a wrap on this year’s holiday home tour, everyone! I’m so glad you dropped by to celebrate my very favorite time of year with me. I even dressed to match my room in honor of the occasion 🙂

Next up on today’s home tour hop is Stephanie at Casa Watkins! Head on over to see her gorgeous global eclectic Christmas tour and then check out the other fantastic tours happening later this week by scrolling down…

Here’s where to go next for more Winter Eclectic Home Tour Goodness!:

Monday

Domicile 37 // Desert Domicile //Kobel & Co. // Whimsical Blue Living

Tuesday

The Gathered Home (you are here) // Casa Watkins Living // Up To Date Interiors

Wednesday

Monica Wants It // Designing Vibes // Maker of Home // Michelle Matangi

Thursday

A Designer at Home // Style Mutt Home // Jessica Brigham // The Rath Project

Friday

House Homemade // House Haus Home // Jeweled Interiors // Domicile 37