Holiday Inspiration

arched entry way painted mustard yellow with a wooden red door open and a Christmas wreath on the door

This time of year, one of my favorite things is seeing how people decorate their homes for the season. Blogs are full of photos of Christmas trees, lights and cozy living rooms.  It’s one of the things I love able design blogs – getting to peek inside people’s homes!  Magazines too, are full of baking and crafting and of course, decorating.  Many years ago, one of my beloved magazines – Mary Engelbreit’s Home Companion – featured a story in their 2002 December issue on this home in California.  I was enamored with it and still am.  I don’t know if it’s just her home or the way she’s got it decorated for Christmas, but I am in love with this house!  Since they are scans, the photos aren’t the greatest quality, but I just had to share.

Look at the outside of her sweet home.  I would kill for a house like this – so cozy!  I love all the white lights she’s used.  Of course, it’s her entry way that truly gets me.  Look at that red door, and the archway.

outside the small house with arches around the porch and white lights in the bushes, and on the roofline of the house with lit stars in each archway

And she’s just put touches of Christmas everywhere throughout her home.  I love the sapphire blue glass balls on the side table, along with a wrapped gift.  Nothing over the top – just tasteful touches here and there.

a large painting of a woman in a gold frame hangs over a wooden side table with a vase of sapphire blue blown glass ornaments and a gift wrapped present next to them

The warm colors of her home are fantastic as well.  Plus I love that it has a bit of a medieval feel to it with the peeling plaster and the heavy Gothic chairs.  Like it was an old Cathedral.  And I love how the gifts are wrapped in the same colors she’s decorated her tree with.  Again, that sapphire blue comes in – and what a pop of color against all the warm tones!

Christmas tree with a star on top that almost touches the ceiling decorated with amber, copper, and blue ornaments and matching presents under the tree in the same colors

See what I mean about the little touches – even in the bedroom, she’s brought her holiday decor into play.  There used to be a little boutique shop near here that sold some amazing Christmas items like the cone below.  Such a fun little shop, too bad it’s gone now.  Of course, you can always make things like this!

a leopard print cone hanging from a bed's iron footboard with a wrapped gift in it

And again the warm colors in the bedroom.  I love love love the prints above the bed.  And she’s placed this beautifully wrapped gift on the guest bed.  Don’t you love the use of the berries on top?

an iron bed with orange, rust, and leopard pillows and a striped duvet against a brick wall with square prints of knights on horseback with red mats

And another little tree in the guest room.  I love the idea of having smaller trees in other rooms of the house.  Look how’s she’s done this one in softer colors.  And the gifts cascading to the floor – so fun.  I love the use of decorative hat boxes and bags (easy to make “faux” gifts for under the tree).

in front of a window with heavy velvet curtains a small tabletop tree decorated in pinks and silvers surrounded by gifts stacked on the table and then on the floor

I just can’t get enough of this house, and I had to share.  It’s one of the articles I find myself coming back to over and over again.  What’s so funny is that as much as I love it – my own decorating looks nothing like this.  Maybe someday I can incorporate some of these ideas into my own home though!

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