Vintage Inspired Christmas Decorating

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Elisabeth and I love Christmas. It’s a holiday filled with some great childhood memories, strongly etched due to the family traditions that my parents established long since. Now, it’s our turn to make holiday traditions for our families and hopefully one day our children will recall fondly of them. Since Elisabeth decorates her home much earlier than I do, I will share some images of her beautifully decorated home with some vintage rustic Christmas ornaments. Believe me, these images don’t do any  justice to her rental home, but you’ll get a pretty fair idea of vintage inspired Christmas decorating.

Detail view of a window ledge with a "XMAS" decor stand and two elderly little elves resting upon it.
a graphic with an image of a reindeer dolly dressed in a holiday outfit sitting up on a sideboard against a table lamp in Elisabeth's home. On the left there's some writing: I still believe! Christmas spirit a time of giving without a thought of getting!

Just like me, Elisabeth is totally into vintage ornaments like wooden toys, angels, lots of Santas, hearts and bells among others. Both of us, have concluded that red decor, primarily, looks better than any other color scheme on our fake Christmas tree. We also both love the organic feel of rustic style ornaments that make even a fake tree like ours look more real.

We don’t like much tinsel and so, this year we both turned our backs to it. But, one thing is for sure when it comes to fake trees. It needs lots of lights to look extra nice. The more the merrier! Old vintage glass ornaments we once had as kids have unfortunately, not survived over the years. Come to think of it, it wouldn’t be a very safe choice for little kids. When they get smashed I remember how hard it was for our mom to clean up those tiny bits.

Another view of Elisabeth's Christmas tree all lit up with led lights. Image by Velvet.
Elisabeth's Christmas tree in the foreground and a glimpse of her sideboard in the background. Image by Velvet for Te Esse.
Close up of Elisabeth's Christmas tree with red and beige decor hanging from it and a wooden off white rocking horse decor to the left and a toy tray with gift wrapping paper inside it. Image by Velvet for Te Esse.

Elisabeth, decorates every possible little spot with ornaments, creating vignettes. She carries the rustic styled theme all around the house for a very cohesive result. And more often than not, she even follows this theme for the lunch’s Christmas tabletop. Anyhow, under the Christmas tree, she’s adds a few wooden decor toys, Christmas cards and gift wrapping paper and more LED lights, so that it feels like there’s an ongoing process.

View of Elisabeth's fireplace with a fire going in it, and plenty of Christmas decor on the mantel creating a very cozy vignette. Led lights illuminate the fake pine garland and the ceramic white decor houses resting on either end of the mantel. Image by Velvet for Te Esse.
In the background view of Elisabeth's fireplace with a fire going and lots of Christmas decor on the mantel. In the foreground, a stack of books on a large beige velvet ottoman and a tray filled with burning Yankee scented candles.

Then, she always combines LED lights with ornaments and a fake garland on her fireplace mantel, making it look even more inviting especially with a built fire going on. But, in order to keep the clutter under control while Christmas decorating, she swaps some of her usual decor for the Christmas ones. This little trick really helps, especially when it comes to doing chores like dusting away. 😉

A large ash wooden sideboard (cottage styled) with two table lamps on either side, picture frames, decor and planters create a beautiful vignette. A black framed large mirror rests atop, decorated with a holly berry wreath and a heart in the middle.
A wreath over this large mirror adds a really warm Christmas feel to this vignette looking sideboard. Did you notice the reflection of the Christmas tree?
A close up view of two little child like figurines decor dressed in red outfits, placed a top a cluster of purple planters on Elisabeth's sideboard. Behind them, a large black framed mirror.
A wooden squirrel and two small wooden Christmas trees forming a vignette on a credenza, decorated with led lights, a fake pine garland, white stars and plenty of acorns and pine cones.
A little vignette with an organic feel to it thanks to the pines and acorns that stand out against the fake pine garland!
View of Elisabeth's pot rack with lots of Christmas decor and led lights hanging from it instead.

Another thing Elisabeth likes to decorate is her kitchen’s pot rack hanger. It really creates a festive mood in the entire room. And believe me, it really looks a lot better in real life. Also, a little pointer to note: when Elisabeth first bought her tree, she bought a fair amount of ornaments too.

A close up image of the Christmas decor hanging from a pot rack (including a toy train, hearts and lot of stars).
Close up of the decor hanging from the pot rack.

However, she’s bought a few more along these last few years and now it all looks homey without looking like a big clutter everywhere. So, it does work best if we start out with lesser ornaments and buy or make a few along the way. One thing I recommend about Christmas decorating, is that it’s best to opt for timeless decorpieces that you’d like to add to your collection, bearing in mind that you’ll be using them year in year out…

Hope you liked these images… What do you think? Do you have any family decorating rituals and traditions? Do you have a special feature that you like to decorate and make it stand out? What’s your favorite color scheme?

XO, XO

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