By now, most of you should know that Mr. Woodsy and I LOVE to decorate for the holidays. Typically, by Christmas we are exhausted from the house-wide decorating that goes on for Halloween. But since we didn’t decorate like crazy people this Halloween we are kind of decorating like crazy people for Christmas. Our home is officially decorated for Christmas! We finished over the long weekend.
Last year, I fell in love with our ornate Christmas tree we decorated. I channeled my inner-Martha and stuffed our tree full of gorgeous red and gold glitter tree-filler, glass ornaments, and ribbon. When the new Martha Stewart Christmas Decorations at The Home Depot were introduced earlier this month I went ga-ga over them. You see, Martha’s Winterberry collection is our exact color scheme I decorated with last year! I hadn’t planned to change up our color scheme this year since last year was our first year with a sophisticated “fancy” tree. I love that Martha makes it easy for anyone to decorate their home. She has three lines in this new collection: Winterberry, Arctic, and Christmas Collectibles. I was always intimidated by Christmas decorating and wanted my home to look just like Martha’s, but never knew where to start. That’s when I decided to pick a color theme last year. I think picking a color theme helps gather your organizational thoughts and keeps you guided on a clear path.
When we received this opportunity, we knew the one part of our house that lacked the holiday spirit was our front entryway. Its where all of our guest see first, and yet we’ve neglected the front room of our home since moving in 3 years ago. So, the day after we got notification of this project we spent the afternoon at The Home Depot. Both of us with shopping carts in hand and a game plan in mind. Shopping for Christmas decor is a serious work and involves some big decisions. Hence the serious look on Mr. Woodsy’s face!
A few days later we started unpacking boxes, fluffing trees, and making bows!
We also invited our neighbor over to help us decorate. She loves decorating and we often turn to one another on design advice. She refused to have her picture taken, so I asked her if I could take a photo of her hands fluffing the tree. For blogging purposes, she is like our “Wilson” from the 1990’s show Home Improvement.
We also finally compromised on a new entry way light! This was the last builder-grade light fixture we had yet to change (keep in mind we have lived in our home for over 3 years now). I didn’t have my DSLR by my side, but I did have my iPhone so I snapped a few quick photos. Bye-bye ugly light. Hello new beauty!
I wanted to add a few DIY touches of our own. I’ve never made my own subway art. I know… gasp! It seems like every blog I visit on the web has made a subway art of sorts. So I was happy to finally make one (I’ll have my tutorial up next week on how I achieved this DIY sign). I also added 6 red cardinals to our tree. A red cardinal represents my grandmother. She always said that when she died she would come back as a cardinal to watch over her family. We all love decorating with cardinals during the holidays. It makes us feel like she is a tad bit closer to us. At any given time you’ll find at least 5 red cardinals in our home.
I decorated our existing Ikea shoe rack by draping a “runner” of green burlap over the top of it. I kept the existing Pottery Barn red pillows then I added the Martha Stewart Living Winterberry 18 in. Ornament Tree in Red, Brown, Gold, and Pearl as well as the white glittery santa from her line. We used one of the Martha Stewart Living doormats in front of the shoe rack as well as a lantern and firewood. We can’t forget the other side of the shoe rack! We added the pre-lit Martha Stewart Living Winterberry 2.5 foot tree!
Here is a view of our new mirror we added to the space!
It was Mr. Woodsy’s idea to drape a strand of Martha Stewart Living Winterberry 9 ft. Red, Gold, and Brown Ornament Garland over the mirror. I instantly knew I wanted to add two of the Martha Stewart Living 19 in. Snowy Fir Wire Basket with Red Berries on either side of our new mirror. I’m all about my design being symmetrical.
I also decided to incorporate some red washi tape into my entry way. I can’t wait to share this simple washi tape project with everyone! I simply used one glue dot each on the backs of the letters to adhere it to the mirror!
I channeled my inner-Martha once again. I knew I wanted to use these gorgeous glittery pinecones (Martha Stewart Living Winterberry Golden Pinecone Ornaments (48-Set) ) in a bowl I already owned. However, these are meant to be ornaments, so I had to modify them a bit.
- As you can see from above, the gold string to hold the ornaments on the tree were everywhere in my bowl.
- I wrapped the gold string around the pinecone to hide it.
- Placed the pinecones neatly in the bowl
- Lastly, they were ready to be displayed!
- I used an upholstery needle to run a piece of Bowdabra Bow Thread through the burlap fabric, and carefully held on to one side of the thread while I slowly pulled the opposite side out of the burlap.
- I tied a loose knot on the burlap. Then attached the bow to the knotted thread.
- I cut the excess Bowdabra Bow Thread from the backs of the bow and burlap cloth, and fluffed my bow!
One of the last items we worked on was the Winterberry 17 ft. Poinsettia Berry Garland. Not gonna lie–we had some challenges with the garland. This garland is massive. It’s 17 feet and a bit heavy. We tried using command hooks but the weight and length of the garland took down the hooks in minutes. We tried using our shower curtain rod, but it wasn’t long enough for the window. Our last result was screwing the garland into the wall.
I love the garland regardless of the challenges it gave us. It makes such a grand impact to our entry way.
We spent a good week debating over whether or not to hang the garland above the door or above the window. In the end we both decided on over the window. Then, Mr. Woodsy had this brillant idea. Buy some “fake” snow and place the reindeer and pinecones above creating a nice setting. I loved the idea and we ran with it!
I will admit that the reindeer scene above the door is one of my favorite elements of the entire hall! Its hidden yet impactful, and I love that not only can we enjoy it inside but our neighbors outside can see it!
Take a look at our amazing transformation…
Thanks to Martha Stewart and The Home Depot our entry hall finally looks lived in and oh-so festive for the holiday season! Our front entryway is glamourous now and gives our guest a warm holiday welcome! As you can tell, we love adding textured and natural elements into our Christmas decorating. I love using burlap during this time of year and adding other natural elements like pine cones!
Here are a few photos from our front entry hall all decked out at night.
You can’t forget milk and cookies for Santa!
Product shown in this post:
- Martha Stewart Living Winterberry Golden Pinecone Ornaments (48-Set)
- Martha Stewart Living 6.5 ft. Pre-Lit Potted Artificial Christmas Tree with Clear Lights
- Martha Stewart Living Winterberry 18 in. Ornament Tree in Red, Brown, Gold, and Pearl
- Martha Stewart Living Winterberry 13 in. Reindeer
- Martha Stewart Living 10 in. Winterberry Feeding Reindeer
- Martha Stewart Living 19 in. Snowy Fir Wire Basket with Red Berries
- Martha Stewart Living Winterberry 9 ft. Red, Gold, and Brown Ornament Garland
- Martha Stewart Living 24 in. Pre-Lit LED Artificial Red Wreath with Clear Lights
- Martha Stewart Living Winterberry 17 ft. Poinsettia Berry Garland
- Martha Stewart Living Indoor mats
- Martha Stewart Living Winterberry 2.5 ft Pre-Lit Potted Artificial Tree with Clear Lights
- Martha Stewart Living Mirror
Disclaimer: We received various Martha Stewart Living Holiday Decorations to decorate and were compensated for our work. All opinions are our own and do not reflect the companies mentioned above.
