Welcome to an Even Cozier Christmas in the Suburbs

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In this post: Welcome to our “even cozier Christmas in the suburbs”! I say even cozier because each year, I try to make our home feel a little warmer and more layered than the Christmas before. And this year, I think it’s the coziest it’s ever been!

I am a huge Christmas person. I adore everything about the season. The lights, the trees, the movies, the nostalgia, the giving, and of course, celebrating baby Jesus. It’s just such a magical time of year. And each year, I love to make our home cozier than the year before.

Welcome to Home Made Lovely!

If you’re coming from Jen at Rambling Renovators, or any of the other tours hosted by my friend Krista at The Happy Housie, welcome to Home Made Lovely!

I’m Shannon Acheson.

I started Home Made Lovely about 9 years ago as a DIY blog with my husband, Dean. (Back then it was called AKA Design.)

Now Home Made Lovely is so much more…we still do DIYs, of course. But now I mostly teach women like you how to decorate their homes through my Decorating Uncomplicated course. I also share hospitality and entertaining ideas and talk about how to declutter and organize here on the blog. I’m working on a decluttering program to be ready to rock your New Year 2020. I also wrote an “everything home” book which is coming out in fall 2020! (I cannot wait to tell you more about that!)

Our Christmas Main Floor and My Decor Style/Colors

This cozier Christmas tour focuses on our main floor: a bit of the entry, the dining room, living room and kitchen. (I didn’t really decorate the laundry room and I didn’t photograph the powder room, even though it’s decorated too.)

My personal decorating style is modern farmhouse pieces grounded with plenty of neutrals.

I always change out accents with the seasons, sometimes as the mood strikes. In the summer, we had a lovely sage green. In the fall, we had some burnt orange. And now, of course, we have red with a little natural greenery.

By keeping our base colors neutral – white, off-white, wood and black – it’s really easy to just swap out throw pillow covers, and other small decor to add those seasonal colors.

This year, I love it all even more because after the holidays last year we swapped out our Nordvalla Grey sectional cover for the Nordvalla Dark Beige covers. Now our Ikea Ektorp sectional sofa is so dreamy and blends so well with our Wayfair chairs, the shag rug, the new shiplap and barn beam fireplace mantel and our dining room’s tufted chairs.

I also opted to keep the touches of red and green limited mainly to red berries and natural (faux) greenery, instead of covering the couch in colored pillows, like I have in Christmas’ past. I’m finding this is helping to visually calm the space and balance out the really full Christmas tree – which I LOVE!

Let’s Take the Cozier Christmas Tour, Shall We?

Christmas Entry and Stairwell

Normally, I’d actually be in the welcome photo, opening the front door for you. But the day I shot these photos, we were hosting our annual Christmas party in the evening, so I was still in my pajamas. So, I thought I’d save us both that embarrassment, and just show you the open front door! #truth #lol

Our double front doors open onto a sunken entry. This is actually one of my favorite features of the this house: because it’s a step down to the entry, the dirt stays contained and doesn’t spread all over the house!

In different seasons, we’ve had a console table or a bench in the space. Right now, the console table is here because we had to make room for the tree in the living room. Which meant we played musical furniture – the dresser than is normally in the living room is in the dining room, the bench that’s normally in the entry is in the dining room and the console table that’s normally in the dining room is in the entry.

The entry is open to the dining room and the stairwell.

One day we will change out the laminate flooring and maybe do something with the banister. But I really don’t mind it, since it’s really a decent neutral wood color with no weird curls or embellishments. It also makes a great base for hanging holiday garlands on.

Entry & Stairwell Source List:

Exterior Doors Paint Color – Sherwin Williams Tricorn Black
Interior Doors Paint Color – Valspar Gallery Grey
Wall Color – Sherwin Williams Eider White
Trim Paint Color – Sherwin Williams Pure White
Gold Framed Paintings – The Brick
Console Table – DIY, no tutorial, sorry!
Lamps on Console Table – Lowe’s
Entry Light Fixture – Amazon or Wayfair
Oversized Schoolhouse Lights – Wayfair
Scale – Amazon
Numbered Baskets – Michaels
Coat Tree – Ikea
Let’s Stay Home Sign – Splinters and Grace Designs
Scroll Art – no longer available
Oversized Art Prints – Navage Patch

Dining Room

Another favorite space of mine in this house is the dining room. We created the coffered ceiling and installed the light fixture shortly after we moved here a few years ago.

Then we worked with The Brick to furnish the space. A few pieces aren’t available there anymore, but I’ve linked very similar pieces whenever possible below.

For more of our dining room this season, check out this post.

If you keep walking through the dining room, you will enter the back of our house. This is where the kitchen and living room are. It’s also my MOST favorite part of the house.

Dining Room Source List:

Wall Paint Color – Sherwin Williams Eider White
Trim and Coffered Ceiling Paint Color – Sherwin Williams Pure White
Light Fixture – Amazon or Wayfair
Table – The Brick
Cabinets – The Brick
Tufted Chairs – The Brick, similar here
Pew Bench – The Brick
White Dresser – thrifted and repainted
Cake Stand – similar here
Greenery – Decors Veronneau
Fulton St. Oversized Clock – Wayfair
Skis – Micheals
Santa Pillow – Micheals
Mini Christmas Trees with Merry Christmas – Homesense

Cozier Christmas Kitchen

When we were looking at houses, before buying this one, Dean and I had walked through a few model homes. There was this one – it was way out of our price range – that had the most stunning open concept main floor layout with a ginormous island in the kitchen. I absolutely loved it. We even talked about how we could design our old house with that same sort of layout, but it would have required a LOT of work to make it similar. So, when we finally saw this house, I just KNEW it was a perfect candidate for creating that long island, open space.

The kitchen was already open to the living room and we only needed to reno the space a bit. Which we did in the spring of 2017. (You can see that project reveal and get all the details here.)

The kitchen gets SO much use daily, since I work from home and the kids are homeschooled. Plus it’s always the gathering place during parties and get togethers. (NO joke people actually stood in the kitchen all night at our party this past weekend!)

Kitchen Source List:

Paint Color – Sherwin Williams Eider White
Shiplap Backsplash – DIY, tutorial here
Counters – Walnut Butcher Block – Lumber Liquidators
Samsung Range
Samsung Dishwasher
Samsung Fridge
Range Hood Cover – DIY here
Open Shelves – DIY (similar brackets here)
Gather Sign – similar here
Pepsi Crate – antique
Spice Rack Shelves – DIY here
Mug Rack – Amazon
Magnetic Knife Holder – Amazon
Magnolia Wreath – DIY here
Large Clock – Micheals
Bar Stools – Wayfair
Track Light – Build.com, no longer available
Fresh Baked Pies Sign – World Market
Faucet – Wayfair

Living Room

Along with the kitchen – which is where my office is and where I cook and clean a lot – I spend the most time in the living room. It’s just so cozy!

Decorating your tree? Here’s how to decorate a Christmas tree the easy way!

And if you follow me on Instagram, you may have noticed by the angle of many of my stories that that corner of the sectional is my absolute favorite place to curl up and rest. Often with the family and with Jackson, our doggie.

Like I mentioned, we’ve spent some time making this space even cozier in the last year. With the change of the slipcovers, replacing a couple of chairs, adding a new rug and building a new coffee table. Now it’s much more like the vision I’ve had in my head for the room.

Originally, we were hoping to put this cabinet from our old house in the dining room. But with the tray ceiling that was already in there, it was just a touch too tall. So here it lives. Lol.

Living Room Source List:

Wall Color – Sherwin Williams Eider White
Black Shiplap – DIY here, Paint Color Sherwin Williams Black Magic
Sectional – Ikea Ektorp with Nordvalla Grey Covers
Rug – Amazon
Tufted Chairs – Wayfair
Shiplap and Barn Beam Fireplace – DIY here
Olive Topiaries – Wayfair
Pine Cone Garland – Decors Veronneau
Curtains – DIY here
Bamboo Blinds – Amazon
Chunky Knit Blankets – similar here
Pouf Ottomans – Amazon
Bug with Tree Pillow – Craftberry Bush
Other Red Pillow – Micheals
Neutral Throw Pillows – here
Coffee Table – DIY here
Red Christmas Pickup Truck – TSC Stores, similar here though
Nested Side Tables – Bouclair
Floor Lamp – Wayfair
Sofa Table Lamps – Birch Lane, no longer available
Sofa Table – DIY, no tutorial
Blanket Ladder – DIY here
Wall Sconces – Lamps Plus
Bookcase – Wayfair
Christmas tree and other holiday decor – collected over time from Amazon, Wayfair, Micheals, Homesense, Winners, and gifts.