Our Favorite Living Rooms Decorated For Christmas

Right-Size Holiday Décor

When decorating for Christmas, remember to keep your space proportional: If you have a large room with vaulted ceilings, you'll need a tree that will fill the space appropriately. Here, a lush pine is decked with splashes of hot pink, vibrant blue, and apple green—a nod to the room's existing color palette.

Keep It Simple

Don't underestimate the power of a lush boxwood garland paired with gold accents, such as these elegant reindeer candlesticks. For a refined look, make sure that your garland is long enough to gracefully sweep the floor on either side of the mantel. Four Christmas stockings complete the merry arrangement.

Dress Up Overlooked Spaces

No need to go big to make a statement: Here, mini woven wreaths affixed with simple sprigs of magnolia and pine dress up traditionally overlooked wall space. A few stems of colorful flowers help brighten up one corner of the room. In a room with lots of pattern mixing, simple greenery keeps the room festive without overwhelming.

Add Pops of Christmas Color

Dress up an all-white space with an oversize magnolia garland (hung to frame the whole fireplace area, rather than just the hearth), bright red accents, and a row of adorable mini trees. Fresh green apples tucked across the mantel add pops of seasonal color without breaking the bank. Restricting the palette to red and green in the same tones ensures all the various components work together in a streamlined way.

Honor Existing Décor

Rustic-chic style shines in this simple space, where oversized red string lights illuminate a monochromatic color scheme of iridescent and silver ornaments on the tree. Festive pops of red on the armchair and mantel liven up the room's ­­neutral décor. Beautifully gift-wrapped presents offer additional opportunities to introduce color, while neutral stockings keep with the rustic theme.

Make Merry Like a Minimalist

Streamline your space by using Christmas décor in a limited color scheme. Here, a monochromatic tree paired with spare sprigs of pine across the mantel keep this modern space feeling glamorous, rather than kitschy. In a neutral room, decorations stand on their own without the need to be too over-the-top.

Strike a Balance

With its matching tufted sofas and corresponding vases filled with woody holly and boxwood branches, this rustic space proves that perfect symmetry doesn't have to be fussy. Dressing up one focal point in the room can have more impact that lots of distractions here and there.

See the rest of this 2,000 square foot Georgia cottage decorated for Christmas here.

Pick a Complementary Palette

Consider a streamlined color palette this season. This formal living room—already dominated by a stunning gold sofa and bright green silk curtains—benefits from a simple all-gold selection of ornaments in varying shapes, sizes, and sheens. A gilded planter box serves as a chic tree base.

Deck the Halls With Seasonal Fruit

Holiday party guests will be hungry to steal this look when you make fruit the star of your mantel decorations. Here, colorful marbled apples and bright lemons are tucked amid cuttings of magnolia, pine, and leafy juniper sprigs. To add some spice, turn you citrus fruits into pomanders, which are beautiful and smell like the holidays.

Nod to Mother Nature

This moss- and dried foliage-covered mantel, flanked by mossy green wreaths, adds festive Christmas warmth without overwhelming the room's existing rustic décor. Stockings hung on the hearth always invokes a homey feel. Tip: Artificial moss is easy to find at most craft stores, but properly dried and preserved natural moss can also be reused year after year. ­­

Add Variety to Foliage Displays

Take existing features and highlight what's there. We love the effortlessly elegant look of this asymmetrical juniper, eucalyptus, and magnolia mantel arrangement, as well as the way the homeowners used their oversized, statement-piece antlers to display a simple wreath. Fragrant juniper and eucalyptus will also make the room smell like Christmas.

Select Color with Care

Though red and green are not to be found in this living room's existing color scheme, rusty red and burnished gold ornaments paired with an all-brown magnolia wreath (featuring just the backside of the leaves) still look complementary next to the neutral plum and cream palette.

Add Some Glitz

Oversized gold pinecones flank this symmetrical mantel arrangement, while pops of red atop the mantel add vibrancy to the space. Whether you forage them yourself or pick them up at the craft store, there's so many ways to get creative with pinecones for the holidays. From glittery to rustic, explore these pinecone Christmas decoration ideas for inspiration.

Go Bright and Bold

Energetic color and pattern make the boldest statement in this home's living room, and the Christmas tree follows suit. Decked in oversized white string lights, iridescent baubles, and simple craft paper ornaments, this verdant pine offers a modern take on the traditional holiday tree. Presents adorned with gold and purple trimmings—echoing the room's splashy color scheme—help the space feel cohesive.

Play Up Strong Architecture

Draw the eye towards high ceilings and plentiful natural lighting with well-placed Christmas wreathes, as in this neutral living space. If you don't want to fuss with a giant holiday tree, consider a less-obtrusive tabletop version, which can be dressed with battery-powered string lights and miniature ornaments. For more creative alternatives to a full-size Christmas tree, explore these out-of-the box tree ideas.

Strive for Easy Elegance

This no-fuss space is decked with foraged foliage and hints of sparkle, from the mantel's simple bead garland to the coffee table's bowl of metallic ornaments. An oversized arrangement of cut pine stems in the window feels uncomplicated and elegant. ­­­­­­­­­­It only takes a few details to make a living room Christmasy, curate accordingly.

Create Nostalgic Appeal

And old-school red beaded garland lends vintage charm to this festive Christmas tree, particularly when paired with simple silver, white, and iridescent ornaments. Tip: If you can't find a tree skirt you can live with, consider using a bright plaid throw blanket instead. For more traditional Christmas decorations, check these popular ideas, from mistletoe kissing balls to burlap gift wrap.

Incorporate Coastal Charm

If coastal chic is more your style, don't force yourself into a traditional red and green Christmas palette. This all-white mantel offers a healthy dose of holiday spirit with pale pinecones, pops of sea glass-blue, and ­­elegant palm fronds scattered throughout. Mantels are usually center of attraction in most living rooms, here's our 20 best ideas for decorating them for Christmas.

Rethink Ribbon

Who says ribbon has to be wrapped around the tree? Here, cute ribbon bows trim the branches of this living room's Christmas tree, while masculine chocolate brown-wrapped gifts keep the room from feeling to frilly. Add bows to punctuate your trees, garlands, and wreaths. Want to learn how to make a beautiful bow with ribbon? This step-by-step tutorial walks you through it.

Use Art as Inspiration

If statement artwork is the focal point of your living room, consider building your holiday décor around it. Here, the Christmas tree is decorated to coordinate with the room's existing oversized abstract painting, helping the room retain its modern, cohesive look. The beauty of Christmas trees are that they allow us express our personal style, from modern to traditional. Here's more inspiration on how to style the tree of your dreams.

Delight in Festive Details

Though this room's mantel is flush with the wall, the homeowner affixed a lush garland across the top, adding festive color and dimension to the space. ­­This living room also pays special attention to traditionally overlooked spaces, with a sprig of magnolia in the circular window as well as a simple pine garland draped across the dining banquette. There's nothing more Christmasy than fresh greenery, here's more ways to use it in every room of your house.

Have Fun With Color

Purple, yellow, orange, blue, and green—why not? If you have an incredibly vibrant-colored living room like this one, why not continue with the theme? The white flocked tree serves as a neutral canvas to colorful ornaments that pop. It would be impossible not to catch some Christmas cheer when walking into this festive living room.

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Add the Scent of Christmas

Infuse your living room with the scent of Christmas by using fresh greenery—but try a garland, wreath, centerpiece, or swag instead of a whole tree, which is a lot more work to maintain. Explore these eight kinds of holiday greenery, seasonally available at garden centers, to dress up your living room. In this Texas home, a wild garland and modern painting balance the surrounding traditional pieces in this formal living room.

Invent Your Own Holiday Palette

Caroline Harper Knapp, of the lifestyle blog House of Harper, mixes her home's blue hues carried throughout her house into her Christmas palette. Blue ribbon, in tones picked up in her home's color scheme, gets woven into her Christmas tree and tied around traditional green and red gift wrapped presents. Here blue looks festive without looking out of place.

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Play With What's There

If you have a favorite piece that stands out in your living room, make it even more of a feature by adorning it with holiday touches, whether baubles, greenery, or bows. You can even be a little cheeky. Not only is the mantlepiece draped with a fresh garland, but the Barbary ram gets his own Christmas crown.

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Leverage Your Favorite Colors

Connect your Christmas theme to your home's existing color palette, it look will look both seamless and effortless. This Charleston couple's jewel-toned home decor gets boosted by their holiday decorations—sapphire, aquamarine, amber baubles and gift wrapping—in the same palette.

Personalize Your Tree

Scale your Christmas tree to your room to make a statement. Monica Lavin, founder of the lifestyle blog Lavin Label, finds the tallest tree they can find to fit her double-parlor living room. The tree is then decorated with a collection of ornaments that are also family mementos. Ribbon, in two dominant colors woven through the tree, tie it all together.

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Make It Meaningful

Celebrate family with personalized decorations. Heirlooms, made by family members, create a deep connection to the holidays. These needlepoint stockings sewn by family can be passed on to future generations along with Christmas memories.

Highlight Artwork

Accent artwork and furniture pieces with greenery. Scouring your space for everyday items for opportunities to add some holiday flair can make your living room both festive and fragrant. Pick up greenery at your local garden center and further embellish boughs with festive details like ribbon, baubles, and pinecones.

Create a Main Attraction

This sizable Christmas tree flanks the fireplace and sparkles in the corner, anchoring interior designer Andrew Howard's blue and ivory living room. A mixture of metallic balls hanging on the branches creates a shimmering attraction. Otherwise, the holiday decor is simple and natural—red peonies, red amaryllis, evergreen, and magnolia greenery—making the spectacular tree the star.

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Balance Simple With Detailed

Simpler Christmas decorations are warranted against more detailed backdrops. Here a living room mantle is covered in a night-sky blue, crescent-patterned tile. An unadorned magnolia garland sets the mantle up without clashing.

Go Natural and Neutral

You can still create a festive space without over-the-top Christmas bling. This New Orleans home overlooks Audubon Park with views of ancient live oak trees, so homeowner Cece Calhoun chose to bring the outside in with unadorned greenery for a more seamless experience. Fragrant cedar garlands frame the living room's stunning architecture punching up this neutral living room with traditional green of the holidays.

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Cast Monochromatic Drama

This 12-foot Christmas tree exudes understated drama decorated in tones that blend with the room's neutral surroundings. Gold, pink, and rose gold ornaments and winding gold ribbon trim this Fraser fir. The monochrome look glows and is just as festive as traditional red, green, and white Christmas color schemes.

Mind a Mirror's Extra Impact

The large mirror in this space not only magnifies the preserved boxwood wreath hanging on it with green silk ribbon, it also reflects the dazzling tree across the room. The same gold ribbon woven through the Christmas tree is wrapped around the bird of paradise plant's pot.
Tip: Preserved boxwood provides the look of fresh greenery but it is coated in glycerin, lasting and looking new for several years.

Add Some Zest

Citrus fruit is another creative way to add natural components to your holiday decor. Homeowner Natasha Lawler, of Charlottesville, Virginia, uses a cheery yellow and blue palette for her citrus-themed Christmas decorations with lemons, baubles, and ribbon trimmings. Yellow and blue pattern mixing, from the tree skirt to the gift wrapping, works well since it's all part of the same color palette. For more ways to add citrus to your Christmas decor, browse our favorite ideas.

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Mix Understated With Formal

Formal living rooms don't need a lot of dressing up, that's why understated holiday decor syncs instead of competes in this refined space. Christmas decor is curated with wreaths, a poinsettia, a mantlepiece flower arrangement, and neutral stockings. Red striped ribbon adds festive charm.