Using my vintage, farmhouse and retro Christmas decor to decorate my home this holiday season.
It seems like in the world of blogs you need to constantly outdo yourself each year for Christmas decor. The wreaths get fancier, the trees get bigger, the packages under the tree get more elaborate (you know those are empty boxes that someone spent a ridiculous amount of time wrapping just for you, right?).
The decor gets more and more “staged” looking. And less and less like a real person lives there.
Believe me, no one is going to have a sip of that hot cocoa with a snowflake shaped marshmallow floating in it while sitting on that perfectly decorated bench with that “casually” thrown plaid comforter wrapped around their legs.
So this year, whenever I had the urge to add one more thing into my holiday decor routine, I would step back and ask myself “Am I doing this for me and my family to enjoy? Or am I doing this because it might make a nice photo opp for the blog”.
If it was the latter, then I just dropped the glue gun and stepped back into realityville.
I prefer to know that if one of you knocked on my door tomorrow you would see the exact same scene I am showing you today, give or take a few dog toys on the carpet and Coke cans on the counter.
I am what I am, as Popeye would say.
So here’s my . . .
Vintage, Farmhouse, Retro Kind Of Holiday Home Tour:
I bought this snowman mug at a local vintage/craft/everything store and he’s one of my favorite things. Sure, he’s gotten a little discolored and worn over the ages, but haven’t we all?
Santa kicked the turkey out and has taken over the cupcake stand.
Here’s a close up of the Gurley candle choir people I scored this year. Well, two out of three, the third guy was too shy for a close up.
These were my mom’s NOEL candle holders. I think they’re either Lefton or Napcoware??? But they’re always the first thing I pull out of the Christmas bins each year.
This is just a print I bought at a gift shop and it’s hung from a pant hanger. Odd, since I’m pretty sure Santa isn’t wearing pants here.
Santa’s multiplying.
I love that I have Santa mugs I can actually drink out of this year. I was always afraid of getting lead poisoning, diphtheria or something out of the vintage ones.
I just love my white tree with my mom’s vintage Shiny Brites on it! There’s nothing like the whiteness to bring out the colors of the Shiny Brites.
I was sort of mixing styles by throwing the tree in the bushel basket though, but I think it looks pretty good in there!
I repurposed the throw I had shown you on my front porch post into a table runner here in the dining room. (So I guess that’s one thing that won’t look quite the same if you come knocking on my door).
And my plaid Nesco picnic basket from The Country Living Fair. You gotta love plaid!
OK, go forth and decorate, eat cookies and be merry!
Enjoy those holidays before they’re gone and there’s just the dead of winter to look forward to! I think it’s 2 degrees out as I’m writing this, so it’s coming quickly.
Some other holiday posts you may enjoy:
A Vintage Eclectic Holiday Home Tour (2015)
Buying Vintage Christmas Decor At The Stores
Anita
Oh my goodness, you have the most awesome collection of Christmas, so I’ll take your tour any day! I love the ornaments, and all the touches of plaid.
I hear ya on the bigger and better. It gets kind of crazy, and I am always out in left field with no one else, ha.
terry
love,love love it
Diane
Just beautiful, Pam! So very homey and welcoming! Love it all! Merry Christmas to you and yours!
Pam
Thank you for showing a “real” house decorated for Christmas. I follow a few blogs (maybe too many) but honestly when they show their decorated homes I don’t even look any more. It is all too staged and not reality, at least not mine.
Linda
My sentiments exactly!!! Almost everything you see on a blog is over-the-top/over-done/staged. And why does one’s Christmas decorating have to revolve around a “theme”??? Heaven forbid if you use the same “theme” 2 years in a row. So-oooooo glad to know that there are plain, old folks (like me) who are just about “over” it. LOVE your style, blog and (most of all) your attitude. Merry Christmas!
Kris @ Junk Chic Cottage
Beautiful Pam. I love your “real” Christmas decor tour. Cozy, festive and fun. Enjoy the holidays. Merry Christmas.
Hugs,
Kris
Becky
Thanks for sharing your home with us. Your vintage decorations conjured up many memories from my childhood…what a wonderful gift!
Kirby
I dialed it waaaaay back this year, and most of my non-blogging friends have done the same. I think it’s our age that makes us want to just chill and not get too crazy. I figure I’m over halfway to death…do I really want to spend the last days of Christmas break schlepping stuff up to the attic??
Bonnie
OK, I will admit I went looking for the dog butt. 🙂 Love the homey, REAL feel of these photos!
Pamela Groppe
Ha ha, Bonnie, so did I. 😀
Nicolyn
I’m right there with you! I blog about real life, and on Monday I will also debut my real home tour. No one actually comes to my home so I do all the decor for me, and me alone. If I like it it, it’s good enough! Who cares about carrying a specific style, or even having to name it. If you surround yourself with the things you love, it’s always in style! This year I loved getting out all of my vintage decor and creating vignettes all over my house. So much fun!
Melanie
I love the content and meaning of your post! I start feeling a bit inadequate after looking at all of the beautiful blog pictures of everyone’s decorations. I love your decor the vintage pieces make me think of my childhood especially those candles! What I would give to have some of those old decorations for my own home! Thank you for taking a step back. I’m finding myself staying away from some of the perfect pictures because I just can’t do it and I only have so much time and the perfect look is not me! Thank you!
Jan
Love all your Christmas goodness!!
That white tree reminds me of my grandmothers little white tree on a table in the corner of her living room. So many wonderful memories!!
New decorations are nice, but, vintage goodies rock!!
Vickie
Thank you so much for this post Pam! Your home is decorated with love without being over the top and that’s what makes it warm and cozy and inviting. Of course I love all your vintage treasures sprinkled throughout and you might find yourself missing a few if I stopped by for hot cocoa. That snowman mug had me at hello. :o)
At the beginning of the Christmas holiday season (Thanksgiving!), I visited all the grand tours sponsored by the big online shopping sites until they all started looking alike to me. At first I wondered why I even wasted my time showing my working class home. But then along came the second wave of home tours and I realized that most of us decorate with what we already have, plus or minus a few new trinkets, and all was right with the world again. Amen.
Pam
While I was a tad disappointed to not see the dog butt, I loved your reality based Christmas home tour. Your home looks warm and inviting. Here’s hoping you’re at the leading edge of a new trend in the world of blogs!
Emilou
Good morning Pam, thank you for your home tour. So happy to see someone who has COLOR at Christmas… I too have been gifted with family Shiny Brite glass ornaments and they really show up on your white tree. (Maybe I will flock an old artificial tree I have.) I too decorate with what I love, year after year after year. Thanks again for sharing. Merry Christmas with blessings and smile, Emilou ?
Cindy
Pam, thank you for saying like it is and I never say. I decorate the way we really live. Having MS I don’ t have the ability to stage and wouldn’t want to, this blog is about my life and love of decorating . I often drag my feet to post at times because things aren’t perfect. You have put me at ease, thank you
Cindy
Cindy
I forgot to mention I love your décor Especially your snowman mugs and NOEL candle holders that were your mom
Cindy
Linda @ Itsy Bits And Pieces
I love your Christmas decor, Pam! That snowman mug is so cute! I just shared decorating snippets this year, too…it’s how I decorated this year. I really love your Shiny Brites tree!
Patty Soriano
Pam, I’m thinking that some of the other blog authors have a lot more time on their hands than I do. I can never make my home look like theirs. Yours seems very realistic and you share with me the love of vintage decorations. Seeing your Santa mugs makes me wish I had bought the one I saw the other day at the thrift shop. Well, guess I’d better get off my hiney and get some of the decorations out of the bins and onto the tree and shelves! Have a lovely Christmas and Blessings for the new year ahead!
Susie
I really enjoyed seeing your real-life home decor!! Brought back memories as my big family decorated with some of the same things when I was a little girl!
I hoped to see your corner fireplace since I have the same situation!!
Rebecca
Right on board with everyone else! Love all the vintage mixed in with the new. I too would love those little choir guys. Remember those from my childhood home. I think some of these bloggers have to remember that we all have “real” lives. My house is my home and that means feet up, coffee mug by my side and there would probably be two dogs in any photos. Pam, you are my kind of gal!
FLORENCE L SALMER
Thank God for a reality tour! If I see one more perfectly decorated magazine spread, it’ll be the death of me!!!!
Yours looks homey and attractive and it’s my kind of decorating!
Mary W Ferguson
Your decorations are great. I don’t decorate for a photo shoot either, I live in my home. I really didn’t purchase much this year only three items that jumped into my cart and they were 70% off, or I wouldn’t have bought them.
I also have two dogs that always want to be in the post.
Well today is my day to bake, so have a wonderful Christmas.
Mary
chris aka monkey
pam keeping it real baby, that’s why I love your blog and I too have memories of things you have love it xx
Bonnie Schulte
I really enjoyed your tour of Christmas “vintage”. Brings back so many memories. I am so happy you had “pin it” on your photos. I put most of them on my pinterest board “Christmas once upon a time” Thank you so much for allowing me to do that…Merry Christmas to you and your family!
Susie
I loved seeing all of your pretty Christmas Decorations. In the mid 1960’s my Mom had a white tree very similar to yours, so your post brought many memories back for me. It was fun seeing your vintage decorations. I could remember seeing decorations just like them at either friends houses when I was a kid, or my Mom had them at our house. It was refreshing to see real life Christmas decorating.
Laurie @Vin'yet Etc
Pam, I love the way you write, so refreshing. You would never find a snowflake marshmallow in my cocoa either. Haha, our home is as real and as simple as we are… There is just no other way around it. Now onto the goodies, I would love to come play in your house your vintage treasures are so phenomenal! Merry Christmas friend! xo
Fonda Rush
I appreciate “honest”, not staged. Happiness to you and your family…Fonda
Beth
Pam just love all of this! Love all the vintage in your real home. Your down to earth attitude is so refreshing and honestly I’ve stopped looking at those home tours, they are just too perfect and staged (imo). Merry Christmas to you and your family
Mary (Cottage B at Home ~ Vintage Country Living)
Thank you for your honesty, Pam!! I’ve been feeling the same way this holiday season and have also scaled back, in my decorating, for sure, but more importantly, in where I’m choosing to put my energy this year. I guess it’s a matter of priorities, and as much as I love the way the beautifully styled homes look at Christmastime, the reality of achieving that look and keeping everything on trend and up to date at all times is just not feasible for most of us. I love your outlook on keeping it real, using well-loved vintage items, and not being over the top!!
Cheers & Merry Christmas to you and yours!
Emily of www.elevengables.com
Pam, I absolutely enjoyed your tour! Thank you for linking up to Eleven Gables party! I agree with your thought process this year. Why am I doing this? That is why my kitchen and keeping room didn’t get photographed this year. We are living here and I am keeping this area just for my family. Merry Christmas to you and Yours! xox
taryterre
LOVE everything. GREAT photos to capture the mood of each piece and how it fits into your decor.
Deanna Rabe
Pam, I completely agree! I like your vintage decor that your family loves and is Christmas to you! So many of the home tours have decor that looks exactly the same! I am so tired of neutral Christmas decor!
We like red and plaid around here!
Molly
Thanks for sharing your photos. Your home reflects the warmth and care you invest in furnishings and friends. So many ‘new’ items used as decor lack the character of those gems from the past.
Ariel
love love love the vintage and MCM touches! Classic!
Sarah
I needed to hear this today. This year more than others I am asking myself, is this for me and my family or just for the blog? I am trying to post and share things that I am doing in real life for my family, not just staged posts. And I think we are all a little happier for it. Your home is beautiful and cozy and perfect for Christmas.
Also, I love your Popeye line, my husband (and now my kids) say that all the time.
Wishing you a very Merry Christmas!
Penny at Enjoying The Simple Things
I am with you. Over the last few years I have slowed down. I actually recently changed my blog name to reflect it. Your home is lovely and I adore your white tree.
Dianntha
Thank you so much for sharing your real-life home. I look at some of the home tours and I am baffled as to how they actually live there. Love your vintage style.
Jackie
Your decor for the season appeals to me! Love the vintage, love the scaled back.
I enjoy those over the top decorating blogs, too – but I don’t live that way.
Gay Correll
Your decorating style is so appealing when you put “this and that” together. It is obvious that you love what you do, but that you’re not out to impress, just to decorate with love and panache. Yes, perhaps I was trying to impress with that last word…but anyway, it is always refreshing to see your posts! Before I forget–I have to tell you something that I found, (but did not buy, alas) and thought of you right away. Should there be a next time, I AM buying it, stalking you, and sending it to you. What, you are thinking, what could it possibly be? Well, I’ll tell you: it was the CUTEST little plaid thermos AVON perfume (or probably) aftershave bottle!! I have seen my fair share of Avon bottles, but never this…
Pam
I didn’t even know they existed!!! How fun!
Lorraine
Thank you for being real. Your blog is one I always look at over and over. Thanks for decorating like most of us envision a home to be. Love your sense of humor. Merry Christmas to you and your family.
jean
Pam,
I just love the vintage prints you found. I hope I can get them to print the right way. I love all your décor (Christmas and furniture) in your house. I love vintage. You do such a good job and have great talent. Thanks for sharing and Merry Christmas.
jean
Bev Regoulinsky
Back about 7/8 years ago, I finally broke down and bought a new pre lit Christmas tree I loved from Hobby lobby. I needed to get rid of the old one that I had to put together (!) And not thinking ahead I also got rid of the old ornaments I had from many years back (Shiny Brights !) ☹️ every time I see them now on your pages and pictures I mentally kick my self every time as I had such a collection of bright colorable ones. The only thing that makes me feel better is the fact that I hope someone is enjoying them and using them on their pretty tree every year!! 🎄
Pam Kessler
Aw, I feel for you. I can just imagine how excited that someone else was when they found those ornaments at the thrift store though! You brought joy to someone’s life!
Lola
I just found your blog today and it has brought a huge smile to my face!! I love all your vintage and retro decorations! I’m a huge history lover and have always been drawn to anything old and nostalgic. And it’s so refreshing to read that you are photographing for your enjoyment and not for achieving “the perfect” look which is so unrealistic. I have always lived by this as well. Decorate for your own enjoyment, not to keep up with everyone else and what is the latest trend. Thanks so much for the tour!