WTI loves the holidays! Mom and I both like to give the fall festivities their due and then, the weekend after Thanksgiving, we go into Christmas decorating mode in our homes. Charlotte Magazine did a lovely recap of some of our favorite holiday traditions in their November issue, available here.

Here are a few more of our “how-to” tips and images of WTI at home during the holidays, centered around how to functionally incorporate our children and their treasures without sacrificing an ounce of form. 

Collection Themes

Anything from Christmas villages to antique ornaments or nutcrackers are fun to collect and display. Personal collections bring a sense of nostalgia to family gatherings, as well as a special warmth to your holiday décor. We suggest that rather than scattering the items in a collection throughout the house, they be grouped together for an eye-catching display in one of the main gathering spaces. For a truly festive feel, layer greenery on a table or shelf and nestle the collection among the branches

Incorporating Kids’ Décor

You don’t have to sacrifice cohesion in your holiday décor to make the kids feel part of the celebration. The key is layering in their creations and collections along with classic, sophisticated, traditional elements (whether that’s multiple trees throughout the home or balancing the mix on one larger as we do).

Repetition is important with children’s décor, as well. Keep like with like for a more impactful and cohesive effect. Build a display around their collections. They’ll feel delighted and proud to have their holiday items featured in the home, even if it’s on the second floor or somewhere in their room. If you have more than one collection to display, you can put them in different rooms. That way, you give each a special spot without overloading any one room with the kids’ décor. In our family, the collections are snow globes for my daughter and nutcrackers for my son. They get so excited to pull their collections out each year! We display one collection on the den built-ins and the other on our entry table. I take away most of my everyday décor and layer in greenery before displaying the holiday collections.

The power of Greenery

Utilize as much greenery as possible; it goes a long way. We love to repeat wreaths in various sizes from the front door to the back of the house. Dress them up with ribbon and/or contrast color accents from fruits to foliage stems; fresh, faux, dried or otherwise. Choose one main color to accent with and repeat it in varying shades (from deep to pale) throughout the space OR choose a palette of 2-3 colors.

Mix it up

Remember, you don’t have to stick with traditional holiday colors. It’s a sweet, southern surprise to use non-traditional, unexpected colors, which has the added benefit of freeing you up to pick something that complements your interiors. We often use navy and sky blue, and recently, we’ve had fun playing with pinks and reds together, as seen here. Whatever color theme you choose, repeat it on your tree and in your wreath or garland. We like to purchase patterned decorative tapes and trims by the yard (Schumacher and Scalamandre are our favorite resources) as well as solid velvets and satins in varied shades. Get the most bang for your buck by reserving the decorative trim for your tree and front entry. Use the satin and velvet ribbons in complementary colors to hang wreaths and to adorn presents so everything flows cohesively. Mix solids with patterns; we typically go plaid or geometric but modern florals are making a big comeback. This creates a custom, curated look and keeps things interesting without looking overly busy. You can even pick a coordinating custom fabric (or buy ready-made) for accent pillows and a tree skirt in your color theme. 

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Love, Hadley & the WTI team