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13 Cozy Christmas Living Room Decor Ideas

ByLauren
30 Comments

13 cozy Christmas living room decor ideas to add warmth and comfort while helping your home stretch seamlessly into winter.

This morning, I totally broke down and cried. And bless Robert’s heart, he sat there patiently and listened as I poured out all of my stress from the past week.

“December is so exhausting… I love Christmas but all of the work involved makes me resent it… I feel like we are always running from place to place… No matter how much I do, I feel an immense guilt and question if I’m a good mom.”

And that’s when I realized, I have spread myself way too thin this year packing out our schedule with travel, special plans, tasks, and pressures no one else is putting on me except myself.

Living room decorated for Christmas with cozy candles and greenery

So I said a little prayer and resolved right then and there that whatever gift shopping, event planning, meal prepping I had done to this point was enough. Mom is done. That’s it. No more. I’d lost sight of what Christmas is really about.

Moms deserve to enjoy this season, even if that means with less “stuff” and fewer parties.

I plopped myself on the couch and “called in sick” for a mental health day. Maybe sometimes we get so caught up in creating “the magic” that we forget its not worth sacrificing our mental and emotional well-being.

Whatever your December looks like right now, please know you are enough. You are doing the best you can. And you deserve some peace in this season.

Cozy Christmas living room decor

While I was plopped on our couch soaking up a rare moment of quiet, I felt so grateful for our living room that we decorated for Christmas last week. There’s just something healing about home.

And despite all of the work it’s taken to get this living room to this point over the years, I felt that reward right when I needed it.

You absolutely do not need to strive for the perfectly decorated living room (our chairs frequently have laundry from the dryer piled on them and toys scattered around the floor).

But if you want some ideas to spruce yours into a cozy, restful retreat away from the stress of the world, here are a few with tips to stretch your Christmas decor all the way through winter.

Cozy Christmas Living Room Decor Ideas

tinsel Christmas tree, limewashed brick fireplace, and mantel decorated with garland

1. Bust out the thick blankets

When it comes to styling cozy Christmas living room decor, I always lean into warm, winter vibes as much as possible rather than decor that is Christmas-specific.

A few thick, neutral faux fur or sweater knit throw blanket always do the trick. If colors like red or green work in a room year-round, I’ll throw in a blanket of that color. Otherwise, for colors that only make sense at Christmas, I steer clear of them.

sweater knit blanket on leather chair in living room decorated for Christmas

2. Use pillows that work for winter not just Christmas

Same with throw pillows as blankets, I use neutral pillows or pillows that work with the room itself, not just our Christmas decor. A neutral color palette will stretch your dollar and your time all the way through winter after the tree is gone.

Using pillow covers instead of entire pillows is much more cost-effective, plus I can more easily wash them in cold/flu season. I love using pillows with warm textiles and textures like tweed, wool, thick cable knit, faux fur, etc.

Tip: See how to mix and match throw pillows here.

neutral winter pillows for Christmas on couch

3. Every coffee table deserves a candle

We don’t burn very many candles in our house since I’m cautious about fire hazards (flameless candles for life here), but the one place I love having a real one in our living room is the coffee table where I can light it and enjoy it after the kids go to bed.

candle and winter decor on coffee table

4. Fill vases with winter greenery rather than red berries or flowers

The perk about adding pine, juniper, cypress, or cedar branches to a vase in the living room is it can stay right on our coffee table through the winter after the Christmas tree comes down. So I leave out any holly branches, poinsettias, or red amaryllis flowers.

If it can reduce storage and time, why not? If you do love flowers, try white roses mixed in instead like I did for our dining room table Christmas centerpiece.

coffee table with Christmas decor

5. Mismatch the stockings

If you can’t find an entire set of matching stockings on clearance, get different style stockings in similar colors instead.

I love how it looks a little vintage and eclectic style that way. Plus, if you ever have an addition to the family, it’ll be easier to add to your existing set rather than trying to hunt for ones in stores that match.

6. Double up garland on the mantel

For super full, fluffy mantel garland, layer two garlands to make it look like one as a focal point on the fireplace in the room. I just use heavy Command hooks, but make sure you let the hook adhesive set for an hour before hanging the garland to prevent it from falling.

I use floral wire to attach juniper picks, ribbon, or orange garland. To add lights, I weave in battery operated lights I can set on a timer.

Christmas mantel decor using garland, dried oranges, and blue ribbon

7. Hang wreaths on windows

For years, we’ve hung wreaths on our windows using some Command hooks and ribbon to add a little extra holiday charm. IKEA usually has ones the perfect size for windows at around $10 each.

TIP: See how to hang wreaths on windows here.

marble top coffee table with Christmas greenery in vase, bowl of jingle bells, and candle

8. You can use bells basically anywhere

We keep a set of 8 bells in our holiday decoration stash, and every year they end up somewhere different in our house because they work basically anywhere.

Use antique style bells as decorative objects on end tables, coffee tables, nightstands, or buffet tables. Hang them from ribbon on garland or on a wreath. Tie them to Christmas presents for a little vintage character. Or hang them as ornaments on the tree.

After Christmas I just remove the bells around the house and keep some of the greenery in the vases.

Christmas end table decor

9. Turn the tree collar upside-down

I just discovered this year that turning our Christmas tree collar upside-down makes it look like a real basket! Have we been doing tree collars wrong all this time?

Our tree stand is slightly too wide to do it this way, so we just have the back of the collar slightly open to make it fit.

tinsel Christmas tree and fireplace in a living room

10. Incorporate homemade ornaments

Hang dried orange slices (bonus points that they’re biodegradable) or do a DIY ornament craft with the kids.

If you have lots of family ornaments made over the years at school or picked up as souvenirs on vacations, just mix in a coordinating set of colored ornament balls with some tree ribbon, and the tree looks instantly polished.

Christmas tree decorated with tinsel, ball ornaments, and dried oranges

11. Add tinsel to the tree if you don’t have many ornaments

I love the look of a plain tree with just a $10 pack of tinsel on it. (We used a mix of gold and silver on ours.) It’s so simple but absolutely twinkles.

If you don’t have a big collection of ornaments, the tinsel can handle the job all on its own as tree filler.

pinkie and blue boy art beside a Christmas tree

12. Let ribbon and gift wrap set a color scheme

If you have to buy wrapping paper anyway, you might as well buy paper that matches and works with the rest of your decor, right?

I usually dig through my scrap ribbon or take leftovers from our Christmas tree ribbon to use on gift boxes.

tinsel Christmas tree with blue and white wrapped presents

13. Display some Christmas art

I love displaying a $3 art image on our Samsung Frame TV. But even if you don’t have a Frame TV, you can search “TV Christmas Art” on YouTube as a display on your TV during gatherings or on Christmas morning while you’re opening presents.

Check out this trick to display art on a regular Smart TV too.

Christmas fireplace decor with limewashed brick and tinsel Christmas tree in living room

Living Room Sources

white sofa with neutral pillows and vintage rug with Christmas decor on coffee table

Got any other cozy Christmas living room decorating ideas you’d add to the list for this holiday season? There are plenty more, but those are definitely the top go-tos in my book.

Christmas tree with tinsel in a living room and dog sitting

So now the Christmas gift shopping is done, the house is decorated, and a packed full calendar stretches before us for the next two weeks.

Bring it on! …after a couch nap though because I think we all need it at this point in the Christmas season, right?

More Christmas Decorating Ideas

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30 Comments

  1. Dear Lauren! You have a very beautiful house! I admired every detail of your Christmas decor. Thank you for sharing)

    Reply

  2. Love your decorating ideas and kudos for giving yourself a break. I feel your pain and have broken down and cried myself from the overwhelming feeling of trying to do all the cooking, cleaning and decorating. Sometimes I’ve felt like the holiday passed me by while I did everything else. This year I scaled back and put up less decorations. By leaving some areas undecorated it made things feel calmer. My family is great and lets me know how much they appreciate all I do for the holidays. Mainly they are just happy we’re together no matter how much or little we have or do. I think we try too hard to make things memorable when in fact, the memories we will cherish most are those of simply sitting basking in the light of the Christmas tree knowing our loved ones are safe and sound beside us. Wishing you and your family a blessed Christmas and New Year!

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  3. I’m sorry that happened to you. Christmas is suppose to be a happy time but women carry all the responsibility for creating the magic and that can be exhausting. Time to take a step back and set priorities.
    My children are older than yours, so I now give all three a generous cheque to buy whatever they desire/need. It saves me the shopping, wrapping, posting and they get exactly what each wants most. Win/Win. I, also, stopped hosting big Christmas parties, instead opting for more intimate happy hours with the best of friends. I still fully decorate my house and love that part. I now have more time to sit and sip a drink while watching the twinkling lights, to get my workout done every morning, to drive around looking at all the pretty, decorated homes, to listen to music…My body and mind thank me. 🙏🏼

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  4. Don’t be so hard on yourself. We have all been there. I wear a bracelet that is engraved on the inside band which says You are good enough. It’s all I need to verify I am. So are you. Hang in there, it always gets better.

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  5. This is definitely the time for family ❤️🌲. Happy to hear your message….we are all too hard on ourselves in trying to achieve perfection. Enjoy the season!❄️

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