For the last several Christmas seasons, I’ve kept our living room decor pretty neutral — lots of whites and cream along with, soft greens. This year, I decided to do something a little different and add a simple pop of red to our Christmas living room decor.
It wasn’t planned or a full color overhaul for Christmas. It actually started with just a few small pieces.
How a Few Red Accents Set the Tone in our christmas living room
The first thing I added were a couple of red holiday pillow covers from McGee & Co. They felt classic and understated, which made them easy to layer in with our usual whites and neutral tones. Once those were on the sofa, everything else started to fall into place.
I added a few more red pillows — including some ruffled ones from the Studio McGee line at Target — along with floral red and cream stockings from the same collection. A few velvety red bows on the Christmas tree finished the look and tied the room together.
That’s usually how decorating goes around here. One small change leads to another.
Mixing Red with Neutral Cottage Style christmas decor
Once the red was layered in, it felt easy and familiar. Paired with whites and antique pieces, it brought in color without overpowering the room.
Adding red also gave me the perfect excuse to bring out some of my favorite vintage red ironstone and transferware pieces. I didn’t use many here, but adding in a few was enough to carry that color through the room.
This is usually how my Christmas decorating comes together — I find one piece that feels right, and it naturally sets the tone for the rest of the room. This year, that starting point just happened to be a color.
A Cozy, Lived-In Christmas Living Room using what we already had
Very little in this room is actually new this season. Aside from the red pillow covers and the velvet bows on the tree, everything else was already here or pulled from Christmases past.
What the red really did was prompt me to pull out pieces I had packed away — including several quilts my mom made years ago. When I started leaning more toward whites and creams, those quilts were put away simply because they no longer fit the everyday look. Bringing them back out felt nostalgic in the best way and reminded me of how our home used to be styled. I’ve always loved those quilts, so it was nice to see them in use again.
A Few More Christmas Spaces in Our Home
If you’d like to see how the rest of our home is styled for Christmas this year, you might enjoy these posts as well:
Each space has its own feel, but they’re all styled with simple layers and vintage pieces in mind.
