Holiday Home Tour 2024 Of Our Vermont Farmhouse

Another year, another round of holiday decor. Today, I present to you our holiday home tour 2024 of our vintage, circa 1781 Vermont farmhouse.

I always have a hard time doing these holiday home tours because I never feel like I finish decorating for Christmas. This year was no exception.

I tend to be someone who perpetually decorates during the holidays—adding a little something here or moving an object there. It’s fun for me and quite possibly my favorite hobby.

So to say “I’m done” and take the photos is hard. Most years, Christmas has arrived and I still haven’t photographed anything. Up go the hands and I declare next year will be the year.

Keeping The Decor Simple-ish

One of my favorite seasonal and holiday decorating tips is to concentrate the decor in one or two areas of your home. It’s a pretty simple method while also making a big impact. This year looked like most of our decorating in the keeping room (a second living room that Colby uses as an office), dining room, and living room.

I did do a little decorating upstairs in the kids’ room and the hallway upstairs but not much. I raided most of my decor for the first floor this year.

And I typically add one or two pieces of Christmas decor to my collection each year. This year, it has been bottle brush trees. I cannot get enough bottle brush trees. Someday, I envision a huge collection of them adorning the top of the girls’ wardrobe. Or maybe even on the mantle.

Without further ado, let’s dive into the tour.

The Keeping Room

Meet our keeping room at Christmas time. A little story about why we call it the keeping room. WAY back when our home was built in 1781, there was typically one room in the home called the keeping room. It was the room with the fireplace that could be closed off and kept warm.

That’s what this room is, the fireplace room. But it also serves as a guest room with a pullout sofa bed and Colby’s home office.

Hence, the drafting table. Colby is a salesman in the construction industry so he’s often pouring over the details of house plans here at the table.

We have had the DIY chalkboard frame forever. I painted an old vintage frame and then painted a piece of wood with chalkboard paint to fit the frame. The chalkboard doesn’t have a permanent place in our home but I often place it in Rowan’s room for the holidays.

Also, do you see the flocked Christmas tree peeking out from behind the drafting table? That’s our homemade ornament tree. Every year I craft ornaments with the girls. We used to use a mini tree but I started getting overcrowded so we upgraded to a 5′ tree and adorned it with every ornament the kids make, whether at school or at home.

I have to share this little stocking detail because I LOVE it. When I was expecting Rowan, we splurged on matching, white knit stockings from LL Bean (unfortunately no longer available) for the whole family. I hung a letter ornament for the longest time to identify whose stocking belonged to whom.

Then when I was expecting Bea, I bought some stamped leather name tags from Etsy and sewed them onto the stockings. It has been the sweetest addition. We even made one for the dog.

Here’s a view of the bookcases looking into the dining room. We typically swag the shelving with this glittery star garland I picked up from Pottery Barn Kids six or seven years ago. I love the contrast with the moody, dark green painted walls and shelves.

Every year before decorating the shelves for Christmas, I do a big decluttering of the books and a shelving deep clean. The bookshelves were extra overstuffed this year but I think I’ve got it down to a reasonable number of favorite books.

And now, onto the dining room.

The Dining Room

The room I concentrate on the most when adding Christmas decor is the dining room. The room is in the middle of our main living area and we tend to spend much of our time here.

Here’s a shot of the dining room from the keeping room.

There are three main surfaces that I decorate: the long wooden buffet, the dark-painted buffet, and the vintage trunk. Although often the girls’ gingerbread houses become centerpieces on the dining table. So I guess there’s that surface too.

A few years ago, my mother-in-law passed down the family’s caroler doll collection. And I have to be honest, I resisted them at first. But then our kids became strangely attached to them. They started to decorate with them and move them around. Now, they’re a yearly request.

The girls are in charge of decorating the buffet with the carolers and the bottle brush trees and I think they do a pretty good job.

Last year, I set up a little record station on the buffet and brought out my favorite Christmas vinyl. It was such a hit that it’s now become a holiday tradition.

I’ve also started picking up a new Christmas album or two for the season. This year it was the Grinch soundtrack but last year it was the Christmas queen herself, Mariah Carey.

The other buffet is dedicated to Christmas cards and drinks.

Displaying all our Christmas cards in the tobacco basket has become one of my favorite ways to showcase them. This year, Rowan has been in charge of opening the cards and hanging them.

On the buffet itself, I spiced up our normal bar tray with a few Santa mugs from Pottery Barn that I’ve had for 10+ years along with a little vase of greens.

At Christmas, instead of climbing into a cupboard for our everyday mugs, the girls come here. Sometimes I’ll even set up a little cocoa bar here for them with some marshmallow creme, sprinkles, and syrup flavors for them to mix up.

On the other side of the dining room is the vintage trunk. It’s home to the village display composed of Target dollar spot ceramic houses and my coveted Santa house, hand-painted by my grandmother.

We also hang the advent calendar here most years. It hangs here often enough that the screws to hang it permanently live in the wall and are hidden by the framed family photos that are displayed here in 11 out of 12 months of the year.

And now onto the living room.

The Living Room

Here’s a view from the dining room down the little hall, where the stairs to the second floor are located, and into the living room.

On the right side of the hallway are the two front double doors. I’ve always wanted to hang a pair of gorgeous wreaths here. They’re on my post-Christmas clearance shopping list.

We decorate our Christmas tree fairly simply each year. A collection of cheap glass ornaments acquired over the years, a few ceramic ornaments from home goods, and some large plastic glittery balls for a perfect mix.

I made the wood bead garland about ten years ago due to a limited budget. I loved the look of wood bead garlands but they were too expensive to buy enough for our whole tree. I believe I paid under $20 for a giant box of wood beads which made more than enough garlands for a tree. I even have half the beads I bought in case I want to make more!

Note the sleeping dog photo bomb in the photo above. Poor sleepy Merle just trying to get a nap in. I swear he’s giving me the evil eye.

Also, note the girls’ decorating prowess with the mini wreaths and red garland above the window. Most of our decor is not precious and I give them a fair amount of free range to help me decorate. Hashtag raising mini decorators.

Shall we discuss the presents wrapped under the tree?!

Most years when it comes to Christmas wrapping, I plan it out and meticulously come up with a beautiful wrapping paper mix. Not this year! I went hog wild and just asked Colby to pick up three rolls of paper in red, green, and white.

Who am I?! I don’t even know who I am anymore?! In my defense, I picked up a job as a ski instructor this year and have not been home much.

And here’s the opposite view from the living room looking into the dining room.

This concludes the downstairs tour of the Christmas decor. I decorated more than usual here, especially in the dining room, which means the upstairs was neglected.

The Hallway

One of the only spots upstairs to get some holiday love is the hallway space between our bedroom and the kids. I always cut a mini pine tree from our yard, set it in a bucket, and decorate it with vintage ornaments. It’s the simplest, sweetest, most budget-friendly moment.

The Kids’ Room

Usually, I go to town decorating for Christmas in the kids’ rooms (now room since they moved in together). But not so much this year.

I don’t know if it was the limited time, or just letting them do what they wanted, or maybe it was that they were absolute turds this Christmas season (not really…they’ve just been REALLY excited about the holiday and all their habits around tidiness and listening have gone out the window).

I put the girls’ Christmas tree up, gave them their Christmas kickoff boxes with the new ornaments, and put their holiday books on their shelves. That’s it.

I feel like I Scrooged their room. First, by stealing some of their decor for the dining room. Second, by not putting in much effort. And third, by not letting it bother me. But honestly, I think they had more fun doing their own thing, decorating the way they wanted, drawing pictures to hang, making their own decor, and setting out their favorite items.

Needless to say, it’s not Pinterest perfect but I adore it.

And with that, let’s wrap it up (pun intended) and conclude this little holiday home tour 2024. From our family to yours, we wish you happy holidays!

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