Holiday Housewalk Christmas Home Tour 2019

Welcome to my very first “Holiday Housewalk”! If you’ve never experienced an online Christmas parade of homes before, you are in for quite a treat. Jennifer Rizzo created this virtual Holiday Housewalk 10 years ago, and it has grown to be quite popular in the DIY home decorating community. To say I am honored to be #33 (last) is an understatement. If you would like to start from the very beginning you can click here, or I will also lead you back around to the beginning at the end of my post.

Holiday Housewalk 2019

If you happen to be visiting from the home before mine “Number Fifty-Three“,welcome! Angela has a beautiful home and man can she decorate. I also know we both adore our cats. I am looking forward to visiting her Christmas tour today on my break with a big cup of tea.

I texted my sister to tell her that I was #33 (last) in the Holiday Housewalk and she replied with a “Last, but not least!” text. It made me smile, and trust me, I will take last any day of the week with these talented decorators. They all inspire me, and I feel very blessed to be the caboose. So, let’s get this Christmas party train started because I have been decorating non stop for 3 weeks 😂.

Our little family of 4 (+3 rescue kitties) lives in South East Michigan about an hour North of Detroit. It gets bitter cold up here in the Midwest, but I have fallen in love with this beautiful peninsula we call the “Mitten State” which is surrounded by the Great Lakes.

Our home is a cape cod style built in 1994 nestled into a forest at the end of a cauldesac. We have a small lake behind us which is quite entertaining with 2 swans, cranes, ducks, and even snapping turtles 😳.

We chose this house back in 2008 because of the charming woodwork, and knew the potential was endless. We had no intentions of renovating the entire home ourselves, but once we started painting, we couldn’t stop. Little did I know that 11 years later I would be writing about it all decked out for Christmas, and sharing all of my affordable DIY tricks to get it to look that way. That is just so cool.

The Holiday Housewalk Christmas Foyer

I distinctly remember “oooooo-ing” when we first entered the house back in 2008 and saw this beautiful staircase. It actually has 2 more sections that wind around to our bottom floor being the walkout basement. I usually decorate the railing for Christmas with a big white scarf I found at the thrift store, but decided to go all out this year with fairy lights and faux pine garland. The stars and red ribbon are from the dollar store. I think I may have failed to mention that I enjoy decorating thrifty style. My husband and I made those sidelight wood shutters for $75 bucks.

If you look behind you, you’ll find my Thrift Store Silver Platter Wall, and an old credenza I dismantled and painted black. “Man-boy” is our middle child, I mean kitty, and he is definitely on Santa’s naughty list. You’ll notice he follows me everywhere 😆. My theme this year for Christmas decor took a turn towards green when I realized jadeite mixes well with dark green, and red. Oo-la-la!

The Holiday Housewalk Christmas Mantel

We have 3 fireplaces in our home, and all are very different. We rarely use this gas fireplace in the front living room because it gets very expensive, but it comes in handy when we get an ice storm which is often. I recently painted the brick white, and stained new shelves for the built ins.

I love the different shades of green up against the white. I was pleasantly surprised to see how beautiful our navy shag rug would look as a back drop for the green foil wrapped gifts.

The gold garland wreath is a rusted whiskey barrel hoop with a couple of strands of garland wrapped around it accompanied with white lights. I guess you could call this my Irish Christmas mantel…it’s looking a bit lucky with the gold and green combo. Oh, the luck of the Irish…

The Holiday Housewalk Christmas Kitchen

Let’s mosey on into the heart of our home, the kitchen. The kitchen is where my husband and I spend our evenings with a roaring fire, and the cooking channel while I cook us up a storm. Hey, I have a few treats waiting for you in there…

First a little tip… I do not recommend making your own cannoli 😆. We made these fresh peppermint cannoli right on that island, and man was it hard. It was our first time, and we just couldn’t get the cannoli cream the way we get it in bakeries in Toronto or NYC. They do look good though, don’t they? Especially on that fun pull-out cutting board.

You’ll probably notice that I do tend to decorate a little on the whimsical side. Almost like a little girl would. I guess that may come from the way my Dad would let me decorate our entire house for Christmas when I was kid. I remember wrapping garland around our little chandelier in our tiny apartment and I still lean towards shiny foil garland. By the way, I found this green garland at Five Below for $3.00. I wanted to keep that green flowing through the entire tour.

See that big brown chair with the furry throw? That’s where my handsome husband relaxes with a heating pad and coffee every single night 😎. We have a good deal going because when I cook, he does the dishes. He spoils me rotten, but he gets good food in return.

Speaking of my husband, he is also my partner in crime with all of the DIY woodwork and painting. If you would like to see the kitchen before, just click here. Here’s our island transformation, and our DIY Brick Backsplash, too.

The Holiday Housewalk Christmas Tablescape

So, I brought the bright Christmas green into the kitchen by using the same green foil wrapping paper on our table as twin sideway runners (just tape underneath with painters tape). I added dollar store white plates, green water goblets along side old wine glasses I already had. The jadeite dessert plates I scored on Facebook Marketplace. The red and white striped ribbon, and red balls, all add contrast and texture. The ceramic Christmas trees my deceased brother made in the 70’s in a ceramic class he took. Lastly, a dollar store Andes mint placed on the side of the place setting is an unexpected cute touch…and it’s also green.

The Holiday Housewalk Christmas Built In Hutch

We painted all of the built ins in our kitchen a vanilla white to help balance out the dark island. This built in hutch is actually one of my most favorite things to decorate, but I rarely do it because it is my “catch-all” which usually holds the bills, mail, and kids stuff. I went all out this year and decorated it with my thrifty jadeite dessert plates. I’m not even going to tell you where everything else went 😉.

The Holiday Housewalk Christmas Tree

Oh look, it’s Santa. Now we know why he fits down the chimney so easily.

Man-boy doesn’t like visitors.

Ahhh…the Christmas tree. I love how this year’s Holiday Housewalk “vintage style” tree turned out with all of it’s glorious tinsel. I grew up with tinsel on our tree and have always loved the glisten it creates. Some of my ornaments are from my childhood, and I’ve also filled it in with lots of shades of green. Then I topped it all off with a dollar store rotating star I hung from the ceiling.

You might be able to spot Sylvia our oldest rescue kitty on the coffee table. These cats love when I get my camera out. They actually rub against the tripod.

I did something I have never done before and kept our tree up all year. My older teens made the request last January, so how could I resist? I will do anything to keep them home. Our youngest home schools, so he helped me decorate it for each season. Don’t get your tinsel in a tangle because you can see all of the seasons here.

I’m can definitely tell I’m getting my tinsel in a tangle because I am tired out. Decorating is not easy and all the cleaning that goes along with it. I want you to know, my house does not always look like these photos. The photos are staged [by me]. You know that, right?

The Holiday Housewalk Christmas Master Bedroom

Okay, let’s finish this tour up with a big finale…our cozy romantic rustic retreat is ready for me to take a long winter’s nap. My husband and I snore, I mean did that planked ceiling in our master bedroom ourselves a few years ago and here’s the full tutorial if interested.

Our bedroom is so nice to decorate because I can switch out the “Merry Christmas” signs and use a wreath, antlers, whatever. The new duvet comforter I splurged on and is in my source list below along with everything I either DIY’ed or purchased, including the framed posters, and memory bench.

The Holiday Housewalk Christmas Master Bathroom

Last up, before I fall asleep on that bed 😆, is our master bathroom. Rick and I planked the wall just like we planked the bedroom ceiling and both are in the same tutorial mentioned above. A few years later, we removed our old dated jacuzzi tub that we never used, sold it for $100, and added a vintage style sink for him, and an electric fireplace/resting nook for me. This has become my most favorite room in the house. The complete renovation is found here.

For Christmas this year, it was so nice to just add a few tid bits of the Christmas season here and there. This is something I probably wouldn’t normally do (decorate our bathroom for Christmas), but it was fun to try. Especially, when it came time to see Rick looking for his “stuff” that magically disappeared 😂. Notice I kept that green flowing even in the bathroom!

I’m going to nestle up inside my plaid, cozy blanket now. Thank you for taking my first Holiday Housewalk Christmas Home Tour with me. If you would like to receive my newsletter full of thrifty home decor & recipes, please subscribe HERE.

Merry Christmas, from Spooky, our third rescue kitty (bottom right)!

*** Some of the links in this post may contain affiliate links for your convenience.  Read full disclosure policy here.

• DIY SHUTTER SNOWMAN COUPLE
• FREE CEDAR WREATH GIVEAWAY
• FAUX PINE GARLAND
• FAIRY LIGHTS
• RED RIBBON & LARGE STARS: DOLLAR STORE
• DIY SIDELIGHT WOOD SHUTTERS
• GHOST CHAIR
• DIY THRIFT STORE SILVER PLATTER WALL
• MINT GREEN ORNAMENTS
• DIY GOLD GARLAND WREATH
• CANDY CANE RIBBON TREE: HOMEGOODS
• KITCHEN ISLAND PENDANT LIGHT FIXTURES
• INDOOR FIRE PIT
• DIY REAL BRICK BACKSPLASH
• JADEITE SALT & PEPPER SHAKERS
• GREEN CHRISTMAS TREE SIGN: FIVE BELOW
• MINT GREEN GUM BALL MACHINE
• BLACK VINTAGE WALL PHONE
• KITCHEN TURQUOISE RUG RUNNERS
• GREY VELVET ACRYLIC BENCH
• JADEITE CAKE PLATE
• WHITE PLATE WITH GOLD TRIM: DOLLAR STORE
• JADEITE DESSERT PLATES
• DIY MEMO BOARD
• WHITE ANTIQUE TRUCK: HOMEGOODS
• ALL RIBBON: MICHAELS
• DIY REFINISHED FARM TABLE
• DON’T GET YOUR TINSEL IN A TANGLE SIGN: MICHAELS
• TINSEL
• DIY WOOD PLANKED CEILING
• WHITE PINCH PLEATED DUVET COVER
• DIY MEMORY BENCH
• SANTA PILLOW & PLAID THROW: HOMEGOODS
• DIY CUSTOM FRAMED POSTER
• BEDROOM DRUM CHANDELIER
• DIY BATHROOM RENOVATION

If you would like to start the full Holiday Housewalk 2019 tour from the very beginning, start here: Jennifer Rizzo