Deck the halls with lots of colors… because it’s time for the Christmas 2020 version of the “It’s a Colorful Life” home tour, where I get to show you all our colorful Christmas decoration ideas.
Yep, that’s right! It’s one of my favorite times of the year, and it’s a chance for 20+ bloggers to come together, open our doors and share our Christmas-ified (Is that a word?!) homes with all of you.
I’m always so grateful that Jennifer and Jewel invite me to participate in the home tour, and of course, I love sharing lots of colorful, budget-friendly and kid-friendly holiday decorating ideas with all of you.
If you’re coming here by way of Mimosa Lane, welcome! I’m so happy to have you! Isn’t Albertina’s home and style so incredible?
Let’s take a “walk” around our home and check out the Christmas decor, shall we?
Colorful Christmas Home Tour: The Foyer
Our 1980s brick colonial home doesn’t have a roomy entryway.
In fact, you essentially walk right in the door and into a coat closet.
However, to the right of the front door, there’s a small space for a console table, so that’s where most of my foyer decor lives.
Earlier this year, we gave our foyer a makeover for just $100, thanks to some removable wallpaper, a wall mirror, and a new rug. You can check out all the details of our budget-friendly foyer makeover right here.
And here’s a peek at what our small but mighty entryway looks like with a few simple Christmas touches:

We have a pretty big collection of nutcrackers, so my daughter and I like to essentially sprinkle them all throughout our house around Christmastime.
Oh, and the florals you see? They’re evergreen branches from the trees in our backyard.
Yep, I literally took some scissors outside and put some branches in my favorite striped vase.
Gotta love a good $0 update!

Our Colorful Christmas Family Room
This is the heart of our home, and it’s also Christmas Decoration Central.

I’ve got an entire post for you all about our family room Christmas tree.
In that post, I shared my simple tips and tricks for adding “layers” to your own tree, plus my secret for using all your family and handmade ornaments while still achieving a designer-esque look.

No, our tree isn’t winning any awards … but I do think we struck a nice balance between stylish and family-friendly, right?

Here’s another shot, but this time a close-up of our ornaments.
Can you spot the kids’ ornaments and the handmade ones?

Oh, and how about the disco ball that found its way into the tree?
Spoiler alert: There are actually six disco balls scattered throughout.

While we don’t have much tabletop space or shelving in this room to decorate, I always have fun decorating our mantel and choosing some decorations to sit atop our media cabinet.
This year, I went with a few pieces of my everyday decor and mixed that with a stack of red Christmas books, a glittery nutcracker and a strand of green glass beads I just bought from my friend Nicole’s home decor shop, The Poplar Creek Co.

Here’s a closer look:

Fun right?
Sometimes simple holiday touches go a long way. Go see more of our Christmas-y family room and our Christmas tree in this post!
Colorful Christmas Home Tour: The Dining Room
Our dining room is incredibly colorful and pattern-filled to begin with, so it doesn’t take much to make it festive for the holidays.
My secret to creating a 10-minute seasonal tablescape on the cheap?
I use my everyday table linens and dishware and add a few themed accents.
This year, I added simple green ribbon to my everyday napkin rings to give our place settings a holiday touch.

To finish out our tablescape, I added some fresh greenery in two simple glass vases, and a couple mercury glass Christmas trees that I’ve collected over the years.

Here’s a photo that shows a little more detail of our table:

And one more shot, because I just love sitting at the table (or standing behind the table with my camera trying to take a decent photo?) and staring at our gallery wall:

For a touch of whimsy — and because I can’t resist color and glitter, especially when they’re combined — I added a fun strand of shimmery garland to the bar cart.

I originally snagged the garland on sale at Michaels last year on Black Friday … so it was pretty inexpensive!

I think our dining room might be my favorite “holiday” room in our home!
The best part? The only item I purchased new this year that you see is — brace yourselves — the greenery in the vases.
This entire tablescape cost me less than $15. Can you believe that?!
Christmas Decor for the Kids: My Daughter’s Room
Last but not least: My daughter’s room is decked out for Christmas.
Her room is incredibly happy and colorful to begin with — we gave her room a major makeover (but on a budget, of course) last year.
But a little extra holiday cheer can’t hurt, right?
Here’s a peek at her bedroom:

Go read this post to see more photos of her bedroom all spruced up for Christmas!
There are so many more photos in that post — trust me, if you’ve got a kid who loves decorating his or her room for Christmas, then you need to read this post!
More Colorful, Budget-Friendly Christmas Decorating Inspiration
We’re still waiting to put up the tree in the kids’ playroom.
This is one room in our home where we usually go all out with Christmas decor.
Here’s a post where you can see what our playroom Christmas decor looked like last year.
We even made our own easy DIY gumball machine Christmas ornaments for our playroom tree, which you can see here!

But my husband has been working really hard on this project and it’s not quite complete, so we’re waiting until he’s totally finished to decorate the playroom tree.
So … stay tuned for more Christmas decorating goodness!
DIY Christmas Decorating Ideas for Your Own Christmas Home!
In the meantime, though, I’ve got lots of great budget-friendly and kid-friendly Christmas decorating ideas that I’ve shared in past years that I hope will inspire you to do some decorating of your own.
If you’re looking for more Christmas decorating ideas or simple Christmas craft projects, check out these posts:
- Our whimsical, colorful family room Christmas tree
- Easy Christmas decorations for kids’ bedrooms
- A candy-themed kids’ Christmas tree
- Easy and kid-friendly DIY gumball machine Christmas ornaments
- Pom pom and crinkle paper DIY Christmas ornaments (perfect for toddlers!)
- How to create a fun kids’ Christmas table (with a reusable coloring tablecloth!)
Oh, and if you need to keep the kids busy while you decorate? Or while they’re home from daycare and school?
Here are a few great activity ideas for kids of all ages:
- 21 easy kid craft ideas using stuff you already have at home
- The ultimate list of free downloadable kids’ coloring pages (including Christmas and Hanukkah!)
- FREE printable: Indoor scavenger hunt for kids
- How to keep kids busy at home: 37 fun and totally FREE things to do
And be sure to check out all the other fabulous bloggers participating in this week’s home tours!
Next up on the tour is Annie at DIY Decor Mom — I know you’ll love her home and style.
Jennifer Griffin
Wednesday 2nd of December 2020
Kate, I am loving your Christmas living room and color blocked tree, and your Dining Room looks so festive! Enjoyed your Christmas tour so much!
Katherine
Wednesday 2nd of December 2020
Wow Kate! What a fun Christmas tree with the colors layered like that!
Jewel
Tuesday 1st of December 2020
Man Kate! Your home looks so awesome. What a fun tree!
Albertina
Tuesday 1st of December 2020
beautiful!! I especially loved your dining room and bar cart! Your tree is so pretty! Lovely decor inspiration.
Sara raak
Tuesday 1st of December 2020
It’s all soooo good! Love your holiday home!
Kate
Tuesday 1st of December 2020
Thanks Sara! It was really fun to decorate. I still have a few bins of Christmas decor just waiting to be displayed, so I might keep going....might as well since it's 2020 and anything goes!