Merry Christmas to you! Join me today as I walk you through decorating for Christmas with traditional and vintage decor!

This year, I really took my time and spent almost an entire week decorating my home for Christmas. I didn’t look at at as a chore, as something else that had to get done, rather as an intentional creative process. My goal was to achieve a vintage Christmas feeling, and by really thinking through the process of what decor to use and where to use it, my vision came to life. I’m here to tell you that you can create a beautiful Christmas display without hardly spending a dime. I hope you find inspiration here today on decorating for Christmas with traditional and vintage decor!

A Classic Christmas Mantel

The first area of my home that I focused on was the fireplace mantel. I’ve written about this mantel before and the unique shape that it is. It always poses a decorating dilemma because it is not straight across. It did take almost two days to get the mantel to look right. I shifted things around endlessly, would get stuck, and even ended up walking away from it a few times out of frustration. Then, my husband chimed in with the idea to work with it instead of against it! And that’s exactly what I did.

This is the right side of the mantel. I basically created a Christmas vignette using vintage pieces, flocked Christmas trees, and berry stems.

The vintage green jar I found recently at the thrift store for $2 but everything else either was in my Christmas stash or already being used elsewhere in my home.

The vintage Christmas book adds color and helps everything feel cohesive. To add height in the back, I placed a flocked tree on top of a small glass cup and used a vintage tea towel to cover it, adding a tree skirt type of effect.

Milk glass is timeless and always works beautifully in Christmas decor, so I added that in because that spot felt a little empty. The berry garland was created by using berry stems. I simply laid them end to end all the way across the mantel. I love how it adds so much texture!

Above you will see the left side of the mantel. Because of the mantel clock, my main objective here was to add height all the way around. To keep things cohesive and simple, I just used the rest of my flocked trees and continued the berry garland.

For added height and that classic Christmas feel, I brought in this vintage red print milk jar and filled it with berry stems.

With both sides put together, it is a cozy and nostalgic mantel, brimming with Christmas joy.

Traditional Christmas Trees

This is our main Christmas tree and it is stunning. My husband and I were gifted this tree years ago and I love it just as much now as when we first received it. It is very traditional featuring heirloom ornaments, ticking stripe ribbon, and my late grandma’s angel as the tree topper.

I also put a Christmas tree up in the master bedroom this year which I have never done before! This tree is tall and skinny so I wanted to keep the theme of it very simple. Donned with red and burlap, this tree has a rustic essence.

To be frugal, I only used what I had on hand to decorate this tree. The ornaments were in my stash, the tree skirt is a vintage lace table cloth that I just wrapped around the base, and the pinecones came from the woods near my house! I just love looking at it as I lay in bed at night. It truly is magical.

Vintage Christmas Around The House

Throughout the rest of my home I arranged small displays and vignettes to create a cohesive space. These small displays consist of thrifted and vintage finds as well as items that have been gifted. Just like everything else, I really just played around with each of these displays until they looked pleasing.

This vintage Santa belonged to my husband’s late grandma. We have 4 of them, each a little bit different, and I think they are just the cutest. This Santa just oozes a classic, vintage Christmas, doesn’t it?! Anyways, I placed this vintage green bowl, which I found a few weeks ago at the thrift store for .99, next to the Santa. I wanted to keep this display really simple so I just added small ball ornaments to the bowl and used a few books to give the display some dimension. It’s a happy little area!

For this shelf, I simply paired vintage decor with rustic wood. The brass candlesticks came from the thrift store last year for around $2 each. You know my love for vintage enamelware, so I had to incorporate my newest collected piece by placing berry stems inside it.

I found the vintage wood masher at an antique store recently for $10. I love the green handle on it and thought it would be a unique addition to this shelf. The wood signs I’ve had for years and actually got them from the Target dollar aisle. Because they are so simplistic, I haven’t grown tired of them! The rustic wood and brass elements pair so nicely together with the berries giving that extra Christmas touch.

This little scene brings me so much joy. The barn was found at the thrift store last year for $4 and the little cottage I found a few weeks ago at the same thrift store for $3. I placed large wood rounds underneath each building for added texture and height. The wood rounds combined with the vintage table runner makes this display feel like one cohesive area. The tall Christmas tree I found at an antique store years ago and just added plaid ribbon to it. I needed height in the middle and my tall milk glass vase was just the ticket. This whole display just reminds me of an old-fashioned Christmas in the country and gives me all the cozy feels!

My vintage milk glass collection looks so pretty during the Christmas season. The red berries make the white color look so vibrant! I layered in small ball ornaments, dried eucalyptus, and wooden trees for a simplistic and bright display.

For A Joyful Christmas

Each area of my home this year is brimming with Christmas cheer and am so happy with how it all turned out. I hope that this walk through on decorating for Christmas with traditional and vintage decor in my home can be a source of inspiration for you this year. Decorating for Christmas can be such a simple and creative process if you let it. You do not need to spend hundreds of dollars or put pressure on yourself to create a perfectly curated and decorated home. Just take a minute to connect with you and feel what you want your home to resemble this Christmas.

My sincere hope for you this Christmas is that you can find the love, hope, joy, and peace that are present in each moment. Like the twinkling glow of lights on a Christmas tree, there is a quiet magic in this season. Merry Christmas!

Let me know in the comments how you decorate your home for Christmas!

If you would like more inspiration, you can sign up for my weekly e-mail on the homepage of the blog! I would love for you to be part of The Antiqued Journey family!

Find more Inspiration For Your Home.

Create simple DIY Projects.

Go shopping in The Antiqued Journey shop!