Evening Holiday Home Tour 2020
This time of year, with the sun setting early and Christmas quickly approaching, I gladly switch on our lights earlier than usual. Our house takes on a totally different glow during the evening hours, and I promised to share it with you. Step inside and see what our home looks like this holiday season- after dark! This is how it looks the majority of the time when we’re hanging out in our formal living room and kitchen. I honestly think it’s more magical during the sun-drenched daylight hours… there is just something about twinkly lights during the holiday season, lit candles, and cozy warm lamps. Click through for my 2020 evening holiday tour. If you’re looking for the regular, daylight version- click here!
Obviously the tree is the twinkling star of the show in our living room. The dotted lights reflect back into the space, bouncing from the windows and french doors, making this corner sparkly and bright!
Usually, Crosby can be found sprawled out on the floor, begging to go back outside to romp around in the snow… or he’ll make himself at home on the sofa. It’s a good thing our furnishings are all pet-friendly.
Our fireplace is my favorite feature during the winter months. We use the gas fire every day (which is conveniently controlled by a remote) and I often find myself sitting in front of it…. working on my laptop, reading, snuggling a dog, having a snack, drinking a cocktail, etc. It seems to be everyone in our household’s favorite place to post up.
Cash is usually hogging the hearth and can be found curled up on the sheepskin rug, closest to the fire. The poor little guy had an ear accident earlier this week, which landed him a trip to the emergency vet. Thankfully, he’ll be just fine, but in the meantime- he is not happy to be sporting a head bandage (he’s lucky I removed his cone). Our sweet vet even created a little festive holiday sweater for his bandage.
We actually don’t have any overhead lights in our formal living room, which was an intentional design decision on my part. I’m partial to lamps in every corner, sconces, and gallery lights- especially in cozy spaces like this. Pretty much every corner has illumination of some sort, without needing harsh overheads.
I’m also a big candle person… though you already know this, given I just launched my own collection! I always have a candle lit. Evenings just feel more special and homey when I’m burning a candle. As soon as the sun goes down, I strike a match to light one. I especially love them during dinner time or cocktails.
So many of you have asked about my glass hurricane that I burn pillar candles in… I finally found the maker and ordered a bunch for the shop. They’ll be in soon- I’ll let you know once they’re available. It’s the easiest “party trick” for instant ambiance.
The way our home is shaped, it’s pretty beautiful to peek outside the kitchen window and see our Christmas tree through the living room french doors. It’s a 90 degree corner, which makes the twinkle of our tree visible from both the living space and the kitchen, while we’re cooking. It was really a nice surprise, as this is the first year we’ve put our tree in this particular location. We’ll be doing this from here on out! Cool, right?!
If you missed my Christmas in the kitchen tour, definitely check it out. You can see our kitchen decked out for the holidays in daylight. Our cabinetry changes colors and shades a multiple times a day (it’s a chameleon color), so it’s really difficult to photograph- especially in the evening.
Soo- the skiing Santa. This is totally an Emmett thing, if you hadn’t guessed already. This Santa has been a holiday joke for the duration of our marriage. Hah! He likes to “style” the figure around our house, in a variety of places that it shouldn’t be. Of course I always notice, move it elsewhere, and then it ends up somewhere else. He knows I’m not a fan, but it has become a hilarious game for us. I play along because he likes the thing. Basically, it’s like an adult (annoy your significant other) elf on the shelf? I’m not sure. It ended up on the kitchen counter yesterday, staring at me cooking our dinner.
Let’s venture outside into the cold! We’re finally getting snow this week- which you probably noticed based on Emmett’s bootprints leading to our door in the picture below. This is what our front porch looks like all lit up during the holidays. Also- guess who strung lights on which tree below? Spoiler… I did the left tree and Emmett did the right, you can watch it here for proof.
This year we decided to hire someone to install exterior Christmas lights, which was the best decision ever! Having never had them before, I wasn’t sure how bright they would be, so I stayed conservative in terms of the design and kept it simple. Next year, I might ask them to install more lights- maybe extend the roofline, or take the lights down the corners of our house for a gingerbread look… or maybe I’ll ask them to keep it exactly the same. I love the way they wrapped our columns and I think it looks perfect!
Our home feels so happy and magical- especially this time of year! I feel very lucky to love the place we live. Do you prefer your home during the day or evening hours during the holiday season? I think evening this time of year is best- solely because of the lights!