WWL-TV Christmas Decor Show

WWL-TV took a house tour of a New Orleans home in the Irish Channel decked out for the holidays. Take a look!

Thank you WWL-TV and Sally Ann Rogers and the crew for making this possible.

WWL-TV anchor Sally Ann Roberts takes the holiday house tour with Valorie Hart HERE

The Visual Vamp Top Five Tips for decorating your home for the holidays:

•  Start outside
•  Decorate the inside entry - Put a Christmas tree here if you have space - Use more than one tree
•  Choose a holiday color and change your regular accessories to feature it
•  Move the decor from the front of the house to the back, with accents of garlands, wreaths, crystals, and ornaments.
• Try a a food related theme in the kitchen - candy and mini fruits, strings of popcorn and cranberries

Start at the front door - I made this wreath from cast off ornaments left by the previous owner of the house - I love the playful retro colors, and continued using them on the small trees elevated in garden urns

The giant light bulbs on the front of the house gave me the retro color cues for the wreath and trees - These came from a store that sold commercial display goods in Metairie before Katrina and is no longer there - If anyone knows where to get these, please tell our readers

Put a tree in the entry -TIP:  Elevate it in a garden urn - We need the height for high ceilings in New Orleans - Real or faux trees over 7 feet tall are very expensive, so use a shorter less expensive tree - Oversize ornaments in one color add impact - Wrap faux gifts in one type of paper and out them under the tree - TIP: Ordinary brown packing paper is great for this

Come into the living room! Square wreaths on double doors - TIP: Add ribbon  to the wreaths in the accent color you are going to use in the  next room

Choose a holiday accent color to replace the things you usually have in the room - I chose turquoise - TIP: Tie toss pillow with ribbon to make them look like faux gifts

The vintage tree in the living room - Tiffany blue boxes were free on Craigslist and dictated the color of the ornaments - Get out your old vintage Christmas decorations from the attic and use them again!

Who remembers Fesitvus? Festivus pole in corner near a table with a Nativity vignette

Vintage Brayton Laguna figurines are used in the Nativity scene

A bowl of ornaments on the coffee table and a garland around the clock are easy to do

Don't have a fireplace? No worries! My favorite thing in the living room is the flaming log DVD that runs on a loop on the television -  It has a Christmas music sound track - What a great thing to have for a party - I hate the black hole look of a TV that is turned off - You can get this DVD from Alberto at planet.tango@gmail.com

Bring the decor into the dining room

Add crystals and garland to your chandelier

Trim the tops of armoires, bookcases, and tallboys with  a little garland - Add concealed rope light for a romantic glow

The bar cart in the dining room gets decorated too - Mirror has garland just at the top, and a wreath I made from vintage ornaments - A mini tree on the bar tray adds sparkle along with bottles and glasses

Dining table is staged with dessert service - Bring out your New Orleans things - Here are my Cafe Brulot cups for the holidays - Who doesn't love flaming coffee in the winter? Turquoise tray continues my holiday accent color

Add a mini tree on your sideboard - I cut every other branch out of a tree to make it resemble a vintage feather tree - Feather trees are wonderful to layer ornaments - I feature my special  vintage collection on this tree

Take the decor to the kitchen - Table is set for Revellion supper after Midnight Mass -Mix  and match everything red that you have  TIP: Buy two yards of your favorite fabric and use it for a tablecloth - No need to hem it - -Fireplace festooned with fruit garland and stockings - Food theme is great in the kitchen - Mini tree on mantle has tiny fruit ornaments that look like marzipan - Don't have crystals for your chandelier? Use ornaments for a little holiday bling

Louis Phillip mirror over the mantle gets a whimsical garland

The mantle gets all the left over ornaments piled on to make a fun mantlescape

There's a stairway in the kitchen that gets basic green garlnad with the addition of ropes of candy garland to continue the food theme - The kitchen clock gets a "wreath" around it, using a piece of garland cut from the piece used on the stairs

I want candy! Detail of candy rope garland used in the kitchen - You could also go old school and  string pop corn and cranberries for the kitchen Christmas decor

Add a couple of easy Christmas items to the island in the kitchen

A pretty Christmas plant and a plate of cookies do the trick - TIP: Remove foil from plant and put it on a bowl or tureen

Any house whether big or small can have Christmas decor

SHOPPING TIPS:

If you live in the metro New Orleans Area:

• Breaux Mart on Magazine has best prices for cut flowers and plants - the  pretty one shown was only $12.99
• Wal Mart on Tchoup has a great selection of turquoise ornaments, and oversize gold balls
• All my garland is the basic, classic inexpensive stuff from Wal Mart and Walgreens
• Candy garland and wired ribbon comes from Gordons in Metairie (fruit garland and mini fruit ornaments are vintage)
• For boutique style special ornaments: Hazelnut, Belladonna, and perch. on Magazine Street
• Pier 1 on Tchoup has great inexpensive designer style ornaments
• Aquatic Gardens in the French Quarter has garden urns, ditto for Plant Gallery on Airline

If you shop online, check out my latest post for Houzz for lots of Christmas decor sources (including a silver tree).

Brayton Laguna Pottery like the ones I used in my Nativity can be found on eBay.

And if all of this overwhelms you, contact me to do your holiday decor, and style your home for the holidays.
mizvtheb@yahoo.com

How many Christmas trees do you have in your home?

For more great Christmas decor ideas go to Susan's Between Naps On The Porch to see what some other creative and talented bloggers are doing!

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