A Very Pink Christmas!
Merry Pink Christmas!
Growing up, I hated pink. No one could make me wear it or decorate with it, and I certainly didn't appreciate that being "girly" was equated with the color. I was girly in lots of other ways!
Setting aside my past opinions, I now see pink with new eyes. A delicate baby pink or hot coral turns my head like it never has before. My year-round home decor includes tasteful splashes mixed in with my signature blues, golds and greens.
Wearing the color is still out of the question because my skin tone is, you guessed it, PINK. I disappear like a magician in a cloud of frightening rosy smoke. Despite that, I've made peace with this oft-controversial hue.
But incorporating pink into Christmas? I never dreamed...until this year.
Here it is, the vintage light-up tree that started it all. I saw it at Home Goods in October and walked by several times thinking, "I love this pink tree, but nothing in my current decor matches it."
Oh well, it went home with me anyway. I figured I could set up a discrete pink Christmas corner in my office where it wouldn't disturb the classic red and green decor everywhere else.
You can see how that turned out.
My next purchases were these three light-up glass trees on the left in soft, translucent rose.
In early November, I spent the day with my friend Jamie at the Firefly Market holiday pop up at the DuPage County Fairgrounds. We ambled around the cavernous gymnasium-turned-boutique, where dozens of local artisans and vendors sold Christmas wares in a variety of styles.
I skimmed through most without interest - I'm not partial to the rugged country cabin look or boho yarn wall hangings - until I saw these glass tree sisters.
How could I pick which one was best? They're all gorgeously textured and light as a feather. With the swipe of a card, my pink Christmas collection was off to the races.
I knew turning back was hopeless once I saw this ADORABLE caroling Santas pillow. It contains an actual music box that sings "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" when pressed, a fun party trick (or a terrifying burst of noise during a Friday night scary movie cuddled on the loveseat).
This pillow revealed to me that having a pink Christmas didn't strictly require bubblegum, but meant harmonizing with traditional red, green, white and gold.
Seeing the beautiful new decor next to our blue loveseats we've had forever, I was concerned about sullying my perfect pink vision. These forest green couch covers came to the rescue!
Fortunately our loveseats are a standard size and shape, which made this quick hack an affordable way to preserve my marriage, as opposed to buying brand new furniture. Don't tempt me.
Over the next month, I collected pink decor from Home Goods, TJ Maxx, Target, Goodwill and Hobby Lobby, like this classy gold candle tree.
I bought dozens of Christmas trees in all sizes and colors (as long as those colors were pink), totaling more than 50 trees by Christmas day.
Two of my absolute favorites are show here - a glittery spun cotton candy tree with the sparkly gold star on top, and a white meringue-looking tree with metallic gold edges, complimented by a little rosy Santa sitting in the sugar forest.
Maybe I just love candy.
We don't have a fireplace mantle, and so made do with this light-up Christmas condo village on our TV stand. I enjoy the dangly bauble accents on both stockings.
Have you visited the Chicago Museum of Ice Cream yet? Click here to read my blog post about surprising my friend Taylor with a trip to the newly-opened MOIC in downtown Chicago last summer.
The all-pink photos are wild and nothing prepared us for the shock of tasting hotdog-flavored, hotdog-shaped ice cream sandwiches. Welcome to Chicago, the land of hotdogs!
Our first year with a tree topper.
I love that all my mini Christmas trees are different - some are glass and smooth, some are covered in glitter, and some, like this one, are shaggy and layered. So fun!
Pink must have been on everyone's minds this year because I found all sorts of gorgeous pink-accent greeting cards at Target. With limited space to display my decorations on flat surfaces, including 50+ mini trees to find homes for, I improvised by taping the cards to a wrapping paper-covered wall frame.
This temporary solution was much quicker than finding individual frames for the cards or one huge frame to accommodate them all.
My mom taught me this trick for making your whole home look festive and coordinate with a single theme - cover wall frames with wrapping paper! Add bows to accent, or even wrap with ribbon, as if the frame were a present.
Click into the gallery below to see our pink wrapping paper and gift bags, adorned with the cutest trees, Santas, cats, ornaments and gingerbread houses.
And while you're at it, why not make EVERYTHING in the house coordinate? Cover other flat surfaces with wrapping paper too, like I did with my multi-colored floating shelves, TV and lamp shades.
Of course, some wall hangings may fit into your decor so perfectly, it would be a shame to cover them up.
Flamingo and velociraptor art by Abbas Husain & Noreen Walls, aka Bagman Studios.
I'm obsessed with our white rainbow rug.
In our house, garland was not confined to the staircase or door frame. These happy gingerbread folks watched over us from the curtain rods.
And now for the star of the living room - the Christmas tree.
As you can imagine, I did not own a single pink ornament before this year, so all the specialty baubles you see here were new. The gold balls and white snowflake/gemstones I already had fit right into the theme.
Click here to see what my Christmas tree usually looks like.
All of these little pink ornaments are dear to my heart, but my absolute favorites are the grinning snails (me and Brandon), the cozy pink candy cane cottage that looks like our home, and the fluffy cotton candy on a swirly stick.
Click into the gallery below to see them up close.
Any reason is a good reason to buy yourself a greeting card. I do it all the time! This glittery vintage-looking card was perfectly on theme.
For my birthday this year, Brandon took me to a glass blowing class in the home of a nearby artisan, Mr. Robert Lee Fritz. I spent three hours with the glass master creating this delicate blush blown glass Christmas tree with a white spiral. He was tickled to hear about my pink Christmas plans.
Click here to read about our amazing glass blowing experience and see what else we made.
I opted for this translucent white garland for the bannister because it was much softer to the touch than other garlands, and went beautifully with the pink peppermint and gumball accent garland.
It's hard to believe, but this stunning pink nativity set used to be blue! The figurines already had touches of pink on their outfits, as you see here, but the barn structure was dark blue, like Joseph's robe, so I hand painted it with acrylic paint to achieve harmony with my theme. The geometric shapes on their clothing provide that retro look.
To no one's surprise, this tall peppermint ribbon tree is my third favorite mini Christmas tree of the collection. More candy! It's so unique, I swelled with pride whenever I saw it on our gold bar cart among the crystal glasses and decanters.
To complete our main floor decor, I hung this wintery shower curtain. The trees were strung with lights for the holidays, but the neutral color palette kept the bathroom relevant past Christmastime, with a snowflake hand towel and glass tree soap pump as accents.
That said, I couldn't help including this wrapped frame for a touch of pink. I'm sure you can see why this is my favorite Christmas wrapping paper of all time. Dancing vintage Christmas trees and presents in high heels? I'm melting.
Last, but not least, I hung this extremely glittery wooden wreath inside our front door, visible from the living room in the photo below. It provided a focal point in an otherwise bare space.
You can also see that I added a string of lights around the door frame for a cozy pop of brightness when the lights were turned down on movie nights. And so Santa could see better on Christmas Eve.
Holiday Decor Tips and Tricks
- Cover wall frames with wrapping paper. Add bows and wrap with ribbons.
- Cover other flat surfaces with wrapping paper, like lamp shades, TV and shelves.
- Display Christmas cards that match your theme and color scheme. You don't have to wait until someone gives you a card; go buy it for yourself!
- If you run out of room to set greeting cards on a flat surface, frame them or tape to a wrapped frame for a quick, temporary solution.
- Use low-cost couch covers to match furniture to your theme for the season.
- Hang a festive wreath anywhere indoors, like behind the front door, on other doors, or on the wall.
- Think a piece of decor is cute, but it doesn't quite match? Paint it! Like my nativity set.
- Hang garland from curtain rods and on stair banister.
- Change out shower curtain and bathroom towels for different seasons and holidays.
- String lights around door frames and along walls for temporary ambient lighting.
Have I inspired you to have your own pink Christmas? I hope so!
Up next, read about our other holiday adventures in Chicagoland: