Apartment Christmas Decorating Ideas

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Merry Christmas! It’s Holiday Home Tour time. I’m so excited today to give you a peek into my new space and share some of the holiday magic I’ve whipped up.

Michael Wurm Jr. - Inspired by Charm

This year I’m participating in Jennifer Rizzo’s Holiday Housewalk. I believe she has been hosting this for seven years. This is my second year on the tour, and I am thrilled to be back.

In case you’re not familiar with the Holiday Housewalk, here’s the nutshell version: During a single week, 30+ bloggers share their homes decorated for Christmas. This year’s tour started on Monday with Jennifer’s home and has been going on all week with visits to the homes of many other bloggers. The housewalk ends today with the homes of even more bloggers, including me.

If you’ve come here from Allison’s home at The Golden Sycamore (the stop on the tour before mine), welcome! I am happy to have you here! After you’re finished scrolling through my space, be sure to click on the next blogger at the bottom of this post to continue on the tour.

Holiday Office Home Decor Ideas

Apartment Christmas Decorations:

If you follow Inspired by Charm, you’ll know that I’m decorating a new space this year. Back in June, life gave me a nudge to move from my big house in a small town to a smaller apartment in a big city. I loved decorating that house for the holidays, so this year has definitely been a transition (and challenge) for me. This also will probably be the first and last time I decorate this particular space for Christmas, and last year was the final time for me to decorate that large old house. (More bittersweet details on that loaded statement coming soon.) While I’m still tweaking my decor, there’s definitely holiday magic around these parts. Let me show you.

Since I already shared a few of the festive touches in my office (my Rustic Modern Christmas Tree), let’s start there.

Home Office Holiday Decorations

About a month ago I painted a navy accent wall in this room. That has helped to inspire the rest of the decor in the office, including the tree. From there, my Rustic Modern Christmas Tree seemed to invite the addition of red and burgundy touches for a holiday feel. You can check out that tree in all its glory here.

Modern Home Office Holiday Decorations

Behind my desk, I hung these bulletin boards to display work projects and decor. A letterboard spells out some of my favorite holiday movie characters.

Modern Home Office Holiday Decorations

Rustic Modern Christmas Tree

Mixing rustic and modern for Christmas decorating - Rustic Modern Christmas Tree

Ornaments for a Rustic Modern Christmas Tree

Christmas Decorating Rustic Modern Christmas Tree

On the opposite side of the room (which I don’t believe I’ve ever shared on the blog), I created a cozy nook for taking a break from work. I’ve furnished it with a love seat, leather chair, ottoman coffee table (which was repurposed from my previous home), and a big shelf for books and whatever else finds its way there.

Modern Home Office Holiday Decorations

Modern Home Office Holiday Decorations

Sidenote: I’ll do my best to link things in this post. I also recommend visiting SHOP IBC where you can get more links to some of my apartment furnishings and decor.

Modern Home Office Holiday Decorations

It’s been especially nice to have this extra seating area in my apartment. Blankets, pillows, and comfy furniture make it an ideal spot to read or relax for a bit. I just picked up a new bluetooth-enabled record player, so lately listening to holiday tunes on vinyl has added to the joy.

Modern Home Office Holiday Decorations

Not surprisingly, my kitties are digging this space. I was even able to incorporate my colorful DIY Christmas trees on the shelf you see above them. Remember those trees? You can learn how to make them here.

Modern Home Office Christmas Decorations

I also wanted to point out that fab red canvas. It’s from Lindsay Letters, whose artwork I love. Her pieces can always be found in my spaces.

More Apartment Christmas Decorations:

Modern Christmas Living Room Decorating Ideas

Transitioning to the living room: For my Christmas decor, I played off the green and blue color scheme I already had in place. I was pleased with how it worked out.

In addition to the Christmas tree (We’ll get to that in a second.), among my favorite new holiday decor items are these stained glass trees. I bought them back in October from CB2 when they first showed up on the site. I knew they’d be perfect in here.

Modern Christmas Living Room Decorating Ideas

Modern Christmas Living Room Decorating Ideas

And speaking of trees – Yes, I have another big Christmas tree in this space. It’s the tree that graced the cover of BHG’s Christmas Ideas Magazine, but it’s dressed in a whole new way.

Modern Christmas Living Room Decorating Ideas

I’m calling it my “Not-Coco-Chanel-Tree.” Why? Well, the famous designer Coco Chanel said something to the effect: “Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and remove one accessory.” With this tree, however, I took the opposite approach. It was as if the tree kept saying to me, “Heck no! I’m going to be my fabulous, over-the-top self. Add some more. Yes, more. Keep adding. One more thing. One more thing.” Crazy, right?

Modern Christmas Living Room Decorating Ideas

Modern Christmas Living Room Decorating Ideas

As a result, this tree is loaded with ornaments. I’m guessing there are 200+. It might be a bit difficult to see, but a ribbon is also tucked in there. (Speaking of ribbon, you can get my “How to Put Ribbon on a Christmas Tree” tutorial here.) And I finished this maximalist look off with a felt ball garland . . . just because. (The tree kept asking for more.)

Modern Christmas Living Room Decorating Ideas
Modern Christmas Living Room Decorating Ideas

I’m hoping to capture the details of this tree in additional photos that I’ll share soon in another post. Stay tuned!

On the opposite wall, I decided to have fun with this ceramic deer head I had in my B&B gift shop years ago. With branch antlers, ornaments, and a gold wreath, he’s my little touch of Christmas quirkiness. A must in my decor. My little gold Santa made a comeback too. I just love him.

Modern Christmas Living Room Decorating Ideas

Apartment Living Room Christmas Decor IdeasModern Christmas Living Room Decorating Ideas

Near the TV I installed a much-needed shelf for book storage, knick-knacks, and apparently, wine.

Apartment Living Room Christmas Decor Ideas

Modern Christmas Living Room Decorating Ideas

Apartment Living Room Christmas Decor Ideas

As you may already know, these little deer are precious to me. They belonged to my grandmother. They are especially meaningful this year because this will be our first Christmas without her.

Apartment Living Room Christmas Decor Ideas

Over in the kitchen, I brought in a few holiday flourishes as well. I’m doing my best to embrace these builder-grade cabinets. Festive touches. such as this canvas from Lily & Val (located here in Pittsburgh), make all the difference. (For those of you who might be wondering how I hang art on tile: I used these hooks from 3M. They work great for lightweight items.)

Apartment Kitchen Christmas Decor Ideas

Apartment Kitchen Christmas Decor Ideas

Apartment Kitchen Christmas Decor Ideas

Apartment Kitchen Christmas Decor Ideas

Apartment Kitchen Christmas Decor Ideas

How cute are those vintage brass mice? Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.Though, it seems these two are after cake.

Modern Christmas Dining Table Decorations

Little paper houses and bottle brush trees corralled on a tray and covered by glass domes add a bit of Christmas cheer to my dining table.


Modern Christmas Dining Table Decorations

Modern Christmas Dining Table Decorations

And finally, here is my bar cabinet dressed up for the season. This just might be my favorite vignette in the entire apartment. When I’m fretting about all the decor details, I look at this and immediately feel less stressed.

Holiday Bar Car Decorating Ideas

To put it together, I decorated my mirror with greens, added a trio of glass trees from HomeGoods, tucked in my trusty nutcracker (also a HomeGoods find), and finished it off with peppermint sticks.

Holiday Bar Car Decorating Ideas

I was also super excited to find a new place for my DIY wood bead garland. It draped perfectly on the cabinet and coordinated beautifully with the colors. You can learn how to make the garland here.

Holiday Bar Car Decorating Ideas

I’m still working on my bedroom, but here’s a sneak peek. You might recall when I painted that black wall a month ago.

How to Style a Modern Bedroom for Christmas

And yes, there’s a tree in there. A small one. Thanks to gold sequin unicorn ornaments, it’s full of quirkiness, too.

Rustic Modern Christmas Tree

Speaking of ornaments, the other ornaments on that tree are from Tree Hopper Toys. (You may remember them from my Christmas Tree last year.) They are also offering special savings to Inspired by Charm readers. Use the code “INSPIRED” to get 25% off their ornaments now through the end of the year.

And that’s a wrap for my Holiday Home Tour 2017.

I know this tour is a bit “different” from past years’. I’m struggling somewhat with that. I hope I didn’t disappoint, BUT I am hoping that 2018 will have me back in a homier home. Thanks to all of you for following along and sticking with me through the ebb and flow of life. Your kindness and support are priceless gifts.

During December, I plan to share more details about each of these spaces, including a full tour of my bedroom decor. If you’re new here, be sure to subscribe to the IBC Mailing List or follow me on social media (I recommend Instagram.) so you don’t miss a thing.

Merry Christmas Inspired by Charm

In the meantime, please continue on the Holiday Housewalk and check out the homes of my blogger friends. Their homes are stunning and inspiring in their own unique way. Up next on the tour is Jeanne Oliver. I always love what she does for Christmas. I’m sure you will, too. You can continue onto her home here.

Thanks for taking time out of your day to be with me. I hope you enjoyed your peek around my apartment and picked up a few ideas to create your own happy place for the holidays.

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84 Comments

  1. This is all so beautiful, as always! I love the colours in your office. I love navy and the reds and burgundy’s you’ve added in there look fab 🙂 your blog is such an inspiration to me, so thank you! 🙂
    Lianne | Makes, Bakes and Decor

  2. Finally got a minute to get over here and it was worth the wait. Love – the mice, the stain glass trees, all of the vignettes and trees – oh and the light in your apartment is epic. I hope you enjoy your Christmas in this space and home with your family. And I can’t wait to hear what is next!

  3. Michael, welcome to Pittsburgh, and congrats on the BHG cover! I live in Edgewood in a 1900 house that requires more work than our budget will support, but it’s got great features (an amazing front porch, huge dining room, a laundry chute and a double lot, so lots of green space!) I love to decorate, especially for the holidays, and Jen’s Holiday Housewalk always provides inspiration! Wondering about using ribbon and garland on a tree? We cut a live tree – generally the fattest, fullest tree we can find! – and I’m going with a ‘felt and fabric” theme to accommodate a 10-month old grandson. I have 2 types of garland I plan to use – a cream felt holly garland from Crate & Barrel, and a cream knitted stand from PB. Is ribbon overkill? Perhaps I should save it for the Family Tree?

  4. Lovely as always. I really like this years decorations, I especially love the ceramic deer head. It adds just enough quirkiness to the room. I hope you are happy in your new home and that your new year and holidays are the best. One last question, where the heck do you store all the things you use in your décor? Take care.

  5. I had a lot of fun seeing how you decorated your apartment! Different from past years, yes. But definitely not disappointing! Keep the Christmas spirit, loss and change can be hard, I know. Thanks for sharing your home with us.

  6. Everything is so beautiful and looks like you’ve been there for years. Your grandmother’s little deer and the peppermint sticks in the blue Mason jars are so sweet and homey. Great job, Michael!