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2016 Holiday Home Tour


Welcome to The Yellow Cape Cod 2016 Christmas Home Tour!


 My home is number 20 on The Holiday Housewalk, an inspiring, week-long, online tour of Christmas homes presented by Jennifer Rizzo. I'm excited to announce that we are partnering with Wayfair this year. I'll be linking to some Wayfair items that I'm featuring in my home this season.




If you are visiting from Inspired By Charm, thank you for stopping by and continuing the tour with me! I have to admit it is a little humbling to be the house after Michael's. Every year I look forward to his Christmas decor, he sets the bar pretty high for the rest of us. If you did not stop by as part of the tour, please be sure to hop on here and then go back to the beginning to see some absolutely beautiful homes, all dressed for the holidays from all parts of the country. 

Welcome to my home!






If this is your first time here, let me introduce myself.  My name is Sarah Macklem, I'm a professional Home Stylist from Detroit, Michigan.  This blog is where I share my daily design adventures along with DIY tutorials, entertaining ideas, exciting room makeovers and more. I operate my busy online interior design studio and often share my professional design work here on the blog. In addition to being the title of this blog, "The Yellow Cape Cod" is my home where I live with my husband, our three children and Murphie the dog, (who wanted to greet you at the front door but he was way to cozy on the couch when you arrived).  

Let me show you around, starting in the foyer...













This is the fourth year I've participated in Jen's Holiday Housewalk. Each year, my goal when decorating our home for the holidays is to balance the need to keep things looking fresh and different from years past with my families deep appreciation for tradition. This year, I swapped out my red Christmas accent color for golden yellow to give our existing Christmas decor a new look. It is really different from last year (click here to see last years tour) but we are enjoying the change.

After entering our foyer, the first room you see is my Dining Room Home Office. You can read all about how this room pulls double duty as my office and our formal dining space when we are entertaining, by clicking here. 








The tree in this room is secretly only half a tree, the back is completely flat. It's a clever solution for a small space. I decorated the tree with real, naturally shed antlers to give it a sense of whimsy while the beautiful silver and gold ornaments keep it feeling a bit formal. The candles on the tree are from Balsam Hill, they are LED lights that look like a real flame. They even have a flickering sound. I had so much fun creating this tree as part of Balsam Hill's 10th Anniversary Celebration. You can see more photos of this tree  in this post. 






 A lot of designing, managing, blogging and coffee drinking goes down in this space each day. Since this is the room where I spend the most time during this time of year, I decided to make use of every square inch to keep my holidays running smooth. For instance, I filled my office wall pockets with gift wrapping supplies so I can wrap gifts at my desk.





My dresser-buffet (aka my file cabinet) is all ready for Christmas dinner styled with entertaining supplies just waiting for a party.










Speaking of parties, for our family Christmas dinner party, I've ordered the most amazing fresh fruit and greenery garland from Wayfair to create a fragrant table centerpiece. As we get closer to Christmas, I'll share how I transform my "desk" into a formal dining table for six. I'll also show you my Christmas dinner tablescape. Until then, here is a peek at the garland...From the Garden Fruit Garland



The next room in our tour is our tiny Powder Room. This space is frequented by our holiday guests, so it usually gets a little Christmas cheer. This year it's a fresh stack of guest towels, a thrift shop church illuminated by a scented candle, and an adorable printable from Etsy reminding the kids to wash their hands. 











Now, it's time to round the corner into my Living Room. Our mantle this year features a hand painted, oversized monogram (painted by yours truly) along with a new piece of art by The Mountain View Cottage that perfectly represents my life-long love of Laura Ingalls Wilder. I found these adorable gold dot stockings at Potterybarn to hang from my Ballard Designs Antler Stocking Holders. I love the way these white elements pop against my black painted fireplace. I added German glass monogram tags and black striped ribbon to personalize the new stockings. 









The Family Christmas Tree is hands-down our favorite Christmas decoration. A few days ago, I shared the story behind the new tradition we started last year to visit our local tree farm and cut down a fresh tree. It was a special request by my youngest son, Max. We have been looking forward to this all year, and the tree we harvested last week is amazing. It's a beautiful Balsam Fir that smells divine and fills our living room with a magical glow. (Click here for a post I wrote on everything you need to know about cutting down a fresh tree). 





This year instead of setting up a traditional advent calendar, I came up with a fun alternative to get the family involved in decorating. I hung little numbered bags from the family tree. Each of the 25 bags contain a surprise, either a piece of candy or a small note featuring a special bible verse to reflect on for the day. Every day in December, the first person to get to the respective number on the tree gets the prize inside the bag. Then, that person will replace the bag with a special ornament from our heirloom ornament collection that has a ton of meaning to our family. 




By the time December 25th comes around, the bags will be gone and our family tree will be completely decorated with our special ornaments. 






A tree this big and this special needs an extra large star! I found this huge, gold, glittered star at Wayfair. It is perfectly over-scaled and dramatic. It gives the tree a ton of personality and a huge presence. The gift wrap I selected is custom made by Zazzle and also brings a lot of character to the tree. Last year, I made the large DIY Christmas Carol Chalk Art board for the mantle, this year I placed it behind the tree.







On the opposite side of the living room, in a corner is a shelf that I use to organize my entertaining supplies. This shelf also comes in handy as a dessert station by simpling adding mini desserts to the cake stands during our holiday parties. The nativity set was a thrift store find that I gave a mini-makeover with white paint, glitter and a small plug in light. 






The day after Halloween is the day I usually begin to force paperwhite bulbs. This way, I have blooms by Thanksgiving, then I start another round to give me fresh blooms again by Christmas.










I love to deck out our breakfast nook chandelier for Christmas. This year, I used fresh mixed garland to wrap the fixture and hung pretty gold tinted mercury glass ornaments from each arm. I made the black bows from wire rimmed ribbon, the black and ivory stripe complements the dot pattern on my chandy shades.






















The last stop on my tour today is our front porch. I was hoping to have some snow, but it's a little late in arriving in Detroit this year. We are still holding out hope for a white Christmas. Whenever it decides to show up, I am ready for it. My all weather rug can take just about anything mother nature throws at it. It's been on our porch through four Michigan seasons this year and still looks brand new. 











That wraps up my Christmas Home Tour. Thank you for stopping by and letting me show you around.  The next home on the tour is  Just Destiny . Be sure to visit and see what she has been up to this year! **Spoiler Alert… it's awesome!






Now that the Christmas decor is up and the home tour is live, there is nothing left for me to do but cozy up on the sofa with some spiked egg nog and enjoy the magic. Well, maybe just for the night, I'll be back in the design studio tomorrow. 




Merry Christmas my friends!



For information on my affordable online design service, please click here.


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30 comments:

  1. Love this tour Sarah. The yellow and black is amazing. I like how you took your everyday decor and turned it into a holiday look. I am definitely getting major inspiration here!!
    Jenn

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    1. Thank you so much! I appreciate the love Jenn! Merry Christmas!

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  2. I love your tour and how classically beautiful everything is! First, I need that mug, and second, your front door is amazing! Thank you so much for sharing your home on the housewalk!

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    1. Thanks Jennifer! And thank you so much for inviting me to be a part of the housewalk! It is amazing every year, but this year it's incredible and I'm honored to be a part of it. Sarah

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  3. love how your tree is your advent calendar! that is awesome! beautiful!

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    1. Thanks Cassie! You are so sweet. I LOVE your holiday home!! It's amazing! Sarah

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  4. So beautiful! Love all the black, white and gold. Merry Christmas!

    Angela @ Number Fifty-Three

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  5. So pretty Sarah! Love your style! Happy Holidays, Jen

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  6. Stunning - love your advent calendar tree and your gorgeous color scheme!

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    1. Thank you so much!! That means a lot coming from you my friend! Merry Christmas!

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  7. From a fellow designer, you have so many great ideas. Love the advent calendar on the tree! Love everything. So nice and calm without the red. Love the front porch and your home is beautiful. Where did you find the Pharmacy jars in your powder room? My husband is a Pharmacist, so I'm always on the lookout!

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    1. Thank you very much Janie! I appreciate your kind words. The jars were from Potterybarn a few years back. Merry Christmas! Sarah

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  8. It such an honor to be your Holiday Housewalk buddy! I'm just loving your holiday home. Looks like gold and black is a brilliant paring! #greatminds ;)

    xo Michael

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    1. Michael, thank you! The tour was so much fun this year! I'm obsessed with your holiday home every year, but this year was especially amazing! That staircase railing is the bomb! Merry Christmas, Sarah

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  9. Your home is stunning and the tour was as well! I knew it would be. Your tree... the porch... it's all so beautiful!
    Merry Christmas!

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    1. Thanks Shannon! Right back at you girl! I am loving your Christmas home!! Happy Holidays to you and yours! Sarah

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  10. OK, I've been hiding under a rock this week! For many years now I look forward to Jennifer Rizzos Holiday House walk and its the first thing I look at every morning I'm behind and doing a binge session tonight looking at tour after tour! I had NO idea that my Laura Ingalls Wilder sign would be in your home tour and I cannot even express how happy and surprised I was to find this tonight! maybe shed a tear or two shhh ;)! Seriously love your home and all that you do thank you so much for sharing my sign and my love for all things little house on the prairie! your home is incredible and I feel so honored to have had a little part in this beautiful tour! thank you so much Sarah! I hope your holiday season is filled with love and joy!

    -Haley

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    1. Hi Haley! Thank you so much! I adore my sign so much! It speaks directly to my soul for many reasons. Thanks for creating it! I am really enjoying your Christmas posts this year! Merry Christmas, Sarah

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  11. Oh wow Sarah! Your home is beautiful! Love your tree the best and especially your front door! So striking!

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  12. What an absolutely beautiful home tour! The antlers in the tree is genius. Love it all!

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    1. Thank you so much! I always look forward to your holiday posts! Merry Christmas! Sarah

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  13. Love the giant star tree topper. I might buy too! Thanks

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  14. What size is your star?

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  15. Your advent calendar idea is so creative! Lovely home tour!

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