Take a Peek at My Holiday Decor!

Hi, my dear friends! Are you having a great holiday season?

With eight days until Christmas, most of you have probably put the finishing touches on your decor. And, if not, hey, look on the bright side: Your tree will still be SUPER fresh on Christmas day! This year, we had a lot of help with our decor from some little holiday elves. You know when you were a kid and there was always THAT house that you begged your mom and dad to drive you by? That one that was all sparkly and lit up? Well, we do too. And we’ve always kind of wanted to have that house. (Maybe minus the blow up Santa.)

Our fab friend Laura Trevey, insanely talented artist and blogger at Bright, Bold & Beautiful partnered with Lowe’s to give us this incredible exterior holiday makeover! She and I were pretty excited about the whole thing, as you can probably tell! We think we made terrific Vannas. (Mom was really excited too, but she was probably already working hard while we were posing!)

Here is part of the fearless crew that arrived at our Beaufort house early in the morning on a fairly warm early November morning to get us all squared away for the holidays before we even ate the turkey!

My friend and photographer extraordinaire Smith Hardy was able to make the trek to shoot the whole thing and produce dozens of drool-worthy pics!

From the first open boxes until the finished product, we had so much fun getting to be up to our elbows in Christmas cheer–and getting to spend some great quality time with one of our favorite blog friends in real life!

Mom, Laura and I hit Lowe’s the night before the big reno to pick some finishing touches, like this lovely ribbon. Laura had already ordered a truckload full of fun surprises as well!

Mom was the designated bow-tier. She mixed different types of ribbon for a unique look. We learned a little late that one of our favorites was the burlap ribbon that we only used on one wreath. The perfectionist in her wanted to remake all the bows. The realist in me said it was midnight and we had a long day of decorating ahead of us! I still think they look beautiful!

See how well she fluffs that ribbon?

I mostly wanted to post these pics of me hanging the wreaths so that my husband, who wasn’t there, will believe it. Not pictured: An incredibly precarious and wobbly lucite stool that served as my ladder. Laura was spotting me, though, so… You know. Safety first.

This is not an easy hammering angle, let me tell you. But those puppies have survived the elements–including the sometimes stiff sea breeze that we get–for an entire month already! 

Because the house was built in early 1900, and is actually one of the newer structures in the historic downtown, Laura chose to go with a clean, classic, simple Southern look for the exterior. 

Here’s how the front door wreath looks from inside! We think she definitely nailed that look.

But touches of gold and silver, plus plenty of twinkle lights make the look fun and modern as well. These anemone ornaments are one of our very favorite parts of the decor.

Combined with pretty blown glass balls, they made the ideal filler for this tray that lives on the coffee table.

Finished product! Just enough sparkle!

These beautiful trees are actually LED candles, which is so perfect because trying to keep a flame alive on the waterfront is tricky to say the least! And this little reindeer is watching over it all!

The gold trees were another favorite. They have just enough glitter to be plenty shimmery! The fresh greenery and red berries are the right juxtaposition.

So pretty!

One of our very favorite things?

Sleigh bells, of course! Laura and I both had to have these, but we weren’t exactly sure what we’d do with them. They’re an extra touch of Christmas magic–and make it very hard for kids to escape with the loud jingle!

Mom’s favorite special touch? A little bit of fresh magnolia. After all, it’s the South, y’all!

Little Will’s favorite thing by far was these adorable reindeer, which he helped these lovely ladies assemble.

The finished product in the day! Clean and pretty, right? But wait until you see it at night!

The reindeer are even sweeter when they’re all lit up!

And the twinkle trees?

Well, let’s just say we used four of them… And hubby and I are already like, “We can have those out for summer parties.” They’re just so sparkly!

While the view toward the front porch was lovely, it’s pretty hard to beat the view from the porch. Smith captured that idyllic Beaufort sunset that we can’t seem to get enough of. This is a framer, for sure.

The best, best part? Yesterday, I was with an amazing group of women from Beaufort who were talking about… How everyone walks by our house at night to see our magical Christmas glow! Bucket list item: check! Thanks to everyone at Lowe’s and to Laura Trevey for choosing us for this great project. It made our season a little brighter from start to finish!

For more photos from the day follow us on Instagram: @kristywharvey

For more gorgeous inspiration from photographer Smith Hardy, follow him at: @smithcameronphotography

To make your life a little more Bright, Bold and Beautiful, follow Laura: @lauratrevey