Traditions by the Seasons: A Holiday Decorating Journey

As I began planning my holiday decorating journey this year, I couldn't help but think of someone who has inspired me time and time again - Liz, a talented decorator with a keen eye for detail. We recently collaborated on a project, and I was honored to have the opportunity to learn from her expertise. Her decorations are truly outstanding, and I found myself drawing inspiration from her work as I created my own unique holiday displays.

One of the first spaces I tackled was my dining room table setting. As you know, my channel is primarily focused on Dollar Tree decor, so I wanted to showcase how I could create a beautiful place setting using these affordable items. The berry garland, tea light holder, and glass vase all came from the Dollar Tree, and I added some subtle touches to bring the display together. However, as I worked on this piece, I realized that I had to make a few adjustments. The branches I had initially planned to use didn't quite work with the rest of the decor, so I ended up switching them out for LED mini Christmas trees. These small trees not only added a warm glow to the space but also complemented the gold accents on my plates and added a touch of elegance to the overall display.

Next, I turned my attention to the console table in my dining room. Inspired by Liz's decorating style, I set out to create a unique and inviting vignette using everyday items. The fleur-de-llys I scored at a thrift store became the foundation for this look, and I added some festive touches to bring it together. Present boxes from the At-Home store were used as a base, topped with Dollar Tree reindeer tea lights and old glass holders. As I worked on this piece, I found myself making a few tweaks - particularly when it came to the bow that adorned my centerpiece. In the end, I decided to go with a red bow instead of the original gold one, which I think adds a pop of color to the display.

As I finished up my dining room decor, I couldn't help but feel a sense of pride and accomplishment. While this space may not be entirely perfect (there are still a few adjustments I'd like to make!), it feels like me - warm, inviting, and full of holiday cheer. Each year, my goal is to improve my decorating skills and create a cohesive look that I can enjoy for years to come. With this dining room, I feel like we've taken a step in the right direction.

Next up on my decorating journey will be the kitchen, entryway, and living room - each of which will receive its own unique holiday makeover. As always, I'll be drawing inspiration from my favorite sources (and maybe even collaborating with some talented decorators along the way!). Stay tuned for those updates, and thank you for joining me on this holiday decorating journey - it's been a blast!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enI am going to be decorating my dining room today and if you don't already know I've already decorated my master bedroom and my daughter's bedroom and I will link both of those down below so this is the second room in the house that I attempted to draw out how I wanted it to look long before Christmas has even started to roll around on the calendar what I mean by that is I basically took a sheet of paper and I tried to envision what I wanted it to look like I didn't really like how it looked last year and really this dining room is just kind of misfits of furniture that I threw together because I hadn't really planned on being in this house that long but then it turned out that I I just I've been here three years in hell basically but yeah so anyway I digress I mapped out how I wanted this to look in terms of decor and I actually did the main part which is the table really came to life the vision that I had drawn out for myself but there were a couple of things as I was putting it together that I just wasn't feeling it but she would know all this if you watched my vlog Channel I have talked about this whole map process and how I've been buying my decor yadda yadda yadda but anyway so I was supposed to put the tree by the three windows in the front of the dining room but the reason why I didn't was because there just was not enough space between the chair of the dining room table and then the window that tree was simply too big and I didn't want to turn the dining room table the opposite direction so I decided to put the tree back where I had actually put it last year and then I'm trying to decorate the dining room table so this is the one thing that I had actually drew out I knew I wanted three trees in the center and I knew I wanted to drape them with those snow blankets which I got at Walmart and the mini three trees are actually from Amazon I got them for $13 and actually so is the big tree the big tree is also from Amazon as well so basically I'm just taking the snow blanket I cut strips of it and then I wrapped it around the base of each tree I just thought that it would look more full if I separated each blanket yeah so then what I decided to do was I wanted to create a table scape with a plate setting but you'll notice that I only did the plates I haven't done any other flatware I haven't done the cups or the napkins and silverware and all that just because I'm waiting till a little bit later to do that part but this turned out so pretty and I really I really liked it I think it'll still change up next year but I really love how it turned out and I'm actually putting down some Dollar Tree plates they're gorgeous they have this gold metallic lining to it it's so pretty really looks like it came out of Pier one or Pottery Barn and the plaid chargers are from the target dollar spot so I guess I took a break from putting down the the place setting and I'm trying to put the tree skirt on which is really pretty how's that Christmas sweater look to it and I got it from Hobby Lobby and I really love that I used white as the tree skirt because the majority of my dining room has white elements and so I thought let me just keep bringing out that white so everything just kind of looks not too loud and crazy and a lot going on I just wanted to really pull in off of that one focal point color and also now what you see me doing is I'm trying to figure out this console table originally I had decided that I wanted like a chalkboard and I wanted to write Merry Christmas and draw some snowflakes like I had a whole vision for this table and it just I didn't like it and I think the reason why I didn't like it is because I'm not really happy with the mirror and those two wood pieces they're actually let me backtrack I love those pieces but the color of the wall is great and it's just not complementary to my style at all and no I'm not gonna paint to make it you know look great with my decor I just have to kind of deal with it for now and I think that it's created some of my decorating challenges but anyway so I just decided that the vision that I had come up with just was not working because it didn't go well with what I had already on the walls so I had to go to loses channel Y all I had to go to traditions by the seasons which by the way I just did a collab with her and I couldn't be more honored that she wanted to do this collab with me and I had to take a page from her book because she her decorations are just outstanding and I really pulled from some of her videos to just kind of find what I did here yeah and so I just kind of went with it and so I'm basically putting these branch sticks on either side and I'm actually going to take a break from this piece because then my camera died and now we're gonna switch into the dining room table portion which is the Dollar Tree portion so I really like this because you guys know my channel is really mostly all Dollar Tree stuff and so I really wanted to kind of focus on this place setting so that you guys could see how I built it using Dollar Tree stuff so the berry garland also Dollar Tree the tea light holder that I'm putting there the glass one also Dollar Tree and I knew when I got this I wanted to put these little mini trees however when I took a step back those many trees just were competing and not well might I add with the other trees that I had going on in that room I was just like okay just too much and so I actually switched it out with an LED mini Christmas tree that I also got at Dollar Tree and it has a gold bottom too and so I thought that was really pretty and charming brings out the gold from the plates and it also changes color now the reason why you'll only see two in this video is because I hold the other two separately but I can't quite find them so I have to dig through my stash and figure out where those two trees are and then I will put them on the other two place settings all right now let's go ahead and jump back in to the console table and like I mentioned I was inspired by Liz and her decorating skills and so this was my my shot at doing what I could with like her style and vision with what I already owned now some of those everyday pieces with the fleur-de-lys I actually scored at a thrift store which there's a video and a haul on and then I'm just adding my Christmas elements to it I got these present boxes at the at-home store which is like a holiday superstore and then I'm adding the Dollar Tree those reindeer tea light old glass holders are a Dollar Tree can you believe that I have not seen them this year but I think they were out last year and then I'm just adding several touches around the room I think a lot of this stuff is actually going to not a lot of it I think some of this stuff I'm gonna probably switch around like for example this bow right here I actually picked red in the end but comment down below and let me know what you think that gold is just really reaching out to me for some reason so I might switch it for the gold but I'm not sure let me know red or gold but then there's just a few little things around and we're about to jump into the reveal but there's a couple things I think between the tree and then the spot where I put that decor piece I said it's the most wonderful time of the year I think those two areas might make a change right now I decided not to decorate the tree because I'm really loving the tree bear as is with no ornaments no tree topper I just love seeing all the twinkly lights but this section right here I think I might alter and if I do you'll probably catch that on my vlog Channel but otherwise this is it you guys this is what I came up with for my dining room this year each year my goal is to improve my my decorating skills by no means am I an interior designer but I do feel like each year I want to get to a point where the room that I'm looking at that I love so much that I will set it up exactly that same way the following year I haven't quite reached that yet with this dining room but one I think we're getting closer maybe next year is gonna be the year but I do think that this is just gorgeous compared to what I did last year I'm really enjoying it I'm looking at it right now as I'm doing this voiceover and I hope that you guys have drawn some inspiration from this too and just know that if you don't know what you like just keep trying again keep moving decor pieces around until you just kind of settle on something that you really love so anyways that's it so again I've decorated my bedroom my daughter's room the dining room next up is going to be the kitchen the entryway the living room so I hope you guys stay tuned because those three spaces are going to be by far my favorite so hopefully I'll see you guys there and take care byeI am going to be decorating my dining room today and if you don't already know I've already decorated my master bedroom and my daughter's bedroom and I will link both of those down below so this is the second room in the house that I attempted to draw out how I wanted it to look long before Christmas has even started to roll around on the calendar what I mean by that is I basically took a sheet of paper and I tried to envision what I wanted it to look like I didn't really like how it looked last year and really this dining room is just kind of misfits of furniture that I threw together because I hadn't really planned on being in this house that long but then it turned out that I I just I've been here three years in hell basically but yeah so anyway I digress I mapped out how I wanted this to look in terms of decor and I actually did the main part which is the table really came to life the vision that I had drawn out for myself but there were a couple of things as I was putting it together that I just wasn't feeling it but she would know all this if you watched my vlog Channel I have talked about this whole map process and how I've been buying my decor yadda yadda yadda but anyway so I was supposed to put the tree by the three windows in the front of the dining room but the reason why I didn't was because there just was not enough space between the chair of the dining room table and then the window that tree was simply too big and I didn't want to turn the dining room table the opposite direction so I decided to put the tree back where I had actually put it last year and then I'm trying to decorate the dining room table so this is the one thing that I had actually drew out I knew I wanted three trees in the center and I knew I wanted to drape them with those snow blankets which I got at Walmart and the mini three trees are actually from Amazon I got them for $13 and actually so is the big tree the big tree is also from Amazon as well so basically I'm just taking the snow blanket I cut strips of it and then I wrapped it around the base of each tree I just thought that it would look more full if I separated each blanket yeah so then what I decided to do was I wanted to create a table scape with a plate setting but you'll notice that I only did the plates I haven't done any other flatware I haven't done the cups or the napkins and silverware and all that just because I'm waiting till a little bit later to do that part but this turned out so pretty and I really I really liked it I think it'll still change up next year but I really love how it turned out and I'm actually putting down some Dollar Tree plates they're gorgeous they have this gold metallic lining to it it's so pretty really looks like it came out of Pier one or Pottery Barn and the plaid chargers are from the target dollar spot so I guess I took a break from putting down the the place setting and I'm trying to put the tree skirt on which is really pretty how's that Christmas sweater look to it and I got it from Hobby Lobby and I really love that I used white as the tree skirt because the majority of my dining room has white elements and so I thought let me just keep bringing out that white so everything just kind of looks not too loud and crazy and a lot going on I just wanted to really pull in off of that one focal point color and also now what you see me doing is I'm trying to figure out this console table originally I had decided that I wanted like a chalkboard and I wanted to write Merry Christmas and draw some snowflakes like I had a whole vision for this table and it just I didn't like it and I think the reason why I didn't like it is because I'm not really happy with the mirror and those two wood pieces they're actually let me backtrack I love those pieces but the color of the wall is great and it's just not complementary to my style at all and no I'm not gonna paint to make it you know look great with my decor I just have to kind of deal with it for now and I think that it's created some of my decorating challenges but anyway so I just decided that the vision that I had come up with just was not working because it didn't go well with what I had already on the walls so I had to go to loses channel Y all I had to go to traditions by the seasons which by the way I just did a collab with her and I couldn't be more honored that she wanted to do this collab with me and I had to take a page from her book because she her decorations are just outstanding and I really pulled from some of her videos to just kind of find what I did here yeah and so I just kind of went with it and so I'm basically putting these branch sticks on either side and I'm actually going to take a break from this piece because then my camera died and now we're gonna switch into the dining room table portion which is the Dollar Tree portion so I really like this because you guys know my channel is really mostly all Dollar Tree stuff and so I really wanted to kind of focus on this place setting so that you guys could see how I built it using Dollar Tree stuff so the berry garland also Dollar Tree the tea light holder that I'm putting there the glass one also Dollar Tree and I knew when I got this I wanted to put these little mini trees however when I took a step back those many trees just were competing and not well might I add with the other trees that I had going on in that room I was just like okay just too much and so I actually switched it out with an LED mini Christmas tree that I also got at Dollar Tree and it has a gold bottom too and so I thought that was really pretty and charming brings out the gold from the plates and it also changes color now the reason why you'll only see two in this video is because I hold the other two separately but I can't quite find them so I have to dig through my stash and figure out where those two trees are and then I will put them on the other two place settings all right now let's go ahead and jump back in to the console table and like I mentioned I was inspired by Liz and her decorating skills and so this was my my shot at doing what I could with like her style and vision with what I already owned now some of those everyday pieces with the fleur-de-lys I actually scored at a thrift store which there's a video and a haul on and then I'm just adding my Christmas elements to it I got these present boxes at the at-home store which is like a holiday superstore and then I'm adding the Dollar Tree those reindeer tea light old glass holders are a Dollar Tree can you believe that I have not seen them this year but I think they were out last year and then I'm just adding several touches around the room I think a lot of this stuff is actually going to not a lot of it I think some of this stuff I'm gonna probably switch around like for example this bow right here I actually picked red in the end but comment down below and let me know what you think that gold is just really reaching out to me for some reason so I might switch it for the gold but I'm not sure let me know red or gold but then there's just a few little things around and we're about to jump into the reveal but there's a couple things I think between the tree and then the spot where I put that decor piece I said it's the most wonderful time of the year I think those two areas might make a change right now I decided not to decorate the tree because I'm really loving the tree bear as is with no ornaments no tree topper I just love seeing all the twinkly lights but this section right here I think I might alter and if I do you'll probably catch that on my vlog Channel but otherwise this is it you guys this is what I came up with for my dining room this year each year my goal is to improve my my decorating skills by no means am I an interior designer but I do feel like each year I want to get to a point where the room that I'm looking at that I love so much that I will set it up exactly that same way the following year I haven't quite reached that yet with this dining room but one I think we're getting closer maybe next year is gonna be the year but I do think that this is just gorgeous compared to what I did last year I'm really enjoying it I'm looking at it right now as I'm doing this voiceover and I hope that you guys have drawn some inspiration from this too and just know that if you don't know what you like just keep trying again keep moving decor pieces around until you just kind of settle on something that you really love so anyways that's it so again I've decorated my bedroom my daughter's room the dining room next up is going to be the kitchen the entryway the living room so I hope you guys stay tuned because those three spaces are going to be by far my favorite so hopefully I'll see you guys there and take care byeI am going to be decorating my dining room today and if you don't already know I've already decorated my master bedroom and my daughter's bedroom and I will link both of those down below so this is the second room in the house that I attempted to draw out how I wanted it to look long before Christmas has even started to roll around on the calendar what I mean by that is I basically took a sheet of paper and I tried to envision what I wanted it to look like I didn't really like how it looked last year and really this dining room is just kind of misfits of furniture that I threw together because I hadn't really planned on being in this house that long but then it turned out that I I just I've been here three years in hell basically but yeah so anyway I digress I mapped out how I wanted this to look in terms of decor and I actually did the main part which is the table really came to life the vision that I had drawn out for myself but there were a couple of things as I was putting it together that I just wasn't feeling it but she would know all this if you watched my vlog Channel I have talked about this whole map process and how I've been buying my decor yadda yadda yadda but anyway so I was supposed to put the tree by the three windows in the front of the dining room but the reason why I didn't was because there just was not enough space between the chair of the dining room table and then the window that tree was simply too big and I didn't want to turn the dining room table the opposite direction so I decided to put the tree back where I had actually put it last year and then I'm trying to decorate the dining room table so this is the one thing that I had actually drew out I knew I wanted three trees in the center and I knew I wanted to drape them with those snow blankets which I got at Walmart and the mini three trees are actually from Amazon I got them for $13 and actually so is the big tree the big tree is also from Amazon as well so basically I'm just taking the snow blanket I cut strips of it and then I wrapped it around the base of each tree I just thought that it would look more full if I separated each blanket yeah so then what I decided to do was I wanted to create a table scape with a plate setting but you'll notice that I only did the plates I haven't done any other flatware I haven't done the cups or the napkins and silverware and all that just because I'm waiting till a little bit later to do that part but this turned out so pretty and I really I really liked it I think it'll still change up next year but I really love how it turned out and I'm actually putting down some Dollar Tree plates they're gorgeous they have this gold metallic lining to it it's so pretty really looks like it came out of Pier one or Pottery Barn and the plaid chargers are from the target dollar spot so I guess I took a break from putting down the the place setting and I'm trying to put the tree skirt on which is really pretty how's that Christmas sweater look to it and I got it from Hobby Lobby and I really love that I used white as the tree skirt because the majority of my dining room has white elements and so I thought let me just keep bringing out that white so everything just kind of looks not too loud and crazy and a lot going on I just wanted to really pull in off of that one focal point color and also now what you see me doing is I'm trying to figure out this console table originally I had decided that I wanted like a chalkboard and I wanted to write Merry Christmas and draw some snowflakes like I had a whole vision for this table and it just I didn't like it and I think the reason why I didn't like it is because I'm not really happy with the mirror and those two wood pieces they're actually let me backtrack I love those pieces but the color of the wall is great and it's just not complementary to my style at all and no I'm not gonna paint to make it you know look great with my decor I just have to kind of deal with it for now and I think that it's created some of my decorating challenges but anyway so I just decided that the vision that I had come up with just was not working because it didn't go well with what I had already on the walls so I had to go to loses channel Y all I had to go to traditions by the seasons which by the way I just did a collab with her and I couldn't be more honored that she wanted to do this collab with me and I had to take a page from her book because she her decorations are just outstanding and I really pulled from some of her videos to just kind of find what I did here yeah and so I just kind of went with it and so I'm basically putting these branch sticks on either side and I'm actually going to take a break from this piece because then my camera died and now we're gonna switch into the dining room table portion which is the Dollar Tree portion so I really like this because you guys know my channel is really mostly all Dollar Tree stuff and so I really wanted to kind of focus on this place setting so that you guys could see how I built it using Dollar Tree stuff so the berry garland also Dollar Tree the tea light holder that I'm putting there the glass one also Dollar Tree and I knew when I got this I wanted to put these little mini trees however when I took a step back those many trees just were competing and not well might I add with the other trees that I had going on in that room I was just like okay just too much and so I actually switched it out with an LED mini Christmas tree that I also got at Dollar Tree and it has a gold bottom too and so I thought that was really pretty and charming brings out the gold from the plates and it also changes color now the reason why you'll only see two in this video is because I hold the other two separately but I can't quite find them so I have to dig through my stash and figure out where those two trees are and then I will put them on the other two place settings all right now let's go ahead and jump back in to the console table and like I mentioned I was inspired by Liz and her decorating skills and so this was my my shot at doing what I could with like her style and vision with what I already owned now some of those everyday pieces with the fleur-de-lys I actually scored at a thrift store which there's a video and a haul on and then I'm just adding my Christmas elements to it I got these present boxes at the at-home store which is like a holiday superstore and then I'm adding the Dollar Tree those reindeer tea light old glass holders are a Dollar Tree can you believe that I have not seen them this year but I think they were out last year and then I'm just adding several touches around the room I think a lot of this stuff is actually going to not a lot of it I think some of this stuff I'm gonna probably switch around like for example this bow right here I actually picked red in the end but comment down below and let me know what you think that gold is just really reaching out to me for some reason so I might switch it for the gold but I'm not sure let me know red or gold but then there's just a few little things around and we're about to jump into the reveal but there's a couple things I think between the tree and then the spot where I put that decor piece I said it's the most wonderful time of the year I think those two areas might make a change right now I decided not to decorate the tree because I'm really loving the tree bear as is with no ornaments no tree topper I just love seeing all the twinkly lights but this section right here I think I might alter and if I do you'll probably catch that on my vlog Channel but otherwise this is it you guys this is what I came up with for my dining room this year each year my goal is to improve my my decorating skills by no means am I an interior designer but I do feel like each year I want to get to a point where the room that I'm looking at that I love so much that I will set it up exactly that same way the following year I haven't quite reached that yet with this dining room but one I think we're getting closer maybe next year is gonna be the year but I do think that this is just gorgeous compared to what I did last year I'm really enjoying it I'm looking at it right now as I'm doing this voiceover and I hope that you guys have drawn some inspiration from this too and just know that if you don't know what you like just keep trying again keep moving decor pieces around until you just kind of settle on something that you really love so anyways that's it so again I've decorated my bedroom my daughter's room the dining room next up is going to be the kitchen the entryway the living room so I hope you guys stay tuned because those three spaces are going to be by far my favorite so hopefully I'll see you guys there and take care bye\n"