5 Secrets for Clutter Free Christmas Decor

I wanted to share five secrets for clutter free Christmas decor so that your house can really shine this holiday season! So often it can feel like our storage boxes explode in our living room, when a little editing is all we need. You want the most special details and pieces to have their moment. This can be difficult among tinsel overload.

So stick with me and don’t forget to share your gorgeous spaces with #ClutterFreeChristmasDecor and if you’re not already following us on Instagram, come on and join the party!

Part of my design aesthetic comes from curating many spaces over the years. As a Professional Organizer, I pay a lot of attention to balance. From furniture placement to book shelf styling, I have perfected the marriage of style and function. My taste is somewhat eclectic vintage contemporary. I love playing with color and almost nothing I do represents modern farmhouse.

Don’t be afraid to mix styles! Remember when you couldn’t wear mixed metals or black and blue was a no-no? All that has changed and the same applied to mixing styles in your home!

The 5 secrets for clutter free Christmas decor are…

Replace, don’t add.

Most areas like mantles, shelves and bookcases are already housing enough items. It’s better to replace those lanterns/bookends/statues with a Christmas themed ornament.

For example, I used snow globes as bookends, which works perfectly considering their weight. Aim to maintain the same balance of space as it was before. If you are replacing a piece of artwork with more festive option, go for similar size.

I feel like the rule of threes always works too. In one vignette, such as a shelf, change three major elements. More than that can feel cluttered but three feels purposeful.

On my living room bookshelf, I balanced the a nutcracker on each side so each are visible but not crowded together. The deer are also highest and lowest shelves (also less breakable to tiny human!) A light up sleigh serves as the ideal centerpiece.

Every item carries weight by taking up physical space. You want to balance the weight of items as evenly as possible both vertically and horizontally.

Okay, sorry to nerd out on you, it gets more fun from here!

Follow color theme by room.

Christmas comes in so many colors now! The traditional red and green has expanded into every color of the rainbow.

I swear I’ve seen every color Christmas tree you can think of, including black! Which, by the way, why? Then again, I was trying to justify purchasing a purple one!

Each color scheme was created based on the designs and tones already in the room. As I said before, I love playing with color, you CAN use red and orange or silver and gold tastefully! I went with tones of gold and blush in my office after falling in love with collection from Michael’s which complemented the greens and purples well.

My dining room was all about silver and gold with touches of blue. This was inspired by our wedding china which we are determined to use to host for our first Christmas dinner in our first home!

I went full on red and green in our living room and kitchen and even invited some plaid in for fun! 

Donate any unused decor but toss the unfixable.

For any items you are not using in your current space, consider letting someone else enjoy!

Say, that first Christmas tree you bought in your first apartments. If it’s no longer your style or you’ve upgraded to a bigger tree, find a family member who is starting out.

Donating to a women’s shelter or foster care center is also a wonderful way to pass along traditions. Singing loud for all to hear is not the only way to spread Christmas cheer! This is a do-able secret for clutter free Christmas decor. 

If you have broken decor that is just beyond repair, time to part for good. A Santa Claus without a head is just, well, creepy. Feel free to take 5 minutes with the glue gun if that means it can come back to life and perhaps donate to your local Goodwill Store! Please don’t donate broken items, they won’t be able to sell if it not immediately usable.

The tree breaks all rules.

It just does. The tree can be as big as you like and create as much magic as possible in the space. If you were my husband on an unlimited budget, you would have one in every room.

I love when homes place trees visible from the street window. It’s so peaceful to see that little sparkle shining through. Be sure to be cognizant of walkways. If you block one entrance to your kitchen with a tree, you may want to reconsider placement.

We did have to scoot over our media center to fit ours and I love that it is visible from the front door and our kitchen. Our newest addition is a North Pole express with a track around the base.

Edit. Edit. Edit.

I’m still editing! This is our first Christmas in our first house and figuring out where to put things so we can have clutter free Christmas decor has been a challenge.

I have definitely eliminated a few pieces – old stockings, broken ornaments and a couple items that just didn’t fit in our design. It will always be a work in progress and honestly, it’s fun for me. I like editing and rearranging. Shocker, right?!

The mantle may have been the most special to create and I couldn’t be more pleased with my set up. I originally used a garland we already had but it was so dark and did not complement the dark wood mantle. Then I found this bright, more modern garland piece from one of my faves Pier 1 and it was perfect!

The stocking holders were perfect too, complementing the brick and wood with vintage mod appeal (totally my eclectic style.) The sitting deer stocking holder for the animals and standing deer stocking holder for the humans. Also scored the Noel sign half price at my other secret decor place Joann’s.

Enjoy the holidays my friends, with these secrets for clutter free Christmas decor! Embrace a little bit of the child-eyed cheesy-ness and obnoxiously perfect-ending Hallmark movies. It’s part of the fun.

Don’t forget to tag your carefully edited spaces with me on Instagram using #ClutterFreeChristmasDecor I love being able to inspire each other this way!

These amazing photos of my home were captured by my new friend Dani over at D2Pictures – didn’t she do a fabulous job?!

If you like cutting clutter,
those on your gift-giving list
may too! You will want to read this next:
Six Clutter-Free Gift Ideas