Home » Blog » Decorate » Vintage Decor » Colorful Vintage Christmas Decorations That Will Make You Smile

Colorful Vintage Christmas Decorations That Will Make You Smile

/

Now that Thanksgiving is over it’s full blown Christmas here at our house. And this year it’s all about fun colors. Today I’m sharing our colorful vintage Christmas decorations that have made the living room our favorite room in the house.

It’s part of the holiday home tour organized by Jenny at Evolution of Style. All week long you can find ideas for every room in your home and the links to the tours are at the bottom of this post. There are some absolutely gorgeous homes so you’ll definitely want to visit them all.

If you’re just coming over from Sincerely Marie Designs, welcome! Amanda’s style is so classic and beautiful and her living room looks so pretty all decked out for Christmas.

Today is all about living rooms, family rooms, and dens and our living room is on tour. I’ve tried to use only what I already had and only purchased a couple of new items.

Our house was built in the mid-60’s so I’ve focused on hip mid-century modern items but also have lots of other decades. It’s truly a mash-up of fun styles.

How to use colorful vintage items as Christmas decor

There are so many things that can be used as Christmas decor in addition to the traditional ornaments, garlands, wreaths, etc. Let’s look at some fun ways I’ve used them this year.

Shopping Resources

If you’re interested in creating a look like you see here, scroll to the bottom of the post where I’m sharing resources for the items I used in this project, or items as close as I could find that are currently available.

Ornaments

Vintage glass ornaments are fun to collect and sometimes you can find them at thrift stores. This year I added mine to our Christmas tree and love the bright and cheery colors. They’re just such a happy sight.

Obviously ornaments are ideal for adding color to your tree. But you can also use them in other areas. Place some vintage glass ornaments in a big bowl for an impressive dose of color.

See all of my favorite ways to decorate with colorful vintage ornaments here: Shiny Brites – History, Sources, and Display Ideas

Ribbon

Confession time…I fully intended to do a blue and white theme with hot pink accents. But when I started adding my vintage ornaments I decided to use all of the colors. So that’s the explanation behind the navy and white checked ribbon. But it actually goes with all the bold colors.

The spool of turquoise velvet ribbon adds a pop of color to the space behind the sofa. And a couple of vintage ornaments bring some sparkle to the scene.

Bottles

Colorful vintage bottles like these Empoli bottles add interest and color any time of the year. They were perfect for the table behind the sofa since I needed some height and color here.

Serger Thread Spools

Say what? Okay, this one is way out there but I love how it turned out. I had planned to do a colorful theme for Christmas and then I spotted a large collection of these thread spools on an online auction. I immediately saw them as little Christmas trees and luckily won the auction. Aren’t they so much fun??

In addition to the colorful thread cones, I added a vintage frame that I painted bright turquoise many years ago, a felt wreath that I made a couple of years ago, some colorful vintage toys, colorful boho stockings, and the JOY sign because the whole vibrant sight just brings so much joy.

Toys & Games

Let’s continue taking a stroll down memory lane and add more color with vintage board games. I’ve had these for years and haven’t wrapped any presents yet so they were the perfect addition underneath the tree.

And the vintage collectible toys belonged to my late father-in-law and brother-in-law so there are some good memories there. So colorful and fun!

I couldn’t resist adding a little bottle brush tree to the opening in the top of the old van. (similar one found here: vintage inspired Christmas van). The faux fur blanket it’s sitting on kinda looks like snow, doesn’t it?

The vintage turquoise NYLINT camper is a classic retro toy. It’s built to last, for sure!

Pottery pieces

Now let’s head over to the vintage brass bar cart I snagged years ago at an estate sale. We’ll listen to some Dean Martin records and do the cha cha while we’re there. Mr. Martin inspired a slightly Italian theme here with the vintage Italian wine bottles and hammered aluminum ice bucket. The tiny tinsel tree isn’t vintage but looks like it is.

The pottery pieces aren’t Italian but they add some fun color. And they’re a great place for my vintage bakelite bar tools and vintage ornaments.

Glasses and cups

Continuing with the vintage colorful Italian theme are my anodized aluminum pitcher and cups. They actually look like ornaments with their bright colors. I’ve had these for probably 30 years and had forgotten about them until I was looking for things to use for Christmas color.

Throw blankets & pillows

Textiles are another great item to add for the season. I bought the FALALALA pillow a couple of weeks ago and it actually inspired many of the colors I used in this room. The colorful granny square blanket was a thrift store find years ago.

As a side note, I just installed the photo gallery wall right before Thanksgiving. I highly recommend having photos printed from your vacations and hanging them on the wall for some unique color and personalized art.

More colorful blankets are used over on the hearth. They’re soft and cozy.

The colorful stair step throw blanket adds some pizazz to my wing back chair.

Mr. Wizard liked it so much he took a little cat nap on it. And now I’m needing a nap too, how about you?

I hope you enjoyed the tour and found some ideas you can use in your own home. Keep scrolling to see all of the tour participants and be sure to visit everyone.

More Christmas Posts

Here are all the posts on on the tour, and up next is Kim at Northern California Style. You’ll love her neutral living room decor!

Monday, November 28th (Front Porch/Outdoor Spaces) Evolution of Style | Maison de CinqHome by Heidi | Southern Hospitality | Cindy Hattersley Design   Tuesday, November 29th (Entries/Dining Rooms) Hello Lovely | A Stroll Thru Life | County Road 407 | Southern Heather | Classic Casual Home | Most Lovely Things   Wednesday, November 30th (Living Rooms/Dens) Northern California Style | Thrifty Decor Chick | Summer Adams | Make Mine a Spritzer | Sincerely Marie Designs | Postcards from the Ridge   Thursday, December 1st (Mantels/Kitchens/Laundry Rooms) Southern Hospitality | Cindy Hattersley Design | Home with a Twist | Sincerely Marie Designs | Citrine Living Friday, December 2nd (Bedrooms) Dimples and Tangles | This is Our Bliss | Shine Your Light | Sincerely Marie Designs      

Sources

These are the same items or similar to what I used in our living room.

11 Comments

  1. You have pulled my heartstrings! Oh the nostalgia and cheerful color and memories wrapped up in one space. The crocheted throw, Dean Martin on the bar, and those killer retro ornaments! So happy to join you on this holiday tour (my first!) and sending peace from the heartland.

    1. Aww, I’m so glad you like it! I had the best time putting it all together. Happy to be joining the tour. Merry Christmas!

  2. I’m not only smiling but absolutely giddy! From the very first photo to the aluminum pitcher and cups I’ve been thinking back to my childhood. And for some odd reason, I keep thinking of the show I Dream Of Jeanie. Weird right? It could be the gorgeous colors but I bet it’s because of the fantastic blue bottle. You are so creative and have the best style. I love it all. So glad you shared it with us! Merry Christmas!

    1. I’m so happy that it made you giddy, lol! Yes, that bottle has me humming the “I dream of Jeanie” theme song. I loved that show growing up and even dressed like her one year for Halloween! Thanks for your very kind words. Merry Christmas to you too, Cindy!

  3. Angie so many cool things here. I think your late father-in -law would love knowing his vintage treasures were being used like this. I love the toys and games and the bar with the albums! The blankets and pillows make it all work and looks so cozy with your cat. I wish you had a Pinterest button as I would l to save some of these images. You have an eye for color and objects and could be a stylist. So nice doing this with you all! Happy Holidays!
    Kim

    1. Thanks, Kim. I had a blast decorating this room! You should be able to hover over any image and the pinterest logo will appear in the top left corner, and you can pin that way. Or if you’re on mobile, press any image and the share options should appear on your screen. Happy holidays to you too!

  4. Angie! This is soooo darling and soooo fun! Wow, it took me back and even stirred up some of my own memories. I can’t believe your family kept those vintage toys. And the games…we had those for years at our family cabin in Tahoe. My heart swelled looking at the aluminum cups at the beginning. My grandma had those too in all different colors and we’d write our names on some masking tape and then put it on the cup ha! (36 grandkids) When my grandparents died, we all got to take the aluminum cup with us (some still had tape on it with their names in Grandma’s handwriting) and bring them home. So I’m a little teary-eyed going through this post. What a treat this was. Thank you and Merry Christmas!

  5. I always love your Christmas tours Angie! I’m crushing on those vintage glass ornaments and your colorful mantel. Thank you so much for sharing and I hope you have a wonderful Christmas!

  6. Wow, so colorful and fun … I love it! The silver tree on your bar cart makes me nostalgic … I had one just like it when I was a little girl and was so excited to get it out each Christmas. What a great tour … happiest holiday’s! xo

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *