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the {never before seen} bonus room decorated for christmas

    Like many homes built within the last 10 years, we have a large bonus room above the garage. It has served many different purposes in our home – playroom, media room, office, bedroom – but we’ve landed for now on making it into a comfortable family room.  It is where the kids play xbox, build forts, watch movies and play board games. Occasionally I’ll sit in there to fold laundry and watch a show, but it is mostly a room for the kids to enjoy.

    This year we decided to spread the cheer and decorate the room for Christmas.

    playroom-decorated-for-christmas

    I’m not using any red in our christmas decorations downstairs, so it was fun to put all of our red ornaments, pillows and accessories in here.

    playroom-christmas-tree-god-is-good

    We’ve had the little artificial tree for years and it was nice to just pop it together and plug it in.  The tree is decorated with favorite ornaments and all of the kids’ special ones they have made at school.

    playroom-kids-art-on-wall

    On the opposite wall is this most creative and precious sign the kids and their cousins made last weekend. It is one of those things I’ll roll up and bring out year after year.

    kids-christmas-art

    The big map {from ikea} is embellished with a simple garland made with cardstock letters strung on green gardening twine.

    playroom-christmas-tree

    joy-to-the-world-on-map

    Favorite christmas books and a few cherished nutcrackers from my childhood collection bring cheerful holiday touches.

    nutcrackers-in-the-playroom

    The kids and I had a great time putting the room together. They have been so in to decorating this year … can’t wait to show you what else they came up with!

    I’ll be joining Lindsay from The White Buffalo Styling Co. for a Christmas tour of homes next week with photos of the rest of our house so stay tuned…

    35 thoughts on “the {never before seen} bonus room decorated for christmas”

    1. Which Ikea curtains do you use throughout your house? I don’t have an Ikea close and I wanted to make sure I ordered the correct ones. Thanks-everything you do is amazing!

    2. I love this room! I want to do a similar thing for one of my rooms. I want to make it a study and rest area in my home. Where did you find the map? Is it a specific map brand? It is a nice size and seems to be a complete world map. I adore your site, but most of all that you take great effort to express kindness and compassion. God bless you and your family Emily!

    3. Emily
      the house looks amazing. Love the kids christmas room. May I make a suggestion…I think chandalier bobbles would look perfect hanging from the deers atlers in the living room. Have a wonderful holiday with your cute family. Hope your party is a big hit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    4. I love it! We had a bonus room in our previous house and a military move sized us down by 600 square feet. I’m struggling this year because I’ve had to keep so many of my holiday decorations packed away. I love their dedicated space and its cheerful, kid-centered design.

    5. I feel compelled to comment – that little nutcracker with the blue coat and orange pants was my childhood favorite! I always loved that he was smaller than the others and that feathery gray hair was just the softest! Anyway, seeing this took me right back. :) This room really feels like family and Christmas – the best!

    6. I love that you use your children’s art work as Christmas decor! Not only is it original, but it is fun and interesting as well! This is such an inexpensive idea. And think of how important that makes your kids feel, that you display their artwork for everyone to see! Love it!

    7. I love your new family room!! So festive and fun. I want to put new curtains in my daughter’s bedroom (8 ft. ceiling) and was wondering how long yours are? I like that you installed the curtain hardware so close to the ceiling. Also, do you have sheers inside the window frame? The window really frames the room nicely! Thank you.

    8. So cute, Emily! Festive and fun, just as it should be. For years we had a smallish artificial tree in our family room that the kids decorated with their handmade ornaments from church and school. They’re all almost grown now (15-26) so we don’t do that anymore and I’m working on a way to keep those precious ornaments around permanently. Can’t bring myself to discard them. :)
      Enjoy and Merry Christmas!
      xo Heidi

    9. So cute and endearing…what a cozy and sweet spot for your littles to relax and to celebrate the Savior : ) Some of the simplest decorations are some of the best. Where did you find your joy pillow? It is so pretty.

    10. Beautiful! Our new house has that exact room over the garage… Can’t wait to add an extra bedroom so we can use it like this :)

      PS… Where are the curtains from? They’re perfect!

    11. Hi. Darling decorations! Is the old wash tub just used to put the tree and stand in? I’m guessing what you did, but if its purpose is something else, would you tell me?

      Thank you!

    12. My kids are grown but this makes me want to pull out this year these amazing construction paper, cotton ball and glitter Santas, about three feet tall, that the kids each did in elementary school. Haven’t had them up in about ten years but they are so fab, they are just funky cool and I used to put them up very year for a few years, and I would get great comments on them.

      I still have two drawings of my son’s, circa 2003, framed and up on the wall all the time. Charcoal on vanilla colored paper so it goes with everything, still lifes of: a portion of a clockface (Roman numerals) with pears and the other of spiky daisies in a vase. They were learning to draw shadows and my son had the shadows going in the wrong direction which just makes it more endearing and fascinating. They are so so cool. The lines in children’s art are just so interesting. I love the jagged edge on the banner your children made, well, the whole thing is great.

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