How to Decorate a Small Living Room for Christmas – 11 Ideas

Make Room For The Christmas Tree

Everyone knows the Christmas tree is the star of the show when it comes to holiday decor. And that’s certainly the case with our colorful Christmas tree decorations.

If you have a small space, don’t be afraid to use a big Christmas tree. Simply move a bulky piece of furniture to make your Christmas tree fit.

That’s exactly what we did this year. And I’m so glad we did, too!

When this amazing 9 ft pre-lit Christmas tree from Grandin Road arrived, I was SO EXCITED to put it up. But how we were going to fit the big Christmas tree in our small living room was a real head scratcher.

Then, Cole had an idea! What if we moved the dining room table into the garage?

Before, our small space was more of a joint dining room and living room. But our bulky dining room table had become more of a place to set things on as we went in and our the front door.

We moved our dining room table and did some furniture rearranging to make way for our big, colorful Christmas tree and I couldn’t be happier.

The Christmas tree now has more than enough room to shine, despite our small living room.

Consider Separating Your Christmas Tree and Mantle

I’ve always felt the need to place our colorful Christmas tree next to our coordinating mantle. And that’s exactly what I did last year with our smaller Christmas tree.

But even with a smaller tree, it felt sort of cramped because of our small living room space. If you’re stuck on how to decorate your small living room for Christmas, consider seperating your Christmas tree from your mantle.

That way, both your Christmas mantle decorations and your Christmas tree decor will have room to shine.

Layer a Wreath Over a Mirror or Artwork on Your Christmas Mantle

Whether you’re working with a small space our not, layering is always key when it comes to holiday decorating. Not only does it look more interesting, but it makes decorating easier when you haul out your seasonal decor.

Keep your mantle mainstays, like your mirrors, art work and larger decorations like candleholders generic. That way, you can keep them up year-round, and add in decorations for each season.

I love the large rectangular mirror we leave on our mantle year-round. It’s classic and neutral so we can easily add decorations for each season.

For example, our Halloween bat mantle featured cobwebs, spiders and felt bats over the mirror.

For the holidays, we added a classic Christmas mantle garland and a colorful Christmas wreath over the mirror.

Switch Up Your Candlesticks

Another easy Christmas mantle decorating idea is to add holiday greenery to your candlesticks.

This candlestick set we got from Grandin Road has quickly become a mainstay on our mantle. For each season, we can swap out both the candle colors and add greenery with candle rings.

For Halloween, we covered the candlesticks in cobwebs and spiders, and used black candles. For Christmas, we added this set of holiday greenery candle rings that’s created to coordinate with the candlestick set.

Start a Christmas Village Over a Console Table or Buffet

I’ve been collecting my Disney Christmas village for a few years now. It wasn’t until this year that I went all out on our Christmas village display, though.

If you have a small living room but want to make a big impact with your holiday decorations, consider starting a Christmas village display.

You can display a Christmas village practically anywhere. Whether a buffet like we did or a console table. Or even a Christmas village mantle display or on top of your media center.

Just cover with snow, add your Christmas village houses and accessories and that piece of furniture becomes an instant Christmas wonderland.

Remember your Christmas village doesn’t have to be all one theme or brand or even the same size. In fact, once we added these amazing giant gingerbread houses from Grandin Road, our Disney Christmas village finally felt complete.

Stay tuned because later this month I’ll be sharing a post on how to display a Christmas village featuring our Disney Christmas village.

Use a Large Red Christmas Bow As Wall Decor

Using a large red velvet Christmas bow as wall decor for Christmas was something I did last year and I absolutely loved it.

You can get these red bows for as little as $5 and they can make a huge impact on your small living room Christmas decorations.

Whether you have a statement mirror as a wall decor centerpiece or some art, simply pop a big red bow over it, and it isntantly feels like Christmas.

Don’t Be Afraid to Mix Old Ornaments With The New

Your Christmas tree decor should set the stage for the rest of your living room decorations. So don’t limit yourself with a strict or monochrome color palette.

I’ve been collecting Disney ornaments for the last several years. But I was actually afraid to mix them in with our large gold Christmas ball ornaments and more “grown up” ornaments and tree decor we’d also been accumulating.

So much, in fact, that last year, I kept most of the Disney ornaments in the box (shame on me!)

But this year, I said no more! I LOVE Disney and I love color (obviously). Why would I want to limit my Christmas decor style by sticking to a limited theme or color palette on my tree?

This year, we added dozens of bright and colorful Christmas ball ornaments from Grandinroad to the tree. From pink and turquoise to green, white and gold, the variety of colors allowed me to easily mix in ALL of our Disney Christmas ornaments and more.

Intermix Your Mainstay Coffee Table Books With Christmas Classics

Another easy way to decorate your small living room for Christmas? Simply add in some Christmas classic books you already have in your collection.

Coffee table books are a modern home decor mainstay in practically every house these days. But instead of packing them away for the holidays, mix in some classic Christmas books and your coffee table is officially decorated for Christmas.

Place Mini Christmas Wreaths Over Furniture And Wall Art

Rethink the way you decorate with Christmas wreaths in your small living room. It’s so easy and affordable to add a small wreath over furniture or wall decor.

I actually think these mini wreaths were meant to be displayed over candles on a table, but they worked great over our wood door wall art to add a little classic Christmas decor.

Mix In Some Christmas Throw Pillows

Remember the Halloween throw pillows we had on our living room accent chair? We swapped them for these colorful Christmas throw pillows this holiday season.

Adding in a few holiday-specific throw pillows is another easy way to decorate a small living room for Christmas.

I especially love that these bright Christmas hook pillows tie in our colorful Christmas decorations.

Just Add Lights

When you add a lot of Christmas decor to your small living room space, you might want to keep it simple in some areas.

When all else fails, you can’t go wrong by adding a little holiday sparkle with some Christmas lights to a piece of furniture like we did with our media center.