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Decorate for Christmas like Joanna Gaines — on a budget
Get the star designer's classic, cozy look for less with these festive garlands, stockings and more.
Raise your hand if you love Joanna Gaines' style! I do: I worked as an editor at HGTV Magazine for many years and always got a thrill writing about the beautiful homes she designed on her show Fixer Upper. The woman has impeccable taste no matter the season — have you seen her Magnolia Home Hearth & Hand line at Target lately? — but it's especially true at Christmastime.
In a recent Instagram reel, Jojo offered a sneak peek at some of the ways she's getting her Waco, Tx., shop, Magnolia Market, into the spirit. "We're flipping the store from fall to holiday and you know that makes my heart so happy. I love Christmas — it's so magical," she shared.
Basically, Joanna's Instagram is a master class in festive decor. So we combed the video for her best ideas, then rounded up budget-friendly buys to get the look. Happy holidays — and happy decorating!
Layer garlands and berries
At her store, Joanna drapes garlands over some of the displays, then twists stems of faux winter berries into the greenery. "This is fun — we do it on a structure, but if you want to do this on your mantel, your staircase, on top of a piano or console, layering different kinds of greenery," she says. "And then if you want that really fun hit of color, kind of weave in this fun little iced berry."
A light dusting of "snow" gives these faux holly berries an extra-festive look. You could nestle them in garland like Joanna does, or simply group them together in a vase for a berry cute centerpiece.
Joanna's Hearth & Hand line at Target is packed with affordable ways to get her aesthetic, including this impressively realistic faux spruce garland, dotted with adorable tiny pinecones. It also comes in a 12-foot length, which you could wrap around a banister to bring your decor to, ahem, new heights.
Swap flowers for evergreens
Fresh blooms are lovely, but they can be more expensive in the winter and they might not be at peak freshness. Instead, fill your vases with sprays of evergreens. Joanna says her favorite is silver pine "just because I love how it's got kind of that silvery blue, and any time you put red with it or even burgundy, it's such a pretty contrast." In the video, she clusters them in a fluted mercury glass-style vase. Classic!
This gleaming vase has a similar shape and finish to the one Joanna uses, and it'll certainly make your holiday table shine a little brighter! It measures 8.5 inches tall, so you won't need a ton of greenery stems to fill it.
If you want to use the same sprays Joanna does, you can buy them at Magnolia. They look and feel just like the real thing, so they'd be worth the money if you're just filling one vase. But if you want to create a larger arrangement or fill multiple vases, consider this lookalike. You can't beat the price — less than $3 each — and the stems have a mix of flocked and plain faux pine needles for that silvery color.
Mismatch your stockings
In the video you can see Joanna playing around with a stocking display that features printed designs alongside solid colors and plaids. She does this at home, too, and it's an easy way to get that perfectly imperfect look that's a hallmark of Fixer Upper style. Unsure how to mix and match patterns? Just make sure each stocking shares at least one color, so they look cohesive as a group.
How sweet is this plaid stocking?! It has that quintessential farmhouse charm, and the wood letter ensures you'll never have to guess whose stocking is whose.
Talk about cozy — this stocking will warm up your mantel even more with its diamond-knit design. Because it's white, it'll go with pretty much any other stockings, and the pattern adds interest.
Love the mixed-and-matched look but don't know how to pull it off? This stocking set was designed for you. And you can't go wrong with classic black and white!
Add bows everywhere!
At the store, velvet ribbons tied into loose bows decorate wreaths, sconces and the tops of stockings. The colors are all muted jewel tones like forest green and burnt orange, which look so pretty against a classic Christmas color scheme of red and green. You could even use bows to decorate your tree.
No tying skills? No problems. These ready-made bows are currently the No. 1 bestseller in seasonal bows and ribbons on Amazon, and they have that delicate, loose shape that Joanna likes. Pick them up in a bunch of hues — they come in 10 more, including olive, burgundy and cream — for an extra dose of color.
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Take a wreath from fine to fabulous with a large velvet bow. It's more structured than what Joanna uses, but still adds lots of cozy texture. This find measures more than a foot long, so it'll definitely make a statement.
Make things extra easy on yourself with an already dressed-up wreath! This gold beauty, which comes adorned with a velvet bow, has a more delicate look than a traditional evergreen wreath, making it the perfect decoration for a window or mirror where you don't want to hide too much of the view. Good as, well ... you know!
