The Most Magical Christmas Home Makeover I’ve Ever Done!

A big thank you to Pharrell for partnering with me on this episode. This is the most magical Christmas makeover I've ever done. The gingerbread fairy tale come to life room by room all on a thrifty creative budget. Let me take you on the full tour from glitter gingerbread to a 12 foot Christmas tree and trust me the ending will make you believe in Christmas magic and the DIY dolly is in her mommy and me outfit and we're going to give you the full tour. Let's get started. Let's start here right on the front porch. Even though this is one of my more recent episodes, it was something that I had planned for almost a year because I had it in my mind actually since we moved in. One of you made the comment that my house looks kind of like a gingerbread house and I was like, you know what? They're kind of right. I really ran with that theme this year. The first thing I want to talk about is these gingerbread houses that I put on either base of the pillar. Now I'll go into more of that process here in just a second, but I love how that sets the whole theme up for the rest of the house and that was such an easy and fun process and affordable by the way and all the things that we've done are really affordable. On this front porch, I really scored with these gingerbread men. Now I had originally planned on making these out of styrofoam, very similar to the gingerbread houses, but I came across these ones that were damaged from Hobby Lobby and I found them because they were originally on a base and they had been broken off. So they were 50% off of 50% off. So I got like 50% off twice, making them super affordable and they were so adorable. They already had glitter on them. They already had the candy canes, bows, hats, they were so cute and I knew that I just had to snag them. We also have these giant peppermint patties that were just made from foam core board and some vinyl decals that I made on my Cricut machine. I wrapped them in cellophane, tied bows on them and then just wired them on these porch lights that are solar powered and I've been using those since the springtime and they've been holding up really great. Then you'll see the stacking presents with the little gingerbread man on it. Those were something we did in a Dollar Tree episode and that was super fun. The wreaths are from last year, which saves me money and it saves me time and they're just classic with the big red bows and the bells on them. And then I potted up my planters with fake plants because I'm a cereal plant killer. We've got giant bows, giant poinsettias, some garlands, and this porch is one of my all-time favorite porches I have done ever, irregardless of the season. I love it. But now it's time to go inside. Hey, got some big news today. So we are celebrating Natalie's birthday in a couple of weeks and we just received her birthday present. So we've been working with a friend named Rosanna, who is a fan of Design of the Ninth and she has an Etsy store and it's called For You by Rose and she makes customized tumblers. We've worked together to come up with a tumbler and a design, hopefully that Natalie loves. What I want to do is first just unwrap it right now and just make sure that everything's in order. Okay, we've got some gingerbread. I don't know if those are cookies or not, but that's a nice little feature. Thank you, Rosanna. Oh, this is packed really well. There's two items here. So we have the tumbler right here and something. I don't know what this is. Oh, it's super heavy. She could do a bell bar of curls with this thing. I won't be able to see it because it's so nice with the sticker and it's wrapped really well. I don't want to undo this, you guys, so I'm not going to be able to see it right now. What we'll do is we'll wait for Natalie's birthday and then we'll give it to her and then we can all see the end result here. But I just know that Natalie is going to die when she gets this. It'll be me and the two boys giving it to her on her birthday in a couple of weeks and hopefully we can share it with you all. Also, super funny, I had Rosanna put on the shipping tag. So it says me, Greg Callahan, and then underneath it says Titleist Golf. The difficulty will be hiding this for the next two weeks. Actually, no, the difficulty will be me not wanting to open it and look at it for the next two weeks. I kind of want to look at it. Here in the entryway, I didn't do like a ton. It was very simple fixes. What we did is I started by switching out the artwork that was in this frame to one that kind of reminded me of the gingerbread house village in the Hunsel and Gretel movie. Even though we're not doing scary witches and I thought this looked like the gingerbread house in the forest and I loved it. All I did was I got the image off of Etsy and I printed it out on some sticker paper. Even though I didn't use the sticker paper, I just liked the matte finish on it at Walgreens. So I got it very, very quickly and we just swapped that artwork out and once the Christmas season is over, I will swap it out to something else. So then I did an assortment of gingerbread villages that I picked up and little gingerbread men. These were also a Dollar Tree DIY where I took some of their white Christmas trees, flipped them over on the back, painted them out in that same gingerbread color that we used on the gingerbread houses and used puff paint to do some designs. Now, I'm not like the most artistic person. My house is more like my canvas than anything, but these turned out really cute and they look really cute in this little Christmas village that we did. Now these were some really simple holiday hacks that we did in the holiday hack episode where I covered up my lamp with some wrapping paper so that it fit more in with our theme. Just this is simple, like red polka dotted wrapping paper that I just taped in the back. Super easy, super cute, and then I took a wedding sash, tied this around our lamp and stuffed in some like little mistletoe. And this is just such a little simple thing that we did right here in the entryway. It's cute, it's festive, but the real main event is right here. Let's check it out. Now this is what you see when you walk through my front door and it was like this house was meant for Christmas right as you walk in. There's so many things that I love, but what I love is we are reusing the same tree I've been using since we moved in, which is a 12 foot Christmas tree. Let me tell you, decorating it was a little bit of a workout, but so much fun. Again, the Christmas ornaments that we got were such a find because they were those discounted gingerbread men that I talked about on the front porch. These gingerbread men were so cute. What I love about it is they pull all of the color scheme in. We've got the coppery color, we've got the peppermint candy feel. We've got the reds and greens, very traditional in color, but they were so adorable and plus they were glittered, which made it so much fun. I am not a very good decorator, so these gingerbread men I feel like would be way cuter than anything that I could do. And I got just enough so that my front porch is super festive with them and my Christmas tree and it looks super fun. But next to it, there is this beautiful ribbon that we got off of Amazon and it's the same kind of coppery tones as the gingerbread and it says Merry Christmas, which I loved because there was some ribbon that I wanted that was super, super expensive and it was like the Cookie Express or something, but it was like $250 for four rolls of ribbon and I just couldn't do it. And then I also mixed in some candy cane striped and I think that that just pulls it all together. Also, I removed a lot of the furniture, so we only have these two sitting chairs in here right now because my Christmas tree takes up a big chunk of the room. I think it's meant to kind of go in the center, but it really does eat into my furniture space. So like I have toyed around with moving it and offsetting it, but this room just screams to me that it needs to be centered. Now you'll notice at the top of the tree that there are three big candy canes that we did in our Dollar Tree DIY episode, which was so fun. Now in the Dollar Tree, you'll find them, they're wrapped with tinsel and those would have been cute, but I wanted to a little bit different. So what I did is rip off the tinsel that was on there and replaced it with some puffy yarn and we just glued that on and wrapped it around and they really make a huge statement at the top of the Christmas tree with those three giant candy canes. And I made two more too, and we'll all show you where those ended up in just a second. But overall, the tree is amazing, but let me show you a few other things. We've got Santa here and I got him last year at the Home Depot for such a steal. It was like $39 and he's quite large. He's a couple feet tall. And then you will recognize these lampposts. Now there's probably not a Christmas season that has gone by on this channel where I haven't done some sort of lamppost for Christmas. I've also done them other times of year as well. Now these were from Ikea and we built the base out of one of those front porch posts. And then this is just an upside down planter pot. We painted these out black and these were already red. We added a candle, of course, and some little mini wreaths on the front. And I just think that this looks so cute. Then I just used some Ikea hack poinsettias from last year's episode, mixed it in with some greenery, and I love the look. It's so simple, it was quick to do, and I think it's so much fun. But if you think this is fun, you're going to really love the fireplace wall because that one is a lot of fun too. Let me show you that now. Okay, I love this view right here. It is so cute. And I did something a little bit different with my fireplace this year. Last year I did a very asymmetrical look, and this year you'll notice that it's a little bit more symmetrical. But you'll see some things new and old from last year and this year. So one of the things is these stockings. I got these at home last year and I rotated every other one with like a furry one. This year I just went ahead and used all of them. I found this garland that we swagged across at, I believe it was Ross or Michael's, I think it was Ross. This is just that really, really natural looking garland. And I pulled in some berries and things that I already had. We pulled in some more of those peppermint candies that were also on the tree on here to kind of add a little bit of white balance. But one of the fun things that we found on one of our late night, late night shopping trips was this giant bow pillow. Now I am going to keep this. I think it looks really cute on the mantel, but I also thought it would look really cute on a sofa or a bed. This year I didn't decorate my bedroom for Christmas, but in years past I have. And wouldn't this giant red bow look so adorable on a bed? And I found that at Michael's and I knew I had to have it because I have giant puppy bows all over, you'll notice, in the decor from the top of the Christmas tree to the railings. And this was just another way to add that in. And in repetition, you'll notice the giant puppy bows on these two trees. Now we got these two Christmas trees last year and I decorated them a little bit different. The only thing I swapped out is I removed some of the bows that I added last year and added a couple of tiny little gingerbread men that I got at the Target dollar spot. And then of course we've got our Santa honoring the baby Jesus picture from last year as well. I love this art print because while it's fun to have Santa and all of that in our house, we celebrate the birth of Christ. And I just feel like that represents that while Santa's fun, Santa worships Jesus as well. And I just think that's just a fun print. These trees are fun. These are from last year as well. And I kept this very, very simple. The only thing I did was added these giant puppy bows that I got from Hobby Lobby for a great price. I got four of them and now I'm kind of wishing I got more of them because I love them so much. And then this was from my holiday hack episode where we converted a Dollar Tree laundry basket into a tree collar. All I did was print this out on cardstock paper, wrap it around, and it's just little gingerbread houses, super, super simple. And then also I have this little candy dish. This was from the Dollar Tree episode where we turned this into a gingerbread little candy dish too. And it's just plastic, but it's super cute. As cute as this family room is, I absolutely love what is going on in the dining room. And that's actually where it all began this year. Let me take you to see. Okay, we're going to take a quick little pause from the Christmas magic because while I've been decking the halls, I've been keeping my skin in check. And it's thanks to something I've been using for over a year now, the FAQ 202 by Foreo. If you've followed me for a while, you already know I'm a huge fan of Foreo and this mask is on a whole other level. First off, it's actually comfortable. The flexible silicone design molds to your face and stays in place. No sliding around, no stiff plastic, it's cordless and super lightweight so you can wear it while wrapping gifts, editing, decorating, you name it. But what really sets it apart is the eight LED wavelengths, including near infrared. It's like a customized facial that targets everything, fine lines, dullness, redness, and uneven skin tone, even breakouts. I like to apply the red light peptide serum first because it boosts the LED therapy. And then I wear the mask for about 15 minutes. Now after a year of using it consistently, I feel like my skin is smoother, more even, and just has a healthy glow. And honestly, it would make an amazing Christmas gift. It's the kind of thing that someone wouldn't necessarily buy for themselves but would absolutely love receiving. Foreo is running incredible holiday deals right now and I've got a discount you can stack on top of them. Just click on the link in the description box and use the code 35NATALIE for an extra 35% off almost all Foreo products. Don't wait, it's the best offer of the year and perfect time to treat yourself or someone you love. Now I'm going to show you how to use this real quick. So you just take some of the peptide serum and put it in your hands and then run it on your face. And then we're going to put on the mask. It's really comfortable, easy to put on. So you just put it on like so and make sure that it's lined up. And then we're going to turn it on so it can sync Bluetooth. And then we just go into the Foreo app, click on the mask. We go to treatments and it starts to sync up. And then I'm doing the anti-wrinkle treatments, 15 minutes, my favorite one. And there we go. And it even plays some really relaxing music while it goes. It's easy to do. Alright so we're going to try to get some holiday stuff done and in the meantime let's get back to the tour. Okay so in this room I had so much fun. And honestly between the porch and the wall right at the base of my staircase, this is where my whole vision came to life. Because what I envisioned was a village of gingerbread houses at the base of my staircase and it turned out exactly how I had it in my mind. And it was so easy to do. So if you've seen that episode you would know that we took foam core insulation board and all I did was project the outline of a gingerbread house and then I cut that out. And then once that was painted and dry, I re-took out that same image, projected it onto our houses and then filled in the blanks. And now what I did learn on the front porch ones, which I did after the fact, originally with these ones I outlined with a pencil but the pencil kind of pushed down into the foam core board and created an indentation. So on the front porch ones that I did, I used a white paint pen to trace those outlines on and that worked perfectly and that's absolutely what I would recommend if you decide to one day recreate this look. And look how adorable that is. Now once those were done, we needed to make it feel more like a realistic village and that's what I did by using the pencil Christmas trees. They accentuate the line of it but they also add some three dimensional aspects to our Christmas village. And then of course the railings I just kept simple even though next year I may add some more greenery garland to those and really make them puffy. I really think that this looks really good. I really love how this turned out. All it is is just some red puffy bows that you're seeing all over. It's very traditional. Some gold bells hanging from it. It's very similar to last year's railing but it looks so different with the whole gingerbread theme. Okay now I don't know if you can see it right here but we also swapped out the artwork to add some gingerbread artwork similar to what we did in the entryway further playing on that gingerbread theme. I'm having a little dilemma right now. I kind of want to unwrap it and see what it looks like but I know if I unwrap it, it will never go back. But I'm so curious as to what it looks like. I don't think I should unwrap it. Natalie's gonna ask me if I unwrapped it and when I say no I had no idea she's gonna be like, what? That's not like you. So does that mean I should unwrap it? I feel like an eight-year-old and it's like Christmas evening and parents are gone and you want to break into your presents. I don't know what to do. Do I unwrap it? She knows I was like that kid at Christmas time and I'm having that feeling again like oh my word I want to see what this is but I don't think that I should but at the same time Natalie's not going to believe me that I didn't do it so I'm going to be guilty no matter what. Oh my word. What do I do? I don't know what to do. You know what? I'll ask the boys. That was a total disaster. I shouldn't have asked the boys but now I'm taking Dolly on a walk right here. But that did not go the way I thought it was going to go because I asked them and they're both like yes let's open it. I was expecting some level of maybe we shouldn't do that dad so they're clearly just like me so now I had to put myself into being a responsible father position. That's always fun. So I can't. I can't open it up. Yes. Responsible father, loving husband. I'm sure it's perfect. And the fact that I just want to see what it looks like and kind of just glimpse at it before Natalie does that's just the I guess the child in me. So we won't do it. So we will all together see what it looks like on Natalie's birthday. All right signing off. Now for the Christmas dining table. I love how this turned out and it turned out so adorable. I took some very affordable placemats from the Dollar Tree. These are from the Dollar Tree. These placemats that we use. I found some beautiful dishes at Home Goods. The dishes actually match the placemats very very well. These are from Home Goods and then on the chargers they're just simple clear chargers with little gold hobnail feature on the edge and those were also from Hobby Lobby. Very affordable like $1.99 or something. These little peppermint plates that are on there are from Amazon and then I got these little tiny gingerbread houses that you could use for a dessert plate or a roll plate and you can just use whatever but these were from Target and they look so cute. I pulled out goblets that I've had in years past and kept the napkin simple. I just worked with what I had so I had these already and I had these already and so I just slipped a little jingle bell on these ones but on the captain's chairs we did something a little bit different and this was also I believe in my holiday hack episode. I took a ring and glued on a gingerbread ornament, added a little greenery and put it on some white napkins and I think it's okay to mix and match and I used existing base and just threw in some snow for the centerpiece and the gingerbread man put it in the center of the wreath. Used candles and candlesticks that I already had so I worked with a lot what I had. Just a couple more things that I want to point out in this dining room area is we repeated those little mini wreaths that were on the lampposts in here. They're adorable. All I did was just tack them into place. Super super cute. Used leftover garland and poinsettias from last year and an art piece from last year for the top of my china hutch. Very simple. And then over on this wall the merry marquee sign which was a pottery dupe from many years ago. I think it was like at least three, probably four years ago and it looks perfect in here. Now right here at the landing of my staircase, see we can see that we decorated the arch in some of that same garland that we've used on the staircase railings and we repeated that puppy bow look with a garland of puppy bows that I found at Michael's. So they're very fun, very festive and you can find them almost anywhere. And then above that we did a little gold thing that we found at Target. Now this is what we're calling the nativity niche. Now somebody mentioned I needed a whole set of nativity. Maybe next year. So I do have three sets of holy families. This is one we created last year. This is one I just picked up a couple years ago. And this one right here is the one that I am selling on my designed to the nines website. And we just got like a last minute unexpected shipment of them because they went missing and then they showed up. I have compiled 24 free printables that value over $106 which is such a huge value add that goes along with this when you purchase this. This is so beautiful including one of the prints is this one that we did on the background here which has the Bethlehem star and it really coordinates well with our nativity set here. It's so cute. You can get it on my website and I just love it. So grab that before too long. We can still get them shipped to you before Christmas and they would make a wonderful gift as well. And in those 24 printables there's like gift tags and other artwork. It's a really, really amazing and incredible value. These wreaths with the bows, they are from last year as well. Just hung them back up. They look really cute on this door. Okay, now I'm going to take you into the kitchen. One of these days I'm going to go really wild here in this Christmas area, but I did more than I have in years past in here this time around and I had a lot of fun. This was just created with leftover Christmas greenery and florals that I had in a vase that I already had on a reindeer cutting board that I already had using a Christmas tree candle that I already had. But this bowl is new. The gingerbread themed bowl is from Target and I just filled it up with some little bits and baubles and little red Christmas ornaments and it was very, very simple. I have to share with you something so fun. In order to do that, I need to take you over to the sink. Okay, we're going to ignore this plastic thing for just a second. I'll talk about it in just a second because it's definitely ruining the chi of this room, but there's a good reason for it because I have to share with you. Now, if you're watching this episode on this day, today is my actual birthday, but on my husband's birthday, which was just yesterday, which is December 7th. Happy birthday, dear Mom and Dad. Happy birthday to you. He wanted me to open a gift that he got me. I want to share that experience with you real quick before I share with you the next part. Okay, well, it's a birthday update and I am sitting outside because Natalie's inside. It's Sunday. They're about to go to church. I have some responsibilities elsewhere. We're going to come back and celebrate our birthdays together. So our birthdays are so close that we just pick the closest weekend and we do that. You can see here I have wrapped her present. Okay, everyone, you be nice about my wrapping job, but I'm really proud of myself because I never looked, I never looked. So it's going to be a surprise to everyone. Boys don't know. I'm the only person that knows. Well, and all of you, except in the future. But anyways, I'm really excited about this and I'll talk to you all later. Bye. Now it's time for Natalie's present. We just opened up my presents. They were wonderful presents, but this is all about Natalie. So she has no idea that this is happening. In fact, she's looking at me going, what on earth is he doing? Right? Yes. Yeah. All right. But here we go. I feel like there's pressure. Hey, so everyone's seeing this for the first time, just so you know. She's asking if I opened it up and looked at it myself, aren't you? Roseanne, for you by Rose. Wait, is this like a subscriber? Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. These are cute. Those are adorable. They're like little gingerbread men that are sparkly. I love glitter. This is so cute. Glitter straws. Oh, no, you don't. No, I don't. She wrapped this really good. I know. She did. Oh, my gosh. This is so cool. Oh, my gosh. Roseanne, you are amazing. Holy cow. I think she put a little extra something in there for you. Well, there's something else in there. Yeah. Can you hold that? This is like a soap dispenser for you. Oh, my word. This is so amazing. Oh, my gosh. Wow. You guys, it looks like she sent some extra jewels just in case for touch ups. Thank you so much. It's amazing. It's seriously so good. You guys, look at this. This is all crystal encrusted. It is the most bougie, stunning tumbler you have ever seen. Now, if you know me well, I pretty much have a tumbler glued to my hand. I'm constantly drinking water or other refreshments. Healthy ones, hopefully, like electrolyte drinks and other fun drinks. Now, I'm going to be drinking in real style. Thank you so much, Roseanne. It is stunning. So beautiful. I'll put her information in the description box below. But I wanted to share that with you because she also created this soap pump that is so cute. It has the gingerbread girl, gingerbread house. It is so on theme. And I have placed that right here next to our little gingerbread man. And I just absolutely adore it. And I wanted to share that with you. A couple quick things before we move on to the next area. And that is this gingerbread tray that was an IKEA hack that we did. So cute. And then also in the IKEA hack episode, we created this little gingerbread man cutting board. Super, super adorable. We've got some gingerbread houses, tins right here. And then let's discuss what's going on over here. So I have to apologize for this plastic that's probably totally ruining the chi of this episode. But that's because if you have been watching me over on my new channel DIY to the 9s, I've been trying to build a fireplace wall. And it's been taking me a long time. So my goal over there is to get that built before Christmas time. But if you watched my most recent episode on Monday, you will know that I ran into a very huge problem. So if you want to know what I'm talking about there, you're going to definitely want to go over and check out what's going on there. There's also some really fun room makeovers and things on that new channel that you are absolutely going to love. But I want to get this torn down for Christmas. And my goal, I really wanted to have it done for this episode, but things are not going my way. So check it out over there. So this is my breakfast nook. Super cute little room that we did. It was one of the first room makeovers I did when we moved into this house. And I love it. It gets used all the time. And what we did here is I just swapped out the artwork with some gingerbread house artwork. Super simple to do. Found these beautiful hydrangeas at a place called Pop Shelf. Just did a very simple arrangement. We've got a little bow candle base that I used. Very simple in here. So much fun. Of course, we've got a little gingerbread themed tablecloth and some gingerbread pillows. And just some fun little accents to really make this room feel cozy, especially since it's next to the plastic. A big thank you to Foreo for partnering with me on this episode. Don't forget to use my coupon code for an extra 35% off almost all items. They are such a big supporter of my channel. I love their products and I know you will too. From thrifted pieces to gingerbread kingdoms, this season has truly been a fairy tale. I am so thankful I got to share it with you. If this has made you smile, inspire your creativity, or just added a little extra sparkle to your holiday, I would love it if you gave this video a like and hit that subscribe button because I've got so much coming in the new year. And don't forget to check out DIY to the Nines to see if I can pull off that fireplace makeover just in time for Christmas. Let's all pray for me. I need it. Natalie just asked me a question and I need to include you guys on this. Natalie, go ahead and ask me the question you just asked me. I know you opened this up and looked at it first, right? I did not. I did not. I did not. It's so good. It's so good. Oh my word. But I told you she wasn't going to believe me. This is what happens when you open up Christmas gifts when you're a kid. You pay for it for the rest of your life and no one ever believes you. And if you enjoyed this episode, here's another one that I think you'll like as well. And to all of you, I just want to remind you that you are powerful. We'll see you next time. Bye. Say bye, Miss Dolly. Bye.