THE SNOWGLOBE CHRISTMAS COTTAGE

This bright and welcoming newly-built Michigan country home exudes cottage charm and festive holiday fun.

This bright and welcoming newly built Michigan country home exudes cottage charm and festive holiday fun.

With the holidays just around the corner,

finding ways to incorporate Christmas charm into your home is essential. Sometimes the best inspirations for home decor come from nature or fun holiday finds. For Tracy of Plaids and Poppies (@plaids.and.poppies), Christmas is the time to go all out on decor to create a fresh and fun holiday feel. “I’d describe my style as playful, colorful and whimsical,” she says. Utilizing colors from her garden, Tracy brings together indoor and outdoor spaces. This was the inspiration for the name of her blog— “I wanted the name to represent home and garden; I chose the plaid because I love all fun prints and colors, and the poppies are a favorite garden flower of mine,” Tracy says. Her Christmas style likewise reflects this with her abundant use of greenery, layering and small vignettes, as well as pops of traditional red. “I love beautiful things and I enjoy making things look beautiful all around me,” she says.

BUILDING A DREAM HOME & GARDEN

Starting from scratch can be the best way to create the home of your dreams. For years, Tracy and her husband Clayton searched for the perfect plot of land to build a house in their home state of Michigan. Both were born and raised in the countryside and had a heart to move back out into a more rural setting. They fell in love with a beautiful fifteen-acre piece of farm country only about twenty minutes from where they grew up. At first, Tracy was unsure about building her home in a cornfield, because her previous home had been nestled in the woods. “But it has been such a blessing, because you can see for so far,” she says. “You can watch the sunrise and sunset.”

Being able to customize the house provided a great opportunity for Tracy to fulfill her design dreams. Tracy and her husband knew they wanted a home with lots of windows to bring in natural lighting. “Especially with all the gray days in Michigan, I wanted my home to feel light and airy,” she says. Combined with her mostly neutral palette, the abundance of windows brighten up the home and provide scenic views from every angle. “I feel like I'm in a snowglobe in the winter,” she says. “You can turn in a circle and see the snow out of every window.”

In addition, Tracy made sure to include porches in the design plans, as her previous homes did not have them. There are porches attached to the main house and the poolhouse. A lover of the outdoors, she wanted to have a space where she could sit and enjoy the peace and quiet of her garden. Even more than a place to sit and relax, porches provide a welcoming and cozy feel that help bring cohesion to indoor and outdoor design. “They are all an extension of my garden and my home, and transition you from being outside,” she says. For the holidays, they also provide even more opportunities to decorate. “I usually start my Christmas decorating with my porch and build from there,” Tracy says.

“I’d describe my style as playful, whimsical.” colorful and

“I love beautiful

things, and I enjoy making things look beautiful

all around me.”

POPS OF COLOR

Tracy loves incorporating color into her home in creative ways. It was hard at first for her to refrain from injecting bright, bold colors into her brand new home. She chose instead to paint most of the home a warm white. “I started out with a neutral palette so I could pop on colors for the different seasons,” she says. When searching for pieces to add color to her home, she prefers pillows and artwork that add a touch of fun and whimsy to a space. Her overall palette was inspired by a painting she found of a sheep that now hangs in the foyer. “Something about it just struck me and I knew that I needed it,” she says. “I choose things that make me smile.” Her love of fun pieces extends to her Christmas decor. When she found a plaid red bag for her mudroom, it inspired her holiday palette. “I’ve always loved red at Christmas,” she says. Utilizing the bag’s red and olive green color and plaid print, Tracy pulled together dishes, towels and other accessories to accentuate her red theme.

ADDING LAYERS

When starting with a neutral palette, adding color and texture brings interest and depth to a space to ensure it does not feel boring or empty. Tracy’s use of layering is an important part of her overall design, and is perfect for the fun and festive feel of the holidays. “I love to have multiples of things in the same space,” she says. This creates a sense of fullness to a space and utilizes the neutral palette as a canvas to display her decor. She is careful to avoid the pitfalls of clutter and busyness. “I’m always really careful about what is too much,” she says.

Part of the success of her layering is her use of natural elements as a way to add texture and depth. Trees play a big role in her decor. “I love trees and I incorporate as many as I have,” she says.

Her collection of Christmas trees both big and small is so vast that she awards her grandkids a prize if they can guess the number. In addition to trees, her use of wreaths, berries and other greenery brings freshness and that distinct holiday feel to her home both inside and out. Fabrics likewise add texture and color and give a layered look. “I love fabrics because you gain so much color and there are so many different kinds of prints available to you,” she says. Throughout her home she uses pillows and ribbons for extra touches of texture, color and holiday charm. “Everything around me has to look fun and make me smile,” she says.

OPEN HEART OF THE HOME. Tracy went with an open concept for the great room and kitchen, as it provides a great space for entertaining. When designing the space, Tracy was confronted with the challenge of having ceilings of different heights; the arched ceiling in the foyer meets the cathedral ceiling of the great room. “We initially had the ceiling go down to match the kitchen, but decided to instead raise it a foot or so to accommodate our annual Christmas tree,” she says. Against the neutral backdrop, the olive greens and bright red plaids pop and give the room a very festive feel.

LIGHT BRIGHT. The inviting foyer features an arched shiplap ceiling with arched windows. “My husband has always wanted light to show through windows to the outside,” Tracy says. While more windows means less wallspace to decorate, she makes use of the space with a garland strung above the transom window and wreaths with red bows in the windows.

|ABOVE RIGHT| CUSTOM TOUCHES. The mudroom was another instance of Tracy customizing a space to fit her design goals. “There was a barn door that had been drawn in, so we had that changed so I could add the bench,” she says. The plaid bag was the inspiration for her Christmas decor. “I used the deep red and olive green to find the same color ribbons and little trees on my dining table,” she says. |BOTTOM| PLANTING DREAMS. Outside, Tracy chose to do the landscape design herself. “I had all the big trees put in so I could have a blank canvas to work with,” she says. Originally intended to house gardening supplies, this poolhouse, with a bathroom and kitchenette, is used for storage during the winter. Tracy and her husband are building a new greenhouse to create more space for her gardening.

|ABOVE LEFT| HEART OF A HOSTESS. Tracy and her husband Clayton love hosting their children and grandchildren for the holidays. Porch decor is important to her, since it brings together home and garden with its combination of elements from each. Using lots of greenery and foraged bits of nature, she creates welcoming and cheerful spaces on all her porches. “I love all the natural elements that come with the season,” she says.

|LEFT| OH TANNENBAUM. A big part of any holiday decor, the Christmas tree is a main staple and a tradition for Tracy and her family. While she has many trees throughout her home, she put the main tree in the center of the living room. “There wasn’t a good place for it on either side of the fireplace, so it goes in the middle of the room,” she says. It is a real tree that her family cuts down every year. |OPPOSITE| GEMS OF STYLE. Beads, green garlands, ornaments, and lots of little trees drape across the mantle in the great room. “I love that layered look with the stars and the beads,” she says. “I found the polka dot stockings and loved them and had to incorporate them.” She designed the plans for the fireplace. “I wanted shiplap above it and open shelves on the side,” she says.

SIGNATURE FORMULA. Tracy’s bright and cheery kitchen is the perfect space for hosting holiday parties. “It is one of the first things you notice when you walk in the door,” she says. The island immediately stands out, as it is painted a soft green. “My hubby wanted the huge island—he’s the cook,” she says. The wood stools bring warmth to the space. Garland and other greenery, as well as bright red bows, add Christmas charm.

|TOP LEFT| FLEX STYLE. Shiplap walls and a ghostwood ceiling contrasts with the black faucet and gray cabinets in the poolhouse kitchenette. In warmer weather, the area serves as a perfect spot for hosting outdoor parties. “The window swings out so we can serve food and drinks from there,” Tracy says. Greenery, red dishware and tea towels bring holiday cheer to the space. |TOP RIGHT| AGED TREASURE. This old wooden window was an antique find that Tracy added hooks to to create a coat hanger. Greenery and a festive pillow are simple touches of holiday charm. |BOTTOM| CREATIVE CHARM. Tracy’s signature plaids and greenery spruce up this hallway with holiday cheer. When choosing a palette for your holiday decor, don’t be afraid to DIY your own pieces. “Sometimes I get my spray can to change the colors of frames, lanterns and other things,” she says.

CHERRY PICKED. This rectangular chandelier is the focal point for the dining room. “I saw it on Pinterest and tracked it down,” Tracy says. To ensure such a large feature would look good in the space, she had her husband create a mock-up and hang it when the dining room was still down to the studs. “It is just the statement we want,” she says. Bits of foraged greenery and berries make it festive. The wicker chairs add texture, and the wood table is custom-built to extend to accommodate family gatherings.

MERRY & BRIGHT. This sun porch, just off the master bedroom and connecting to the dining room, showcases a different holiday palette than the rest of the home. “This room usually has lots of blues, so I decided to keep that for my Christmas decor,” Tracy says. High cathedral ceilings with whitewashed wood add to a light and airy feel. Wreaths in every window and a tree in the corner radiate holiday cheer.

|TOP| COLOR SOURCE. Sometimes inspiration can come from just one piece discovered in a local shop. That is exactly what happened for Tracy. The painting of a sheep served as her inspiration for her interior paint colors. “It is simple but colorful, whimsical and playful,” she says. “I drew from the colors.” Layered greenery, pinecones and pillows add a welcoming and fresh Christmas feel to the space. |RIGHT| HOLIDAY APLENTY. Including more than one full-size tree can be a great way to fill spaces with Christmas cheer in a large home. Tracy has two more in her bedroom and sun porch. “I like to add trees to make a space cozy and inviting,” she says.

WINTER WARMTH. The neutral palette in this master bedroom provides the perfect backdrop for Tracy’s holiday decor. The festive bedding serves as the inspiration for the rest of the room. “Buying that Christmas bedding felt like a luxury and I bought the ornaments to match,” she says. The windows above the bed and the french doors leading out to the sun porch brighten the room. Garlands and wreaths add Christmas charm.