A Room of One's Own

Mr. Christmas Heart and I are in the process of planning our home in Arkansas, and I am going to have a Christmas room.

I have very definite ideas for what I want to do with it, but I was wondering if I am missing anything!

First of all, it's really more of a Christmas dreaming room. I want it to be the place I go to plot and plan and dream up all the magic!! In my mind I think of it as a sort of Christmas Command Center.

I envision my Christmas room with deep red walls. There will be several bookcases painted glossy hunter green, for all my Holiday books and magazines, and a huge comfy chair to sink into as I dream.

I'll need lots of storage. I'd probably prefer this to be a regular closet, so I can keep the area closed off, but the inside would be mostly shelving. This won't be for storage of my Christmas decorations; I have too many for that! (We will store those in the basement.)

This will be the place I store the items I buy throughout the year, (a literal gift closet!) as well as all the "atmosphere"....my Christmas music, Christmas scented candles, dishes, Holiday puzzles, etc. Oh, and Christmas cards! I usually buy a few boxes each year when they go on deep discount, and it'll be SO nice to have them stacked neatly in one spot for a change!

I'm really looking forward to being able to see everything with a glance, as opposed to the way I have to dig all through my current closet, which of course is where all our clothes and shoes and other odds and ends are taking up valuable space!


I want a state-of-the-art wrapping center also, and a place to make my Christmas crafts at. Ideally, this would be an island of some sort in the middle of the room, with two interchangeable surfaces on hinges, so I could keep two projects going at once. I'd like a few of those paper roll racks on one side of the island, too; that side could have drawers or shelving holding the rest of the wrapping supplies, whereas the other side could hold the craft supplies. I have also always thought one of those great big bright red Craftsman rolling tool chests would make a darn good place to store Christmas supplies; I can especially see those narrow drawers being used for my rubber stamps and papers, tags, tissue paer, etc.

I have a Christmas village with lots of pieces that I do not care for any more. I can't bring myself to get rid of, since my best friend is the one who started the collection for me, and I do love it for sentimental reasons! I was thinking I could put these pieces on top of the bookcases, and all around the room as decoration, and ambient lighting....

I'm toying with the idea of a mantle; at the very least, I'll probably have a floating shelf on one of the walls. It'd be the place I'd burn the candles on. I was thinking if I got a full mantle, I could put the sound equipment in the place where the firebox would normally go....

And I'll always have cinnamon pot pourri around, and cinnamon candles burning as I read and craft and dream up all the magic!!