There’s something about the holidays that makes us want to pull out all the stops. The good dishes come out of the cabinet. The tree gets a little fuller each year. Tartan appears in places it didn’t exist the month before. And suddenly, adding one more bow—or ornament, or festive little object—to the mix feels entirely reasonable.
At Curated, we’ve always believed the best holiday decorating feels much like the best interiors: collected rather than coordinated, personal rather than perfect, and layered with pieces you genuinely love. It’s less about transforming your home into something completely different for a month or two and more about adding a little magic to what’s already there.
This year’s holiday collections were created with exactly that in mind. There’s plenty of nostalgia, a touch of whimsy and, of course, a healthy dose of tartan. You’ll find pieces for trimming the tree and setting the table, gifts small enough for stockings and special enough to keep, and those wonderfully unexpected objects that somehow make an entire room feel festive.
Consider this your first look at the holidays, Curated-style.
Cottage Christmas
Is there anything more quintessentially Christmas than tartan and tinsel?
We’d argue no—which is precisely why Cottage Christmas is one of the collections we’re most excited about this season. Classic plaids meet a bit of sparkle and shine for a look that feels nostalgic without becoming overly traditional.
The secret to decorating with tartan is to treat it almost like a neutral. Rather than choosing one plaid and repeating it throughout the room, mix scales, colors and applications. A tartan ribbon on the tree can live happily alongside a plaid throw, patterned tabletop linens or a festive accent tucked onto a bookshelf. Add in brass, silver, greenery and plenty of candlelight, and suddenly the whole thing feels layered rather than themed.
And don’t be afraid to mix tartan with pieces you already own. In fact, we encourage it. A vintage brass candlestick, an inherited silver tray or an antique wooden bowl filled with ornaments gives all that Christmas plaid a little breathing room—and makes the finished space feel uniquely yours.
Stocking Stuffers Under $50
The best gifts aren’t necessarily the biggest ones.
Our Stocking Stuffers Under $50 collection is devoted to the little things: thoughtful, useful and sometimes wonderfully unnecessary finds that are just plain fun to receive.
These are the pieces made for tucking into a stocking, adding to a hostess gift or keeping on hand for those inevitable I completely forgot I needed a gift moments. They’re also proof that a great gift doesn’t need to come with a great big price tag.
Our approach to stocking stuffers is simple: Look for something that feels a little more special than what someone might buy for themselves. A beautiful object for the kitchen, a charming accessory for the home or something with just enough personality to elicit an immediate smile. Add a ribbon and a handwritten tag, and you’re done.
And, yes, buying one for yourself is entirely acceptable.
The Festive Table
We love a beautifully set table, but we love one that feels inviting even more.
The Festive Table is all about creating a setting that feels special enough for Christmas dinner but relaxed enough that no one is afraid to actually use it. Think layers of pattern, pretty glassware, candlelight and tabletop pieces that can be mixed in with the dishes and linens you already own.
Rather than purchasing an entirely new set of everything, start with your staples and add the fun from there. Mix everyday white dishes with patterned salad plates. Pair vintage glassware with newer linens. Use mismatched candlesticks down the center of the table. Tie a little velvet or tartan ribbon around a napkin. Tuck greenery here and there.
And remember: not everything has to match.
In fact, we think a table gets infinitely more interesting when it doesn’t. Some of our favorite holiday tables look as though they’ve evolved over years—because often, they have. The result is a setting that gives guests something to look at, talk about and, most importantly, gather around.
Vintage Christmas
Vintage Christmas celebrates the pieces that make Christmas at home feel personal: the quirky find, the vintage accent, the object you weren’t necessarily looking for but suddenly can’t imagine leaving behind.
We’re firm believers that holiday decor should be accumulated over time. The ornament you picked up on a trip. The candlesticks that belonged to your grandmother. The slightly kitschy Christmas decoration your children adore. The vintage piece you spotted from across the room and knew immediately was coming home with you.
Put them together and you get something no perfectly coordinated collection can replicate: a home that tells a story.
That’s also why we love mixing old and new during the holidays. A few fresh finds can breathe new life into pieces you’ve owned for decades, while older pieces keep the new additions from feeling too shiny or precious. It’s that tension—the polished next to the imperfect, the traditional next to the unexpected—that makes a room interesting.
Trim the Tree
And then, of course, there’s the tree.
For many of us, decorating it is the unofficial beginning of the holiday season. Boxes are pulled from storage, favorite ornaments are rediscovered and someone inevitably spends far too much time trying to determine why one strand of lights refuses to work.
Our Trim the Tree collection celebrates all of it.
Build it up in layers: start with Ornaments, tie on ribbon from Bows & Velvet, add a little tinsel and retro fun from Kitschmas, and finish the base with Trees & Tree Skirts.
When it comes to the tree itself, our philosophy is decidedly more is more. Mix meaningful ornaments with purely decorative ones. Layer in ribbon. Add something unexpected. Play with scale. And please don’t worry about achieving perfect symmetry.
A beautiful Christmas tree should reveal itself slowly. From across the room, you notice the overall color and sparkle; up close, you discover the tiny ornaments and sentimental details tucked among the branches.
That’s what makes decorating a tree year after year so special. It’s never really finished. Each holiday brings another ornament, another memory and another layer to the story.
A Holiday Home That Feels Like You
Holiday decorating can easily become another item on an already very long December to-do list. But we think it’s worth remembering why we do it in the first place.
These little rituals mark the season.
It’s setting the table before everyone arrives. Hanging the stockings in their usual spots. Turning on the tree lights first thing in the morning. Pulling out the decorations you haven’t seen since last December and remembering exactly where they came from.
Our holiday collections are meant to become part of those rituals—not to replace what you already have, but to mix in with it.
So add the tartan. Bring out the good glassware. Tie another ribbon on the tree. Mix the vintage with the new, the polished with the playful and the sentimental with the simply beautiful.
Because, if you ask us, the very best holiday homes aren’t perfectly decorated.
They’re collected.
