Martha starts decorating soon after Thanksgiving. Gold is her signature holiday color. Every room gets a tree. Every window gets a wreath. The house does not whisper Christmas. It announces it from the foyer to the kitchen to the porch.
1. Gold as the Anchor Color
Martha’s favorite Christmas decor color is gold. Gold ornaments, gold garlands, gold tabletop trees, gold wreaths. At Bedford, she uses gold, champagne, and silver together as a consistent palette across every room.
2. A Tree in Every Room
Martha places Christmas trees in every room of her home, not just the living room. Tabletop trees on console tables, full-size trees in the parlor, small trees flanking the fireplace, trees in the kitchen servery. “One can never have too many trees during the holidays,” she has written.
3. Wreaths on Every Window
Martha hangs wreaths on every window, inside. Not one wreath on the front door. Every window in every room that faces outward. From outside, the house glows with a wreath in each frame. From inside, each wreath catches the light against the glass.
4. Forced Amaryllis from the Greenhouse
Martha forces amaryllis bulbs in her greenhouse every winter and displays the blooming stems throughout the house. Burgundy, white, and red amaryllis in simple pots become living Christmas decorations that last weeks and cost almost nothing if you grow them yourself.
5. The Brown Room Table Set for Fifteen
Martha’s holiday dinner table at Bedford seats fifteen in the Brown Room. Live fir trees flank the table. Gold ornaments and warm white lights fill the branches. The table is set with her collected ironstone, beeswax tapers, and linen napkins folded with a sprig of evergreen.
6. Tabletop Trees Grouped as a Forest
Martha groups multiple small tabletop trees together on a surface to create a miniature forest. Gold trees, silver trees, and green bottlebrush trees clustered on a console table or mantel have more impact together than scattered across separate rooms.
7. Ornaments in One Color Family Per Tree
Each tree in Martha’s home follows its own color scheme. Gold balls and pinecone ornaments on one tree. Silver and white on another. Green and gold on the parlor tree. No tree mixes every color at once. The discipline makes each tree feel intentional.
8. The Drabware Nativity Set
Martha made her own nativity set from Drabware, a type of stoneware in tones ranging from light coffee to dark olive. She fired, glazed, and embellished every piece herself, adding miniature palm trees imported from Germany. A handmade creche carries more meaning than anything purchased.
The trees are up and the rooms are dressed. What follows adds the details that carry the holiday through every sense.
9. Evergreen Garlands on the Staircase
Martha drapes fresh evergreen garlands along staircases, mantels, and doorframes. Real greenery, not artificial. The scent of fresh pine or cedar fills the house without a candle. The garland is tied with gold ribbon at each baluster.
10. Cookie Place Cards at the Dinner Table
Martha uses decorated cookies as place cards for holiday dinners. Each cookie is iced with the guest’s name and placed at their seat. The place card doubles as a gift. Low effort, big impact.
11. Charming Village Houses on Every Surface
Martha collects miniature holiday village houses and places them on windowsills, bookcases, and side tables. Small ceramic churches, cottages, and snow-covered houses create a quiet scene on any flat surface that needs a holiday moment.
12. Silver Balls on the Mantel
Martha places large silver ornament balls on top of candlesticks along the mantel. No garland needed. The silver catches firelight and candlelight and sends it back into the room. Simple, dramatic, and done in five minutes.
13. Jadeite Cake Stand Displaying Cookies
Martha uses her jadeite cake stands year-round, but at Christmas they hold towers of decorated cookies, gingerbread, or stacked meringues. The milky green glass against gold and white cookies is one of the most photographed holiday details in her home.
14. Outdoor Decorations That Match the Indoors
Martha extends her gold and green palette to the exterior. Wreaths on the outbuilding doors. Garlands on the porch rails. Planters flanking the front door wrapped in evergreen. The property looks like one continuous celebration from the road to the dining table.
15. Decorating Starts After Thanksgiving and Stays Through New Year
Martha does not rush Christmas down on December 26th. The decorations stay through New Year’s. She treats the full holiday season, from late November through early January, as one continuous period of warmth, light, and gathering.
Martha Stewart aesthetic Christmas is not about one perfect tree. It is about every room, every surface, and every window carrying the same message: this house is celebrating. Gold, greenery, and candlelight. A wreath in every window and a tree on every table. Start after Thanksgiving and let it glow until the new year arrives.