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🎅🏽🎄 Season's Greetings Allured Loves!! 🤶🏽🎄

💋🎁🖤🎄♥️🥂🍾

The week of Christmas is finally here. The week so many of us have all been waiting for. It's been such a busy holiday season and I for one have been thoroughly enjoying sharing daily snippets of my 2024 Holiday content with you all via my social platforms. From the video reels down to all of the gorgeous photo stills, I've truly enjoyed not only sharing with you all but also curating and designing each of my looks.

Those of you who've been following me for years, know that Christmastime is my most favorite time of year. But I must admit, it did take me quite some time to truly get into the Christmas spirit this year. However, once I was there...it was on and popping!! 💃🏽

The reason it took some time for me to really get into the holiday spirit this year is because the rush of the seasons became daunting and exhausting. I much prefer or desire to give each season its own time and place in my life. So as the world was already in the Christmas spirit as far back as late Summer or early Fall, I relished in just taking my time getting there...allowing the spirit of the season to delight me in the most organic and authentic way.

Nothing with me could ever be forced and not even my deep love for all things Christmas. In true Tachic form, whenever the majority is going right, I'll always opt to go left. And, so I did. I gave myself unapologetically the time and space to enjoy each season in the present moment without the need to rush off into the next season or the next holiday. I believe by doing that, I allowed myself a more authentic appreciation for the seasons and holidays to come.

When Christmastime finally came and the time to start the transformation of my home, I felt far less stressed and less anxiety ridden than I usually am. I mean, don't get me wrong, the usual holiday frenzy was still there. However, I think it helped me greatly that I opted out of doing any holiday partnerships this year. Although I was extended an invitation to participate in a few...Instead, I chose me and my time this year as priority.

In addition, I just didn't have the bandwidth to add anything else to my schedule this holiday season, including the demand of holiday partnership deadlines. Between my travel partnership, managing, producing and overseeing all content creation for my brand, traveling at the beginning of the holiday season, as well as the work that goes into prepping for my frequent guest appearances on Great Day Louisiana...

The holiday season itself and all content creation for it, truly had to be on my own terms this year and at a pace that worked best for me and my schedule. Making the choice to choose me, my time, my pace, and my sanity over everything else was the best gift I could give myself this holiday season.

And, again...it allowed me to feel less stressed and much more at ease. So when it was finally time to get started with everything, the excitement was so genuine and even more joyous than before. I remember as I started the Christmas transformation of my home this year, almost instantaneously feeling joyful and not overwhelmed with worry and anxiety.

As much as I do love the holidays, the frantic deadlines and schedules can oftentimes induce unwanted stress. And, even though yes I had my own deadline and schedule I'd created to get everything executed, filmed, photographed and edited alongside of my creative team...it just felt good to have much more flexibility to breathe and be in control of my own schedule.

Most importantly, it felt good to know that I could pivot and make adjustments to my schedule at any given time, if I absolutely had to. Nonetheless, I was committed to the task at hand of delivering my annual holiday content to you all.

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As I did last year, I installed three Christmas Trees in three different rooms of my home...with each having their own title and theme.

The Chocolate Bronze Beauty

The Sultry Christmas Nutcracker

Frosty Blue & Sandy Beige Winter Wonderland

It's always pretty challenging for me to pick a favorite tree, as I typically fall in love with each one as I'm installing and decorating them. And, I love that I'm able to visit each one daily and receive a different vibe and feeling from each tree and each room.

I leave it up to you all to choose your favorites amongst my trees. But as for me, I love them all and usually for very specific reasons. I'll get into those details and specifics as we dive into each theme for each tree.

But first allow me to present to you all my annual holiday video, which I know most of you have been eagerly waiting to see.

I now present and debut to you all my full Christmas 2024 Holiday Look

in my latest video titled...

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House Piazza: Give Me A Jazzy Colorful Christmas

Without further ado...

PRESS PLAY!

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CREATIVE CREDITS:
Interior Design & Holiday Styling: Allured By Design®
Creative Direction: Tachic Hickman-Piazza, Joshua Bluford & Stacy Marks
Videography & Editing: Blu Print Media Productions, LLC
Music: Christmas Is A Magic Day (Matt Large)
Cinematographer/Videographer: Joshua Bluford

Photographer: Stacy Marks

Hair: LaShanda Taylor

Makeup: Javetta White
Location: House Piazza
Handsome Italiano Husband: Charlie Piazza
Produced By: Tachic Hickman-Piazza

Share & Download the Video Link: https://youtu.be/7TR9dE5ZzeE

Last year, Charlie and I hosted Thanksgiving Dinner and it was absolutely amazing to host my family in not only our home but in our formal dining space under the twinkling lights of one of our Christmas Trees. While we didn't host Thanksgiving this year, we did host a small and private holiday dinner party the first week of December.

So, naturally I wanted our formal dining space to exude the same elegant holiday vibes this year as it did last year. And, in all honesty...I just love seeing the beauty of a Christmas Tree in our dining space. It makes having meals in there all the more special and also gives me an extra special reason to keep our formal dining space clean and clutter free.

Oh yeah, my dining space can oftentimes become the space that holds and stores just about everything. Especially, when I'm coming home, just getting in the door and need to put something down. Delivery boxes and packages sometimes sit in my dining space for days, magazines and all kinds of mail or things needing to be filed, etc...

And, the sight of it all drives me insane!! My ocd nature be so ready to get my dining space back to a clean and beautiful display room. And, Christmastime has become the perfect time for me to get it in order, de-clutter the mess, file & put things away, and just do a good deep cleaning of the space for the holiday season.

Adding a Christmas Tree in my dining space for the holidays is now the cherry on top. And, not only do my Husband and I enjoy seeing it...but our guests get to enjoy it as well.

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And, of course anything given and hosted at our home, "House Piazza" calls for elegance from start to finish, especially during the holiday season. So it was only fitting that I create a digital invitation for our guests to welcome them to our home and give an aesthetic teaser of the holiday decor they'd see.

I love how the invitation came out and I do believe I'll be creating these for all future gatherings at our home moving forward. 😉

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Earlier, I mentioned that I chose specific themes for each of my trees. Allow me to delve into the details of each theme, now.

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 THE CHOCOLATE BRONZE BEAUTY

So this year's theme in our formal dining space was all about cozy, warm and inviting earth tones. My dining space everyday aesthetic is all about beautiful and elegant neutrals. The upcoming 2025 color trend will be a return to warm neutrals hence the Pantone 2025 color of the year, which is Mocha Mousse.

And, although I'm truly not one to follow trends, as most times I'm ahead of the trends before they even begin or become uber popular. But, I definitely felt really good about leaning into my love for warm neutrals this holiday season in my formal dining space.

Only this year, I opted to go even deeper with my earth tones and went with a chocolate and bronze theme. I discovered the most beautiful deep chocolate poinsettia at Hobby Lobby this past September, which is usually around the time I get started with early research of what colors I'll be using for the holiday season.

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Sometimes, I'll start as early as August but typically anywhere between August and September is my active starting point. Last year, I incorporated earth tone poinsettias in my formal dining space tree as well. However, they were more harvest colored and fall toned. In addition, there were pops of color with hues of deep blue to compliment the harvest colors.

The deep chocolate poinsettias were so beautiful, I truly wanted it to be the star on its own without the need for any color. In short, it was love at first sight when I saw them. So I thought the only complimenting colors I'd add would be winter white, grey and gold & bronze metallics. Essentially, keeping everything neutral and elegant while allowing the chocolate and bronze to take center stage.

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However, I didn't want to overdue the addition of chocolate and bronze and only add in just enough to make a statement. But, now that I've experienced what those two colors look like as a holiday theme for a Christmas tree in my home...I'd definitely be more open to going even heavier with chocolate and bronze for a future Christmas season down the line.

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My ribbon bow tree topper for The Chocolate Bronze Beauty incorporated all of the theme colors for my dining room tree. And, I must say it came out even more fabulous than I imagined. Both the winter white and grey velvet ribbon have become main stays for my holiday looks. I've literally been using those two colors in one, if not all three of my trees for the past few years.

They're basically my neutrals and I love to mix winter white and grey with just about any holiday color theme in my home.

Also, as I mentioned... since I really wanted the focus to be chocolate and bronze for my dining room tree, I knew winter white and grey would be the perfect complement. And, of course no tree of mine will exist without the addition of gold. So the confetti gold ribbon was simply the perfect accent to adding the final touch of sparkle I was aiming for.

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My ribbon bows are custom created for me by Niche Modern Home, a local design boutique I've been shopping with for over a decade.

Niche was also featured in the finale episode of my limited web series, titled Boutique Shopping Saturdays With Allured By Design.

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I curate and select my ribbons from various sources and then consult and share my vision with Alison Alvarez, the Manager at NMH. And, then voila...she executes it and installs. Some of my holiday ribbon does come from Niche Modern Home but I also purchase ribbon from a variety of different places.

One of my favorite local go to places to purchase some of my speciality ribbon is The Christmas Village in Metairie, LA. My beautiful chocolate velvet ribbon with the center strip of gold as shown in my tree topper came from none other than The Christmas Village.

Just the addition of decadent, beautiful chocolate velvet ribbon alone as part of my tree topper only further enhanced not only the theme of my tree but also the beauty of it.

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Just as a ribbon bow is my signature holiday decorating style to top off and complete the look of my trees...

The addition of boxes, ornaments, stems and picks at the bottom of my trees is also a signature holiday decorating style of mine. They're essentially the book marks of how I style my trees to give it a nice, polished look - a ribbon bow as my topper and boxes and ornaments as my finisher.

This year, I used not only holiday boxes but actually some of my decorative boxes mixed in as well and I can't tell you enough how much I love how the look came out. I love the idea of my trees looking as if I shook them and beautiful ornaments just fell to the floor. I've been incorporating this look into how I finish my trees for the last several years. I believe since 2020 or 2021.

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Each year, I design the bottom of all of my trees a little different from the previous year. But every year without fail, I fall more and more in love with the completed look.

And, I become more convinced that the way I decorate the bottom of my trees is definitely a signature holiday style of mine that will stick around for many more years to come.

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THE SULTRY CHRISTMAS NUTCRACKER

It's no secret that although I absolutely love and adore all three of my trees...My favorite tree in my home to style every year is always my Master or Primary Bedroom Tree. This tree for me is indeed always the real and true show stopper!!

I've said it only a million times before and I'll continue to say that there really is just something so magical about seeing the beauty of a Christmas tree in a bedroom setting with beautiful pillows, luxurious bedding and holiday bedroom decor that gives me the most amazing feelings ever.

I love waking up to the beauty of the season in my bedroom and I love falling asleep at night under the twinkling lights. I also love the comfort and coziness of snuggling up under my bedding sheets, quilts and throws and enjoying a Christmas movie right in my bedroom.

And, I absolutely love the fragrant aromas of holiday scents filling up the atmosphere in my bedroom. These are all things that most of us enjoy in the comfort of our living room under our main family room tree. But for me personally, I never want that holiday feeling to end at my living room. So it's become tradition for me to spread holiday joy and those warm, fuzzy feelings into my bedroom as well.

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Last year's bedroom theme was all about beautiful Christmas Regal Red Decadence and I must say both my Husband and myself fell hard in love with the reds. It really brought us back to our childhood and the memories we both have of growing up seeing our Mom's decorate our family homes with traditional holiday colors.

So I decided to keep that spirit of holiday nostalgia going and just really lean into the reds and fully accept that Charlie and I have grown to love Christmas reds at Christmastime.

Only this time, my idea for reds kept centering around something more jazzy and sultry, yet familiar and traditional. I knew that I'd be bringing in greens as an accompanying color and nothing says traditional Christmas quite like reds and greens.

But I still wanted something more jazzy, moody even and sultry for our bedroom theme. That very distinct look I wanted to create was all inspired by three of my biggest holiday inspirations for this year's bedroom look, which are the following...

Traditional Nutcracker Colors

Red, green, gold, and black are the primary and long time traditional colors of old school Nutcracker themes. Although there are many updated color variations of The Nutcracker in our current modern times that include blue, pink, purple, all metallics, etc…

the traditional colors inspired me the most.

Ralph Lauren

I’m a huge fan of the RL brand and I absolutely love the colorful, yet dark, moody and highly sophisticated RL Christmas aesthetic the brand executes every year during the holiday season.

Pottery Barn

PB has a signature bright, colorful and traditional holiday aesthetic that I simply adore and swoon over every single year. I’m always obsessed with their Christmas tartan prints, much like I’m obsessed with RL classic Christmas tartan as well.

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My goal was simply to execute my own play of my three inspirations for my holiday look in my bedroom and blend them altogether, yet very cohesively. I couldn't be more happy and excited about how beautiful my vision came together. I've been obsessed with holiday tartan prints for as long as I can remember, but very rarely utilize them in any of my Christmas looks with the exception to very small appearances here and there in previous years.

So I knew this year I'd be incorporating if not tartan ribbon, tartan bedding for sure. Pottery Barn never ceases to wow me every year with their beautiful, traditional Christmas tartan collection. When the Stewart plaid collection dropped this holiday season, I knew right away I'd be placing my trade order for the Stewart plaid duvet cover to utilize at the footing of my bed.

My gorgeous red velvet quilt is one you all have seen not only last year but also back in 2018 when I first debuted a red holiday look in my bedroom. So I knew I'd be pulling it out again this year, but only adding the Stewart plaid, tartan print duvet cover to complement it.

In addition, I also ordered new holiday sheets from the Monique Lhuillier holiday collection she has with Pottery Barn. I'm always blown away with every partnership collection Monique creates with Pottery Barn. But her 2024 holiday collection had me swooning!! It is all about beautiful, deep Christmas reds and all of the amazing ways red can be incorporated into your holiday looks and your lifestyle from bedding, candles, dining, home decor, bath & body, etc...

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The moment I saw the Monique Lhuillier, Aubree Bow Sheet Set I knew it would be such a gorgeous addition to the bedding holiday look I wanted to create. As I mentioned earlier, Pottery Barn has a signature bright, colorful and traditional holiday aesthetic they create every year for Christmas, with reds being the main color they build most of their holiday looks around.

So I had my reds and prints covered, but I knew I also wanted to lean into my love for Ralph Lauren. Especially, because last year's holiday bedroom theme was very bright, red and cheerful...I really wanted to bring a touch of masculinity to this year's look and make it feel more moody, a little darker and just very sexy & sultry.

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Ralph Lauren has such perfect & consistent branding execution in how they design and create the most beautiful dark holiday palettes. While most brands stick with bright and cheerful, Ralph Lauren fully embraces a sexier side of Christmas with dark tartan prints, a lot of blacks, browns darker hues of green and navy blue. And, then they add in the reds and golds and it just has such a high level of holiday sophistication, that really just pulls you in.

And, even though I didn't order anything from the Ralph Lauren holiday collection, my Christmas bedroom look was heavily inspired by everything I love about the RL holiday aesthetic. I have the deep brown chocolate walls, I added in darker pillows to my bedding with the addition of my beautiful black velvet toss pillows...and I also added in some of my deep, dark rich tones of green to my bedding as well with the addition of my gorgeous hunter green plush throw.

As I continued to hone in on all of the color details of my theme for my holiday bedroom look, everything really all tied back to traditional Nutcracker colors - red, green, gold and black. And, I wanted that to be very clear in my execution of every little detail, including our bedroom tree.

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This was probably the most traditional I've ever gone with any of my trees with the addition of reds and greens in one tree. But, even still my version of traditional is always going to include my own personal touch to it. And, my personal touch was indeed going more of the Nutcracker route and adding in the blacks and golds as well as layering in a lot of beautiful and elegant ribbon.

For me it was all about creating a mood and setting a very specific theme and tone I wanted our bedroom to have this holiday season. I wanted the ribbon of our bedroom tree to look and feel festive, yet high end and luxury. So I sourced ribbons that incorporated not only black but also a lot of beautiful prints and patterns.

The Christmas Village once again was my go to for my specialty ribbon. They had so many beautiful options to choose from. Yet, the moment I saw the gorgeously, elegant black and gold damask ribbon...I knew almost immediately I wouldn't be walking out of the door without it.

I felt the same exact way the moment I saw the red and black velvet ribbon, which reminded me so much of both Santa's belt and the belt of the Nutcracker himself. Yep, this ribbon was definitely coming home with me as well. I mean it just made such a sultry Christmas statement and I was so here for it.

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I was literally almost to the register and ready to head out of the door. That is until my eyes landed on the red and gold velvet ribbon as

pictured in my tree topper. As bad as I wanted to leave it behind because I thought I had more than enough ribbon options for my bedroom tree...I simply just couldn't. So home with me it came.

I typically will only do anywhere from three to four varying ribbon options in one tree. But the beauty of every single holiday ribbon I selected for my bedroom tree quickly increased my number to five and they all paired extremely well together. My green velvet ribbon was one I originally had from a previous holiday look, while the beautiful black and red lined ribbon with a Christmas tree print on it came from Hobby Lobby.

Every bolt of ribbon I used for my bedroom tree not only complemented one another, but also created such a cohesive look in the tree itself and in my overall holiday bedroom theme.

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In addition, all of the specialty ornaments I selected - those with tartan prints & patterns, those in the colors of my theme, the shimmery, glitzy and sparkly ones, the velvet textures, my gorgeous stems & picks, all of my beautiful red and green poinsettias and just all of the overall details of everything...All lent to the beauty of creating my vision and staying true to all that inspired the look for The Sultry Christmas Nutcracker.

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And, of course me and my Husband's wardrobe of all black from head to toe and gold accents only lent itself even more to the moody, sultry, sexy and sophisticated vibe I was aiming for this holiday season.

⚜️♥️🖤💚⚜️

FROSTY BLUE & SANDY BEIGE

WINTER WONDERLAND

For our living and family room tree, I returned back to our love for all things blue. I mean all of my day ones know that I can't abandon my love for the color blue. Only this time, I opted to do some softer tones of blue, which is quite different for me, as I've always favored very rich, deep and darker hues of blue.

But since I'd gone very rich with deep and darker colors for my other two trees...I decided the living room tree would be a bit brighter. Also, even though I initially knew I was going lighter in theme for my living room tree, I didn't truly know the exact direction until I stumbled upon these beautiful frosty, icy blue poinsettias from Hobby Lobby.

They were so different in color and tone to me because most blue poinsettias are oftentimes very rich and dark. It's very rare to find light blue poinsettias and these had almost a light denim blue appearance to them, which I loved even more. And, just like denim, the icy blue poinsettias had an ombre appearance fading in and out from light to dark. That alone gave me the opportunity to create some depth with adding in some royal blue velvet ribbon to the mixture as well.

For me this created a better balance of light and dark blue tones but not too dark, as the goal was to keep things light and bright for this particular tree. And, because I absolutely love variety, I added in the most gorgeous sandy beige poinsettias to complement the icy, frosty denim blue.

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Each and every year for the holidays, Hobby Lobby is my go to place to buy a lot of my poinsettias, picks, stems and various ornaments in bulk. Their 50% off holiday discount simply can't be beat!! Ultimately, it's just cost effective to purchase a lot of my Christmas decor and accents I'll be using to style my trees from there. And, while I do source holiday decor from all over, including from many local boutiques in my area...

Hobby Lobby never ceases to amaze me with their various color selection of poinsettias. Every holiday season, they debut new beautiful colors and I'm always just mesmerized because they don't limit themselves to only traditional holiday colors.

I would've never imagined being able to source chocolate or frosty blue poinsettias and now sandy beige ones too. So yeah, the moment I saw these beauties...I knew right away, they would be such a great pairing with the gorgeous icy denim blue ones too.

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To keep everything light and bright, I used a lot of my winter white ornaments and picks to create that winter wonderland feel. In addition, I added in loads of metallics - silvers and golds for the sparkly, Christmas glitz I wanted to bring to my living room tree. I also included some of my beautiful neutral and beige colored, velvet ornaments to complement the sandy beige poinsettias.

In addition, for a bit of a subtle contrast...I added in some of my teal, glittery green picks as well. It was such an amalgamated mixture of different textures, colors and tones but all cohesive.

And, my gold magnolias which I first debuted in my bedroom tree a few years ago for an all metallic theme, have quickly become another main stay in my holiday decor. Because they're gold...they work very well with any theme I create and I do my best to move them around from tree to tree. This year, they've made their way to my living room tree.

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My ribbon tree topper for my main tree is also an oldie but goodie main stay. I've used this exact tree topper for three consecutive years now. I love the beauty of it so much, I've struggled with dismantling it. In addition, it has my favorite color blue in it so the thought of taking it apart is just too emotional for me.

The first year it was constructed was for my living room tree, which I did a royal blue and gold theme that year. Last year, it was used as the tree topper for my Thanksgiving Blue Harvest Tree in my formal dining room.

And, now this year it's returned to its original setting as the tree topper for our living room tree once again. Although a new, brighter and lighter blue theme...my favorite royal blue, winter white, gold and velvet grey tree topper is still a beauty and it still works.

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Also, because I pay to have my ribbon bow tree toppers constructed,

I do my best to try and repurpose them as much as I can. If I can repurpose them for either a different or even the same tree, yet in a new theme...I'm totally here to do that. I don't believe Christmas or any season or any holiday is all about going out and buying everything new.

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Great design is also about smart design. One of the best ways to be smart with how we design and style our homes even at Christmastime is without a doubt, finding ways to work with what we already have.

I love shiny new things just as much as the next person. But I also love pulling out all of my existing holiday decor each and every year. Re-familiarizing myself with its beauty and why I fell in love with it in the first place. I love falling in love with it all over again and then pairing it with whatever new items I'll be using for the new holiday season.

Christmas is truly about making beautiful memories and some of our best memories begin with pairing the old with the new. As the 2024 Holiday Season soon comes to a close, I'm already excited to see what looks I'll repurpose or pair with new things come next year.

But because it's currently all about indulging and enjoying the 2024 Holiday Season, I'll let next year wait its turn and instead enjoy the beauty I've created in my home this year with my three trees...

The Chocolate Bronze Beauty

The Sultry Christmas Nutcracker

Frosty Blue & Sandy Beige Winter Wonderland

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Do I ever think I'll add a fourth or fifth tree? While I most certainly don't intend to do so, I am but a girl who absolutely loves and adore all things Christmas. If I could figure out the storage space for it, for additional trees and all of the decor that goes along with it...

I'd do it in a heartbeat. 😉

Really, you would?

Absolutely!! Because the beauty of Christmas Trees not only make me happy, but they also bring me holiday cheer and joy.

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My 2024 Holiday Look Book will follow behind my newsletter dropping right before Christmas with a gallery of additional photos. The gallery of photos will be a mixture of images shown in this newsletter and also a host of new ones as well. So it'll still be fresh and new content.

For anyone not following me on my social platforms, I can't encourage you enough to do so. There is where you'll always find a host of additional photo stills, reels and videos that aren't shared in my newsletters or blogposts. My handle is the same everywhere...

@alluredbydesign

Facebook + Instagram + Threads + TikTok + YouTube + Vimeo

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If you'd like to view my previous holiday videos from the past few years, click here, here, here, here and here. Or, you can always see all of my video content on either the home page of my website or directly on my Vimeo and YouTube Channels.

Also, links to all of my previous newsletters can be found here.

As always, I truly hope you all enjoyed my holiday looks and each theme this year, including all of the reels, photo stills and my annual Christmas video as well. It's always a lot of work transforming my home and getting everything ready to roll out and shared with each of you.

But it is indeed work that I both enjoy and work that fulfills me.

In addition, I hope my Christmas 2024 looks gave you all some inspirational ideas for styles you may want to work into your own homes next year for the holidays. Or, even just colors you may want to consider throughout next year as well outside of the holiday season.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas, as well as a happy, healthy and highly prosperous New Year.

From House Piazza to Yours.

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Until next time...

⚜️Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler⚜️

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