Tour a Crafty Oregon Home Filled With Christmas Magic

Just about every inch of this pretty house in Florence, Oregon, was DIYed by homeowners Ann and Brian Lacouture. A contractor by trade, Brian built it in 2016 from floor plans the couple designed, and crafts aficionado Ann decked it out in the ensuing years. Although she was working on a tight budget, it didn’t hold her back: “Even the most simple handmade things have a way of making a house more interesting and personal,” she says. Ann also put in pieces with “a traditional feel, but modernized” and bold patterns and colors. As a hands-on family, decorating for Christmas is something the Lacouture brood — Camp, 17; Jane, 15; Danin, 13; and Skip, 9 — look forward to all year. Once Thanksgiving is over, they flock to Santa’s workshop (aka the crafting room). “Virtually every day at least one person is in that room making something,” says Brian. Playful punches of pinks, oranges and turquoise bring the cheer just as much as traditional red and green, and mesh with their home’s eccentric style. “Our kids have said they love Christmas because of how our place feels,” says Ann. It just goes to show: the more crafts, the merrier.

One really fresh tree: To complement keepsake ornaments, this family ties ribbons in bright colors to the branches. This season: pink and orange for the win. And check out those boxwood wreaths in the windows from Afloral.

Stockings made with care: They were easily done by sewing together strips of colored felt, cutting them into a stocking shape, then sewing the edges together.

Coffee-table craftiness: The base was the metal drum of a washing machine! It was found at a thrift store, along with the tabletop. Spray-painted glossy white, they make one awesome piece.

Dried orange slices work great for garlands: Ann baked slices of orange on a parchment-lined cookie sheet at 200 degrees for 2 hours, flipping them every half hour. She then strung them together with a needle and thread before wrapping them around an evergreen garland. “They add a burst of color and smell good too,” says Ann.

Open cabinets + bright paper = wowza! Patterned wrapping paper from Spoonflower cut to size and attached with spray adhesive funs up these spots on top.

Dangle a wreath: Command-hooked on a cabinet with a ribbon, it brings insta-cheer.

A light with year-round cheer: An Ikea pendant got a rad update with orange spray paint on the outside (Real Orange) and mint inside (Ocean Mist, both by Rust-Oleum).

Paint chips can make amazing art: “Besides being free, you can find colors that match any decor perfectly,” Ann says of the DIYs adorning the shelves. She cut chips into triangles of various sizes and stuck them onto white kraft paper with a glue stick.

Use rug samples, while you’re at it: Instead of upholstering an old bench in her kitchen, Ann stapled on four $12 sample pieces of fabric from Annie Selke (they match the Annie Selke rug on the front porch).

How cute are those yarn trees?! They’re formed by wrapping colorful yarn around conical floral foam and securing the ends with hot glue.

The best gallery wall is an ever-changing gallery wall: Almost all of the art here, and throughout the home, was made by the Lacouture children. Ann regularly moves pieces from room to room, but everyone cooks up new creations for the holidays.

Christmas tree string art is the coolest: And you don’t have to be a super-crafter to do it. Ann and her mother-in-law painted a giant square of plywood green, traced a tree shape, hammered brad nails an inch apart along the outline, then wove white string randomly throughout.

Yes, those are floor planks on the ceiling: They were left over from the family’s previous home. Brian flipped the panels upside down and nailed them onto the ceiling in the room Skip (below) and Camp share. “It’s reminiscent of a basketball court,” says Ann.

The stripes on the shades? Paint! Ann revived white woven shades with stripes in Kelly Green by Benjamin Moore. “She says she wanted them to pop next to the thrift store dresser,” says Brian, “but I think she just ran out of things to paint!” Speaking of: she spray-painted the bed Spring Green by Rust-Oleum to match.

A paper-circle garland is always jolly: Ann used a circle punch to cut 2-inch dots from cardstock, then sewed them together with white thread.

Half-and-half Roman shades: To get the look of high-end window treatments in Jane and Danin’s room, Ann draped fabric she lined from Etsy store Premier Prints Express over a tension rod. She left the bottoms uneven to create a “pleat,” with the bamboo shade peeking out.

Pom-pom garland greatness: The girls made pom-poms the traditional way, from wrapping layers of yarn around pieces of cardboard to fraying the ends with scissors. Ann strung them into a garland.

Ooh, handmade headboards: Brian cut the wood and Ann upholstered them with fabric from IKEA.

Deck the headboard: An evergreen garland draped on top brings even more serene spirit to a low-key bedroom.

To give lampshades new life … Ann hot-glued on fabric left over from her daughters’ Roman shade project. Not surprisingly, she re-covers them several times a year! Check out more of her Christmas craftiness on Instagram @annlacouture6.