Deck the Halls: A (Mostly) Handmade Home Decor Gift Guide

BlogHer Original Post

Buying gifts for someone else's home is tricky business.  I often warn people to proceed with caution.  A man's home is his castle and he wants it to look just so.  Take into serious consideration each person and their personal style and tastes when buying decor for their home.  Here is a guide to help your friend or family member on their way to a happier and  (mostly) handmade home improvement. 

Why would you give someone just one throw pillow when you could give them an entire village? All 9 pillows in this set by Rachael Cole are too cute to leave behind. How can you say no to the wee little puppy pillow?

A secret passageway in your house would be so kick ass. Alas, that is a tricky gift to give. How about the next best thing with a Secret Passageway Switch Light by Blightdesign?  Perfect for the mancave. 

You would be surprised what a difference something as small as switching out cabinet knobs and drawer pulls can make. Give someone still sporting the 70's brass cabinet knobs their house came with the gift of porcelain pulls. This adorable set is illustrated by artist Kim Welling.

This is not your grandmother's chiminea. That is unless your grandmother lived in a fabulous ranch style house in Palm Springs circa 1964. Modfire delivers on their name with the hippest outdoor heater I've ever wanted to cozy up to.

I am constantly losing my keys. If anyone ever needed a key rack in this world it is me. Not just any old key holder with boring old metal hooks will do. If I had a perky plastic giraffe greeting me and my keys each time I walked in the door, I'm just sure they would never go missing again. These hooks by The Future Project would also be a great gift for someone with dog leashes to hang or necklaces to sort.

You can thank designer Shawn Soh for thinking beyond the rectangle when coming up with this shelving unit. Your first impulse might be to load the tree with Golden Books and stick it in a kids room, but picture it in your studio full of craft books.  That's right, stick the kids with the Ikea stuff and keep this one for yourself.

House numbers are an often overlooked home decor element. They of course serve an important function like helping the pizza delivery guy find your house, but that is no reason they can't also be stylish. Skip the spray paint and stencil on the curb look and ask Santa to upgrade your look to these metal house numbers by Object Creative.

Jonathan Adler can do no wrong by me. He has an amazingly kitschy yet classy sense of design. Anyone who is not a fan of Jonathan Adler is no friend of mine. One of my smartphone using pals might just be lucky to find this tongue in cheek docking station waiting under the tree for them.

Did you get the memo that footstools are now called poofs. I hope the news made it up to the North Pole.  Whether you call them stools, footrests or ottomans is up to you. All I know is there is no denying the chunky, textured, knitted goodness of these babies by Claire-Anne O'Brein. Makes me want to prop my feet up just looking at them.

The lucky recipient of this gift will actually be wishing for the sniffles so they can spend more time with their new whale tissue box cover. A'hoy cuteness and congrats to Gnome Sweet Gnome for making something to do with mucus so dang cute that we forget how gross it is.

Think of this guide as a springboard for your handmade home decor shopping.  For instance, if you know your friend needs new street numbers, but don't think the ones I suggested are up her alley, don't fret. Several other styles, colors and materials are just a few clicks of a mouse away. Buying home decor items for others can be difficult, but with an eye for detail and their style in mind, it can be done.

