NJ Monthly Magazine Feature & My 5 Tips for Easy Holiday Decorating!

I’ve been featured in national magazines including a 10-page spread in Better Homes & Gardens, and Modern Farmhouse but my latest feature in NJ Monthly Magazine is even more exciting because they used my photos! You can read more about me, my house, and my decorating style plus I’m sharing my 5 Tips for Easy Holiday Decorating so come peek inside the pages and read the article.

Kelly Elko and her BFF Santa pose on the porch of an old Victorian home kellyelko.com

The real diva was Santa who demanded to be part of the article but hey, I’ll do almost anything to be put on the nice list.

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A close second diva is Sushi who always steals the show and gets prime placement in the largest photo of course (get her pom pom Christmas dog sweater here)!

Ho-Ho Holiday Home!

NJ Monthly Magazine Kelly Elko Christmas home feature! Love the dog in her Christmas sweater and the colorful mantel kellyelko.com

These photos were from my Christmas house last year and it was one of my favorites. Magazines need their photos well in advance so they can write the article, lay out the pages, and send to print.

Everyone asks about the colorful art on my chalkboard and can you believe it’s a page from a calendar that I enlarged at Staples! This calendar is no longer for sale but the artist created another one with some equally fabulous art and you can get the colorful calendar HERE.

Take My Current Christmas Home Tour Here 

NJ Monthly Magazine Kelly Elko Christmas house article - love all the fun and festive decorations kellyelko.com

My Five Top Tips for Easy Holiday Decorating

1. Collect like items and pile them up for maximum impact. Fill any container with ornaments or mini Santas and accent with a sprig of pine or holly.

2.Use What’s in your closets. Why spring for a pricey Christmas-tree skirt if you already own a vintage quilt or handmade blanket to create a tree skirt?

3. Dare to shop at unexpected places for ornaments and other holiday decor. Rummage through thrift stores, tag sales and Grandma’s attic.

4. Curate old with new, plain with precious. Mix inexpensive seasonal decor from Target with antique family heirlooms for an unexpected, one-of-a-kind look.

5. Why just trim one tree when you can decorate more trees and have more fun?

Beautiful blue house in the snow kellyelko.com

So while being in a national magazine is such an honor, being in this local magazine holds a special place in my New Jersey loving heart.

I love the way my blue house looks in the snow and hope we have a white Christmas … and then it all melts the next day so I don’t have to shovel!

See Lots More Christmas Ideas Here 

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10 Comments

  1. Congratulation for being in the BH&G magazine, they couldn’t have chosen a better person or a more creative one. Well, maybe Sushi, she’s very cute.

  2. How nice! It always feels better when its your own community. I always love your christmas decorations! And of course sushi!

  3. It’s always such an honor to be in a national magazine. I too was in Better Homes & Gardens a few times and it really is wonderful. But such an honor to be in a magazine with your own photos! You certainly deserve it! I love to use vintage ornaments and I have an antique crazy quilt that goes under my tree!

  4. Congratulations from this fellow Jersey Girl! Very much deserved! I used my boyfriend’s Aunt’s scarf as quickly tree skirt this year!

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