Inside Mike Holmes’ Home for the Holidays: Check Out How His Family Decks the Halls https://ift.tt/3qfTVBH

Inside Mike Holmes’ Home for the Holidays: Check Out How His Family Decks the Halls

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Mike Holmes, contractor extraordinaire on HGTV’s “Holmes on Homes” and “Holmes Family Rescue,” has been busy decking his halls for the holidays—and this time, his whole family’s involved.

On his HGTV holiday special, “Holmes for the Holidays,” Mike and his family engage in a little friendly competition to see who can put up the best Christmas decorations in one week’s time. Each home has chosen a unique theme: Holmes and his partner, Anna Zappia, turn their massive property into a winter wonderland; son Michael Holmes Jr. and his wife, Lisa Marie Holmes, add a manger to their front yard; and daughter Sherry Holmes and her husband, Blake Steed, make their suburban property look like the North Pole.

Read on to see how these renovators give their homes incredible holiday looks, and get ideas for some last-minute holiday decor that will surely impress guests.

Decorate safely and easily with LED lights

Holmes wants to light up his massive home with lots of lights around the exterior and grounds. But rather than using the usual bulbs, he goes for LED lights instead. Not only do LEDs allow for lots of lighting options (with hundreds of color choices), but they are also low-heat, curbing the risk of fires. And since they can withstand the elements, you can keep them up year-round.

“You install these lights once,” he says. “Every year, someone gets hurt on a ladder. You don’t have to take them down in the spring and put them back up in the winter.”

To finish his lights, Mike also lines the driveway with glowing trees. (Those, he’ll take down, of course—no ladder required!) All in all, we’d say this is the easiest holidays lights display we’ve ever seen for the effort involved.

Make holiday upgrades you can use all year

Once his lights are up, Holmes decides to build a giant snow globe out of polycarbonate, a material that looks like plastic but is much sturdier.

“The dome’s going to make an amazing, huge snow globe,” he says. “Just add some golden reindeer and lots of snow.”

Once the dome is decorated, it looks fabulous and festive. Bonus: Once the holiday is over, Holmes and Zappia hope to make use of it in another way.

“We could put a heater in and grow my tomatoes and fresh lettuce all year round,” Zappia says.

Bring pets into the mix

Holmes Jr. and Lisa Marie have an expansive rural property, so they have plenty of room to add an outdoor fireplace and lights to their greenhouse. But by far the best feature they build is a manger—with real animals.

“We have a friend who is going away for the holidays, and she has a few animals that need taking care of,” Lisa Marie explains.

The animals include a pony, a donkey, and an alpaca, so Holmes Jr. creates a holiday-inspired home for them with an old farmer’s shed.

“We got this structure secondhand, and we took it apart and put it back together here, just for these animals here,” he says.

While most people won’t happen to have a pony visiting for the holidays, it’s a good reminder to incorporate pets into your holiday look. Decorating a doghouse with lights, hanging some Christmas-colored birdhouses, or putting a Christmas sweater on a willing house cat could make your home look extra merry.

Wrap your yard like a present

Unlike her father and brother, Sherry and her husband have a small, suburban backyard, so they have to be creative when it comes to making it look like the North Pole.

They want to cover the fence around their property with wrapping paper, making the yard look like it’s surrounded by gifts. However, the paper isn’t very durable and Sherry and Steed are disappointed when it rips. Instead, Sherry pulls out a roll of fabric, which she says will be perfect for their vision.

“It looks like wrapping paper, but it’s sturdier,” Sherry says. 

When the yard is finished, it’s clear that the fabric presents were worth the effort. With the fence hidden, the yard looks much more welcoming—like a present yet to be opened.

Make Christmas activities part of the decor

In addition to wrapping the fence, Sherry includes stations to make crafts and toys for kids who visit. Not only do these tables add to the North Pole theme, but they also provide fun activities to keep guests busy.

Who had the best holiday house?

Once the decorations are done, it’s time for their judge, Uncle Billy, to pick the best of the bunch. (No pressure, Uncle Billy!) After careful consideration, he dubs Sherry and Steed the winners, with official bragging rights as the best Holmes holiday house.

Plus, Sherry gets the biggest gift over the holidays when she gives birth to baby No. 2, Oaklyn. It looks like it’s a happy holiday for the whole Holmes family!

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