' ing it. That’s Lauren and David Liess’s plan for the holidays. Sure, there are

Fa few family traditions they return to— dinner at Grandma’s and a daylong cookie decorating

bash with theFousins. But the couple like to leave room for making new memories with their

two young sons, Christian, 3, and Justin, 1.

The energetic boys leave Lauren, an interior designer and blogger at Pure Style Home, little

time for elaborate all-out holiday decorating— and that’s not her style, anyway. Instead, she

takes cues from the pine and black walnut trees in her Herndon, Virginia, backyard to give her

home a nature-inspired, kid-friendly lift come December.

“I like our holiday decorating to fit the house and our life,” Lauren says. It helps that her

favorite color (and her sofa) is moss green. From there, she builds off her mix of traditional and

modern furnishings, antiques, and touches of glitz and adds simply adorned pine garlands to

the main interior doorways and mantel. Wreaths hang at the windows.

Her main decorating focus is the tree, the scene of a leisurely gift opening for the boys.

“Christian opens one present, plays with it, then he’s surprised there are more gifts,” Lauren

says. That’s fine by her and David, who “chill on the couch, have breakfast in our PJs, and

watch.” That’s a laid-back tradition they’re happy to call their own.

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AND GARDENS | DECEMBER 2010 | BHG.COM