This Utah Family Home Has a Hands-On Approach to the Holidays
For this creative family, this time of year lends new meaning to the phrase “make it merry.”
As soon as their children started scribbling letters to Santa 11 years ago, Merrilee and Jon Liddiard made a pact. The couple decided to draft their own gifting rule book, to stick to their budget and make the holidays feel a little less commercial. Over the years, that pact led to a family tradition they’ve since named the Zero-Dollar Agreement, in which Merrilee, Jon, and children Atticus (15), Oliver (13), and Mila (9) get creative with gifting as opposed to opting for standard store-bought fare. There have been handwritten poems, cleverly schemed scavenger hunts, and hand-sewn stuffed animals. “I grew up with the idea that making something was the most magical thing you could do,” says Merrilee.
This wildly imaginative family decorates their two-story Gothic Revival-style house (it got its start as a cabin in 1860) with similar intent, which isn’t surprising, considering the couple’s creative professions: Jon is an actor and theater instructor at the local high school where they live in Herriman, Utah, and Merrilee is a children’s author, illustrator, and heirloom dollmaker (merrileeliddiardshop.com). Year-round, the Liddiard home feels like a living version of one of Merrilee’s fairy-tale illustrations, embracing her deep draw to woodland plants and creatures through a natural, Scandinavian-influenced palette of muted greens, reds, and browns paired with naturescapes and handmade touches.
Come December, that fairy tale leaps off the pages in other ways, too. Throughout the season, the family scatters around the house, decorating cookies, making cardboard gingerbread houses, collecting fallen pine cones in the yard for garlands, and, of course, breaking off for a few super-top-secret Santa’s workshop sessions, covertly crafting their handmade gifts for each other. “They are so excited to see their siblings open their gifts Christmas morning,” says Angela of the kids. “I’d say, maybe even more than opening their own.”
A Simple Approach to Creating a Warm Welcome
A handmade wreath on the front door hints at the Liddiard family's signature holiday style: natural and edited Scandinavian décor.
Meet the Family
Homeowners Merrilee and Jon Liddiard with children Mila (9), Atticus (15), and Oliver (13) and dogs Sugar and Mabel
A Simple Approach to Trimming the Tree
Merrilee prefers how the sparsely branched alpine fir allows for her collection of handmade ornaments, including woodland creatures, felted mushrooms, and LED clip-on candles to shine. “I like things that feel simple yet impactful and in keeping with nature, bringing the outdoors in, which is a very Scandinavian Christmas concept,” she says. “I try to keep the colors simple and similar and just build from there. When it starts to feel full, I stand back and assess.”
How Clever is That? Shaker Peg Rails
“All of our walls are brick and plaster, so we had to get creative about how to display things,” says Merrilee. Enter: Shaker peg rails, all with 11/2- to 3-inch-deep ledges, that wrap most every room and are topped with an accumulation of favorite finds.
A Simple Approach to Handmade Wrappings
The Liddiards lovingly hand-make individual gifts for each other. That personal approach transfers to what’s on the outside of the box as well. Wrappings start with a cohesive palette of artisan papers and fabrics in the same red-and-brown colorway as the tree decorations, followed by a variety of handcrafted embellishments. “My son Oliver finger-knits wreaths for me, and I illustrate tags and create other gift-toppers from clay and fabric remnants,” Merrilee says.
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A Simple Approach to One-of-a-Kind Packages
Every year, Merrilee also adorns brown paper packages with illustrations like this reindeer.
A Simple Approach to an Advent Calendar
The “Star of Wonder” Advent calendar counts down to Christmas day by way of oversize paper pocket stars draped by various lengths of twine (download available at merrileeliddiardshop.com).
A Simple Approach to Setting the Table
The dining room's antique turned-leg farm table has seen almost as many crafting sessions as it has family meals. Merrilee loves using quilts in lieu of fancy table linens. “Bringing a quilt to the table just feels fun and different, and I love adding someone else’s story to our story,” she says. Outfitted with a simple olive wreath, the dining room’s pine armoire houses dishes, linens, and craft supplies. It should come as no surprise that the brown-and-white check floor (Tortoiseshell Specs by Valspar) was another DIY project, hand-painted by Merrilee.
A Simple Approach to Christmas Crafts
A bowl of ribbons, trimming, and miscellaneous notions await for the children's cardboard gingerbread people making project.
A Simple Approach to a Bunk Room
The boys’ room gets a simpler treatment than their sister's: A minimal faux-feather tree is displayed inside a hefty old crock and dotted with vintage German wooden ornaments that correlate with the colorful, nature-themed art and toys displayed on the pine built-in’s peg rail and 6-inch-deep ledge above their olive green wood beds from Crate & Barrel.
A Simple Approach to a Magical Bedroom
The children put their own spin on holiday décor in their bedrooms. Mila decorates her vintage white-tinsel tree with tonal ornaments such as felted white stars, cream-colored pom-poms, and homemade paper trees covered in glitter. The frame of her homemade canopy bed is outfitted with simple tie-top white linen drapes, the idyllic cozy hideaway for daydreaming.
A Simple Approach to a Crafting Nooks
Perched on a carved-wood mushroom stool (from Beck & Cap), Mila writes and illustrates stories, transforms paper into animals, and peels the bark from twigs to make into wands. The desk is a vintage school desk paired which Mila paired with a shadow box shelf.
A Simple Approach to Garlands
Merrilee and Mila twist, tie, and string swags, wreaths, and garlands into various shapes and sizes to hang across the house, including from the pegs in the main bedroom . The pair passes up the craft store in favor of foraging around the neighborhood for fallen branches, leaves, acorns, feathers, and the like. Luckily, says Merrilee, “We have a bazillion pine cones on our lawn all the time.”
Get the Look:
Wainscotting Paint Color: Dune Shack Lime Wash by Portola Paints
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