Photos: Rosalie Home
Nichole Peterson transforms home exteriors with personalized seasonal décor.
As the holiday season approaches, more homeowners are turning to professionally styled displays to create warm, welcoming exteriors that reflect their personal style. For Nichole Peterson, owner of Rosalie Home, serving Lake Minnetonka residents, the inspiration for her seasonal decorating business began with her own front porch.
“I was sitting on my front porch one day, heading into fall, and thinking about what I could do differently,” Peterson says. “I went to Pinterest and Instagram and loved the look of these large pumpkin displays. It was a really big idea in the South, and it was just starting to take off here in the Midwest.”
Rosalie Home’s Nichole Peterson and Courtney Balcer are set to festoon home exteriors to welcome in the holidays with beauty and style.
Peterson says she first experimented by decorating neighbors’ homes with oversized pumpkin installations before expanding the concept into a seasonal business. What started as fall porch decorating soon evolved into holiday styling as clients began requesting Christmas displays after the pumpkins were removed. “I wanted to come up with something unique and different for the holiday season,” Peterson says. “So, I created a freestanding arch full of fresh greenery for over the doors.” The seasonal porch decorating division of Rosalie Home launched in September 2025, though Peterson says the interior decorating side of the business has been around since 2024.
Curb appeal takes on a special meaning during the holiday season, and having extra sets of hands to orchestrate a festive vision can take the guesswork (and extra time!) out of what can already be a full schedule.
When designing for clients, Peterson says personalization is key. Before beginning a project, she asks homeowners about their decorating preferences, requests photos of their homes and entrances, and encourages them to share inspirational images. “It’s important to me that I give the client something they love but also something that is cohesive with the style of their home,” she says.
As the season shifts through different holidays, so too can outdoor décor. Minor adjustments can take greenery from November through
the new year and winter’s final days.
Sometimes, homeowners try their hand at exterior décor, and there can be some missteps, understanding scale being one of them. “The biggest mistake I see is when homeowners choose decorations that are too small for the size or scale of their home,” she says. “When the scale is off, the whole look falls apart, and it can end up looking cheap.”
Fresh greenery is another element Peterson encourages clients to incorporate whenever possible. “I think you can get a really big impact by using real greenery,” she says. “Even if you’re mixing it with faux greenery, incorporating as much real greenery into the look as you can makes a big difference.”
Peterson also considers practical details when creating installations, including the style of the home and even which direction it faces. “If your front door or porch is facing south vs. north, that’s going to determine how long fresh greenery will last and what type of greenery I would suggest using,” she says.
Among the most requested trends last holiday season were nontraditional color palettes, including dusty blue, navy blue and chocolate-brown velvet accents. “We saw a lot of clients asking for nontraditional Christmas colors,” Peterson says. “I try to incorporate natural elements that complement the same color family the client wants.”
Peterson says lighting also plays a major role in creating a welcoming exterior. “I love warm lighting and the magic of Christmas lights,” she says. “I love candles in the windows, lanterns on the porch and anything that creates a cozy, welcoming feeling.”
For homeowners hoping to simplify the decorating process, Peterson says professional porch styling services can save time and alleviate stress. “People like me will come to your porch, install everything and then come back after the holiday and remove it,” she says. “It just saves homeowners so much time.”
Rosalie Home
Instagram: @rosaliehomeco
