Want to Live in a TV Christmas Movie? A Hallmark Production Designer Shares the Secrets to Holiday Magic

The dreamy holiday vibes in a Hallmark film are always palpable. Whether it's the festive scores or the curated cozy aesthetics in each film, every detail is integral to setting the mood for a story that is bursting with holiday spirit.

PEOPLE sat down with Jordan Ninkovich, who was responsible for decking out the sets of The Holiday Sitter, Hallmark's first LGBT film starring Mean Girls' Jonathan Bennett and Matthew Dowden; and the Blake Shelton-produced Time For Him to Come Home for Christmas, which stars Tyler Hynes and Teen Wolf's Holland Roden. The production designer shared the secrets of how he transforms any space into a vibrant setting worthy of the North Pole.

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Craig Minielly/Hallmark Media

PEOPLE: A lot of the Christmas decor in the main house featured in The Holiday Sitter is blue and gold – not traditional Christmas colors. How do you keep that classic Christmas vibe while keeping the decor stylish and fresh?

Ninkovich: I want to always think outside of the box and design something new. Some of the film definitely has those traditional Christmas palettes, but I thought this was a great opportunity with this movie and everything it stands for, to start some new trends and show a wide range of Christmas styles. We wanted that contrast, not only with Sam (Bennett) and the set we designed in his condo, but also coming back to his neighborhood and his family home.

I infused a little bit of terra cotta and burgundy, traditional wools, things like that, but then add new elements like these beautiful navy blues to pop and complement that. At first you might think a lot of these colors would be too cold, but the complementary elements all came together to create something welcoming, warm, and unique

We have more of that traditional look and feel in the DeVito home. There you'll see a lot of the golds and yellows and obviously, red, white, and green.

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Craig Minielly/Hallmark Media

PEOPLE: You also added some holiday elements that fans won't see, but play a big part in how the actors experience the set.

I love to add layers upon layers to sets. So, [in Sam's apartment] I had beautiful incense going on in the space, and I had a little Frank Sinatra playing in the background to help really capture the mood of a high-end New York condo. If you can capture not just the visual elements, but all the other senses, you're doing a huge favor for that actor, helping them to be able to transform as the character in that space.

Craig Minielly/Hallmark Media

PEOPLE: How do you create that warm family Christmas feel in this movie that centers around the kid characters too?  

Ninkovich: We're all kids at heart, especially during the holidays. We didn't want to just go out and buy a bunch of stuff, so myself and my amazing crew got together and we made all the stockings and decorations. We had some fun with it and it brought out our inner children. I think that was a pretty neat thing to do because it elevated the Christmas spirit. And again, with kid actors that's a helpful thing I can do to make the environment feel mesmerizing, like, wow, this is going to be exciting, like it's Christmas morning.

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Courtesy of Hallmark

PEOPLE: In Time For Him To Come Home For Christmas, you had to bring cozy elements to more sterile spaces like offices and hotels. How do you create that feeling of holiday warmth or do you embrace the chlil?

Ninkovich: The vibe of this movie was definitely more traditional, but I still wanted to try to change it up. I played with emphasizing cooler tones with just added warm accents and different types of textiles for the furniture and the finishing. Obviously with Blake Shelton involved, and knowing there's going to be a lot of beautiful music involved, I wanted these sets to sing — almost like if you watched this movie on mute, you would still hear it and feel the Christmas spirit.

PEOPLE: You filmed many scenes, like the one in the Christmas market, in the middle of summer. How do you conjure an instant holiday vibe any time of year?

Ninkovich: When you walked into that market, the world around you closed off, so you couldn't even tell where you were. We had real chestnuts roasting, we had real cocoa and coffee going. I had all this fresh Christmas baking going. I brought in 18 real Christmas vendors, supporting locals. [The cast and crew] shopped after. It was actually so huge it confused everybody — the public, the staff, the crew. They actually thought, well, wait a minute, is it Christmas in July? When I get those remarks, that's awesome.

Allister Foster/Hallmark Media

The Holiday Sitter airs Tuesday, Dec. 20 at 8/7c and Time for Him to Come Home for Christmas airs Saturday, Dec. 24 at 10/9c, both on the Hallmark Channel.