The Creative Home Podcast | Episode #189
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Thanksgiving is over and Christmas is upon us. My kids could not wait to decorate for Christmas and it only took us 2 hours to get everything set up inside. Now mind you I only have 3 Christmas totes full of decor for the inside. The exterior is a whole other ballgame. But how did I get it all done so quickly? Let me share what I do to get my home into the Christmas spirit.
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Holiday decorating made easy
Holiday Decorating Made Easy
I love decorating the inside of the home for Christmas but some of you may feel overwhelmed or just not in the spirit to do it. I have my kids help me and we turn on Christmas music to get us in the mood. Then I haul up the 3 large totes and the kids start pulling things out. Now again, this is only for the interior and not the exterior. I leave the exterior stuff for another day that is warmer. I leave the interior decorating day for a cold and rainy kind of day when you can’t do anything outside anyway (or don’t want to). This is also NOT the day we decorate the tree because we get a fresh one. So I basically split up the decorating tasks into smaller bits. You can try this if this is something that works best for you. Basically all we are doing is changing out the accessories around the house. So what do I do that gets this all done in 2 hours? Let me share the holiday decor that I use to keep it simple.
1| Remove items
First off, I remove all the accessories that I don’t want around for the season. Items such as vases, pillows, blankets, coffee table items, entryway accessories and put them all in a pile. That way I can visually see where the gaps are going to be around the house to start my holiday decorating.
Open up the totes and start decorating the following rooms:
living room, kitchen, entryway, dining room, bathroom, hallway
2| Holiday decorating in the kitchen
Do you have holiday themed kitchen towels? This is the time to pull them out. I have curtain rods in my windows (no curtains) so I hang large ornament balls at the end of the pole. Maybe you have Christmas themed mugs to put in a corner of your coffee area. This is an easy way to add some Christmas cheer.
3| Pillow covers
I love using different colors in my living room. Instead of changing out the pillows, I just get pillow covers in holiday colors. I have ones in green and another in silver. It gives the room a nice punch and change of color. Plus pillow covers take up less storage space than actual pillows!
4| Holiday decorating with garland and lights everywhere
If you have stairs in your home, this is an easy way to add accessories. I use twisty ties from bread bags to help keep the garland in place on the staircase, but you can use command adhesives too. Drape some garland on your mantel (if you have one) to finish off your holiday decorating.
5| Lanterns filled with ball ornaments
I have large black lanterns that I use in the summer but for the winter, I fill them with leftover ornaments and pine cones. I add a red bow on top and voila, an easy Christmas decoration. You can place these by the entryway or the mantel if you have one. They also look great on a staircase.
6| Replace pictures with wreaths
My kids love a canvas art piece that has a large moose head and ornaments that twinkle in his antlers. This requires me to remove the existing artwork so that we have space for (what we call) Mr. Moose to make his appearance. Don’t be afraid to remove some paintings around the house and replace them with wreaths or other Christmas decor.
7| Things in 3s
For my coffee table, side table or entryway, I like to add some smaller accessories in threes. To make it more pleasing, use items in different sizes such as a tall tree, a medium candle and a small house. My Staging Toolkit shows you how to assemble these items if you are selling your home soon too.
8| Use other holiday decorating decor
Use Halloween webbing to create “snow” on railing or corners – I love to reuse other holiday decor and Halloween is one of them. If you have leftover cobwebs that stretch, they make a great “snow” background for your items in threes. You can use this anywhere you want it to look like snow. Maybe you have a Christmas village and you don’t have the white felt. Use Halloween webbing.
9| Glass vases with sticks and lights
If you have those clear glass vases taking up space in your cabinet or storage room, now is the time to take them out. Fill the vase with white “snow webbing” and add branches with white lights that are battery operated. Put them in corners of a room like a bathroom or dining room to bring some in Christmas cheer.
10| Holiday decorating with gnomes
I love gnomes ever since we moved to Germany. I don’t know what it is about them but they are very popular here and I’ve collected them for all sorts of holidays in different sizes. If you don’t know the tradition of gnomes they are meant to protect your house (and your presents) but only if you have the correct kind of gnome. You see, if you have a gnome where you can’t see his eyes, that is the one that will protect your home. If you see their eyes, they are naughty gnomes and will steal your presents and not protect your home. So I have about 10 gnomes all with their eyes covered so my home should be protected, right?
Remember that pile of decor that you don’t want out for Christmas? Once the Christmas totes are empty, I put all those items in those totes. So that when it’s time to remove all the Christmas decor, I have the regular season stuff ready to come back out again. Makes it easy to revert back to your normal home decor accessories when January comes around.
In the end, we got all our holiday decorating done to get us into the Christmas spirit. We talked about decorating certrain rooms like the living room, dining room, kitchen, bathroom, hallway and entryway. Start with removing items you don’t want in your holiday decor and fill in the gaps. Then add the accessories in 3s, add your gnome or village collection, use garland and lights, and other decor items. Hopefully this inspired you to get started on your holiday decorating!