Decorating Tips for the Holidays

Decorating Tips for the Holidays

It’s that time of the year once again when our homes take on a shiny and glimmering character! As soon as Halloween is over, many of us start planning what our home would look like this holiday season. Maybe go for the traditional red and green? Perhaps, you want to make it look crisp and clean with white and gold? How about following a theme: candy cane, elves or golden balls everywhere?

The mere prospect of transforming our homes and getting ready for the holidays is fascinating and overwhelming at the same time. It’s a fun way to dress up our abodes as we welcome family and guests for the upcoming reunion. Importantly, our homes become a better, livelier and comfortable place to bond with family.

Decorating the home for the holidays takes some careful planning. You want to save money, maximize all your resources and make it a fun activity for your family. You want a home that you’d be happy and proud to celebrate the Holidays in. But most importantly, your home should instill the spirit of the season and set the vibe for a heartwarming and happy celebration.

Importance of Decorating for the Holidays

More than just an annual routine, you probably also have some good reasons why you take the time and effort to decorate for the holidays.

  • The holidays are the perfect season to bond with family. Decorating for the holidays is often a team activity – with the family. While moms generally take charge, while dads do the heavy lifting and climbing up while young children are in-charge of hanging decorations. As you can see, everybody exerts in the effort to beautify the home so that every member of the family has his/her personal touch. And in effect, the family also gets to bond over the activity.
  • Decorating is a family tradition. Family traditions become more imminent and significant during important occasions like Christmas and Thanksgiving. It’s like a ritual that we can’t afford to miss. At these moments, kids already anticipate putting the star on the top of the Christmas tree or hanging their socks for Santa’s treats. You are passing a valuable event from generation to generation. At the same time, instill the deeper meaning of the holidays, especially to kids.
  • Spread the Holiday Cheer. Seeing holiday decorations instantly sends off a vibe of cheer and happiness like an infection. The Christmas tree, for instance, is the best physical representation that we have indeed entered the jolliest season of the year. You might not be able to cover all parts of your home with ornaments; the mere fact that you have some decorations up to commemorate the season already spreads cheer within your family, then towards other people.

Decorating for the holidays is therefore a ritual we take to remember and celebrate the season of giving, thanksgiving and reunion. Putting up decorations is not just because you want to impress your guests, but because you want every person who enters your home to feel an infective cheer and jolliness.

Decorating your home for the holidays is undoubtedly fun and fulfilling, but you also have to strategize to achieve the desired results. Whether you’re decorating for the first time as a family or not, there are certain steps you can follow so that this activity is easy, breezy and stress-free for everyone.

Plan Ahead

Decorating can easily overwhelm you simply because there are a lot of things to do. You might have to replace curtains, re-arrange the furniture and climb up a ladder to achieve the holiday look. Instead of enjoying the moment and bond over it, you might find this event even more stressful.

Here’s what you can do to keep things in order. Decide on a look or theme, take inventory of your existing decors and print your peg design. It’s also best to make a schedule especially if you figure you can’t do everything in one day or one weekend. Similarly, assign tasks to family members to streamline the process. For instance, you can ask your spouse to bring in the tree and position it at the indicated spot. Invite the younger kids to hang the ornaments on the Christmas tree, and then have the older kids put up the lights.

Planning also includes what decors and ornaments you intend to use so you can save time and money. If you have a creative bone in the body, you might want to start DIYing your ornaments early. If not, you must allocate ample time to shop for decors so you can get the best prices.

If you want the decorating activity to flow in a certain order or direction, minimize mishaps and save a lot of time, planning ahead is the best way to do it.

Choose A Base Color

Color is an excellent unifying element for your décor. Decide on a base color so it’s easier to scout for potential ornaments and achieve a coherent look for your home.

Now, there’s no wrong or right base color – it’s entirely up to you! You must remember though that the base color will hold everything together visually, so make sure to pick a color or colors that you can easily work with.

For instance, if you live in a warmer climate and wish to create a wintry feel for your home, you can opt for white and silver as your base color. However, if you want to get more traditional, you might decide on red and green. However, if you desire to give your home a bolder look, why not go for metallics, pink and blue? For a dainty look, pastel colors work best.

Don’t Stop At The Entry

Naturally, you’d want your entry to look impressive and fantastic because this is the first section guests enter. A beautifully-decorated entry will set the standard for other parts of your home, so make sure you take the time to decorate all areas as well.

In fact, it’s best to decorate your home in its entirety. It doesn’t mean that you should splurge all your money towards decorations just to wow your guests. You can always put up decorations here and there to maintain the theme of your décor, as well as give every nook and cranny its own share of Christmas cheer.

Don’t Be Afraid Of An Artificial Tree

Your Christmas tree is the centerpiece for living room decorations. Artificial vs real tree is a matter of hot debate and contemplation for many people, but if the type of tree doesn’t really matter to you, don’t be afraid to opt for an artificial tree.

After all, it’s not the tree that will command attention, but how you decorate it. First, you need to pick a convenient location, ideally near an electric source to avoid the unappealing sight of wires. Second, you need to get the tree of the right length and width. You should have enough room to hang decorations without any struggle, as well be able to top the tree with your chosen ornament.

Now, you have to know what ornaments to put into your tree. You might consider getting contemporary decors in favor of the traditional ones. These items are often minimalist in design, but are attractive in their own way. If not, opt for the traditional balls, little Santas and bells. Whichever way you decorate your tree, it should be aligned with the overall look that you’re trying to achieve for your home.

Don’t forget to wrap the tree with lights to make it even more appealing. Lights highlight the beauty of your tree and create a dramatic effect when you dim your house lights.

Dim The Lights For Ambiance

And speaking of dimming your lights off, those tiny dimmers are available in most hardware stores at really low prices. Instead of putting the lights off to total darkness, dimmers provide a small amount of light which also highlights certain areas of your home. Needless to say, these little tools also create an impressive dramatic ambiance in your home.

Use Presents As Décor

Do your shopping early and wrap up gifts as soon as you can because they’ll make interesting decors inside your home. Wrap your gifts in beautiful wrappers, ideally, following your theme and color scheme so that everything checks out.

Once done, find a pretty place to display your gifts cum decors. Traditionally, you’d be placing them under your tree, but you might also want to consider stacking them prettily on a side table or putting them on the side of your stairs.

Buy Scented Candles

If the tree and lights signal our sense of sight that holidays are about to come, what signals our olfactory senses? The most obvious answer would be scented candles.

Scented candles are beautiful decoratieons because they’ll perfectly stand on your center table looking pretty, whether they’re lighted or not. However, scented candles are perfect when they start sending off the smell of the holidays in the air, instantly putting everyone in the room into a merry mood.

There’s an assortment of scents that you can choose from, ranging from the traditional gingerbread scent to oak, fig, musk, peppercorn, sandalwood and many others in between.

Scented candles are also the perfect holiday accents for different areas in your home. As mentioned, the most obvious place would be your dining table. A Christmas or Thanksgiving dinner is simply not complete without candles glowing in the center.

If you want to spread out more candles, consider placing them by the windows and on coffee tables. If you have plenty of plain candles lying around, you can update their look by wrapping with wrapping paper and ribbons.

Go Vintage For A Rustic Look

Are you aiming for a rustic holiday this year? Give your home THAT look! Thankfully, going rustic is a great way to get attention from guests and it’s the perfect theme for a laid-back and relaxed holiday look.

To get the vintage rustic look, you must make white as your base color. White is perfect for simulating the snow effect and pairs easily with most rustic-colored decors. Replace curtains, rugs and table runners with white-colored ones. Wood as décor and color are also the best picks for achieving a rustic look. Place a lot of wooden decors and furnishings around your home, then pair them with natural decors like pine cones, reindeers, burlap stockings and wreaths for additional texture. It is also important to not go overboard with your decorations because rustic is often associated with natural simplicity.

Don’t Forget The Bathroom

It’s often easy to miss out on decorating the bathroom simply because, well, we don’t exactly display our bathroom the way we do with our living room. But you’d also want to give your bathroom a holiday makeover because you’ll be using your bathroom daily and want it to look and feel cheerful as the rest of the house. Additionally, guests are bound to use the bathroom when they come over, so make sure that you’ve done at least a couple of things to make your bathroom just as cheerful.

To start with, consider replacing your regular shower curtains with a holiday-themed curtain. This will give your bathroom an updated look for the season. Take out your holiday-themed rugs and towels as well to reinforce the look.

You can also add tiny details in your bathroom like pinecones and candles on the table, decorative ribbons on your mirror and Christmas balls inside a fish bowl or glass jar.

Doesn’t Have To Be Expensive

Don’t feel pressured into spending a huge amount of money just to decorate your entire house this season. You certainly can make an awesome look for your home without breaking the bank and there many ways to achieve this.

First, you don’t have to buy all brand-new decors. You can re-use decors from the past few years as long as they’re still pretty and in good condition. And if you intend to use the same decors next year, make sure to store the items properly when you put them down.

If you want to add new decors, you can find a lot of them at garage sales, flea markets and other cheap stores. The mall is certainly a convenient destination, but won’t give you the best price.

Also consider using what you already have. Clear jars and fish bowls make the perfect container for your pine cones, candy canes and balls. Just decorate them with glitters and ribbons and they’ll look good on your table.

There are also several things that you can DIY – such as balls, stockings, wreaths and other ornaments. If you can dedicate a few hours on a weekend recycling and upcycling some of your ornaments, you’d certainly save a lot of money along the way.

Less Is More

If your head is exploding with ideas, it will show up with your decorations. Calm yourself and decide how far along you want to decorate. Certainly, you don’t want to go crowd your home too much because it would look disorganized and cluttered. Often times, decorating with just the basics is what you need to achieve a festive holiday look.

Get started with your tree, wreath, dining table set up and decors around the fireplace. If you’re able to complete your decors around these areas, your home should be all set for the holidays. If you desire, you can then add a few pieces of decors here and there, such as scented candles, stockings, candy canes and pine cones.

Pick a color scheme or a theme and go along with it as you decorate one room after the other. Decide on a focal point and make sure it gets the most attention. Pick a few special and sentimental pieces and avoid decors that only clutter your home.

Decorate As A Family

The holiday season is meant to be spent with family so it only makes sense to get everyone on board with the decorations as well. Decorating with family is an excellent way to bond and everyone feels a sense of contribution and accomplishment for making the home ready for the holidays.

The kids in particular are most excited about this season, so make sure you let them help in any way they can. If they’re old enough, allow them to decorate their rooms with their own style and design in mind. You can also give each a small tabletop tree and stocking to hang on their doors.

Enjoy the Season!

Decorating for the holidays is just like an icing on the cake because it’s sweet and exciting. Your home should make you feel happy, loved and comfortable. But more than anything else, the holiday is a time to reunite with family, share, and bond and relax. So plan your holiday decorations carefully, but don’t over-stress yourself. This season is meant for enjoyment, so make the most of it!

SOURCES
http://www.hgtv.com/design/decorating/design-101/top-10-tips-for-holiday-decorating-from-angelo-surmelis
http://www.elledecor.com/design-decorate/interior-designers/advice/g2833/christmas-decorating-ideas/
http://www.instyle.com/celebrity/stress-free-holiday-party-tricks
http://www.traditionalhome.com/design0/51-simple-holiday-decorating-tips?page=0

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