Well…it’s finally starting to look like CHRISTMAS up in here! I had forgotten how much I love turning off all the lights and letting just the Christmas lights twinkle. Magic. :)
As I was pulling decor out today, it occurred to me that I use the same formula every year for most of my holiday decorating. I’ve mentioned it before, but I think it’s worth repeating.
I think any home can look Christmas-tastic with three things:
1. Garland/greenery
2. Ornaments/sparkle
3. Natural elements
I used to decorate with mostly holiday-specific things – so that meant I had to take down all the current accessories and replace them with new. Let me tell you, it gets exhausting. :) All the lugging stuff down to the basement, lugging the bins up, lugging them back down, lugging the year-round accessories back UP after the holidays.
Whew. Lots of lugging.
Now I do my best to use what I already have up and Christmasfy it.
Like taking the lemons and limes out of a basket and replacing them with pinecones and ornaments:
Score one for ornaments and natural. ;)
Remember my DIY trough thingy I made for the family room? I used all of the above to make it work for the holidays and I love how it turned out!
My favorite tool this time of year is my wire cutter:
I cut my garland all apart using this baby. I leave some in one piece as a base, then cut individual pieces off different types of greenery to stick in here and there. It makes the end result full and more interesting. (I think.)
Then I add the lights (OK, there should be a No. 4 on that list – lights are a must for sure) and fill in any empty spots with ornaments, sparkly beady stuff and pinecones:
I drilled a hole into the back of the trough so I could put the lights right through it.
NO CORDS ALLOWED.
:)
OK really, not kidding.
I added a sparkly dollar store ornament to the mirror above the TV and called it done:
LOVE. :)
Today I worked on the Goodwill shelves in our kitchen -- again, using what we already have. I stuffed some sparkly red pics in my little pitcher and then some real greenery as well:
Is it sad that one of my very favorite parts of our new backyard is the fact that we had arborvitaes planted, so now I have access to REAL green in our house this time of year?
It makes me positively giddy. I felt like Heidi frolicking around the evergreens out there.
I used little snips of it to fill in some spots, and bigger swags that I just laid on the shelves, along with some sparkly faux greenery (that I cut off of it’s stem).
Sparkly, yes. Natural, yes. Greenery, yes. I tell ya – it works!
Add some ornaments to the mix and I really don’t think you can go wrong:
I LOVE the pop of green of this vintage pedestal from my late father-in-law’s house. The added bonus is I think of him every time I walk by this little vignette. :)
I wanted to keep some fun in the display, so I added a couple dollar tree trees (huh?) from a few years ago:
I love love love how this little mix turned out:
Best part is I already had everything. Boo.yah.
I don’t think you can get more classic than red, green and white. As much as I try to get into different colors for the season, I ALWAYS gravitate back to the classics for most of our decor.
I went the same direction with our (new) mantel – here’s a sneak peek, just cause I’m so giddy about it:
This is why it takes me longer than I hope to decorate for the holidays – it’s not always just pulling an item out of the bins and setting it up. It’s taking different parts of a recipe and making something visually yummy. :)
Trying to use what I have and making it work for holiday decor is a challenge, but I eat it up. It’s WAY more fun to me – it totally gets my decorating mojo going and I love watching it all come together. It’s my thang.
By the way. This is behind the scenes of it all coming together:
I firmly believe there has to be a bit of madness in order to get to the good stuff. :)
So what are your go to’s for decorating for the season? Do we have the same list? What colors do you use in your holiday decor? I’d love to hear!
* Spell check does not recognize “Christmasfy” and “Christmas-tastic.” What is this world coming to?
** I believe I said “sparkly” 58 times.
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