Decorating your home for Christmas can be really fun, but it also has a tendency to take over the entire house. While you might have had a small tree festooned with a few ornaments in your first apartment, you now pull down dozens of boxes from the attic filled garlands, wreaths, ornaments, snowmen and St. Nick-themed knick knacks.
When you are done setting up all of the decorations and you find yourself thinking, “It looks like Santa, his elves and several of his reindeer have just invaded this house,” it may be time to cut back on your festive displays.
With that in mind, the following tips will help make sure that your Christmas decorations won’t take over your entire home — or attic or garage during the rest of the year.
Trim back the trimmings
If each room is decorated to the hilt with Christmas cheer, it can overwhelm your senses. Instead of putting up two or more Christmas trees, focus on one really nice one that is on display in the living room and ask the whole family to take part in decorating it. If the tree looks like it will topple from the weight of the trimmings, ask each family member to select their 10 favorites and consider leaving the rest in storage or donate them. Rather than cover your dining room table with a vivid tablecloth covered with a loud poinsettia pattern and then covered with Santa placemats and holiday plates, choose a simple cream cloth, add a slim table runner and use plain red plates topped with smaller holiday-themed salad plates.
Use ornaments as part of your décor
A fun and subtle way to add a touch of Christmas spirit to the home is to use ornaments in places other than the tree. For example, along with some vintage pieces. Place the vintage ornaments and a few pine cones on a cake stand for a simple table centerpiece or display them on the top of a piano or mantel. As suggests, you can also transform the large balls to adorable mini vases. Simply pull the ornament hanger off the top and use an old emery board to smooth the edges. Add some water and one simple rose or tulip with their stems cut short to each ornament “vase” and place them in a slightly larger pot or mug for support. Scatter a few of these around the house to add a touch of Christmas everywhere that looks beautiful and is not overwhelming.
Go monochromatic
offers lovely ideas for Christmas decorating that is understated yet gorgeous. For example, forego your huge nutcracker display on the mantel this year and trim it with a row of white votive candles surrounded by white amaryllises. Or, instead of covering a coffee table with that huge Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer set you got on clearance a few years ago, buy a small white artificial tree and decorate it sparsely with things that share a simple color scheme — a few red bows, candy canes and small cardinals — and place it in the middle of the table.
By following these tips, it is possible to decorate your home nicely for the holidays without it taking over every inch of space. By remembering the mantra that less is more, you can show your holiday spirit in a more subtle way that blends into your existing décor. As a bonus, this new approach will take less time and free up storage space, and you will have less to dust.
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