It’s beginning to feel a lot like, well, Christmas.
The local florist is playing holiday classics. Seasonal decor spills into the aisles at Home Depot. And my neighbour has rented a boom truck to bedazzle his tree in thousands of lights – it’s spectacular, and I think he’s just getting started.
Replace our “bah humbug” with some “fa la la” with our 10 quick and easy tips for decorating for the holidays on a budget. Even your inner scrooge will approve.
1/ Decorate Your Walls with Festive Art
[source: My Paradissi]
Swap out a few pieces in your gallery wall, or change it up completely. Be subtle or BE BOLD. Be the curator of your personal holiday collection.
Etsy is our go-to source for downloadable art. It’s an easy and super inexpensive way to change up your walls on a seasonal whim. I always default to the stunning artwork of Studio Paradissi, although this year, I’m going to mix in a few Pantone® inspired pieces.
I am excited about swapping out my daughter’s gallery wall before she comes home for the holidays … and I have her blessing to do so.
2/ Decorate Your Table
[source: Unknown]
Mismatched candlesticks are an offbeat, elegant and slightly eclectic way to dress the table. Mix the materials. Mix the metals. Mix candlesticks and candelabras. Mix pillars and tapers.
Add in some greenery, garlands or ornaments for a nod to the festive season.
Fox Marin tip: Stick to white or natural candles or matte black if you’re feeling daring, AND it works with your aesthetic.
3/ Decorate Your Surfaces with a Festive Ornament Display
[source: The House of Silver Living]
Do you have a collection of vintage ornaments that are just too sentimental to donate and not quite your vision for the tree? Put them in a decorative bowl with a bit of greenery. Imagine a combination of matte and shiny black ornaments and a few fluffy white feathers in a vintage silver-plated bowl. Or blue and silver balls with some eucalyptus for Hannukah.
This is easy peasy, and you likely already have all the ingredients:
- bowl
- ornaments
- bling or greenery (optional)
There’s no limit to the fun and creativity you can have.
I display my grandmother’s mercury glass ornaments in an antique dough bowl – Christmas past in an updated present!
4/ Garlands
[source: Unknown]
Dress up your shelf, mantle, mirrors or even your walls with a garland. The options abound – wood beads, eucalyptus, felt cutouts or the traditional cedar and fir.
It’s an easy DIY project. It’s an even easier purchase from Homesense or Amazon OR your local garden centre if live is your vibe.
This year, to celebrate the winter solstice, I’m going to try my hand at a DIY dried orange garland.
5/ Candles, Candles + More Candles
[source: Pinterest]
Nothing says the holidays like candles. Candles in the windows and the bathroom. Candles on the mantle, the coffee table and pretty much any horizontal surface. This is one time when more is actually more – as long as you remember to blow them all out at the end of the night.
This is a no-brainer DIY that even the least creative can do:
- mason jar, pretty glass or even a bottle destined for the recycle bin
- tea light
- snip of greenery
- twine
Et voila, a festive candle. Make a few different heights and sizes for a more dramatic grouping.
Fox Marin Tip – a candle and candle snuffer makes an excellent hostess gift!
6/ A Vase with Holiday Foliage
[source: Unknown]
An urn or large vase with a few boughs, sprigs or twigs makes a dramatic statement. And it’s so easy – an inexpensive holiday no-brainer.
Want a little more drama? Add a couple of ornaments.
I’ve finally retired the pussy willows on my bedside tables for sprigs of red berries – and that’s all the seasonal feels I’m adding to my bedroom.
7/ Honeycomb Ornaments + Trees
[source: The Four Walls Blog]
These are everywhere this season, and I’m swooning. Honeycomb ornaments for the tree or a branch. Honeycomb trees for the mantle, bookshelf or credenza.
Feeling artsy? There are lots of online tutorials for DIY honeycomb ornaments. Does the thought of getting crafty give you hives? Look no further than Indigo, West Elm or H&M to get your paper honeycomb fix.
Fox Marin Tip: play with a colour palette that works with your decor.
8/ The Bottlebrush Tree
[source: Pinterest]
These are such an easy, adorable and affordable way to bring a little festive whimsy to your table, mantle, shelves and other surfaces. They’re everywhere this year – Crate and Barrel, Amazon, Ikea, even your local dollar store.
I’ve got these scattered with my aunt’s brass candlesticks and my grandmother’s candelabra on my dining room table. I love them – whimsical nostalgia!
9/ Decorate Your Door (of course)
[source: CB2]
Nothing says the holidays like a wreath on your front door.
The sky is the limit when it comes to wreaths – feathers, pinecones, minimal, maximal, adorned, bare – you name it. Find them at the nearest Homesense, your fave store, online or at your local florist.
Every year, my father and sister collect boughs from the forest, cut them, wrap them and make the most beautiful wreath – a Christmas welcome when I go home for the holidays.
10/ The Christmas Tree, the Hunnukah Bush & the Yule
[source: The Stone Gable]
Whatever you want to call it, nothing says the holidays like “the tree.” Big or small, real or artificial, naked or dressed in hundreds of lights, monochromatic or a rainbow of colour, sparsely decorated or decked out to the nines – let your holiday spirit shine!
When my daughter was little, we had two fully adorned trees – I couldn’t limit myself to just one. Last year, I was vetoed when I tried to keep the sole tree sans decorations – lights only. The no-tree discussion this year was a no-go.
Fox Marin Tip: if you’ve got a live tree, move it to the balcony or back deck when the holidays are over to enjoy the greenery all winter long.
I hope your holiday season, however you choose to celebrate it, is a time of gratitude, reflection, friendship, laughter and a little indulgence. And I hope that you’ll share your seasonal decorating pix with us.
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This article is written by Kathy Mighton, Project Manager and Lead Designer here at Fox Marin Associates. She is FM Design’s creator of well-crafted spaces that inspire and impress! A true design enthusiast, there are not enough walls or surfaces in Kathy’s life to display all the art that she loves.
