I thought it might be fun to spend December looking at easy ways we can add a little more Christmas spirit to our homes.
I love holiday decorating but I get easily overwhelmed by it. So I’m going to try in this series – 25 decorating tips for Christmas – to focus on fairly easy ideas.
We’ll see how it goes! Here’s our first post:
Tip 1: Use Christmas ornaments creatively
Of course, we see Christmas ornaments and naturally imagine them on the tree. But it’s cheap and easy to use those ornaments to decorate in so many other ways.
I love using ornaments to dress up the table for Christmas dinner.
The example at right came from Better Homes and Gardens. I love it because it’s so easy.
Put some inexpensive ornaments on top of candle holders and set some around the table in other spots. It’s instantly festive.
So where do you get all these extra ornaments?
You can get bundles of ornaments for less than $10 at most big box stores or discounters like Big Lots and the Dollar Tree.
Or you can just use some of your leftover ornaments – you know, the ones that no longer make it to your tree because you’ve added others over the years.
Or better yet, pick a few of your favorite ornaments to showcase in other ways.
I love the way my mom used a tree branch as a way to hang ornaments across a gray wall in her entry hallway.
She spray painted the branch white before hanging a variety of white, silver and red ornaments. The little cardinal sitting on top of the branch is a great touch.
Below are two ideas from Southern Living and MyHomeIdeas.com. Attach colorful ornaments to ribbons and hang from a curtain rod in front of a window. What a great twinkle! Or just fill up some vases with ornaments. Sticking with the same color (below right) makes more impact.
I actually really love ornaments hung all through the house.
Below, in another BHG photo, a homeowner hung snowflake ornaments from a chandelier. Very pretty and these kinds of ornaments are quite affordable at Hobby Lobby.
I love using ornaments in all types of ways and so I buy up lots of inexpensive ones so I can try new things every year.
Below right, you can see a photo from the year I filled vases with ornaments and lined them up on my mantel. In the photo below left, I used some of my favorite ornaments to make a simple centerpiece, not for a dinner but just to keep on the table through the season.
How do you use ornaments in your home? Send me your ideas and I’ll post some.
