Decorating the stair bannister - ideas

[kiwidreamer]

Any not-to-expensive ideas around? I've love a garland, dripping with fancy baubles maybe potentially but I suspect that is going to be very pricey and DH would have a fit at that kind of money spent on Xmas decorations not that that generally stops me so does anyone have any inspired ideas for decorating the stair bannister tastefully I came up with tinsel on my own

[TessTackle]

I know you already said dreaded tinsel, but you can add a string (strings) of festive beads to it and little pine cones which you can spray silver or gold or sparkly I make it less Tinsely iyswim? Sounds loony but it's what we do at my mums and it looks beautiful

[SoupDragon]

I used to decorate mine with matt green tinsel and gold pine cones.

[missmargot]

How about an advent calendar running up the bannister? We have one made from miniature rusty buckets that looks really sweet.

[TessTackle]

Sounds beautiful Soup

[kiwidreamer]

I could manage something like that, I have deep creative aspirations but very shallow talent we've been collecting pine cones already and they are drying in the airing cupboard.

Everything I find on Pinterest requires 1000 leagues of creative talent!!!

[kiwidreamer]

how do you attach the pinecones to the tinsel?

[kiwidreamer]

I have a glue gun OTT much!!

[beachesandbuckets]

I got a garland of green fir pines/cones and thread it around the bannister then got some glass white/silver baubles and hung them onto garland with plain cotton thread. From Homebase, not too pricey and on third year. Ripped off from The White Company catalogue.

[SoupDragon]

Mine came with string ready attached :o We have very posh pine trees around here

It should be fairly easy to glue string to a pine cone with a glue gun though.

I had to stop putting it round the bannisters when we got cats [sigh]

[TheWoollybacksWife]

I have done something similar to the snowflakes and baubles one on this website with baubles on very thin ribbon.

I try every year to hang a wreath a la Martha Stewart at the bottom of the bannister. The effect is spoilt when DS hangs his school coat over it.

[elfycat]

I have low voltage led lights (about 400 lights over 20 metres, something like that) which I wind between the lower parts of the spindles. I then loop faux-pine garlands and ropes of red beads through as well. Very effective and I don't tend to need to turn the hallway lights on (sparkly higher energy ones. I probably SAVE money leaving LEDs on)

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

I bought some of those long wired faux fir swags a few years back (from those "Christmas Shops" that spring up in shopping centres.

I love the baubles on ribbons (might do that this year) .
I love lights on the bannister on the landing but it's a trial to unwind them again.


One year , I collected tiny teddy bears and had A Teddy Bear on Every Step (an idea pinched from an article about Christmas Hotels)

[TessTackle]

holly berry wire

[TessTackle]

70 my mum has a lead Beat on every step at her house and they're not just for Christmas

[TessTackle]

Bastard typo *bear

[trixymalixy]

I used fresh ivy from our garden last year. It looked lovely for about a day then it all wilted. I may try again this year with those oasis things.

[SoupDragon]

TheWoollybacksWife In one of the pictures on your link, someone seems to have stuck a whole pineapple on their newel post!

[OldRoan]

Whatever you decide, my top tip is to set aside an afternoon to do it in, or better two! We have garlands and lights - first it takes forever to do because I always seem to go back and alter the middle section, second the garland loses a bit of the green stuff and it needs vacuuming, and third by the time you have done all the twirling of green you can't be bothered getting the lights done straight away.

Looks brilliant though. Keep an eye on ACHICA for good value Christmas decorations.

[Gatekeeper]

can you knit? I made 25 knitting mini stockings a few years ago- each with different coloured wools, patterns etc and tied them onto some rough twine. Each year they are hung from the handrail and I bung in a couple of treats for my dc every night so acts like an Advent calender

[TheWoollybacksWife]

I've just seen that SoupDragon

That would stop him in his coat-discarding tracks

[kiwidreamer]

Oooh see I posted with the goal to find a cost effective option but now I'm feeling the pull of a proper garland with baubles on ribbons and soft white lights and and and.... allllllll the pretty festive things!

Surely I could put something together for £50 at most, the bannister isn't even that big or posh

[Cluelessat30]

woollyback i just got my first pre-Christmas high looking at your link! Fa la la la la, la la la LAAAAA!

[TheWoollybacksWife]

Glad to be of Christmas service

[OldRoan]

Try Paperchase. They tend to do 3 for 2 if you wait a bit.

[HolgerDanske]

It is quite pricey to make it from scratch.

But if you have a look on ebay you can get a couple of garlands for quite a reasonable cost. Two should be enough to hang the length of the bannister.

I bought some when a local boutique was doing a closing down sale, but I've seen loads of nice ones on ebay. I especially like Gisela graham or John Lewis for good quality.

My two are frosted fir with snowy pinecones attached and I've got a string of lights to run along them, plus I picked up some cute red glass baubles, only an inch in diameter, off ebay. They will hang prettily all along the garland. Ohhhh I can't wait!