how to decorate my house

[booksrock]

We moved house and I now have a beautiful fireplace and mantelpiece and a sweeping staircase.

We have a tree etc from previous house but any ideas what else I can do? I want classic but with two small children it needs to be fun too :-)

anyone?

Could you incorporate a gingerbread men theme, or little animals, or snowmen? You could make simple garlands from thick card cut into the shapes you want and decorate them using bits of wool or fabric and sequins, then attach to a ribbon to hang. Or you could include bought decorations in fake fir garlands, either to hang up the staircase or put on the mantel.

thanks

Assume I have no skill or artistic ability - can you link to a picture?

I have a nativity set - could I add that in somehow?

I can't link to a picture as I made them up in my head! But suppose you want to do snowmen. You can cut snowman shapes from thick card, use black sequins for eyes and 'buttons' down its front, little strips of fabric as scarves and hats, draw on nose and mouth. In between each of the snowmen when you want to fix them to the ribbon, you can put 'snowballs' made of a cottonwool ball, and cut out snowflakes. You can make them a bit frosty looking with glitter if you like. You can either make slits and thread the items onto the ribbon or glue them.

They don't have to look perfect, especially if your DC have helped make them.

Somthing simple like this

I have a fireplace , lovely focal point
I put a prelit garland on it and some LED candles (for safety) in the greenery. Tealights in assorted holders on the hearth.
On the staircase I'm doing a prelit long garland attatched underneath the balustrade (parents are late 70s so safety is priority) with those clear cable ties.

When my DC were little (they are teenagers now) I collected tiny teddy bears from various places (Ikea, M&S, Museum of Childhood,) and put one on every step.(Tucked into the corner so they didn't get tripped over). Stole that idea from a magazine article about hotels that offered Christmas breaks specialising in small children.

The Snowman looroll in the bathroom (Aldi next Thursday)

Some great ideas here thanks

I'm really excited about having a nice house for once and we are having a Chrismas house warming so I want the downstairs to look amazing