Decorating tips

[Lelophants]

Our house is small and I never feel like we get it quite right. I dont have a good eye for these things. I love the look of a traditional red and gold Christmas. I like
homely ans traditional but not cluttered. Any tips?

I always have a very traditional red and gold look. I keep adding more decorations year on year!

What decorations do you have already? Are you willing to buy more?

My main tips are how ever many lights you think you should put on your tree, double it.
Stick to one shape of bauble on your tree (all spheres or all oval/tall)
Always use warm white fairy lights
Buy 2 types of garland (a pine or cedar garland and a small leaf eucalyptus garland.) Wind them around each other. Wind fairy lights around them and then decorate with red berry picks and gold leaf picks. Use command hooks to put these around your doors, the top of mantle piece, the top of a sideboard/dresser etc. Add a few tall things like candle sticks or a deer figure in groups of 3

Have a look at Pinterest for ‘traditional red & gold Christmas decor’ or ‘small house Christmas decor’ ideas.

Following... I have decided this year I would like to go vintage! Currently enjoying scouring the charity shops and found some beautiful tree decorations.

Ooh lovely

if you havent got much space how do you work out walk garlands?

My tips are not to add loads of stuff as it can make the house feel cluttered.

Our main effort goes on the tree. We go all out on decorations for that. I add new ones each year but it is contained to that one item. For other decorations we stick to fairy lights around the top of the room and then we will swap items rather than add extra on top of what is already there.

For example I do have festive cushion covers but they go over our existing cushions rather than being added as extras. Or I have a sofa blanket that gets swapped for a Christmas one.

I think adding loads of ornaments all around the room can make things start to look cluttered so it really is mainly fairy lights, the tree and soft furnishings for us. It still feels lovely and festive.

We have a fairly small house so I avoid green fluffy type garlands. On my mantle (which is basically a 1m length of wooden beam) I have a wooden garland with berries on it intertwined with a set of red berry lights across and a red lantern with a battery candle in on each end.

I have a bookcase that usually holds photo frames - I remove these and replace with some ornaments.

We have a tree that probably shouldn’t work but I love it. It has coloured lights and no colour scheme. It has more decorations than it probably needs but that adds to the charm.

Same as pp, I also swap the usual blanket for a Christmas one.

We have a conservatory and in there we have some awful lights on the windowsills (LO loves them) and I put our advent calendars out there on the dresser. It also has a skinny tree that we don’t decorate out there which is pre-lit with warm white lights.

I don’t really decorate anywhere else except the hallway. We have a small set of draws that is a shoe holder and I swap the plant on there for a porcelain Christmas tree.

What I would say is less is more which is why we swap rather than add things, and cosy is nicer to sit in than opulence.

What you do is going to depend on the type of house you have and how you use it (for example at my mums she can’t decorate her hallway, it’s too small and busy but she has a sideboard in her kitchen that she goes OTT with).

Have a look on Pinterest and steal/adapt the ideas you like - then come back and tell us what you did

I’m going to start with a huge tidy and make everywhere decluttered before I start always makes everywhere feel fresher and not as cluttered. I’m completely changing my tree this year- going for a minimalist large green tree, thousands ( literally ) of warm white twinkle lights and burgundy bows only. Will have a light up garland over my fireplace and a few Christmas decorations, want to keep it traditional this year but minimal- I normally go OTT with the tree

I do swap outs as well - Christmassy throws instead of the usual ones, and Christmas cushion covers on the cushions.

Window stickers - you can get snowflake ones which look festive but not cheesy (unless you like cheesy Santas and snowmen, there's nothing wrong with that I have both) I had some stickers on my hall walls some years, they peel off and can go back on the backing to be used again and again.

You can get small light up glass trees, these look lovely in a gloomy corner, on the mantlepiece or a windowsill. Battery operated, don't need to be near a socket.

Fairy lights woven through the banisters (if you have them) or around a window frame. Curtain lights look lovely in windows too.

If you still get Christmas cards from people, peg them on a festive ribbon down the back of the living room door. Advent calendars, the proper picture ones, also look really Christmassy without taking up much space.

All these items won't take up a lot of room but really add to the Christmas vibe.