We’re in the final weeks of a home remodeling project with boxes of our belongings scattered amongst the house and sub-contractors coming in and out of the front and back door each day. Needless to say, we haven’t put up our tree yet or any of our other Christmas decorations. Maybe you haven’t decorated for Christmas yet, either? I hope I’m not alone… This year I’m relying on the following three rules of thumb to maximize the time I have to prepare our home for our Christmas traditions.
1. Green & white By sticking with a base color scheme of green and white, I don’t have to question whether one item will look right with one of the kids’ homemade Christmas ornaments or a holiday family relic. Big colored lights, trees and vibrant flocking are terribly tempting based solely on their fun bursts of color but sticking to a base color scheme will help me decorate efficiently!
2. Lights aglow Nothing makes a space feel more festive than twinkly, white lights. Plugging them into the socket for the first time each year is truly joy-FULL. In fact, come January, I’m reluctant to take any of them down. Think not just in terms of the strings of white lights sold at every major retailer, but also keep your eyes peeled for the teeny-tiny lights on metallic wire which are operated by battery pack, white votives in clear bases of all sizes and metallic garland to reflect all that wonderful light. Mmm…glow-y!
3. Large scale, maximum impact In our collection of holiday decorations there used to be several (o.k. close to fifty) little Christmas tchotchkes. I’d unwrap them every year, look at each one and inevitably wrap them back up because while “special,” they added a feeling of clutter to our already busy household. I love the minimalism that is expressed in nature during the winter and I tend to feel a little more chaos when I’m looking at many little things in our home.
Now, on the rare occasion that I’m shopping for holiday decorations, I buy bigger and allow for a few, carefully chosen areas that get the royal (large scale) treatment. Those areas are the exterior of our front door, the entry inside the front door and our fireplace. If you have a staircase, maybe that gets fresh green garland!
With all the chaos that comes with our December, I’m going to relish in simple with a capital S, this year so that the focus can be on each other and our time spent together.
A very Merry Christmas to you!
-Holly Bayer, ASID
P.S. There’s still time to show us your decorated entry in our Deck the Doors Contest on our Facebook page… enter to win tickets to the Wild! Or simply vote for your favorite entry on our Facebook page.