Decorating your home for the holidays involves more than putting up the tree and stringing some lights. Making every nook and cranny of your home sing Merry Christmas is easy and fun and invites everyone to share in your joy.
Christmas Tree
*Room does not permit for listing all the wonderful ways to decorate a tree. Let it suffice to say; make it big, make it special and make it safe.
*A few ideas are: a flocked tree that looks laden with snow, monochromatic tree such as silver on silver, spray painted tree such as blue or silver, country tree of red and green, ultra modern tree, themed tree such as for the tropics or the 50's and a children's tree hung full of small toys, fairies and sugar plums.
Front Door And Windows
*Make your whole house shout Merry Christmas in a way that can be seen from the street. Use oversize wreaths and bows on your door and at each window. If there's no snow, spray some in the bottom corners of each window.
*Cover your front door with red paper and glue ribbons to look like a tied package. Where the bow should be, hang a wreath with a bow and berries or whatever you choose.
Foyer or Entrance Hall
*Place flowers in a vase and set in the center of several sheets of tissue paper that is spread out flat on a table. Gather the tissue paper around the top of the vase and insert this into a gift bag that comes to the top of the vase. Place on a table or in the floor.
*Instead of hanging one large wreath, hang several in various sizes and decorate each one differently. Use red berries, tinsel, ribbons and bows, holly, pine cones, apples, oranges, candy canes or gingerbread men. Group them on one wall for a stunning display.
*In the corner, stack several over-sized boxes wrapped as gifts or display any collection you may have of Christmas items. This would be the perfect place for a small table with cookies and milk for Santa and a jar of reindeer food.
Stairways
*Drape green garland up the banister of the stairway. Add decorations to fit in with your decor such as stuffed bears and old toys with candy canes or gilded silk poinsettias and shimmering bows or pine cones, berries and clusters of nuts.
*For wide stairways, you can place a few stacked gifts on each one or candles in saucers, greenery in small baskets or a collection of candy jars.
Mantle And Fireplace
*Create a winter wonderland on your mantle with candles and glassware. Turn decorative cut stemware upside down on the mantle and place white candles on the base. Spray magnolia leaves or any greenery white and finish it off with a coat of fake snow. Arrange this on the mantle around the stemware. Add a few white or silver Christmas balls and light your candles.
*If you don't use your fireplace, fill it with pillar candles of different sizes. This makes a dramatic statement when they are lit on Christmas Eve. You could also fill it with pine cones and a few sprigs of holly.
*Place a child's rocking chair next to the hearth and add antique or well-used dolls, teddy bears and books
* Make a basketful of pine cone fire starters and place by the fireplace. Learn how to make them at: http://www.allfreecrafts.com/nature/fire-starters.sh tml
Table Centerpieces
*Wrap several empty square Kleenex boxes with Christmas wrap. Insert a small vase into each opening and add water and flowers such as roses to match the wrapping paper. Line these up down the center of table or tie on a name-tag and use as place settings.
*Core red or green apples and place them in a muffin pan or decorative box. Insert a candle in each apple and add some greenery and pine cones to the display.
*Small tree branches, from trees such as the Winged Elm and willow, make beautiful eye-catching arrangements when sprayed silver and gold and placed in a vase with a few round ornaments in matching colors.
*Seed pods of okra, thistle, magnolia trees, paw paws, gumballs, acorns and pine cones can be used as are or painted gold and placed in a few sprays of Christmas garland down the center of the table.
Christmas Cards
*Tape your Christmas cards to an interior door, in the shape of a Christmas tree or tape them around all the door casings or hang them from the cornice boards on long pieces of ribbon.
Nativity Scene
*End tables are the perfect place to display a Nativity scene. Recreate the little town of Bethlehem with a Nativity scene. Dress it up by adding tiny clay pots and palm trees made of polymer clay. Make ladders from twigs, rolled blankets from fabric, add gems to the wise men, real feathers to the angel's wings, cut hay on the floor and blankets on the camels. Glue sand to poster board and cut it to fit your tabletop, then place a few rocks here and there.
Guest Room
*Place a welcome basket, complete with a big holiday bow on the bed or wrap a large shoebox (wrap lid and box separately) and glue on a bow. Fill either with sweet smelling soap, lotion and bath bubbles, Kleenex in a decorative box, nail files tied with a red bow and cotton balls stuffed into a small Christmas stocking.
*Provide a Christmas candle and matches and a small bag of Christmas cookies for a midnight snack. Add some Christmas cushions to the bed and a holiday throw on a chair.
Use these ideas for decorating your home for the holidays and browse through magazines for more great ideas. Make every room special with candles, flowers, baskets of greenery and candy canes hung everywhere.