Now that you are fully stuffed with turkey, the winter holiday decorating can begin! If you have the time, space, energy, and desire to upgrade your décor this season, we have a few recommendations on how to easily decorate each room of the house to sprinkle a little extra cheer and impress your guests!
Choose a Theme
Prior to throwing out all your holiday-themed items, we recommend thinking of a central theme to create a cohesive and beautiful design. Whether you want to base it on a color scheme (red and green, for example) or an item (trees, reindeer, gnomes, pinecones, stars, etc.) is up to you! Once you have that theme in mind, you will want to emulate it throughout the entire house. The only places we recommend diverting from the central theme are standalone rooms such as bedrooms and bathrooms. The entry, hallways, kitchen, dining, and living areas should all reflect a similar aesthetic.
Kitchen
Kitchens are the heart of any home, often where the hosts and many of the guests will spend a good chunk of their time. Remember, it is vital to keep the main area of your countertops open and available for food prep, so you will want to stick to the edges of counters, shelves, or window ledges for your decorating. Functional items like holiday-themed rugs, towels, and dishware make for quick and helpful décor. As for the rest, every kitchen is widely different, so here are a few ideas:
- If you have a window, we recommend bordering it with garland and adding trinkets to the ledge.
- For an island, create a centerpiece using a multi-tier serving tray with assorted holiday sweets, trinkets, and pinecones or Christmas ornaments.
- If you have shelves, add tinsel and other stand-out pieces that won’t get in the way of the cooking process.
Living Area
The living or social area of the home is your chance to go wild with a Christmas tree as the central showpiece. To keep a relaxing ambiance, we recommend decorating based on two colors, such as red and green OR blue and silver. For the mantel, we suggest matching it to the tree with garland and a few trinkets, so there is plenty of space to hang the stockings. For lounge furniture, you can easily add holiday pillows and blankets. On the floor, put a cute color-matching rug. Lastly, you can go a little bolder for the surrounding tables or shelves with lights, plants, tinsel, and other favorite items.
Dining Room
If you have a designated dining room, the corners of that room are an excellent place to put up mini-Christmas trees, a sleigh, or other large vertical items!
For the main table, there will be times when it will first be sitting pretty on its own, then used for dinner when everyone crowds in. Therefore, you will want easily movable items on display. We recommend a long table runner throughout the center with live centerpieces that utilize your color theme in the middle. We suggest LED mini candles and non-breakable trinkets to decorate the rest of that centerline. Holiday napkins on each plate add a bit of flair, especially if the dishes are not holiday themed. If you want to go the extra mile, you can add ribbons to each chair, tying them into a bow!
Bedrooms
It can be super easy to overdecorate a bedroom, but it is vital to remember that overnight guests need space to set out their items. We suggest holiday-themed pillows or blankets for the bed as a functional item, with the rest of the décor matching its aesthetic. A few LED candles or small themed things on the dresser are all you need to round out the look while leaving plenty of space for your guests.
Bathrooms
Bathrooms are generally smaller spaces, so your holiday items should also be small to prevent a cramped aesthetic. Again, if you have overnight guests, you will want to leave the majority of the usable space clear for them to utilize. Therefore, we recommend including holiday towels, scented candles, and a cluster of ornaments on a shelf or counter corner. Another fun idea is to use window stickers to border the mirror; snowflakes are our favorite!
Exterior Decorating
If you are taking great lengths to decorate each room of the house, make sure to save some energy for your exterior décor. Depending on the size and shape of your home and property, external decorating can quickly get out of hand. If you want to add lights to every edge of your roof, go for it! However, if you want to keep it simple, we recommend focusing on your entry and driveway.
For the entry, we recommend hanging lights or greenery around the door or overhang to guide guests to the door. A wreath, holiday sign, or stickers around the door make a quick, cute addition. If you have space on either side of the door, you can set out weatherproof décor such as a little tree, poinsettias, a sleigh, wooden gift boxes, and more.
For the driveway, we recommend lining the edges with lighted décor to make it easy for guests to see to park. For example, consider lighted candy canes, gumdrops, fake snow, trees, and lights. However, if you have many guests making their way to your home for the holidays, we suggest hiring a sprinter shuttle to drop them off so your driveway doesn’t get crowded and no one runs over your decorations!
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