11 Ways to Decorate Your Home for the Holidays
Welcome the season with more than a tangled string of lights. As these designers prove, giving your home that cozy, cabin-in-the-woods feeling is easier (and more affordable) than you might think.
By Candace Braun Davison, Pamela Masin and Abbe Wright
Deck the Walls
"Wall art that inspires a feeling through words is a perfect way to show off your holiday spirit. Wood signs with sayings on them are popular accessories in home décor but can be expensive, depending on their size. So, why not take your favorite sayings and do-it-yourself? In this
'Let It Snow' sign, you don't have to be very creative, or master calligraphy, to get the message across. This is an easy project that even a novice DIYer can build upon...by collecting unique finds to place on the board and play with pattern, texture and color."
—
Tori Toth, home stager and author of
Feel at Home.
How to make the DIY holiday wood pallet
Photo: Ullamaija Hanninen/Getty Images
The Eye-Catching Way to Add Texture—No Chunky Knits Required
"Mixed metallics peppered around a room can bring a wintry glam to any space. Vessels, trays, coasters and decorative objects are all great and affordable ways to mix in metallics. My rule of thumb is to make sure you have enough pieces of each type of metal so that they are evenly used around the room. Texture is all about layering pieces to give your eye more to look at. So, go ahead and layer. Just make sure you keep within one color palette so your decorating doesn't look messy."
—Emily Henderson, author of
Styled: Secrets for Arranging Rooms, from Tabletops to Bookshelves
Spruce Up Your Foyer
"To set the tone right when you walk into the house, put a spare pair of boots in the entryway and stick a few long birch twigs and greenery in them. I like to use the free tree trimmings from Christmas tree lots. The key is to set a jar of water in each boot to keep the plants looking fresh longer. …I also like to tie extra trimmings together with wire and drape them over mirrors and wall art too."
—Jennifer Rizzo, author of
Creatively Christmas: Inspired Yuletide Décor
Enlist the Help of a Few Decoys
"Wrap 4-5 small boxes to stack on the mantle—5-inch square boxes are perfect for this—or under the tree. That way you can enjoy the look of wrapped gifts all season long, even if you're a Last-Minute Nelly like me when it comes to shopping."
—Sherry Petersik, author of
Young House Love
Create Your Own Winter Wonderland
"One of the most popular DIYs on my blog is
a tutorial on making waterless snow globes. They're so easy to make: Just glue figurines—or whatever you'd like—to the inside of a canning jar lid, add fake snow and screw on the top. They look great lined up on a window sill, with each one depicting a different scene."
—Jennifer Rizzo, author of
Creatively Christmas: Inspired Yuletide Décor
Photo: Roger Davies/The Things That Matter by Nate Berkus
Give Cold Feet a Happy Place
"Layering rugs is an affordable and fun way to continually change things up in your home, or to add festiveness during the holidays. The bottom rug should always be proportional [
to your sofa and space] and fill the room. Typically that means an 8x10 or a 9x12 for your living room. If you use a natural-fiber rug, like a sisal or a jute, it creates a neutral background to layer a smaller rug on top of it. Have fun with pattern, color and texture. You can even use two to three rugs to give a room a lived-in, eclectic look."
—Emily Henderson, author of
Styled: Secrets for Arranging Rooms, from Tabletops to Bookshelves
Photo: Kelly Rowe/Live Laugh Rowe
Set the Scene with a 5-Minute DIY
"A centerpiece—whether it's on your coffee table, dining room table or in a breakfast nook—is an easy way to make a big impact. I like cutting apart grapevine wreaths and placing them around a tall candle in a large vase. It takes just a few minutes to put together, and it costs less than $10."
—Kelly Rowe, founder of
LiveLaughRowe.com
Photo: Kwanchai_Khammuean/Thinkstock
Warm Up to Color and Texture
"I'm seeing a lot of people turn to colors like orange and deep red, colors that had been unfashionable for a while. To help delineate the seasons in your home, use pillows. Get your big statement piece, like the couch, in a solid, neutral color; you can do wonderfully light linen pillows in the summer and then exchange them for something a bit more wintry—like plaid, corduroy or faux fur. Some pillows are as inexpensive as $20 or $30, and they instantly change the vibe of a room."
—Martyn Lawrence Bullard, author of
Live, Love & Decorate
Let Your Living Room Reflect and Glow
"The inclusion of antique mirrors anywhere—for example, one over the fireplace—is a way to add big accents, but you could extrapolate that idea with antique-mirror lamps or vases. Mirrors soften a room, but they also add glitter and light while expanding the room. It's a grand inspiration at any budget point."
—Celerie Kemble, author of
Black and White (and a Bit in Between): Timeless Interiors, Dramatic Accents, and Stylish Collections
A Few Blooms Can Liven Things Up
"Nothing brings a room to life like flowers—they are always the best new decorating idea! At the supermarket, deli or farmers' market in the fall you can find zinnias, dahlias, branches with berries or a pot of rosemary. For about $10 a week, you can have fresh flowers in your home every day."
—Deborah Needleman, co-author of
The Perfectly Imperfect Home: How to Decorate and Live Well
Capture the Scents of the Season (Whether You Have a Fireplace or Not)
"Apple wood, cherry wood and pear wood are all firewood that put out a gorgeous smell, slightly different than classic firewood...They even smell good pre-burned, so pile unused logs into a great-looking bag and enjoy them for even longer."
—Abby Larson, editor and founder of
StyleMePretty.com
Published 12/05/2016
