Getting Ready for the Holidays Deck the Halls by Megan Callahan
PREPARE IN ADVANCE!
are no rules for creating holiday magic in our homes, but let’s be honest, we all love a few tips to help us execute our plan. As long as you’re happy with the finished product, mission accomplished! HAVE A PLAN Everyone usually has a general idea of where they want their Christmas décor to be located within their home. Figure out your main focal areas and what you’d like to see there. The Christmas tree location is generally set during your first-ever visit to the home before you moved in! It’s robotic to walk into a home that you will soon be living in and scope out the ultimate Christmas tree location! Then we move on to the other focal areas: the fireplace mantle, the stair rails, the front entrance, the doorways, etc. Once you know the ‘where’ , the ‘what’ usually comes pretty easy. Whether you’re a creature of habit or someone who is always up for something new, there is no right or wrong when it comes to holiday décor. You do you, and whatever that is, is perfect in Santa’s eyes!
Decorating for the holidays is the calm before the storm in our house. December schedules are not filled up yet, the holiday plans are trickling in, but not to the point of being full, and the anticipation of what’s to come is so exciting! Here are my top 5 tips to help guide you on your holiday décor journey. As with all my articles, my advice is to keep it simple. But simple varies from person to person, especially when it comes to holiday decorating! As with a new home build set-up, a large reno redo, or a quick one-room refresh, my number one go-to decor trick always applies. ‘Step back often.’ Walk out of the room and come back in. Look at how your ideas have come to life and how your newly added décor adds to the space. Do you love it? Does it flow nicely with the room? Yes, and yes? Perfect! Move on to your next holiday masterpiece! Often when we leave a room and re-enter, it’s basically a fresh set of eyes on your work. Instead of being hyper-focused on the branch that has too many decorations hanging on it, we can actually see what others see when they walk in! There
I sound like a home staging broken record… Minimize and Declutter.
SPOTLIGHT MAGAZINE ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • VOL 24 ISSUE 5 99 ‘Tis the season to fully commit to your temporary winter wonderland! Once you have a general idea of where you want to see Christmas decorations, it’s time to clear out those areas to make room for this season’s finest! Always replace smaller items on shelves and tables, rather than add to what is already there. By adding Christmas to the everyday décor, you are cramping the style of your holiday items and therefore cluttering up the space. We want your temporary additions to stand out, not squish in. An easy way to manage this is to store your normal décor in the storage containers that you use for your Christmas décor. Once the holiday season is over and it’s time to put everything away, you already know where your normal décor is and it’s just a simple swap-out in the containers.
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