Winter. It's been snowing on and off this morning and the yard looks like this.
Kind of pretty, but I still need to get the now frozen mums off the porch and change the wreath on the front door. We did have a full 3 minutes of bright sunshine this morning and I was able to grab my camera in time to take some photos. Still not the best, I think this old camera of mine is ready for a replacement, and I hear Santa has a new one in mind for me this year ;) This is a sneak peek at the buffet in the living room, a runner, lighted garland and some candles and I stood back and loved how clean and uncluttered it looked. Still festive, but less junk everywhere.
One of the things I have been noticing since the kids have flown the nest is that my Christmas decorating has changed. I'm decorating earlier, and my strategy is to put out the basics in greenery and lights so there is a little sparkle in these dark days but it doesn't scream Christmas yet. I am enjoying bringing one thing at a time up and not feeling the pressure to do it all at once. I am also looking at a simpler Christmas this year. I have tons of sparkly baubles that I have collected over the years and I know a good portion of them will stay on the storage shelf.
I plopped a few fairly neutral things on the kitchen shelves, they look wintery, sparkly, festive, and again, they give me a cleaner feel than the bright decorations I have used in the past.
Hind sight being 20/20 as they say, if I could give advice on decorating to anyone starting out, it would be the following:
1. Invest in the best basics you can afford, the faux green garlands (you won't be sweeping up dead needles for months), and lights. These are the things you will use for years and in many different ways. On mantles, tables, staircases, you name it. I love the battery operated seed lights for places that are not close to an outlet and they often come with a remote so they can be set on a timer or turned on and off with a point and click.
2. Beautiful ribbon is cheap and can be used for the tree, twined in swags of greenery or used for gifts. I have some ribbon that is years old, it gets used for a few weeks a year and then I just fold it back up and store it in a bin.
3. Shop those clearance sales at the end of the year! I got a cute pillow last year at Kirklands for $5. Most of my ribbon has been purchased after Christmas at 90% off. I have boxes of lights purchased for 59 cents at Home Depot after the holidays! There are ridiculous low prices in these sales and every year I get a pleasant surprise as I open my storage bins and find the pretty things I forgot I purchased on sale.
4. Decorate with what you love, but once you have moved on purge! Things go out of style. Tastes change. Take it from someone who has 38 years worth of ornaments in her basement! I no longer love some of them, but I'm fighting the sentimentality anxiety in getting rid of them. You don't want to do that to yourself. Save the things you really love. The sweet ornaments your kids make, the ones handed down from a grandparents tree, whatever you love. The rest? Donate. Sell. Get them out of your house! Give yourself permission to make new traditions that put the excitement back in your decorating!
5. But remember that every piece is purchased with hours of your life. That's a good one to remember for every purchase you make, but especially for decorative items that will go out of style and eventually end up at Salvation Army. So many of us look to blogs and instagram for inspiration in our decorating, just remember that a lot of those style makers are paid to have a totally new look every year. They are the new age of advertising and it is their job to make you want what you see. Christmas can be pricey enough with the food, parties, and gifts. Add in the latest decorating theme and you can go broke with items you will be "inspired" to upgrade or replace next year. I like to look at instagram to see how the style makers use what they have. In table settings, in moving items from one room to another, and yes to see what's new. But if something is a trend (black and white buffalo plaid this year) I turn away. I don't want my decorating to look like everyone elses! Where is the fun in that?
6. Don't bother with allll the extras like holiday dish towels, hand towels for the bathroom and other small items unless you love finding them in the laundry a week after you have packed everything away. for as little use as they get, they look dated and used really fast and just add a lot of work and hassle switching them out. If you don;t mind or love those little touches, go for it! I just found they weren't worth it for me.
I would love to hear any advice you have for Christmas decorating too! What have you learned over the years? How has your style/taste changed?
Kind of pretty, but I still need to get the now frozen mums off the porch and change the wreath on the front door. We did have a full 3 minutes of bright sunshine this morning and I was able to grab my camera in time to take some photos. Still not the best, I think this old camera of mine is ready for a replacement, and I hear Santa has a new one in mind for me this year ;) This is a sneak peek at the buffet in the living room, a runner, lighted garland and some candles and I stood back and loved how clean and uncluttered it looked. Still festive, but less junk everywhere.
Hind sight being 20/20 as they say, if I could give advice on decorating to anyone starting out, it would be the following:
1. Invest in the best basics you can afford, the faux green garlands (you won't be sweeping up dead needles for months), and lights. These are the things you will use for years and in many different ways. On mantles, tables, staircases, you name it. I love the battery operated seed lights for places that are not close to an outlet and they often come with a remote so they can be set on a timer or turned on and off with a point and click.
2. Beautiful ribbon is cheap and can be used for the tree, twined in swags of greenery or used for gifts. I have some ribbon that is years old, it gets used for a few weeks a year and then I just fold it back up and store it in a bin.
3. Shop those clearance sales at the end of the year! I got a cute pillow last year at Kirklands for $5. Most of my ribbon has been purchased after Christmas at 90% off. I have boxes of lights purchased for 59 cents at Home Depot after the holidays! There are ridiculous low prices in these sales and every year I get a pleasant surprise as I open my storage bins and find the pretty things I forgot I purchased on sale.
4. Decorate with what you love, but once you have moved on purge! Things go out of style. Tastes change. Take it from someone who has 38 years worth of ornaments in her basement! I no longer love some of them, but I'm fighting the sentimentality anxiety in getting rid of them. You don't want to do that to yourself. Save the things you really love. The sweet ornaments your kids make, the ones handed down from a grandparents tree, whatever you love. The rest? Donate. Sell. Get them out of your house! Give yourself permission to make new traditions that put the excitement back in your decorating!
5. But remember that every piece is purchased with hours of your life. That's a good one to remember for every purchase you make, but especially for decorative items that will go out of style and eventually end up at Salvation Army. So many of us look to blogs and instagram for inspiration in our decorating, just remember that a lot of those style makers are paid to have a totally new look every year. They are the new age of advertising and it is their job to make you want what you see. Christmas can be pricey enough with the food, parties, and gifts. Add in the latest decorating theme and you can go broke with items you will be "inspired" to upgrade or replace next year. I like to look at instagram to see how the style makers use what they have. In table settings, in moving items from one room to another, and yes to see what's new. But if something is a trend (black and white buffalo plaid this year) I turn away. I don't want my decorating to look like everyone elses! Where is the fun in that?
6. Don't bother with allll the extras like holiday dish towels, hand towels for the bathroom and other small items unless you love finding them in the laundry a week after you have packed everything away. for as little use as they get, they look dated and used really fast and just add a lot of work and hassle switching them out. If you don;t mind or love those little touches, go for it! I just found they weren't worth it for me.
I would love to hear any advice you have for Christmas decorating too! What have you learned over the years? How has your style/taste changed?
Look at that snow! It has been raining here 2 days straight. After my kids grew up and moved out, I gave them the ornaments they made in school to start their ornament collection. Over the past 19 years Kent and I have purchased a few beautiful glass ornament when we travel. Now we have a grown up Christmas tree with wonderful memories. I have moved so much that I don't impulse buy Christmas stuff. Too much packing lol.
ReplyDeleteI have kept a few sentimental ornaments, and topped up with some simple baubles of silver and gold and glass. We don't have the room to do major decorating now, but I still love the few little bits that appear every Christmas.
ReplyDeleteThe snow is so pretty. I really like how you are doing decorations few at a time. You have given me some great ideas.
ReplyDeleteI do like my Christmas towels, so they will stay!
nonie
Your tips are ALL terrific. Some I do; others I need "practice" on.
ReplyDeleteEvery year I try to purge a bit -- I've a big bag to go to charity and it seems I'm always pulling out things first, asking Molly if she wants it and if it's no and has no sentimental value, off it goes to charity. I do rotate things, though. Some I love but just don't have room for everything so I'm pretty careful about that. And I divvy up the winter dec stuff. Snowmen, for example, come out when the Santas go down. I don't want to say I'm the "prisoner" of my house but in a way it's true. I adore things that just don't look or feel right in my space and if I adored them enough, I'd change that, but I rather like it! So, yes, taste has evolved, I think. Not really changed but certainly been expanded. And I have to be careful how I implement that. I'll start decorating the day after TG but I have started bringing things up to stash in the guest room and discreetly removing things that will be in storage till after the season!
This look definitely matches Thanksgiving this year in your corner (mine, too, after Friday). The relaxed approach is a gentle way to enter the holidays. My Christmas tree arrived today, but I won’t be putting it up until after Thanksgiving...no room! 😊
ReplyDeleteHi Kathy, oh the snow looks so beautiful as does your decor. Living in the South for the past 16 yrs I do miss the snow in the winter.. I stopped putting out all the stuff I have collected over the years for Christmas a few years back. Like you, I like the simplistic, elegant yet still Christmas look. More of a wintery theme I guess you could say...I was going to start decorating this week but we are getting rain all week and my things are in our out building outside so it will have to wait until next week!
ReplyDeleteXO