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Cheap Tricks For Decorating Your Apartment
Just because you are on a shoestring budget doesn't mean you have to be hamstrung when it comes to style. Your job is to shoot higher than making your apartment habitable - you want to make it comfortable, attractive and a place to which you want...
Decorating with Flowers During the Holidays
Using fresh flowers for your Holiday tables can be a truly inspiring accent. A few tips and suggestions to let your blooms last longer and their fragrance permeate your home and hearth. If an arrangement will be made in advance, select compact...
Easy Kids Party Decorating
Decorating for a kids party can be cheap and easy, yet impressive, if you have the basics in place and use a little imagination and advance planning. Follow these simple guidelines for kids party decorations: GREETING SIGN: A greeting sign...
Exterior Decorating on a Budget
Exterior Decorating on a Budget By Kathleen Wilson Many times we are so busy decorating the interior of our home , we forget about the view most people see first…the outside! Perhaps we all believe improvements to the exterior of the home must be...
Fresh Ideas Herald Fall Decorating
(ARA) - Looking for a room with a view when there is none? Can't afford to move, or renovate? Check out the latest in affordable decorating trends, including wall mural graphics, accent pillows, throws and rugs and greenery. It's easy...
Furnishing and decorating your own home
Asking yourself furnishing and decorating questions
Whether you're decorating a room or a house, a dorm or a castle, the same principle in furnishing and interior decoration applies. You will need to identify and find your own personal preference....
One Room Apartment to Tuscan Villa – Rules to Make your Decorating a Success
Please consider this article for your ezine or website. Permission to reprint if byline stays intact. Courtesy copy required. TITLE: One Room Apartment to Tuscan Villa – Rules to Make your Decorating a Success AUTHOR: Pamela Cole Harris WORD COUNT:...
Professional Decorating Tips for Fireplace Mantels
Although fireplace mantels were originally used for cooking and
heating, contemporary mantels have become the key focal point
for setting the decorative style and atmosphere of a room. You
can utilize simple accessories to enhance the room, or...
Using Candles in Feng Shui Decorating
The basic belief behind Feng Shui is that there are five elements, some combinations of which create a productive cycle, and some a destructive cycle. When one of these five elements – water, wood, fire, earth, and metal, respectively for the...
Your Baby Nursery - Decorating a Fabulous and Functional Room
Decorating a baby nursery can be one of the most enjoyable tasks that you have before your bundle of joy arrives. There are many baby nursery themes to choose from and narrowing it down to just one may be your most difficult decision. Many...
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10 Great Holiday Decorating Ideas...On a Budget!
1.First things first. Set a plan or a theme for your Christmas decorating. It doesn’t cost a thing to have a good plan, and when you are working with budget ideas, this is what pulls your ideas together, and makes everything you do look purposeful, and personal. Some theme ideas for Christmas? The rustic lodge xmas, a toyland xmas, countries around the world, Victorian, country, santa, snowmen, old fashioned, the list goes on and on!
2. Make garlands out of felt scraps. Cut Xmas shapes out of felt in miniature, mini stockings, holly leaves, mittens, and string together with needle and floss or strong fishing line to hang all over the house. Remember when you string each shape, tie a knot on both sides of the shape to hold it in its place. You can add more dimension to the shapes by cutting two of each, stuffing them lightly, them sewing the two together. Glue would work also if you aren’t a sewer. Saved used dryer sheets are perfect for this kind of stuffing, or even tiny fabric scraps that are too small for other uses.
3.Drop a tealight candle in your cleaned out glass mayonnaise jars, tie a holiday ribbon around the neck, and you have a beautiful candle with xmas charm. You could nestle the candle in peppermints, nuts, or even sand if you wish. Try grouping several together for a dramatic evening effect. These also make great luminaries.
4. Start a Christmas collection. This can be a great tradition to initiate in your home. My girls and I starting collecting Santas 3 years ago, and it’s something they look forward to, choosing our yearly Santa together. I know it will be a fond memory for them, and I plan to let each child choose a Santa to take with them when the day comes that they leave the nest and start their own home. By the way, this doesn’t have to be expensive, or even store bought. Try sewing or crafting a new decoration each year together for even more memories! Or check out your dollar store…they have some really cute ceramic holiday decorations for a buck or two. Remember, it’s the memories you’re interested in here, not a collectable based on monetary value.
5. If you are looking to do a toyland theme for your Christmas decorating this year, try searching out teddy bears and dolls at your local thrift stores.
Wash them in a pillowcase and put them in your dryer for at least 20 minutes, then dress them up with ribbons and holiday fabrics. Group them under your tree, on mantels, and on windowsills. Stack small squares of cardboard together and wrap as a tiny present, then tuck them under a teddy’s arm, or wrap an empty box and use it as teddy’s seat by the front door.
6. Place a few inexpensive glass balls in a bowl and embellish with a few sprigs of greenery or some leftover ribbon. If you don't have an extra bowl (it is the holidays, after all!) try decoupaging a box with leftover Christmas wrap, or cover with a little fabric and glue.
7. Take down your pictures and wrap them like a gift, then hang them back on the wall for great holiday cheer! You don't have to do this all around the house, how about just in the entry, or maybe the dining room?
8. Tie greens or ornaments to the chandelier with a little Christmas ribbon, just make sure they don't hang low enough for any candles on the table to catch them on fire.
9. Make your own gift tags out of leftover paper. Ok, this is not a new idea, but try punching it up a bit. Add details by layering shapes over the base paper, use paper punches and scalloped scrapbooking scissors to add style, use a gold calligraphy pen to add names. Or use the scalloped scissors to make old holiday cards into tags.
10. Sponge stars or other seasonal shapes on your window with paint! No, I’m not nuts. Just add a teaspoon or so of liquid dish soap to acrylic craft paint, (I like white or gold metallic) and after the holidays you should be able to wash it off with window cleaner. Use a non- scratching dish scrubber if you come across a stubborn spot.
There it is, the 10 best budget decorating ideas for Holiday decorating! Always remember the most important reason we celebrate, and the reason we take the time to make our homes warm and inviting…our loved ones! Have a wonderful holiday season!
About the Author
Kathleen Wilson is the author of “Quick Decorating Ideas Under $20:The Budget Decorator’s Bible” and the editor of The Budget Decorator, a free ezine dedicated to the “budget impaired” home decorator. Visit her at http://www.TheBudgetDecorator.com for more great ideas.
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