My five favorite holiday decorating staples

November 20, 2019

My five basics for easy and beautiful Christmas decor!


I'm hard at work continuing to get our home decorated for Christmas. I'm doing it early this year because Thanksgiving is later and because I don't want to stress about it at all after turkey day.

When you're a decor blogger, there's some added stress to making your home pretty at the holidays -- I LOVE doing it, but this year I want to be done before December so I can spend the month sitting by the fire watching Christmas movies, drinking hot cocoa and eating bon bons.

You know, how December always is in our heads. ;)

Anyway, as I've been decorating I realized there are a few staples I use every year that I could not do without! They are my go-to's and I use them all over the house in many ways.

When it comes to the decor there are three items I use in various ways:
  • greenery picks to add fullness and a deep green
  • berry picks for a pop of color and dimension
  • larger items like pine cones and ornaments to fill in empty spots 
My go-to favorites for holiday decorating

I use them everywhere! Tucked into garland, containers and even trees. They add that little extra something for very little money. 

This post may contain affiliate links for your convenience. 
See my policies and disclosure page for more information.

The greenery picks are typically pretty cheap at craft stores, but I find it's even cheaper to cut them down off of longer garland. 

You'll just need some wire cutters to cut them into smaller sections. It's way easier to use them in smaller increments when just putting them here and there for fullness. 

My favorite place to find the berries is Hobby Lobby -- each one is only $1 on sale. And the pine cones can be purchased in bags or you can go foraging for them outside! (Just make sure you clean them before using!) 

I decided this year I'm going to do less decorating EVERYWHERE and more decorating in specific places, if that makes sense. So I went all in with the mantel, for example. I also added a bunch of the berries and greenery to our garland on the stairs: 
Filling stairway garland with berries and greenery

I usually use real greenery on the stairs, but it is SO messy when it's time to take it down. I found this cedar garland at Target that looks so real! It's the best price I've seen for something so realistic. 

The other staples I use all over the house are more on the hardware side of things -- the 3M hooks and metal cup hooks: 


Command hooks and cup hooks Christmas decorating

I use the cup hooks for the garland on the stair railings -- I screw them in underneath to hold the greenery: 
How to hang garland from railings

These are so small, you don't even notice the hole the rest of the year. It's easy to screw them back in the next year as well! I also use them around the front door if I hang garland there. 

I use the 3M hooks on our mantel to hold the beaded garland, and I went ahead and hung our stockings from them as well for now: 
My go-to staples for holiday decorating

I have these metal stocking clips for the mantel that I'll use eventually, but I haven't found them in the storage boxes just yet. ;) 

I also use the 3M hooks on our windows for the exterior of the house. For these I like to use these exterior Command strips specifically -- they're made to hold up to the elements:  
How to hang holiday wreaths outside

If you use the Command strips and ever have a problem with them not coming off cleanly, this 3M hook removal trick of mine works every time! :)

These five staples make my holiday decorating go much smoother and make everything full and beautiful!:
How to create a full and beautiful Christmas mantel

The best part is, they work just about anywhere. Greenery, a pop of color and some natural elements are all you need to create a lovely holiday home:
open stairs and railings with Christmas garland

Remember the DIY Christmas gift art I shared last week? Aren't they too cute on my do-it-yourself picture ledges? I just love them here!

Do you have any go-to's when it comes to decorating your home for the holidays? I couldn't do it without these five items. :)

See more of our home here. To shop items in our home, click here! Never miss a post by signing up to get posts via email
Email subscription form header
Your email:*
Please enter all required fields Click to hide
Correct invalid entries Click to hide

Comments

  1. love how your little boxes look on your shelf...too cute!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Pinecones are my favourite! They're super cute and Christmassy. Not commonly found where I live, though, so to get them I need to buy fake ones in the dollar store haha! ❤️✨

    Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
    http://charmainenyw.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. Have you tried the outdoor Command hooks on siding? I'm trying to find something to hold up a lighted garland around my front door, but I have no wood to nail into. All the trim is metal and the siding is vinyl.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Your home always looks wonderful at the holidays, can't wait to see the full tour!

    ReplyDelete
  5. love love love the Merry Christmas sign on you stairway! Can I ask where you got it?

    ReplyDelete

If you have a specific question I will do my best to answer you back here!

You can find our paint colors and links to items at the "Our Home" tab at the top of my site.

THANKS so much for reading!