On the whole, South Africans tend to show restraint when decorating their homes for the holidays.
It’s difficult to go ‘full on’ with winter-themed décor when the sun is shining and it’s hot. But we do like to put on a bit of a display to celebrate the festive season, especially when there are young ones involved.
If you struggle to dress your home for the holidays, try the following tips…
EVERYTHING IN MODERATION
Most people love anything that twinkles and shines, and tend to go a bit overboard during the holidays. However, you want to take care not to overload your home with bling. You can create a wonderful festive atmosphere with just a few tasteful accessories.
Smaller festive decorations can be used to create a wonderful vignette on a coffee table, shelf or fireplace mantel. These will add just enough festive flair to your home.
CREATE A FESTIVE DISPLAY
It’s easy to pile on the decorations in a smaller home, so much so that it becomes difficult to move around. Create a beautiful holiday display in one area of the home. Make sure that it doesn’t interfere with everyday living though. An entrance hall or staircase is a great place to hang and display assorted decorations. This is an ideal arrangement because the decorations will greet guests as they walk into your home.
To decorate a festive display, all you need are a few garlands of evergreen interspersed with shimmering baubles, a colourful wreath and a small, decorated tree.
LET THE TREE BE THE MAIN FEATURE
If you put up a Christmas tree every year, whether real or artificial, let this be the main feature when decorating your home for the holidays. When dressed with beautiful ornaments and shimmering tinsel, the Christmas tree will be a focal point and set a festive atmosphere for the entire house.
Choose tree ornaments that tie in with the style of decorating in your home. With so many beautiful tree ornaments to choose from, it’s so easy to overload the tree, so decide on a theme and colour, and keep it simple.
ADD SOME SPARKLE
Fairy lights are a staple for decorating a holiday home. LED lights mean that you don’t have to worry about starting a fire as they don’t heat up as much as incandescent globes and can be used indoors and outdoors. When buying lights for the outdoors, make sure they are rated for exterior use.
Many LED fairly lights are battery operated. Being low-voltage and being able to run for a long time on a battery means you can hang these anywhere.
Create your own magical display using fresh, green garlands, strings of tinsel and baubles.