I have always loved this time of year. It represents the unity of family to me, most importantly. It’s a time of year when everything seems to be set aside for this one day. For me, I love to decorate. My family has always been big on decorating. I come from generations of crafters and people with a knack for design. So, I feel I must carry this on and pass it along to my children.
Go big or go home, right?
That’s kind of how I feel when it comes to decorating for Christmas. I aim to have a magazine worthy room, but my only goal is to provide a festive place to entertain my family for the season.
I will share a few photos of my den this year. I will also share ways that you can decorate for cheap, but not look cheap.
1. Look for inspiration in magazines, a Pinterest or in the homes of friends and family. Decide on a theme or color scheme and stick to it. If you are going to go big, you don’t want it to turn out looking overwhelming with different styles and colors. As you can see from my photos, in the den I decided on a rustic, woodsy theme with red, brown, green and plaids.
2. Shop after Christmas and be prepared to wait until the next Christmas to add more to your vignettes and decor. Stores will usually mark stuff down 70% off right after Christmas. If you are quick, you can always find a little here and a little there. I don’t do Black Friday, but I always hit the stores the day after Christmas. JoAnn Fabrics marked their Christmas stuff down 70% off this past week. You can collect ribbon and fabrics if you are crafty and they also have cute decor already together. I bought the tree you see in my photos at Walmart for $6.
3. Know your stores! Keep an eye out for markdowns and clearance items as a lot of places will do so leading up to Christmas. Sometimes you can find damaged items that are workable for you. Hobby Lobby has the same sales every other week. Christmas is usually 40-50% off. It’s a great place to rack up ornaments as they have TONS. They also have other decorations that are arranged by theme and color, too. A lot of my decorations came from there.
4. Keep an eye out at yard sales for Christmas items throughout the year. Or even items that you may not think of as a decoration right off, like a sleigh or wooden skis. Sometimes you can find trees when people move and their ceilings aren’t tall enough. They don’t have the space to store it, so they toss it.
5. Hand me downs. Using decorations that have been in your family are an excellent way to save money.
6. DIYs. There are a lot of wreath DIYs available online. I’ve made a few here for next-to-nothing. You can use Pinterest or other websites for inspiration on what else you could make. Paper and ribbon trees are another popular item. I recently posted one for a snowy grapevine tree here. I also posted a DIY for a Christmas stocking. I also shared how I created my NOEL sign you can see on the mantel here.
So, now that you have some pointers, head out to the stores for the discounts tomorrow and share your amazing deals with us!
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