How to Decorate Your Home for the Holidays on a Budget

Author:

Publish Date:

Last Modified Date:

Category: Money Saving

Tags: Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

As home decor enthusiasts, the holidays are an opportunity to swap out our everyday decor for pieces that add some magic of the season to our homes. You could even say that decorating for the holidays is kinda like our Super Bowl!

New to holiday decorating? Go to the store and it might seem intimidating and kind of expensive to transform your space from top to bottom. But we are here to reassure you that you don’t have to go out and buy tons of new decorations to give your space that extra sparkle. Instead, there are plenty of budget-friendly (and free!) ways to deck the halls.

First, Choose a Color Scheme

If you want to make a big impact without buying tons of new items, we recommend starting with a color scheme. It can be gold and red, blue and silver, or honestly any color palette that you personally like. Choosing a few key colors/metallics will make decorating a lot easier.

Stick with your color scheme and we promise you’ll end up buying fewer items to decorate your home for the holidays. You can leave a lot of your everyday decor up in your space, but add these key colors for a pop of holiday glam that will really make your space look different from the everyday.

Wrap Faux Gifts

This tip may seem a little silly, but it’s actually a great one! If you’re an Amazon Prime enthusiast like us, then you probably get packages on the reg. Save a few of these shipping boxes, then use them as holiday decor.

It’s as simple as it sounds. Wrap the empty boxes with pretty wrapping paper and ribbon – in your color scheme, don’t forget – and use them throughout your home.

We both use these “gifts” as bookends on our built-ins, and place them strategically throughout our homes for a budget-friendly holiday touch! It doesn’t get much cheaper than that!

Use Grocery Store Finds (Food!)

One of our favorite holiday crafts is using fresh cranberries in glass hurricanes with candles throughout your home.

Cranberries are inexpensive and they add a colorful touch to your space. We especially love this idea, where you use water, faux greenery, cranberries, and floating candles to make a gorgeous centerpiece for your dining room table.

While you’re at the store, grab some cinnamon sticks too. You can group a few of these together in a mug and display on a shelf for a decoration that looks and smells good! You can also pick up some branches from the grocery store (or even better, your backyard!) to place in a tall vase in your home. This brings a winter touch to your home’s decor.

Get Cheap Faux Greenery From the Craft Store

During the holiday season, we’re at the craft store just about every weekend. (Seriously.)  And the one thing we recommend everyone picks up is some faux greenery. You can buy a bunch of small pieces for a steal and this greenery can be used all over your home.

Drape it on your mantle, put it on your dining room table, and add small pieces to your bookshelves. While you’re at it, pick up a few scented evergreen sticks. We love sticking these in the faux greenery to add a fresh winter scent to our spaces. Nothing says the holidays like the smell of fresh evergreen!

Gather Up and Display Your Holiday Cards

One of our favorite parts of the holiday season is all of the snail mail we receive. Instead of just throwing your holiday cards in a pile on your kitchen counter, get creative!

In the past, we’ve used a big chicken wire frame to display all of the cards we receive and we hang them up with clothespins. This acts as wall art and it’s fun for guests to see all of the cards from loved ones everywhere.

Another cool thing we do is save our holiday cards every year to make a little booklet of the many cards we receive. We display these booklets on our coffee tables so guests can flip through them when they visit. Plus, it’s a fun way to look back and see how families have changed over the years as this booklet gets bigger and bigger!

Go Crazy With Glass Ornaments

Glass ornaments are a major protip. You can buy a giant pack of ornaments for a few bucks. These always come in handy when we decorate our homes because they’re so versatile. Add some to a festive bowl, place some in a clear vase, and place a few next to holiday items on your shelves to add a sparkly touch!

Frame Special Holiday Moments

Don’t forget to change up your picture frames for the holidays!

We love the idea of framing special holiday moments and places that matter to you during the season. Want to save the most money? We channel our inner photographer and head around town to snap photos of favorite winter spots. The local ice skating rink, the big Christmas tree in town, a snowy tree … there are so many photo ops you can use to fill those frames! Or to make it easier, start a tradition now to take a special photo every year that you can use to display when you get out all of your holiday decorations.

We hope you feel inspired after reading this list to get in the spirit of the season. We promise you don’t have to spend big bucks to make your space feel special during the holidays. Turn on some holiday music, heat up some hot cocoa, and enjoy yourself as you deck your halls!

How to Put Away Your Christmas Tree If It Came in a Box

Author:

Publish Date:

Last Modified Date:

Category: Seasonal & Holidays

Tags: Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Taking down the Christmas tree can be a real bummer. There’s that sudden void in the living room that wasn’t there before. Your hopes that you’ll find one more present will be unmercifully dashed. And of course, there’s the dilemma of packing that beast up for storage.

We may not be able to do much about the first two, but we can help you with that last one.

Back in the box?

FrugalGinger.com

Fancy tree cases are either expensive or hard to size up to your exact tree, so putting your tree back in its original box may seem the most logical way to go—until you try it. You could probably sing the entire Twelve Days of Christmas song before you even come close because the reality is that your tree only fit in that box in the first place because a machine specifically designed to pack it put it in there. Humans may be a lot of things, but we are no match for tree-boxing robots.

If you are determined to pack your tree in its original box, go for it. What we’re going to do is talk about how to pack up your artificial tree if you don’t have (or don’t want to fight with) your tree’s factory box. 

Hold the tree super tight.

Once you’ve taken everything off the tree and taken it apart (some fake trees come in separate sections), give each extended piece a big gentle bear hug to get those branches compacted. Do take care to avoid putting undue pressure on the points where the branches connect to the tree stem. Otherwise, common sense will say how tight you can hug your tree.

This is all you need to get the branches to start pointing downward (sometimes upward, depending on your tree). Naturally, the branches will loosen up some when you let go, so consider tying them up tight again with some basic string. And since we’re tying up tree branches, not our shoes, it’s a good idea to make a slipknot, not a bow. (Here’s how to do that.) Or simply tie a loop in one end of the string, bring the other end through the loop (don’t forget to wrap the string around the tree) and pull it tight. Either method lends much more mechanical weight to your string than a shoelace bow.

Protip: You can try a rubber band if you’ve got some big enough, but don’t overdo it. They can deform the shape of your tree that way! Plus, they’re just hard to get off a year later.

Think outside the original box.

Now instead of wrestling our tree back into its original box, what can we use to pack it up?

One option is a mattress bag, durable and likely plenty big. Another is a wardrobe box, which is obviously sturdier than a mattress bag and may end up offering you plenty of extra space to pack away much, if not all of your Christmas decorations. Your tree and all the trimmings in one sturdy box—how cool and convenient is that?

If you don’t need a box quite that big (they usually run from 46 to 60 inches tall), see if your tree will fit into the kind of extra-large boxes movers use, which are around 18” x 24” x 24”. You can get them at Home Depot, Lowe’s, most self-storage facilities or from your local moving company (who will probably have those wardrobe cartons available as well). Home Depot also has a wardrobe box measuring 24” x 24” x 34”. What size you get depends on how big your tree is— and how good a slipknot you can tie!

One more and somewhat more expensive option is getting a bag designed specifically for packing artificial trees. Check Lowe’sHome Depot, or the fancy-schmancy bags at Tree Classics.

More durable and flexible than cardboard, they can come with various features like interior tie-downs, wheels and bases to allow you to store your tree upright.

Keep it safe until next Christmas.

However you pack up your tree, you’ll want to keep it away from moisture, dust, heat and critters for the next eleven months. Seal it up good and put it in a cool dry place. (Especially those frosted trees.) Lay it down if at all possible. 

Then when you’re all done, make sure you go fill up that void in the living room!

The 5 (Surprising) Things I Learned About Fireplace Doors After Installing Them for a Living

Author:

Publish Date:

Last Modified Date:

Category: Home Improvement

Tags: Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Your fireplace is the focal point of your room. As Director of Sales and Marketing for BrickAnew, I tell people this all the time. Stockings are hung from the mantle and graduation pictures are taken in front of it. But it’s also the dirtiest place in your house. One of the easiest ways to hide that mess is by adding glass doors to your fireplace.

(more…)

The 5 Hippest DIY Displays for your Holiday Cards

Author:

Publish Date:

Last Modified Date:

Category: Seasonal & Holidays

Tags: Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Now that Thanksgiving is behind us, we’re guessing your holiday cards are beginning to roll in. Isn’t receiving snail mail just the best? There’s just something magical about opening up your mailbox to find personalized letters just for you.

But don’t let it be one and done: keep that magical feeling going by displaying your cards in unique ways around your home. If you’re looking for a new way to showcase all of your holiday cards, then today’s post is just for you!

(more…)

New Home Holiday Cards!

Author:

Publish Date:

Last Modified Date:

Category: Seasonal & Holidays

Tags: Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

New home holiday cardsSending out holiday cards to your family & friends can be a heck of a lot of work. But there’s just something about sending & receiving snail mail that makes the holidays a little brighter.

If you’ve moved in the past year, then we urge you to send out some holiday cards this year. This is a wonderful opportunity to give the people you love your new address, and let them know that you bought a new pad. Plus you’re knocking 2 things off that list…sending new home announcements & sending a holiday card! That’s snail mail efficiency at its finest.

Yes, finding the perfect card and them mailing out dozens is a time-consuming task. But we’re here to help make this holiday to-do a little easier. We researched and found some of the best holiday cards that you can send from your new home. Take a look at some of these good lookin’ options… (more…)

How to make the holidays LESS stressful

Author:

Publish Date:

Last Modified Date:

Category: Seasonal & Holidays

Tags: Tags: , , ,

holidayAs of today, we are six weeks away from Christmas Eve…. but hey, who’s counting?! No, we are not here to make you dive into full panic mode. That is NOT our intent at all… actually, this post is designed to do quite the opposite.

We are offering 5 quick tips on super simple things you can do now (as in this week!) to eliminate the last-minute stress of the holidays.

Just think about it… you get it done now, a time that is slightly less chaotic, and you won’t have to think about doing these things in the midst of gift buying, holiday party prepping, and everything else that makes  a complete whirlwind. Heck, even if you do 3 of these things, you are ALREADY ahead of the game. (more…)

×

I'm Moving

Moving? Thinking about moving? Whether your move is off in the distance or you already have one foot out the door, you'll learn about everything you should expect through our useful how-to's, cool articles and much more. It's all specially curated for you in our "I'm Moving" section.
Explore
×

I'm a Mover

For rookies or veterans alike, our "I'm a Mover" section is filled with extensive industry news, crucial protips and in-depth guides written by industry professionals. Sharing our decade of moving knowledge is just one way we help keep our professional movers at the top of their game.
Explore