“Christmas magic is silent. You don’t have to hear it- you feel it, you know it, you believe it.”
Intro Kevin Alam Milne, The Paper Bag Christmas
Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year and it’s finally upon us. Since I was little, I always looked forward to this time of the year. My mother put up the Christmas mid November, and on Christmas Eve the whole family gathered at my grandma’s place for dinner. This year though, things were a little different, mom passed the torch to me to decorate. Mom is an exemplary mother, a supportive wife, a strong and smart cookie, a great cook and a fabulous decorator! To put it in a nutshell, she has it all and I had some big shoes to fill! I love decorating and so I embraced the Christmas decorating challenge with arms wide open. My original plan was to decorate the house but, if you know me well enough you know that I don’t curb my enthusiasm when it comes to decorating. Within two weeks, I decorated the house, the office, my desk and.. I added a little Christmas touch in my room, I promise I kept it simple, I really did, but not because I wanted to, but because I ran out of decorative pieces!
While I love all-things-decorating, decorating the living room was a little bit of a challenge. My first challenge was having to shop and decorate since I didn’t have all the Christmas decorations at hand. Second, I wanted to break out from the tradition of displaying the nativity scene under the Christmas tree since it takes up a lot of space. Mom came up with the idea of using the fireplace for the nativity scene, that was the brief, I took it from there. I couldn’t find inspiration, so I relied on my imagination for some-much-needed assistance.
My 3 Tips on Choosing Christmas Decorations
Choose a colour scheme
To me, it’s not about how fancy and expensive the Christmas ornaments are, creating elegant Christmas decor begins and ends with choosing a colour scheme and remaining consistent throughout. When it comes to deciding what colour scheme to choose, take the colours of your furniture into account.
For our theme, I chose three colours. I love metallics so the colour combination included gold, champagne gold and silver. We have a taupe lounge suite so metallic decorations blended nicely with the furniture. You can do four colours, but I personally like to keep it simple and consistent and so I wouldn’t recommend you going for more than 4 colours.
Spread your Christmas decorations around
Unless that’s your personal preference, all your Christmas ornaments does not have to go on the Christmas tree! If you have some spare baubles, put them in a vase and place it on your coffee table or on the mantle.
I could not add all the baubles to the Christmas tree so I put them in a vase and scattered the remaining baubles around.
Choose a variety of ornaments
There is a lot of ornaments out there, it can be confusing what to pick. I would recommend having less than 10 main themes or categories. On our Christmas tree, I had:
- Bows and Baubles
- Angel and Heart hanging ornaments
- Swan, bird and reindeer hanging ornaments, and
- Poinsettia clips
Use nice ribbons instead of tinsel
I don’t like tinsel, it’s that simple! I prefer to use a nice ribbon instead, it’s not easy but it creates a better effect. If you want to know how you can add ribbons onto your Christmas tree, here’s a video that shows you how.
Tips to save up on Christmas decorations
If you’re updating your Christmas tree or you’re planning on buying a new one, here are 3 tips to keep in mind and save on your Christmas decorations.
Plan ahead and buy at the end of the year
Choose your colour scheme ahead and begin shopping for Christmas ornaments towards the end of the year where you can make the most out of December sales.
Set a budget
It’s very tempting to go overboard with all the fancy Christmas decorations out there, I know the feeling, it’s best to have a budget in mind before you begin your Christmas shopping extravaganza.
Shop from a variety of stores
To stay on a budget, buy your Christmas decorations from a variety of stores. You can buy baubles from shops like Target, Kmart and Big W, which you’ll find them at affordable prices, then add accent pieces from shops like Myer, David Jones and Habitania. Ronis have a nice range of Christmas decorations and ornaments.
Mix and Match 
Something old, something new 
Look for the detail!
Conclusion
Whatever colour scheme you choose, whatever ornaments you pick, no matter how big or small your living room is, the most important thing is to know what you like and decorate in a way that reflects your taste and style. I like metallics and I love mixing and matching, so I mixed light champagne gold, with silver and gold. To stay on budget, I purchased my ornaments from stores like Kmart and Ronis and added a few fancy accent pieces from Habitania and Myer.
Takeaway Points
- Choose a colour scheme
- Don’t go for more than 3-4 colours
- Use ribbons instead of tinsel for a classy effect
- Limit your ornaments to four categories
- Have a budget in mind
- Shop for Christmas ornaments in December and save!
I hope that my Christmas decor will inspire you to go and create your very own inspiration, and do not hesitate to think outside the box!
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