How to design a holiday home on a budget.
By Hope Monte
Photos by Spacecrafting Photography
It’s never too early or too late to get the ball rolling on holiday home decorating. Whether you’re ready to crack open the holiday decor labeled boxes from the attic, or run to your favorite home goods store, O’Hara Interior’s Senior Interior Designer, Heidi Feliz-Grimm, shares how to make the most of your space this holiday season.
Evaluate your inventory.
While holiday decorating is meant to be a fun process, starting can be a bit overwhelming. Before you start decking the halls, take a step back to take a look at what you already have and ask yourself these questions:
- What do I have that I will definitely use?
- What doesn’t match my aesthetic anymore that I can donate?
- What needs to be replaced or needs to be added for this year’s decorations?
“I would say everybody's style kind of evolves, even if it's just a little bit each year. So again, that's why I think having that inventory is helpful,” Feliz-Grimm said. “How can I gear the decoration towards where I'm at this year, style wise?
Identify key rooms for decorating.
Start your planning process by envisioning what parts of the house you want to focus on. When you know what rooms you will be decorating, you can list what you need to decorate each space accordingly. Consider these spaces in your home and specific decorations for each area:
- Formal Dining Room: Decorative plates and silverware, create festive flower arrangements to adorn the table, add candles.
- Kitchen/Breakfast Nook: Gingerbread houses (real or fake – your pick), jars filled with festive candies.
- Family Living Room: Tree and ornaments, decorative throw pillows/blankets on couches, garland for fireplace mantles (if applicable) and sculptures and/or figurines for side tables or shelves.
- Staircases: Greenery and garland, red bows.
“Do you have fireplaces? If yes, then that's a great place to dress up that fireplace, whether it be, with greenery, or whether it be with sculptures, we can have a lot of fun with sculptures, It doesn't all have to be the traditional greenery,” Feliz-Grimm said.
Find practicality with multi-seasonal decorations.
Here’s a few examples you don't have to send to storage quite yet!
- Pillow shams: abstract patterns, antler designs, neutral color schemes
- Throw blankets: greens/white, plaids
- Rugs: neutral green in kitchen, living room, entryway
Curate your holiday trees.
For Heidi, dressing the tree is one of her favorite parts of decorating for the holidays. She shared a few essential points when curating your own:
- First decide whether or not to go with multiple trees or a staple tree.
- Evaluate the size of the tree(s) – scale is important.
- Make sure the ornament sizes are proportionate to the size of your tree. If you're decorating a 12-foot tree, size up the ornaments – just because the tree is bigger doesn’t mean there needs to be more items for decorating.
- You can never go wrong with the classics: ball ornaments of red green and white.
- Add touches of sentimental items, Go ahead and add the baby photo ornaments – tastefully!
“For the most part, I have big items, like big decorative balls and big candy canes,” says Feliz-Grimm. “But if you don't have the space, say you have a six foot tree, make sure that your decor is the right size for that smaller tree. Don't try to put oversized things on that small tree.”
Staying up with trends can be exhausting. Feliz-Grimm advises to stay true to your own aesthetic. And, lucky for tradition, the classic holiday look is trending this 2024 holiday season. Utilizing traditional red, whites and greens is in style this year.
“Don't be scared of the old school,” Feliz-Grimm says. “It stands the test of time for a reason. Now, can you do a little twist of your own?"
