How To Make Your Home Extra Festive This Christmas

Our Quick Tips on Making your Home Extra Festive this Christmas

Now we're in December, many of us will be getting ready for Christmas – and what better way to slide into the holiday season than by decorating our homes with festive trinkets! This year, Christmas might feel a little different, but that shouldn’t discourage us from creating a joyful, festive, and colourful feel to our homes.

Unsurprisingly, this year's festive fever has started early, with shoppers eager to embrace the holidays. In fact, a recent survey commissioned by retailer Next found that 1 in 5 of us will put up decorations before December. (It’s never too early in our opinion!)

With more time on our hands, it’s a great opportunity to get a little more creative and spruce up last year’s décor. With that in mind, at Preloved we’ve put together a list of our top tips for an eco-friendly and extra festive Christmas.

Dressing up the Christmas tree

First things first: the Christmas tree. The tree will be the centrepiece of your home – which according to the Next survey, is considered the most important decoration to have up during the festive season.

With that in mind, you’ll want to find the best shape and size for your room. We’d recommend measuring the space you’re working with before going tree shopping – and make sure to factor in any additional space needed for the topper!

Large trees certainly give off that festive feel, but if you want your house to look extra Christmassy this year, why not think about putting small trees up in a few different parts of the house? With a tree in the living room, kitchen and bedrooms, your house will ooze festivity – and smell fragrant too!

Once you have the perfect tree, fluff up and shape the branches before adding the Christmas lights. We always recommend starting with the lights first, as it gets trickier once you’ve added the decorations. Work your way up from the base of the tree, ensuring you leave equal spaces in between for a harmonious look.

Now that your tree is sorted, it’s time to dress it up with Christmas decorations. Setting the theme for your tree will make the whole decorating process easier, so make sure you’ve made up your mind before starting out. Our tip is to work with a colour scheme that complements the rest of your home décor.

Like many of us this year, you might have had the time to focus on new hobbies. If you’re into arts and crafts, why not put these newfound skills to the test with some DIY tree decorations? Not only is it a fun activity for the whole household, but it’s also eco‐friendly – and you’d have the most original and unique decorations in town!

One easy way to create some sparkly Christmas baubles is to reuse old light bulbs. Here’s our quick tip: use glue, glitter, and a colourful ribbon – and hey presto, you’ve got yourself some lovely baubles.

Merry ways to decorate your home

With your tree looking all glammed up, you might find yourself left with boxes of leftover ornaments that simply didn’t make the cut. Sometimes they just don’t fit with the colour scheme or on the tree itself.

Instead of boxing them back up, why not use the remaining tree decorations in the rest of our home? For example, you could arrange them into festive centrepieces for the dining room table – tying them to ribbons or arranging them in a vase.

You could even add an extra festive touch to places you haven’t decorated in previous years. For example, the bathroom is often a neglected area when it comes to Christmas décor, but adding a a string of homemade baubles to the mirror or picture frame will make a difference and ensure your home is festive from top to toe.

When it comes to colour schemes, you might decide to stray from the classic reds and greens this year. So, if you’re keen to add a little more flair to your home, then the big trend for 2020 is Renaissance Christmas décor which uses soft pastels and golds.

If you need some inspiration on how to recreate this theme, check out your favourite brands – their websites are often chockful of ideas. In fact, according to Next’s survey, about 20% of us source decor ideas by looking at our favourite stores and their websites.

Whichever theme, decor, or colour palette you go for, our ultimate top tip is to create an environment where you and your family can truly come together and celebrate.

For more practical tips and advice on making your homemade decorations, visit the Preloved blog