Buy what you love.

My trick in decorating on a budget is too save where you can as we have discussed in the previous 4 posts; but buy what you love.

Buy a few things each year that you really love.

Buy timeless items that won’t go out of style.

Spend money on things you know you will love forever.

Don’t buy things that will outdate themselves in one or two years.

If you are going to spend the money make sure you really love it, it’s good quality, and you know it will last.

Sometimes that means spending a little more money.

Which is fine, if you have saved everywhere else.

For example:

I have always wanted fresh garland.  I didn’t do my research this year and I bought a Cyprus garland at Costco.  It seemed reasonable in price so I picked it up.  It died in about 7 days; which is typical for Cyprus. Yes, it sits on my banister all hard and crispy.  It’s coming down already.  BOO HOO!!  I still love the idea of fresh; I will just do my research before I buy next time.

I already took that pretty thing off my mantle.  It was leaving a mess.

I did purchase some great finds this year:

I bought this adorable white tree.  I loved it, and I knew that because it was white I could put it anywhere; any year.

I also bought these glass trees next to it this year as well.  I love how classic they are.

I also got these new stocking from my sister. 

These little beauties:

were a must have that I picked up in Houston.  Yes, I recently got back from visiting my BFF(more on that later.)  We had so much fun shopping that I had to send a box on the plane home.

When I saw these houses in the store I new I wanted them.  I love how simple and beautiful they are, and they light up.  When I bought them, I knew just where I wanted to put them.  Which is another great tip when buying items; know what you are going to do with them.

I love them on my glass coffee table. Oh, and guess what? When I got home I found ornaments to match them at a local store.  Yes, they light up too.  They are the ornaments I will give my kids this year.  They represent being “home.”

When I was shopping the other day at IKEA, I stumbled on these lights.

I knew I wanted them and I knew they were worth the money, and actually fairly inexpensive.

 

They could be used for parties and the holidays.  I love that I could use them for something other then Christmas.

I love how they look on my porch.

 

When buying things, you should always buy in odd numbers.  I bought three lights, and I also bought three of the above houses.  You will also notice that I bought three trees.

Remember when you buy new things for your holiday collection, to take it slow.  You don’t have to buy it all at once.

You can even  buy what you love after Christmas when it goes on clearance; I have done this many times.  In fact, the big ornaments hanging from my porch were bought after Christmas at 90% off.

Add to your collection over the years.  The things you spend the money on should be the things you intend to keep for a long time.

The simple things that we talked about earlier that were picked up at thrift stores and dollar stores are the things that you wouldn’t feel bad about changing. 

I hope you have enjoyed a few of my tips and tricks for decorating.

I would love to see some of your decorating; send pictures my way.

Love, Andrea

If you missed any of my previous tips you can find them here.

Day Four: Think outside the box; get creative.

Today I am going to show you a few examples of thinking creatively when decorating for Christmas.   It is easy to take normal every day items and use them in unique ways.

Decorate with candy.

 

In this case, I wanted blue candy canes, to match my blue décor.

 

However, I also have red ones lying around in my red spaces.

Remember I didn’t have a mantel to hang my red stockings from?

Use what you have; I have a bookcase.  I use command hooks to hang my stockings instead of expensive hangers.  I hide the hooks underneath so they can’t be seen.

Put the things you love on your tree.  I love pictures and words.

 

You could also use books, recipes, or anything that you enjoy. 

I have picture frames that I use specifically for my trees, but I also use ones I have lying around the house.

Grab what you love and put it in your tree.

I made a way to put words in my tree, with banners, printables in frames, and important words found on ornaments.

Use your left over ornaments in all your décor.

Put them in bowls, on plates, on lamps, or inside your decorations.

If you find placemats you love, but don’t want to spend $4.00 on placemats for everyone.

Turn them into a pillow.

I wanted a tree to  be seens out my front window.  However, the windows are in the office and I didn’t really want a tree in that room.

I used our kids small tree, and put it up on a table so you could see it out the window.

See how fun it looks from the window outside, it’s behind the wreath and looks like we have a big tree in that window.

Use ribbon for everything.

 

I specifically like it on my tree. 

I used a whole lot of random ribbon; but it gives the tree so much character.

I tie ribbon on lamps, candles, and any container that needs some Christmas cheer.

Ok.  Get out of your normal box, and get creative with what you have.

You can decorate on a budget.

Day three: Use what you have and make it better.

One of my favorite parts of decorating for the holidays is using what I already have.  I also enjoy finding ways to make it work better or look better.

Here are some of my tricks:

Make your lamps sparkle.

By adding a little ribbon and ornament.

I had some extra fabric floating around; and I made this pillow “sew” easily with a little wonder under.

Add some extra ornaments to your bowls and décor you have laying around.

This bowl is full of the ornaments that my kids got sick of hanging on the trees.

Even if your décor colors don’t go with Christmas, find a way to add to it and make it work.

Coral is not really a Christmas color, but looks great once I paired with my holiday stuff.

I already had these flour jars:

It was fun to make a Gingerbread city inside.  This idea I found in a magazine from BHG.  They had made their own gingerbread.  I cheated and bought a kit all ready made.

I bought these place card holders several years ago.

 

This year, I added snowflakes to the holders instead of name cards.  Just a new way to use them.

I have a pretty terrarium on my coffee table.

 

I changed it out and added some ornaments and pinecones to the candles already inside.

I have no where to hang stockings in our basement.  I have two sets of stockings, and I needed a place for my red stockings.

I decided to use my bookshelf as a place to hold stockings; since there is no fireplace mantle in the basement.  I am still trying to come up with an idea, but I like the bookshelf for now. I would love to hear your ideas.

I already had a pinecone wreath.

I just made it more wintery with white spray paint, gold balls, and gold ribbon.

This bowl is the centerpiece on my table.

 

It was fun to add my pinecones and ornaments to it.

It is so fun to just use what you have and add to it.

Use your creativity and make what you have work.

Happy Decorating.

Day Two: Buy Cheap and Make it Better.

I love to browse thrift stores, $ stores, and the Dollar Tree.  I love to find fun little items that I might be able to make better.  I like to use those items as holidy décor.

Here are a few examples:

I bought this wreath at a thrift store for $3.  Because it was such a nice wreath I knew it would make a great base to add to.

I added the ornaments, and other fun bling to the wreath to give it some excitement.

My grandma had a set of these carolers when I was a child.  She actually made them.  Her set was much bigger.

I stumbled upon this set at a thrift store for $2.  I bought it to remind me of her.  This is one of my favorite Christmas treasures.

One year, I couldn’t afford to buy enough wreaths for my front door.  I bought some cheap ones at Walmart for $2.  I wanted them a little fuller, so the little wreath from the dollar tree added to another made a much fuller wreath.  I also found the small gold balls at the dollar tree to add to the wreath with a burlap ribbon, and a dollar ornament.

They look really cute lined across my windows.

This sweet little pillow was also a thrift store find, and makes such a great addition to my porch.

I wanted to add my kids names to our red stocking. I remembered I picked up these chalkboard tags in the $ spot at Target.

They make a great addition to the stockings.

This sweet banner is made out of some dollar store doilies, hot glue, yarn, and glitter stickers I had laying around.

Stella even made it for me.

I love frames on my trees.

The cheapest way to put frames on your trees is to buy them at thrift stores and paint them.

So that is what I did in this case.

I also found some old vintage ribbon in a bag at the local thrift store.

 

It came in handy when I wanted some ribbon around my candles.

I love this little bottle brush tree display I have on my piano. 

To fill in the gaps, I picked up some trees found at the dollar tree.

We also used these trees to make the snow globes.  We made them by using $ store trees, glue, mason jars, glitter and fake snow.

When making the banners for my trees, I also found these silver letters in the Target $ spot.

One of my fav. additions to my tree.

I hope this inspires you to use items you find in inexpensive places as Holiday décor.

Don’t miss Yesterdays tip; find it here.