Decorating the house for the holidays can be a daunting task. But it can also be FUN! There are lots of ways to keep it fresh, current, inventive and on BUDGET too! I always start by pulling out the Holiday decor that I have and assessing what I want to use and what I want to put back into the boxes. Once I have reminded myself what I do already have, I head on out to the local dollarstore. I spend some time there, sourcing and conjuring up ideas based on what is already in the store. I hate brainstorming ideas to then be held up in the creations because I can't find what I want or its too expensive. If you are anything like myself, you want something different than every other year, so this can get expensive.
Holiday DIY's
This year I had a new house to decorate and a new baby, so my decor needed to be based on quick and cheap DIY's. I opted for styling in pink since this is my home accent colour.
Sourcing Holiday Decor
To my delight, Dollarama hosted many inexpensive holiday balls in varying shades of pink. I gathered them up in different sizes, adding light blue and gold, and gathering white and clear from the year before. I then headed on over to Michaels to add some glass balls to add a bit of glam to the mix, again in varying sizes. My plan was to make a feature ball garland for the fireplace mantle. The longer the better but lets not go wayyy over budget, right?! ;)
I also picked up some plastic Christmas Trees that light up from Dollarama, some tinsel trees and wreaths, pink tinsel and thick yarn. I deconstructed the tinsel trees and wreaths to make my own neutral palette trees with the yarn and tinsel. This is super fast, a no-brainer in fact. The yarn adds a luxurious element and when you weave it, it looks even more chic.
When creating a colourful vignette, it is important to ensure there is a balance between colour and neutrals. You don't want to over-stimulate the eye, causing focus to dart in every direction. My tip is to decide what your focal point is and guide viewers to look upon it by creating a flow with focus.
A Ball Garland
In this case, my ball garland is the focus and it will hang on the mantle with one end draping to the floor. I want my viewers to look at it without distraction, so the other elements that I am adding need to be neutral or solid colour. In my case, my other elements were the trees made out of white yarn and tinsel. I made a few and levelled them on brass candlesticks to allow the eye to make the smooth transition across the garland. The reason they are different levels is so that the eye has relief. You do not want to put all your elements in one heap along the mantle. You want your eye to dart across and up and down with ease and interest.
Ease the Eye
I anchored the two ends of the mantle with pink tinsel trees and dotted in the plastic trees. If I had more colourful elements, the viewer would be challenged as to where to look. In this case it helps carry your gaze along the garland and up and down the trees.
Lighting
To finish off the mantle, I of course added twinkle lights that I wove in-between the balls of the garland. This ensures that even at night, it is a delight to look at. Lucky for me, it is a source of entertainment for my baby too!
Good luck with your holiday decor! I hope these tips helped you for your next DIY mantle design. Please tag us with your holiday inspo creations!
xx- april
Decorating the house for the holidays can be a daunting task. But it can also be FUN! There are lots of ways to keep it fresh, current, inventive and on BUDGET too! I always start by pulling out the Holiday decor that I have and assessing what I want to use and what I want to put back into the boxes. Once I have reminded myself what I do already have, I head on out to the local dollarstore. I spend some time there, sourcing and conjuring up ideas based on what is already in the store. I hate brainstorming ideas to then be held up in the creations because I can’t find what I want or its too expensive. If you are anything like myself, you want something different than every other year, so this can get expensive.
DIY’s
This year I had a new house to decorate and a new baby, so my decor needed to be based on quick and cheap DIY’s. I opted for styling in pink since this is my home accent colour.
Sourcing
To my delight, Dollarama hosted many inexpensive holiday balls in varying shades of pink. I gathered them up in different sizes, adding light blue and gold, and gathering white and clear from the year before. I then headed on over to Michaels to add some glass balls to add a bit of glam to the mix, again in varying sizes. My plan was to make a feature ball garland for the fireplace mantle. The longer the better but lets not go wayyy over budget, right?! 😉
I also picked up some plastic Christmas Trees that light up from Dollarama, some tinsel trees and wreaths, pink tinsel and thick yarn. I deconstructed the tinsel trees and wreaths to make my own neutral palette trees with the yarn and tinsel. This is super fast, a no-brainer in fact. The yarn adds a luxurious element and when you weave it, it looks even more chic.
When creating a colourful vignette, it is important to ensure there is a balance between colour and neutrals. You don’t want to over-stimulate the eye, causing focus to dart in every direction. My tip is to decide what your focal point is and guide viewers to look upon it by creating a flow with focus.
A Ball Garland
In this case, my ball garland is the focus and it will hang on the mantle with one end draping to the floor. I want my viewers to look at it without distraction, so the other elements that I am adding need to be neutral or solid colour. In my case, my other elements were the trees made out of white yarn and tinsel. I made a few and levelled them on brass candlesticks to allow the eye to make the smooth transition across the garland. The reason they are different levels is so that the eye has relief. You do not want to put all your elements in one heap along the mantle. You want your eye to dart across and up and down with ease and interest.
Ease the Eye
I anchored the two ends of the mantle with pink tinsel trees and dotted in the plastic trees. If I had more colourful elements, the viewer would be challenged as to where to look. In this case it helps carry your gaze along the garland and up and down the trees.
Lighting
To finish off the mantle, I of course added twinkle lights that I wove in-between the balls of the garland. This ensures that even at night, it is a delight to look at. Lucky for me, it is a source of entertainment for my baby too!
Good luck with your holiday decor! I hope these tips helped you for your next DIY mantle design. Please tag us with your holiday inspo creations!
xx- april
Social
About
Olive Studio is a documentary based photography studio, specializing in unique, intimate and off-the-beaten track weddings. Our candid shooting style allows for couples to...
Decorating the house for the holidays can be a daunting task. But it can also be FUN! There are lots of ways to keep it fresh, current, inventive and on BUDGET too! I always start by pulling out the Holiday decor that I have and assessing what I want to use and what I want to put back into the boxes. Once I have reminded myself what I do already have, I head on out to the local dollarstore. I spend some time there, sourcing and conjuring up ideas based on what is already in the store. I hate brainstorming ideas to then be held up in the creations because I can’t find what I want or its too expensive. If you are anything like myself, you want something different than every other year, so this can get expensive.
Holiday DIY’s
This year I had a new house to decorate and a new baby, so my decor needed to be based on quick and cheap DIY’s. I opted for styling in pink since this is my home accent colour.
Sourcing Holiday Decor
To my delight, Dollarama hosted many inexpensive holiday balls in varying shades of pink. I gathered them up in different sizes, adding light blue and gold, and gathering white and clear from the year before. I then headed on over to Michaels to add some glass balls to add a bit of glam to the mix, again in varying sizes. My plan was to make a feature ball garland for the fireplace mantle. The longer the better but lets not go wayyy over budget, right?! 😉
I also picked up some plastic Christmas Trees that light up from Dollarama, some tinsel trees and wreaths, pink tinsel and thick yarn. I deconstructed the tinsel trees and wreaths to make my own neutral palette trees with the yarn and tinsel. This is super fast, a no-brainer in fact. The yarn adds a luxurious element and when you weave it, it looks even more chic.
When creating a colourful vignette, it is important to ensure there is a balance between colour and neutrals. You don’t want to over-stimulate the eye, causing focus to dart in every direction. My tip is to decide what your focal point is and guide viewers to look upon it by creating a flow with focus.
A Ball Garland
In this case, my ball garland is the focus and it will hang on the mantle with one end draping to the floor. I want my viewers to look at it without distraction, so the other elements that I am adding need to be neutral or solid colour. In my case, my other elements were the trees made out of white yarn and tinsel. I made a few and levelled them on brass candlesticks to allow the eye to make the smooth transition across the garland. The reason they are different levels is so that the eye has relief. You do not want to put all your elements in one heap along the mantle. You want your eye to dart across and up and down with ease and interest.
Ease the Eye
I anchored the two ends of the mantle with pink tinsel trees and dotted in the plastic trees. If I had more colourful elements, the viewer would be challenged as to where to look. In this case it helps carry your gaze along the garland and up and down the trees.
Lighting
To finish off the mantle, I of course added twinkle lights that I wove in-between the balls of the garland. This ensures that even at night, it is a delight to look at. Lucky for me, it is a source of entertainment for my baby too!
Good luck with your holiday decor! I hope these tips helped you for your next DIY mantle design. Please tag us with your holiday inspo creations!
