Top Tips For Christmas #3

My tip this week

Don’t Change - Rearrange

Too many magazines feature a load of new decorations you need to buy to make your home look different and sparkling and festive. I have realised that I already have loads of decorations, and I do not want to go out and spend a fortune on new stuff.

So I am putting out the same old things – but in a new way.

For years I have had some strings of ‘bead garlands’ which I have draped round the Christmas tree. This year, as I finished hanging the ornaments on the tree [the order of hanging is always lights, skirt, ornaments, angel, beads] Bob said “That looks great, I don’t think you should put the beads on – it will be too much.”

[oops – this photo clearly shows the reflection in the windows of all the stuff piled on the sofa!]

He was [as usual] quite right – so instead, I filled my glass bowl with the beads.

My copy of this amazing pop up book [Jan Pienkowski’s Christmas Kingdom]usually goes on the table under the tree. But I decided that it gets a bit lost under there, so this year I have moved it.Instead of being swamped by the decorations hanging from the lower branches, this year I have opened the book on a higher shelf.I think that the new arrangement with the pillar candle looks much better.

I have some patchwork squares [a gift from the Baptist Women Of Canada in 2005] which usually get hung in random places.

This year, for the first time, I have pinned them  together on a white satin ribbon, along with a red stocking. This somehow unifies the red-and-white theme.

In true Martha Stewart fashion, I have ‘fish-tailed’ the bottom of the ribbon. This trick instantly gives it a little more style [according to MS, that is]

Speaking of Ms Stewart reminds me of an old joke…

What’s a Greek Urn? About 4 drachmas a week.

Or as The Independent put it a few months ago…

MS has an obsession with urns, look at all these from her magazine

I declared a year or so ago that I thought an urn would be useful – then in October when we were with Liz, I spotted this in a charity shop just off Baker Street.

It cost a little more than my usual Charity Shop spend [and it was utterly filthy] but I bought it and polished it up.

I have a box of 48 gold baubles from B&Q – two years ago [during the great replacement double glazing debacle] I strung them across the bay window.

Last year I hung them from my ‘Gospel’ chandelier in the dining room [just seen here in a Christmas day family shot]

This year I’ve done the Martha thing and arranged them in my urn.

Martha does this sort of arrangement by filling the urn with a styrofoam cone and hot-glueing the baubles in place.

I didn’t want to do that – it means I cannot re-arrange the baubles next year.

So I took a piece of grey Oasis [that’s the sort for dry arrangements, as opposed to the green stuff which needs soaking] I cut it in two and then secured the pieces with a wooden BBQ skewer. I covered the lot with a piece of kitchen foil.

Then I strung the baubles on loops of thread [Eleven on bottom layer decreasing to five at the top] I simply draped them over the foil to get my pyramid. It looks very pretty standing on the edge of the fireplace, gently reflecting the light.

If you think your decorations are looking too ‘samey’, don't rush out and spend money on new ones - just try re-arranging them for a fresh look.

The same rule applies to your wardrobe – your ‘new’ Christmas outfit is probably in there already, you just need to combine some garments in a different way.

Don’t Change - Rearrange

Have you re-arranged or restyled any old decorations this year?