How to Make Your Home Look Festive All Year Long
Everyone loves how their home feels when it's decorated for the holidays... here's how to keep that feeling year round.
BY SUSAN FINCH
The holidays are officially over, but that doesn’t mean your home has to suffer through months of uninspired decor. However, it's a fine line between an explosion of Christmas and tastefully weaving in a few magical touches. At the end of the day, the goal is to make your home look festive year-round without compromising on style. Focus on blending a tasteful array of festivity with the everyday look of your home.
In other words, the Christmas tree needs to come down, but you can repurpose your holiday cards into sweet memories. Here’s how.
Keep your fireplace holiday-ready
Your fireplace makes a festive focal point for your year-round holiday aesthetic. If you’re looking to freshen up the room, paint the fireplace the same hue as your walls for a cozy and luxurious look. Next, remove your gas or wooden logs and place white pillar candles to give a warm and glowing look no matter how hot it is outside. You can also dress up your mantle with plants, flowers or favorite seasonal keepsakes. No mantle? No problem. It's not hard to find a mantle style that fits well with your decor.
Add a dazzling ceiling medallion
Getting festive doesn’t always have to be about decorations. Instead, you can look to your home accents to see what you can jazz up for fun. Chandeliers are festive in the right setting, but lean more toward luxury and ornate. Instead, hang a ceiling medallion — the overall effect is dramatic, but still brightens up the room. Place it above an otherwise drab table or dining area to turn your next meal into a festive occasion.
Create a vignette
Here’s where holiday lovers can sneak in a few more Christmas decorations, even in the dead of summer. Put away the stockings and Santas, but keep those painted pinecones and glass Christmas trees and create a vignette on a side table or mantle. The trick is to pair similar shades like gold accents and hues together to create a cohesive and sophisticated look.
Designate an inspired entertaining area
Getting festive means spending time with loved ones, and there’s no better way to do that than with an inspired entertaining area that everyone wants to relax in. Adding an antique bar and plush faux leather chairs to a basement or unused nook is one way to start.
Or you can think even bigger. Transform your sunroom or entire backyard into entertainment central. Roll out the tiki bar, add a few white painted twig wreaths to the back doors and invest in comfortable outdoor furniture. If the sky's the limit, setup an outdoor entertainment station with a flat-screen TV or film projector for a movie night with friends.
Once your friends and family see how warm, cozy and completely festive your home is every day of the year, they won’t bat at an eye at a stray reindeer or snowflake sneaking its way into your living room decor. Just tell them it’s your way of keeping the holiday magic going all year long.
Susan Finch is a freelance writer living in Atlanta, and loves helping businesses improve their bottom line with compelling copy that sparks action. When she's not writing, she's traveling with her family and plotting her next creative pursuit.
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