RSVPstyle

‘Tis the Season for Affordable Holiday Updates

By Cathy Lee, RSVPstyle

With the holidays just around the corner, we want our homes to look extra-festive for the friends and family coming to visit. But belts may be tighter this year, and we want to keep as much as possible for our gift list. Here are some simple tricks and tips for fresh, special looks that won’t break the bank.

1. Rearrange furniture. A new look can be as simple as that—moving a sofa or a small seating arrangement to the other side of the room. This switches the balance and orientation for anyone walking in and gives the whole room a great facelift.

2. Repurpose furniture. This calls for a little more creativity, and that’s exactly what people will notice. Matching side tables? Put them together for an interesting ‘new’ coffee table! If you have an unused bench, how about arranging an interesting piece of artwork on top with a couple of pillows for a new focal point? If a potted plant is doing beautifully outside, think how much organic beauty it can add inside.

3. Update small things. If you have a small budget for a holiday makeover, look at the accents in your room. Could your chair use a new seat cushion? It doesn’t cost much to have an upholsterer re-cover it. Consider doing the same with your old throw cushions. Or how about new shades for your lamps? Here’s where you can play up different colors in your space or have fun with new textures and patterns.

4. Candles add festivity and warmth — and ladies, who doesn’t look good by candlelight? Go crazy with inexpensive selections at discount stores, or get simple candles and be creative with your own holders: colored glasses you already have in your cabinets, small ceramics made by your kids (beeswax won’t ruin them), or a long or oval tray with a line of candles of various heights and sizes. Scatter the tray with colored shells, glass beads or small ornaments in holiday colors.

5. Feeling crafty? Have some curly willow or delicate, bushy dried branches in your yard? Bring on the spray paint! Spray the branches gold, let the kids go crazy with glitter before the paint dries, and add that to your centerpiece or to an arrangement in a tall vase. You’ll get the same effect as what you see at the decorating store, but without spending tons of money.

6. We all buy poinsettia for the holidays — but don’t leave it in the green foil. Dress it up! Do you have a beautiful basket in storage? Or how about a black ceramic or celadon green pot? A blue and white Ming or Imari bowl would add a gorgeous Asian accent to Christmas. To really make a statement, get three poinsettia plants and a bag of Spanish moss, and create a fantastic arrangement for a fraction of what you’d pay at the florist.

Of course, if you want to introduce special accents that go a long way toward punching up colors, textures and that festive holiday feel, you’ll get good and immediate impact from accent pillows, a sofa throw for cool island nights, and a fantastic tray and nutcracker for those walnuts on the coffee table. Happy holidays, and happy decorating!