Three creative and inexpensive decorating tips

Every year, we drag out our boxes of Christmas decorations and position them in the old, familiar places. It’s comforting. It’s tradition.

Most of us also are on the lookout for new ideas that fit our style at home. All purple decorations? Fine, if you’re made of money and your whole dang house is white.

But if your holiday motif runs along the lines of a big bowl of pinecones that the kids gathered, tied with a big red ribbon from one of last year’s gift, we have a couple of ideas for you.

This first idea doesn’t take a lot of cash, but it does require some work and planning. A young wife, the mother of a toddler, collected a dozen photographs, old ones of her and her husband as kids, and of their daughter, scenes with Santa and in the snow. She had black-and-white prints made of them and placed them in inexpensive red and green frames.

The holiday collection replaces the regular year-round display of family photos. It’s personal, it’s seasonal and it’s charming.

Another friend was at her wit’s end trying to decorate for a party that was going to fill her house wall-to-wall with guests. Tables were needed to corral gifts for a traditional white elephant exchange and for a groaning buffet.

After contemplating her living room for a few minutes, she had a brainstorm. She removed five large prints from the wall, wrapped them in festive Christmas paper and bows, then rehung them on their original hooks. These festive packages had a big decorative impact for a modest investment of time and wrapping paper. And the guests loved them.

Another simple idea is a multitasker. Buy a few rigid-cardboard, decorated Christmas boxes. Use them to store Christmas ornaments and lights from the tree. After you decorate the tree every year, arrange the boxes under the tree. When it’s time to dismantle Christmas, your storage boxes are right there for efficient packing.

Herald Writer Melanie Munk