Christmas is traditionally the most expensive time of year, but you don’t need to spend big to style a delightfully festive home. This year, it’s the season to be jolly while being kind to the budget.
Bring the outdoors in
Bring in greenery from outside for beautiful, eco-friendly and cost-free styling. Tree branches arranged in vases or placed across a table form a lush and spectacular centrepiece. In Melbourne, Jacaranda branches brim with purple blooms and crepe myrtles burst with colour. Eucalyptus, wattle and gum trees bring an Aussie flair to Christmas decorating. Consider making a wreath or garland out of tree branches. Bring a potted tree from outside to refashion into your modern, budget-friendly festive tree. Let nature inspire you.
Refashion old ornaments
Over time, decorations show wear and tear, but that doesn’t mean they are past their use-by date. Put old Christmas baubles missing their hanging attachments in a tray, bowl or jars as table centrepieces; fashion them into a wreath or glue them into a picture frame in a triangular Christmas-tree shape as a fun wall hanging. Dip scratched or worn baubles into paint (try Annie Sloan’s chic chalk paint range) and create a new colour scheme. You can also tie baubles to a branch over the table for a jaw-dropping adornment or fashion them into a stylish stringed hanging cluster. The options are as endless as your imagination.
Celebrate lights and tinsel
Fairy lights are high-impact, festive fun. They’re also low-cost to run and a decoration you can pull out of the box for many years – just make sure you use energy efficient LED lights. Light up the table, walls, tree and anything else you can string lights across. Similarly, tinsel is a penny-pinchers’ delight and can be liberally placed around the house to infuse sparkly, traditional Christmas cheer. From hanging on the tree, to arranging across a staircase and stringing across walls and tables, tinsel is easy and instant. Consider it for a garland, a wreath, placed artfully into used jars as a table decoration or even threaded around a disco ball for an unexpected ceiling hanging. These simple adornments are satisfyingly snazzy.
Cheap and cheerful go hand in hand this Christmas. The jolly thing is we can be extra merry knowing we haven’t spent a fortune to decorate the home with festive spirit.
