The holidays are upon us & here in Lake Tahoe, the snow has come just in time. There’s no more beautiful compliment to the twinkling lights & rich red bows than a thick blanket of white on each of branch of the aspen or lodgepole pine trees around the neighborhood. As promised, I wanted to offer a few ideas with regard to making smart, money-saving purchases for your holiday decorating.
There are so many wonderful ways to enhance your yard including the classic white tree lights, the tiny colored twinklers around your rooftop or the return of the classics like the large, colored Christmas lights in either the old glass-bulb style or the newer LED presentation. These LEDs are hugely economical in terms of your electric bill as well as replacement costs as they are meant to last for hundreds of hours longer than the traditional light sets. The colors are great & even the LED white lights give off a “white-hot” look to your home’s exterior. You might like to try & mix them in for starters, especially if you already have a huge supply of the old style of lights like I do. I really like the look of drenching a tree in simple white lights & then adding a few strands of the colored bulbs for that “sparkly ornament” appearance.
There are such creative things that you can do to stretch your holiday decor dollars by finding items that can be used during other times of the year to enhance your home. The lights you choose might be those you could use outside your house all year-round, especially if they are the simple white twinklers & they are simply decorating some of the trees around your yard. I have also found a very economical item at Ace Hardware that can be used throughout the year…for under $30 each (currently on sale for $19.99!) you could have a pair of these 4′ lighted faux pines (”Montana Pre-Lit Porch Pine Tree”) accenting your doorway. During the holidays it would be nice to add some bows or shiny ball ornaments, then keep it simple throughout the remainder of the year with just the white lights…
Using your summertime resin flowerpots to make a holiday statement is also an economical way to spruce up your entry:
While setting the table for your guests during the holidays, there are a number of wonderful items you could include that would be usable during other times of the year with no problem. Take a look at some of the gorgeous items I found at this town’s most stylish home-furnishing boutique, Seasons…
Set the table combining vibrant reds, greens, golds & silvers to create a fabulous holiday display… and then use each of these items in other settings, in other color schemes, during any other season. Those green mossy rocks would look great with some gold balls during December & also the pinks of Easter come springtime. The rich red Tuscan vessle & dinnerware paired with some evergreen boughs for Christmas dinner would also sit perfectly with the bright yellow linens pictured here for an Italian feast or summer dinner al fresco… If purchases are made with other uses in mind, you won’t find yourself storing reindeer plates & santa mugs for 11 months every year!
These functional & beautiful napkin holders with weighted accents obviously make nice decor pieces or gifts during the holidays. But in keeping with our theme of spending our hard-earned dollars on items that won’t need to get put away on January 2nd, these trays can hold napkins of any color or style & even the weights can be changed out to coordinate with any holiday, season or theme party! ($44 at SeasonsTahoe.com)
Try to expand this theory to your wreath & front-door decorating decisions as well. Take a look at these wreaths below… the same simple pepper berry wreath can be used for Halloween with a black satin & gingham checked bow as for Christmas by adding gold fruit & a bronzed metallic bow:
HOWEVER! Don’t let Scrooge take over your holiday!! Even if these four-foot, bedazzled & sequined nutcrackers can only guard your door for a few weeks a year, wouldn’t you say that’s worth it? I would!
Happy Holidays from Marmot… catch up with you in 2010!! ~ The Raydons
Smart Holiday Decorating
There are so many wonderful ways to enhance your yard including the classic white tree lights, the tiny colored twinklers around your rooftop or the return of the classics like the large, colored Christmas lights in either the old glass-bulb style or the newer LED presentation. These LEDs are hugely economical in terms of your electric bill as well as replacement costs as they are meant to last for hundreds of hours longer than the traditional light sets. The colors are great & even the LED white lights give off a “white-hot” look to your home’s exterior. You might like to try & mix them in for starters, especially if you already have a huge supply of the old style of lights like I do. I really like the look of drenching a tree in simple white lights & then adding a few strands of the colored bulbs for that “sparkly ornament” appearance.
There are such creative things that you can do to stretch your holiday decor dollars by finding items that can be used during other times of the year to enhance your home. The lights you choose might be those you could use outside your house all year-round, especially if they are the simple white twinklers & they are simply decorating some of the trees around your yard. I have also found a very economical item at Ace Hardware that can be used throughout the year…for under $30 each (currently on sale for $19.99!) you could have a pair of these 4′ lighted faux pines (”Montana Pre-Lit Porch Pine Tree”) accenting your doorway. During the holidays it would be nice to add some bows or shiny ball ornaments, then keep it simple throughout the remainder of the year with just the white lights…
Using your summertime resin flowerpots to make a holiday statement is also an economical way to spruce up your entry:
While setting the table for your guests during the holidays, there are a number of wonderful items you could include that would be usable during other times of the year with no problem. Take a look at some of the gorgeous items I found at this town’s most stylish home-furnishing boutique, Seasons…
Set the table combining vibrant reds, greens, golds & silvers to create a fabulous holiday display… and then use each of these items in other settings, in other color schemes, during any other season. Those green mossy rocks would look great with some gold balls during December & also the pinks of Easter come springtime. The rich red Tuscan vessle & dinnerware paired with some evergreen boughs for Christmas dinner would also sit perfectly with the bright yellow linens pictured here for an Italian feast or summer dinner al fresco… If purchases are made with other uses in mind, you won’t find yourself storing reindeer plates & santa mugs for 11 months every year!
These functional & beautiful napkin holders with weighted accents obviously make nice decor pieces or gifts during the holidays. But in keeping with our theme of spending our hard-earned dollars on items that won’t need to get put away on January 2nd, these trays can hold napkins of any color or style & even the weights can be changed out to coordinate with any holiday, season or theme party! ($44 at SeasonsTahoe.com)
Try to expand this theory to your wreath & front-door decorating decisions as well. Take a look at these wreaths below… the same simple pepper berry wreath can be used for Halloween with a black satin & gingham checked bow as for Christmas by adding gold fruit & a bronzed metallic bow:
Happy Holidays from Marmot… catch up with you in 2010!! ~ The Raydons