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Door decorating contests are a December tradition in offices, schools and dorms, and searches for ideas are up sharply this month. A good contest door is bold enough to read from down the hall, and simple enough to put up in an afternoon. Before you start Measure the door. Most interior doors are 30 to 36 inches wide and 80 inches tall. Ask what you can stick to it. Many places don’t allow tape on painted doors. Painter’s tape or washi tape (on Amazon) is usually safe; packing tape often pulls paint off. Ask about fire rules. Some buildings don’t allow paper covering the whole door, or anything near the handle. The easiest winner: wrap it like a present Cover the door in wrapping paper or kraft paper (on Amazon), then add a giant ribbon cross and a big bow. A wide wired ribbon (on Amazon) holds its shape. Add a gift tag with the team’s name. ...

Searches for office Christmas decorations jump every November. If you spend most of your day at a desk, a little decoration there does more for your mood than another thing at home you see for an hour each evening. The trick at work is to stay small, tidy and easy to take down. Check first Before buying anything, find out: Whether your office allows plug-in lights. Many don’t, because of fire rules. Battery lights are almost always fine. Whether you can attach things to walls or cubicle panels. Whether there are rules about candles, real greenery or scents. Assume no. A small tree A 2 ft tabletop tree (on Amazon) fits on most desks without getting in the way. Pre-lit and battery powered is the easiest. If your desk is tiny, a set of bottle-brush trees (on Amazon) grouped in one corner gives the same feeling in less space. ...

Whoville-style decor takes its cue from storybook Christmas: curvy, crooked shapes, candy colors, everything a bit too big or a bit off-balance. It’s popular every year around the holidays, especially with families with kids, and it’s an extreme version of the whimsical trend. It’s not a look for a minimalist. It’s for people who want their apartment to feel like a cartoon in December. Curves and lean The defining feature is shape. Nothing is straight. ...

The bedroom often gets left out at Christmas because it’s not where guests go. But it’s where you start and end every December day, and “Christmas bedding ideas” searches on Pinterest are up about 300% on last year. It’s also the easiest room to change: it’s mostly textiles. Start with a plain base A white or cream duvet cover (on Amazon) is the best base for holiday bedding because anything festive you add will stand out. If you already have one, you’re halfway there. ...

Farmhouse Christmas is the style for people who like decor that feels homemade and comfortable rather than shiny. It doesn’t need a barn door or shiplap. In an apartment, it’s mostly about materials: wood, wicker, linen, metal, greenery and one plaid. One plaid Buffalo check, the big red and black or red and white squares, is the farmhouse pattern. Use it once or twice, not everywhere: a plaid runner (on Amazon) on the table, or one throw, or the stockings. More than that starts to look like a store display. ...

Searches for DIY Christmas garland are up again this year. Garland is one of the easiest things to make yourself, and a homemade one changes how a room feels more than another store-bought ornament does. All of these can be done in an evening, at a table, with a movie on. Dried orange slices The most popular homemade garland right now, and for good reason. It glows when light shines through it. ...

There’s a kind of tree that shows up in old family photos: bulky colored bulbs, tinsel, a jumble of ornaments that don’t match because each came from a different year. “Nostalgic Christmas tree” and “classic Christmas tree” are both rising on Pinterest this fall, and this is the look people mean. The good part is that it’s forgiving. It’s meant to look collected, not designed. The lights make it If you change only one thing, change the lights. C9-style bulbs (on Amazon), the big ones, in red, green, blue, orange and yellow. LED versions stay cool and use little power. Space them evenly, with the cord tucked toward the trunk. ...

The topper is the last thing to go on the tree and usually the one we think about least. It’s also the first thing people see. Searches for tree topper ideas are up again this season, and there’s more variety than star or angel. A classic star, sized right A gold star (on Amazon) is never wrong. The common mistake is size. A tiny star on a 7 ft tree looks lost. As a guide, the topper should be about a tenth of the tree’s height: 7 inches for a 6 ft tree, 9 inches for a 7.5 ft one. ...

Tinsel spent a couple of decades as the thing your grandparents did. Now “tinsel Christmas tree” is climbing on Pinterest along with “beaded tinsel” and nostalgic trees in general. Done right, it makes a tree shimmer every time the air moves. There are three kinds, and they look quite different. Icicle strands The old-fashioned kind: thin individual strands draped over branches so they hang straight down like icicles. This is what makes a tree look vintage. ...

A red and white tree is about as classic as Christmas gets, and it’s one of the fastest-growing tree searches on Pinterest this season. It’s also one of the easiest to get right, because two colors leave little room for mistakes. The base A green tree gives you the traditional Christmas look. A white or flocked tree with red and white decorations looks more modern and Scandinavian. Either way, use warm white lights (on Amazon). Colored lights fight with the two-color idea. ...