Christmas

Porch decorations deal with things the living room never sees: wind, freezing rain, snow, and the occasional ice storm. A wreath that would last all season indoors can be stripped bare by New Year’s outside. Most of the solution is buying the outdoor-rated version of things and fastening everything down properly. The door The right size wreath. Roughly two-thirds the width of the door: 24 inches for a standard 36-inch door, 28 to 30 for double doors. A wreath that’s too big also catches more wind. Outdoor or all-weather wreaths have UV-treated foliage and denser wiring, so gusts don’t strip them. ...

A staircase is visible from the entry, the living room and upstairs, so one well-dressed banister does a lot of work. It usually gets whatever garland is left over, tied on in a straight line. A little more planning makes a big difference. The banister Buy enough garland. About 9 feet of garland (on Amazon) for every 6 feet of banister, so there’s enough slack for it to dip. ...

A 7-foot tree in an apartment takes up around 16 square feet, blocks a window and drops needles into the couch for a month. A well-placed 3-foot tree gives you most of the feeling for a fraction of the space. With small trees, the footprint matters more than the height. A “small” tree with a 30-inch base still takes over a studio. Measure your corner before you shop. Types of small tree Tabletop, 18 to 24 inches. (Example (on Amazon).) About 12 to 18 inches across, so it fits on a sideboard, a shelf or the dining table. Use tiny ornaments, around an inch, and one 20-light strand. In a studio, this plus a wreath on the door is a complete Christmas. ...

A single big centerpiece in the middle of the table has two problems: it blocks people’s view of each other, and there’s never anywhere to put the potatoes. Tables that look good at Christmas tend to be built up in thin layers instead. Each layer is simple, and none of them get in the way of eating. The base A runner, or two. A plain linen runner (on Amazon) down the length of the table, then either a narrower patterned runner (on Amazon) on top or two short runners crossing at each end. The overlap looks richer than one runner alone. A roll of kraft paper works as the bottom layer too: it’s about $10, kids can draw on it, and spills just mean tearing off a piece. ...

A mantel is at eye level and it’s usually where you look first when you walk into the room, so it’s worth getting right. The most common problem is simple: not enough garland. A strand stretched tight across the top looks thin no matter what you add to it. How much garland Buy about two and a half times the width of the mantel. A 48-inch mantel needs around 10 feet (a 9-foot garland (on Amazon) plus a little extra), a 60-inch one about 12 and a half. The extra length is what lets it drape down the sides and dip between hooks instead of sitting flat like a clothesline. ...

The coffee table is what you look at from the couch all evening, so it’s a good place to put some Christmas. It also has to stay usable: mugs, remotes, feet. Every idea below follows the same three steps: Give it an edge. A tray, a runner, a bowl or a mirror. Without a boundary, objects drift around the table and look like clutter. Give it some height. Something taller than the rest, whether that’s a candle, a lantern or a small tree on a couple of books. Give it light. At least one candle or a few fairy lights. LED is easiest if you have kids, pets or a habit of falling asleep on the sofa. Nine arrangements 1. A tray of candles. A big round tray (on Amazon) with three LED pillars (on Amazon) at different heights, a sprig of faux pine between them and a couple of loose ornaments. In January you lift the tray and the table is back to normal. A wood or brass tray works all year. ...

A Christmas tree in a small apartment usually means moving a chair into the bedroom for a month, and then finding somewhere to keep the tree for the other eleven. Lots of people skip it, and the apartment can still feel like Christmas. What works instead is decorating the few places you actually look at every day. In most small apartments that’s the front door, the TV stand, the windows, a wall or two, and the coffee table. Get those right and you won’t miss the tree much. ...

When you walk in, you see the window. When you sit on the couch, you see the walls. In a small apartment, those are the surfaces that make it feel like Christmas, and they use no floor space at all. Windows A lit garland around the frame. Run a pre-lit garland (on Amazon) along the top and down the sides with warm-white lights woven through. Three removable hooks per window are enough. A 6-foot garland frames a standard 36-inch window with a little left over to drape at the corners. From outside, it glows. ...

Every January the same thing happens: the tree box leans in the hallway, the lights sit in a knot on the counter and the wreath ends up on top of the fridge. In a small apartment you live with these boxes for eleven months and enjoy what’s in them for one, so it’s worth deciding where everything goes before you buy any more. One bin No garage, no attic, no storage unit. So the rule is: all your Christmas decorations fit in one bin. Two at most. ...

Most of what makes a room feel like Christmas costs very little: greenery, warm light, something that smells good. The decorations that look cheap are usually the shiny plastic ones, and those aren’t cheap anyway. Here are twenty ideas that each come in under $25. A lot of them are close to free. Things you can pick up outside or at the grocery store 1. A bowl of pinecones. Collect them on a walk, let them dry out for a day, and pile them in a big wooden or ceramic bowl. If you like, touch the tips with white craft paint so they look a little frosted. Cost: nothing. ...