Decorating & Design
November 21, 2018
10 Budget-Friendly Holiday Decorating Ideas For A Luxurious Look
It’s easy to get carried away during the festive season, but you can rein in spending without feeling like your home is missing out. Here are some budget-friendly holiday decorating ideas to help make it look like you pulled out all the stops.
Anytime you can choose a unique, personal detail rather than buying something off the shelf, it looks elevated. Pick a color scheme that matches your table linens, or a room’s palette. The cracker materials are inexpensive (you can use remnants from wrapping paper, or even wallpaper for the overlay), and can customize the treats inside for your guests.
Learn how to make DIY: Custom Christmas Crackers.
Once very hard to find, warm metal (including trendy rose gold and copper) flatware is now widely available, in a range of reasonable price points, such as this set from Shop House & Home. Gold flatware glams up a holiday meal and reflects the warm glow of candlelight, making a table look rich and luscious.
Sometimes it only takes a hit of luxe materials to make something look sumptuous. The proof is these gifts, which are wrapped in old-school style velvet and grosgrain bows. For a fuller bow, opt for a generous width.
An easy way to make any item — even a found piece of birchbark, a pine cone, sprig of boxwood or acorns — look like a treasure is by putting it under a glass cloche. Here a grouping of foraged finds look like a curated collection, and it’s an easy way to create a holiday vignette.
Fur is such a luxurious, wintry holiday element. These DIY stools are topped with faux fur to create a cozy perch for guests. They are actually made of budget luggage racks, but you can also try reupholstering thrift store benches. Pull them up by the fire and they’ll become the most sought after seats in the room.
Learn how to make a DIY: Faux-Fur Stool.
Anything that’s displayed in multiples looks extravagant, but that doesn’t mean the item itself has to be. Here a glass bowl filled with pine cones and clementines stands in for a pricey holiday centrepiece, and adds a dash of color to a casual table.
Step away from the Poinsettia. We know they spell ‘holiday,’ but if time is on your side, why not force some Paperwhites or narcissus bulbs instead. The fragrance is unmistakable, the white blooms are wintry, and a grouping of Paperwhites make a great hostess gift. The cost per bulb is about $1. It takes about 4-6 weeks for them to flower, but they don’t require earth and can be grown in a shallow dish on river rocks or crushed pebbles by adding water.
A signature wrapping paper is easy and inexpensive to create, and it will impress everyone on your nice list. This paper requires only basic craft supplies to transform gifts into stylish displays with plenty of holiday cheer.
Learn how to make DIY: Wood-Block Stamp Wrapping Paper.
Using a beautiful tray or set of tongs lends a sense of occasion to a holiday meal. If you’re lucky enough to already own heirloom silver, the holidays are the time to get out the polish and make them sparkle. If you need to start from scratch, it’s possible to pick up a fancy silver serving piece or tray for a song at thrift stores, online auctions and antique malls.
Want to make your table look like it was graced with a collection of heirloom vessels? H&H interiors director Meg Crossley transformed dollar store vases using a simple technique. For a budget alternative to flowers, snip some houseplant leaves and gild them with spray paint.
Learn how to make DIY: Gilded Leaves.
Tracey Ayton
House & Home December 2016
Corinne Isherwood