Showing posts with label christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label christmas. Show all posts
Staging the Christmas Mantel Four Guidelines
Staging the Christmas Mantel Four Guidelines
Is yours staged for the season? Make it the rooms focal point and make it reflect the tone of the season.
Heres my simple formula for staging a mantel that calls attention to the fireplace without taking over the whole room.
One: Set the stage so people touring your home immediately imagine themselves enjoying the fireplace.
I love to see a table and chairs in front of the fireplace, as though this were the perfect spot for a romantic meal.
Or you can position a loveseat or couch facing the fireplace. If a couch takes up too much room, place chairs flanking the hearth either facing outward or towards the fire.
Two. Dont let the black hole of the firebox be the black hole in the room. You can create distractions on either side of the opening that bring the area to life.
I made a pyramid shape tree of grapevines wrapped around an inverted wire tomato cage topped with a golden angel. On the other side of the hearth, I added a shabby Rudolph planter who makes an appearance at our house every year.
Greenery in vessels is always a winner for softening the dark hole of the fireplace. Other seasonal props you might have available are vintage toys, wrapped gifts, a basket or bucket of kindling or pinecones, a rack of logs ready to burn, or a fancy screen. Just be certain to place your décor so it does not pose a fire hazard.
Three: Hit all the bumpers. Combine glitzy props with natural elements. This is your chance to expand the appeal of your home to more than one demographic group. Some of your elements will be nostalgic and some will be trendy. Some will be high end style and some will be dollar store cheesey. This is the one time of the year when (almost) anything goes. You can tone things down again in January.
Four: Repeat colors and shapes. Start with some kind of color scheme, and everything will flow. In this room, I veered towards the browns and greens plus white and silver. You cant go wrong there. I also repeated the conical shapes of evergreens as well as the sphere shapes of ornaments and beads.
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If you follow these simple guidelines, I know youll stage a fireplace that helps sell you home. Be sure to read my post, Seven Steps to a Gorgeous Fireplace Mantel from two Christmases ago! And for more ways to prep your home for the real estate market, be sure to download my $4.99 eBooks.
Staging the Christmas Mantel Four Guidelines
Platform bed christmas woodworking plans nativity
Platform bed christmas woodworking plans nativity
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This Seasons Darling The Tabletop Christmas Tree
This Seasons Darling The Tabletop Christmas Tree
“How do I decorate my home during the holidays?” Thats one of the most common questions home sellers ask at this time of year.
The simple answer is, “It depends.” It depends on whether you usually celebrate Christmas or Hanukkah in a traditional way.
It depends on whether children live in your home, and how nostalgic you are.
It depends on how uncluttered you want your home to look.
It depends on what your personal taste is, how much space is available in your home, how big your budget is, and what your schedule looks like.
One thing is for sure: there’s always room and some money for a tabletop tree. It’s seasonal, but ecumenical. It’s decorative, long-lasting, and fashionable. No matter what style your home reflects, you’re bound to be able to buy or DIY a small artificial tree for the holiday season.
I’m talking about the tabletop trees that measure less than 18 inches – cute little things that bring a touch of color and maybe even humor to the smallest space. Spaces like a bath vanity, a foyer table, a bookcase, mantel or nightstand.
I went a little crazy this year making tabletop trees for gifts, for clients, and for myself. Along the way I learned a few what not-to-dos, and discovered some quick and cheap ways to make them look special.
The two conical trees pictured above are the same Epsom salt-covered ones I used in my tabletop display. I just popped a silver ornament on top of each, and set them on matched silver candlesticks for a different look. The felt flower topiary in the fake pewter pot is leftover from the tutorial I did last Christmas. It stored well. I just freshened it with some new spaghnum moss, and a bow in my favorite holiday color.
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| A dish towel with beads glued on, some pasta painted silver, and a burlap cone dressed in ribbons and pipe cleaners -- each one makes a different kind of miniature Christmas tree. And not one of them was difficult to make. It fact, it was fast and fun! |
Make Similar Shapes
If you’re going to be making more than one tree, I suggest making all your trees somewhat similar. You have enough to do without starting from zero with each DIY project. I used a cone shape for most of my trees. You can buy Styrofoam cones, floral foam cones, or paper mache cones. You can also fashion light weight cones from cardboard or poster board.
Get Inspired
Let your materials inspire you. As usual, I gathered up odds and ends and craft supplies from around my house that I wanted to use or recycle. Having a stash at your fingertips prompts creativity. Look for fabrics, jewelry, natural objects, ornaments, paint, or paper that speaks to you and fits with your décor.
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| Pedestals and bases make a big difference. Try different styles until you find the right one for your tree. I liked the look of milk glass under my one candy and two ribbon trees. |
Create Contrast
You can mix it up so each tree is unique and interesting. Put a funky burlap tree in a shiny silver planter. Add a glitzy snowflake to the top of a humble Kraft paper tree. Place new with old, rough with smooth, glossy with dull, black with white.
Think Sturdy
If you want your trees to last over time, so you can bring them out again in years ahead, make them strong enough to be packed away. That means nothing flimsy, and nothing perishable that might invite mold or animals. My pasta tree and candy tree are “annuals,” rather than perennials.
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| Corrugated cardboard (one layer peeled away), felt, and tulle, are the makings for little trees. Trees this size make easy work of decorating a mantel, even a narrow one, for the holidays. |
Economize
Look for ways to save money by substituting less pricey materials for what you’d purchase finished at craft stores. I found I could make a paper mache cone by wrapping a store-bought one with aluminum foil and adding layers of newsprint smeared well with school glue. Once it’s hardened, you can slip the $4 cone out, so you have an extra cone (or more if you want to repeat the process).
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| The driftwood tree is just sticks, glue and shells. The middle tree is sheet moss I glued to a cardboard cone cut from half a sheet of poster board, set on a metal candlestick. And the topiary is sea glass glued to a plastic salad spoon stuck in sand-filled hypertufa pot. |
Last year topiaries captured my heart. This year, I am infatuated with tabletop trees. And I’m not the only one. I’m seeing them in all the stores, in magazines, online, and on Pinterest. On my own Pinterest Tabletop Trees Board, I’ve already pinned over 45 of my favorites, and I know I’ll add more. Are you smitten with these little trees? Have you made one?
Let Me Help You Stage
Do you have a home on the market? Have you staged it? No matter where you live or what your home is like, it’s already staged, vacant or inhabited, clean or cluttered – it’s staged! You might as well stage it to sell! Download my $4.99 eBook, DIY Home Staging Tips to Sell Your Home Fast and for Top Dollar, so you can quickly and thriftily improve the marketability of your home for sale.
This Seasons Darling The Tabletop Christmas Tree
Making a Greenery Wreath for Christmas
Making a Greenery Wreath for Christmas
If your home is for sale, a holiday wreath is one terrific way to boost your curb appeal. In fact, a wreath on the front door is pretty much a necessity if you want to get buyers curious about whats behind "door number one."
Make your own evergreen wreath, and you’ll save money, create one that’s unique, and have some fun.
What’s the secret to turning out a beautiful wreath that doesnt look homemade? Actually, there are three secrets.
One: Fullness Matters
A novice makes a skimpy wreath. A professional makes a lush one. A full base of greenery is more important than what decorates it. If you aren’t able to gather or purchase all the greenery, you can buy a plain evergreen wreath as a start.
Two: Embellishments Count
For a professional-looking wreath, choose striking ornaments. Choose ones with color or shine, ones that tell a story or make people smile, ones that might even be…how can I say this…gaudy. They need to be dramatic to stand out. No wallflowers if you want some noticeable curb appeal.
Three: The Focal Points the Thing
A wreath isn’t finished until it has a singular statement piece. It’s usually the bow, but it can also be a super-sized ornament like a doll or other figurine like a feathery angel or a sparkly snowman. It could be an over-the-top silk flower arrangement, a printed banner, or a vintage toy. Without the focal point, the greenery wreath is nothing special.
When your home is for sale, your wreath can be part of your selling team. Have it emphasize what’s unique to your home. It might capitalize on what’s special about your town or your part of the country. It might reflect the carefully chosen color scheme you’ve decorated your exterior or interior with. It might mimic the style of your home, such as classy traditional, hip mid century modern, charming cottage, or edgy urban.
Start with the Base
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| Your wreath makings can be simple or an assortment. Just make sure theres enough to pack it tight. If your wreath will be seen from both sides, youll need enough to make it round. |
My favorite wreath form is the straw wreath. Besides being the most economical (Have you seen the prices of foam wreaths lately?), it’s easy to work with, versatile, and sturdy – a great start for creating the full look. I wrapped the entire wreath form in florist’s tape because I didnt want any straw showing.
Did you know that as you apply florists tape, you need to stretch it to about twice it length? Stretching activates the wax that makes it sticky. Just stretch as you go, and place where you want it.
Whether you have a collection of various greens or a stash of one variety, get it all together and discard or trim damaged foliage. If you plan to use your wreath indoors, you can prolong its life by soaking the foliage stems in water overnight after cutting them.
Ideally, you’ll have free or low cost sources for the base of the wreath, possibly trimmings from your yard or from a fresh Christmas tree you buy. Along with traditional coniferous greenery like juniper, pine, and false cypress (hemlock and spruce will shed), I like to mix in shrubbery and broadleaved evergreens like boxwood, mountain laurel, pittosporum, nandina, English ivy, holly, magnolia leaves, eucalyptus, or whatever else I can collect.
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| The first cluster gets wired on. I used 26 gauge wire. Alternate your clusters of greenery so that the entire form is covered, including the sides. |
Use medium gauge wire or heavy twine to attach greens to the wreath form. To start, wrap it once around the wreath and secure it. Then, cluster a handful of greens, lay it on the wreath with one hand, and wrap the wire over the stems and around the wreath two to three times with the other hand.
Continue all around the wreath form, staggering the clusters of green so that one cluster hides the stems of the previous cluster. I prefer using wire because it’s easier to keep it tight, and that’s important as you continue around the wreath form. When you’ve come full circle, twist the wire or tie the twine, and make a loop for hanging.
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| Make a wire or twine loop at the top of your wreath. If you are unsure of where you want the top, you can save this step for later, but its easier to add it earlier than later. |
If the greens look crooked or untidy, you can trim stray greenery with scissors or pruners. A common mistake beginners make is to have a shaggy wreath, but I like a bit of that loose look.
Pick in Your Ornaments
Ornamentation is either wired on, picked in, or glued onto a wreath. When the wreath base is made of wire, you’ll need to wire the ornaments onto it. On a foam or straw base, you’ll either glue on or pick in the ornaments. Picking lets you put ornaments exactly where you want them so they will stay there until you take them off. Glued ornaments aren’t easily removable.
If you’re on a budget, use thrifted, recycled or natural items for ornaments. After-Christmas sales are an ideal time to score on some wreath-making ornaments for next December. If free, natural objects like nuts, shells, seed heads, twigs, and pinecones look too ordinary, give them a hit of silver or gold spray paint.
Here’s how to make a pick, the way a floral designer showed me, the “load and lock” way.
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| This is how a pick should be fastened to make it wiggle-free, with a wire that loops back between the stem and the pick. |
Picks come in different sizes. Lay the pick large enough to accommodate your cluster next to the stems. Make one turn around the stems with the wire that’s attached to the pick. Then, make a figure eight of the wire between the stems and the pick. Keep the wire tight, and continue to wrap it around the stems and the pick. This figure eight locks the cluster so it stays in place instead of swiveling or going nutsy on you when you add it to the wreath.
Add the Star of the Show
Craft stores and craft departments are full of items to put that all-important exclamation point on your wreath. If there is one place I’ll splurge a little, it’s on the one statement ornament. But youd be surprised how some spray glitter or spray snow on a thrift store find can deliver glam results!
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| Rather than a bow, I chose an ornament from my stash to be the centerpiece of this wreath. The pewter bells on a silk cord are designed to announce visitors arriving! |
If a multiple-loop bow is your focal point, I have five tips for making it a winner: Use wired ribbon, don’t skimp the number of loops (10 on each side of the center is about right), use florists wire to tie the center, keep it tight in the center, and fluff it up!
If you want a more romantic bow, here is a tutorial from Diane at In My Own Style.
If you want a simple, tied bow that stays straight instead of going all crooked on you, Kristi at Addicted 2 Decorating can show you how.
Some of my tips for wreath making don’t apply to novelty wreaths. If you’re crafting a wreath of felt flowers or buttons or pine cones, you may not need a focal point.
If you’re building on a wire or foam wreath, you might tie ornaments on with lengths of florist wire or chenille ties instead of wooden picks.
If you’re making a wreath of coffee filters or rags or feathers or driftwood, the wreath itself is the statement and whatever you add to it depends on personal style.
But if you’re turning out a wintry evergreen wreath, my tips will help you make it look polished and complete.
Whether your Open House is to lure buyers for your home on the market, or to share holiday cookies with your neighbors, or host your annual New Years Day bash, a wreath on the front door welcomes in style whoever knocks on your door. If you make it yourself, you can make it special.
And to help you lure those buyers, download my $4.99 ebook, DIY Home Staging Tips to Sell Your Home Fast and for Top Dollar, for tips and tricks the pros use to stage homes that sell.
Making a Greenery Wreath for Christmas
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Beginner wood christmas beading projects holiday
Beginner wood christmas beading projects holiday
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Festive Staging Prop Extrodinaire How to Make A Christmas Topiary
Festive Staging Prop Extrodinaire How to Make A Christmas Topiary
Even if you are staging an otherwise vacant property, a topiary never looks out of place. Use one to pretty up a kitchen island, add some color to a bathroom vanity, or decorate a mantel.
Last year I made topiaries from boxwood cuttings. This year I made some from felt circles, folded and pinned onto a foam ball. What I love about this DIY project is that it looks elegant but not formal.
The container has the appearance of antiqued silver, but its just a throw-away plastic flower pot. The edges of the felt are cut with pinking sheers, which I think adds an evergreen-like texture.
You can change the bow style and use your topiary at other times of the year as well -- pastel polka dots for springtime, multi-colored ribbons for summer, and raffia or burlap for autumn.
By then, youll be living in your next home, having sold your house thats now on the market!
The Container: What You Need
- 4-inch plastic flower pot
- Stones (or dried beans) to add weight the container
- Dry floral foam, enough to fill flower pot
- Scissors
- Marking pen that will show on side of container
- Glue gun and glue sticks
- Four or more thumbtacks (optional)
- Metallic silver spray paint
- Black craft paint
- 2-inch paint brush
- Disposable bowl
- Disposable latex gloves
- Rag
The Container: How to Do
Place stones in bottom of plastic container. Use a common, nursery flower pot that is flexible enough to withstand a thumbtack puncture without shattering. The stones will compensate for the top heavy ball of felt flowers.
Fit pieces of floral foam into container, creating a tight fit that will support the stick that is the stem of the topiary.
Using the marking pen, draw lines on the sides. You can use a strip of cardboard to guide you if you are not comfortable about drawing freehand. It doesn’t have to be precise.
Lay the container on its side. Heat the glue gun and trace the lines you made. With the glue gun, draw a swirl or star or an initial in the center of each side.
Practice with the glue gun on a scrap of cardboard if you are unsure of your design, and how much control you have with the gun.
Let the glue on each side harden for a few minutes before continuing on to another side. (Remember not to let the glue gun sit unattended if you have children or pets.) Prop the bottom of the container up with the pen if the pot is tapered so much that the hot glue will run down the side of the pot.
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| Your finished pot should look something like this. |
The best results come from wiping each side both horizontally and vertically after you have applied paint to the inside rim and all four sides, then dabbing with the rag to remove any streaking. Work quickly, and do not let the paint dry before you can dab it to the look you want.
The Topiary: What You Need
- 3-inch round glass or plastic cup
- 3-inch sphere or square of dry floral foam
- 2 9- x 12-inch pieces of medium green felt
- 1 9- x 12-inch piece of chartreuse green felt
- 1 9- x 12-inch piece of light green felt
- 1 9- x 12-inch piece of medium green felt
- 1 9- x 12-inch piece of olive green or blue green felt
- Ball point pen
- 72 straight pins
- Scissors
- Pinking shears (optional)
- 18-inch bamboo stick or straight branch, about ½ inch in diameter
- 4 feet wired ribbon
- Sheet moss or sphagnum
The Topiary: How to Do
Using the glass or clear plastic cup, and a ball point pen, trace 12 circles on each felt square. If there is a small amount of overlap, the circle can be slightly askew, but the edges should all the curved. I like using the clear container because youre able to see the entire circle as you draw it. Each sphere will take about 72 circles of felt -- more or less.
Using scissors, cut between the circles, so that you have 12 squares. I found cutting the felt into strips of four circles, and then cutting crosswise into individual squares makes the work go quickly.
Using the pinking sheers (or ordinary scissors), cut just inside the lines, so no ink shows on the edges of the circles.
I chose dry floral foam instead of white Styrofoam because it is easier to insert ordinary straight pins without wearing out your fingers. If you prefer Styrofoam, you can use pins with round heads. If using the square of floral foam rather than a sphere, use scissors and shave corners from the square until you have a roughly round sphere, about 3 inches in diameter
Mark the center bottom of the foam sphere with a small hole, where the topiary stem will go. Begin attaching your felt circles at the top, working in circles as you move down the sides of the sphere. I used the lightest greens at the top, but you might prefer a random pattern of mixed greens, or place the light ones in a band around the middle.
Alternate the direction of the individual circles as you go. You can fine tune the arrangement when you’ve got all the folded felt circles pinned on. Check that the hole you’ve made in the center bottom stays at the center of your design. Push the pins firmly into the foam.
Find the center bottom hole and insert the 18-inch stick straight into the bottom of the foam. Insert the other end into the foam in your antiqued silver container. If the stick is unsteady, add some hot glue to keep it centered, checking the position of the stick from all four sides to be sure it is perfectly perpendicular.
Cover the surface of the foam in the container with sphagnum or sheet moss. Tie or glue a bow made from the 4 feet of wired ribbon.
No pinking shears? No problem. You can still make a beautiful felt topiary, like the white one above (perfect for a wedding favor or centerpiece). And if you dont want to decorate with designs or thumbtacks, simple lines, like the ones in the fourth photo above, will still add the look of weight to your humble plastic flower pot.
Home staging props like topiaries are important elements of home staging. Props like pillows, lamps, books, and plants add the finishing touches to your staged spaces. Learn more about staging your own home for sale from my $4.99 ebook, DIY Home Staging Tips to Sell Your Home Fast and For Top Dollar.
Festive Staging Prop Extrodinaire How to Make A Christmas Topiary
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