Making your holiday decorations go the extra mile

I hope you had a very Merry Christmas! We certainly did.

I'm going to sound like Scrooge here, but one part of Christmas that I don't particularly care for is decorating. I like having Christmas decor up, and trimming the tree together is fun, but hauling box after box of decor out and moving around everything that's already in our home to make room is a lot of effort to me—especially when I know I'm going to have to turn around and pack everything back up in a month or less (because heaven forbid we enjoy our Christmas decorations after the presents are unwrapped!).

So when I saw an article in last Sunday's paper about getting the most out of your holiday decorations—how to make them more useful year-round and how to save money, too—I fell in love. Here are a few awesome things I learned:

• For quick changes, get large clear vases.

You can change out the contents by season (or month) to help give your home a holiday feeling. The best fillers are often free: leaves in the fall, Christmas/Valentine's/Easter/Halloween candies you're buying anyway (especially when separated by color), ornaments you already own, etc. I'm pretty sure some of the other Wayward Girls use this trick already!

Source: bhg.com via Janet on Pinterest

And speaking of cheap:

• Sometimes the best decor is free—just waiting for you to go outside and pick it up.

Natural decorations are almost always seasonal. We already do this in a big way during Christmas time with evergreen trees and wreaths (real or fake; I don't judge!).

In the winter, pine boughs, pine cones, and white-bark tree branches like birch and aspen, look timeless and chic throughout the season. Nothing says spring like flowers. Fall leaves, acorns and the like are really the hallmark of the season. And all these can go great with the first suggestion ;) .

If you don't have these things around, you can often find them for cheap at craft stores. Jaime found a bag of red and yellow fall leaves at the dollar store this year. While it doesn't sound as cool as actual items from nature, one plus to fakes: you don't have to go looking for them every year (and they don't turn brown and crunchy!).

Source: etsy.com via Diana on Pinterest

You can also incorporate this principal in other ways. One person in the article said she used a red cardinal theme in her Christmas decorations. The birds last through at least Valentine's day without looking like she forgot to take down her Christmas stuff!

• Candles are quick change artists.

Using candles in the colors (and scents!) of the season is a quick way to change the look of your home. You can also make more seasonal candles like these awesome Wayward Girls' crafts:

If the plates and holders are neutrals (including neutral colors, white, clear, or metal), you don't even have to change them!

Possibly best of all, candles are small and easy to store. Three small boxes of candles (for the three seasons of the year we're not in right now) take up probably less room than my current Christmas decorations.

Source: vintagerosegarden.tumblr.com via Grace on Pinterest

Source: flickr.com via Abegaile on Pinterest

• Love to entertain? The most versatile colors for plates are clear (one person loved to use scrapbook paper beneath them for a really custom look), white, and red.

Red might be a bit of a surprise, but a quick search of Pinterest proves red plates are festive all year:

Source: homes-interior.com
via Kelly-Laugharne on Pinterest

Source: cacareco.net via Maria on Pinterest

Source: s151.photobucket.com via Kristin on Pinterest

Source: karaspartyideas.blogspot.com via Cathy on Pinterest

Source: google.com via Susan on Pinterest

Now, I'm not getting rid of any Christmas decorations yet. But for 2012, I'm going to look for some of these things and think about how I can incorporate them into my home—and maybe I'll stop resenting decorating quite so much and start actually doing it a little more!