Use the walls
Anybody who has a small space to work with understands the importance of using all available room to its fullest. But when decorating, we often focus on floor space and forget about one valuable resource: the walls. No matter which holiday you’re celebrating, putting appropriately themed baubles on your walls is a great way to brighten up the room without overcrowding it. Think stars or pine trees for Christmas, streamers and number decals depicting the upcoming year for New Year’s Eve or even backlit LED menorahs for Hanukkah.
Play your cards
Holiday cards are a time-honored tradition. They bring us together even when we’re apart, let us know what’s changed in our loved ones’ lives, and are usually really pretty. So, why not show them off? Whether they’re from your friends or family, it’s easy to use cards to brighten up your living space. If you have a mantle or a spare shelf, you can set them all there. Or, you can use safety pins to tack them to the wall. In either case, you’ll be surrounded by well-wishes from people you care about while making your home a bit more festive.
Make everything smaller
If you have limited space to work with, scale down your decorations to match. Elle Decor’s editors have a ton of suggestions, including replacing full-sized trees with single branches or picking up an adorable small tree, hanging up half a wreath rather than a full one, and constructing diminutive centerpieces inside of glass jars. If you have a family, you can even have some fun making them together.
Look up
Just as we tend to ignore wall space when decorating for the holidays, we almost never utilize the ceiling. However, hanging decorations like the Star of David, tiny Santas or banners that read “Happy Kwanzaa” can set the mood without eating up valuable room on the floor. You can even replicate the famous Times Square Ball with something as simple as construction paper and sequins.
Decorate the gifts
If you’re planning on having family over for a gift exchange, consider adding some special flourishes to the packages themselves. Little pine sprigs — real or artificial — seasonal decals and themed wrapping paper won’t just delight the people opening the presents; they’ll make your apartment feel happy.
Work with what you’ve got
Even if you live in a minuscule apartment in the city, you’ve probably got furniture. Since it’s already taking up space, why not take advantage of it? You can hang decorations off of your chairs, swap in some themed throw pillows, add trinkets to your TV stand and deck your fridge out with some festive magnets.
As long as you think outside the box, you can transform any space from a living area into a place to celebrate the season. The potential is limited only by your creativity, so have some fun and let your mind run wild.