Easy Decorating Tricks in Time for Christmas Guests

Pressed for time? Need some quick fixes? Here are some easy tricks of the trade for several areas in your home.


• FOR THE WALLS - Make any space more traditional and inviting with a baroque mirror. For that scholarly look, add bookshelves and fill them up with books (no dust jackets). Arrange your shelves by color to draw the attention. Don't include any piece that doesn't blend in. You don't want one item to grab too much attention.
• FOR THE BEDROOM - You can always fake it if you need to. Add some molding up by the ceiling or around the windows. Install a faux fireplace in a room that has little architectural features. Put matching pedestal stands on either side of a window. Place matching vases, plants or sculptures on the pedestals. Hang up a chandelier. To add elegance, paint the whole room one color.
• FOR THE WINDOWS - Add sheers to heavier drapery to soften and take it up a notch. Choose sheers in contrasting colors for even more drama. Lengthen the drapes another 5 inches and let the fabric "puddle" on the floor. Eliminate those big distracting valences. Line your drapes with a polished chintz instead of muslin. Add decorative finials to the top of your window treatment. Edge a panel with light catching crystal beads.  
• FOR YOUR FLOORS - Add a 3 inch leather border to your sisal rug or other natural fiber rug. Spruce up your entry with a runner. Stencil the floor. Add an oriental rug over those hard wood floors. Choose a rug that is a full in the room as possible, but leave 12-15 inches of wood boarder showing all around the rug. Lay a marble floor in your guest bathroom.

Quick Links for Gifts and Sprucing Up Your Home

Gift Wrapping Tips
How to Polish Hard Wood Floors
Displaying Collectibles
Decorating with Rugs

More Holiday Decorating Links

Christmas Decorating Outside
Christmas Decorating on a Budget
Christmas Decorating House Idea
Christmas Decorating Holiday Idea
Carving Turkeys
Roast Turkey
Buying a Turkey

Barbara Jennings is author of 10 decorating books: Decor Secrets Revealed, Rearrange It, Home Staging for Profit, Home Staging for Yourself, Arrange Your Stuff, Advanced Redesign, Pro Art Consulting, Where There's a Wall - There's a Way, The Art of Hanging Art, Great Parties! Great Homes!