Getting Your Home Ready For the Holidays

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Leave stress at the door and still have your home ready for the Holidays
#heatherearles #herbnwisdom #naturalliving #chicdecor #shopping #Christmas #holiday #purging #author #blogger #decorating

Last week, we talked about my top Holiday Shopping tips, which will help reduce your stress this season.

Preparing your home for the holidays and making your space your own is another way to help reduce stress.

Your home represents a welcoming atmosphere for yourself, your family, and friends. Welcoming doesn’t mean jammed full of stuff, nor does it suggest, no one can touch anything. There’s a happy medium when it comes to having your home feel welcoming, yet not cluttered, or bare.

Often our homes represent how we feel inside. For instance, when you feel out of control or no longer in control, you tend to collect things or go on buying binges. When you feel happy and satisfied, your home will reflect that. Decorated, yet not overdone.

The holidays can bring unexpected joy, but for some, all they see is what they need to get done. To avoid the latter, try to clean out a room each week before the holiday season approaches. Depending on your home, you may only need a touch up in each room. Or replace a decoration to make it fresh, or for some, a massive purging is in order.

All can be healthy as long as you do things in moderation. In other words, please don’t get rid of your dining room table, clean it off. But if you have extra items like knick-knacks, dishes, and clothes, then gather them up and take them to the second-hand store. If that won’t get done promptly, give them to goodwill.

Clean One Room at A Time

Cleaning one room at a time might sound like common sense, but you would be surprised by how many people skip from room to room and waste time. When you’re touching up, yes, but if you’re doing a deep cleaning, it’s a lot more productive to stick with one room at a time.

How to Set Goals for Each Room

A great way to determine what you want for each room is to find a picture online, in a magazine, and duplicate it.

Not everyone has created ideas, but that doesn’t mean you can’t borrow someone else’s. I love going on Pinterest or looking in a magazine, finding a room I love, and duplicating something about it. It might be an entire wall color, a piece of furniture, or merely a look of simplicity.

Do Not Let Guilt Clutter Your Home

My best friend and I were talking tonight about how we haven’t gone shopping, yet there are still so many unnecessary things that float around in our houses. How is that possible when we seem to purge all of the time?

Well, if you’re married or have kids, that’s one reason, or you may be the person everyone loves to give things to. Being the go-to person can be good and bad. Good because you may need the gifted items. Bad because often, a person has a hard time giving something away they’ve received from someone they love, even if they don’t want it or won’t use it.

In the case of you not wanting something, you don’t need to feel bad. Items are just that, items. They don’t have a beating heart, and they can’t buy you happiness, so appreciate the gesture but regift it or get rid of it so your home can represent you and what you enjoy. In the long run, I promise you will feel better, and your home will feel more welcoming.

How to Change Your Decor for Each Season or Holiday

My mom is GREAT at redressing a room. That’s what I call it. Using neutrals for the wall colors, she changes the decorations for the seasons and holidays to not only freshen up each room but to get the mood of the seasons.

If your home smells like pumpkin pie and golden leaves hang over your door, you think of Thanksgiving and Fall. If you can smell simmering potpourri and see mini Christmas trees lit up, you think of Christmas. Mom has a way of decorating that is not only welcoming but creates an atmosphere of enjoyment and relaxation.

Again, neutral walls, so the decorations or decor can do the highlighting. I’m learning, Mom ;).

How Do I Know If My Space/Room is Welcoming?

To find out how your home or rooms feel, ask a friend. I have some incredible friends who give great advice and feedback when I ask them about a project I’m doing or a room I’ve decorated. Very thoughtful, but very precise, they offer honest feedback every time.

Which Room Should you Start With?

Start in the room where you spend most of your time. By doing this, you make your atmosphere positive right away. For me, the kitchen is the go-to place where I spend most of my time, so I always like it when it’s clean and welcoming.

Guests also tend to hang around the kitchen or dining area so they can visit with the host while the meal is being prepared.

Once you’ve cleaned or decorated high traffic areas, branch out into bedrooms or your office space.

When in Doubt Keep Your Decorations Simple

When you have fewer decorations, they get noticed more. Choosing signature pieces is a smart way to keep within a budget and yet make your rooms look classy.

A signature piece can include a Christmas Tree made from license plates, a windmill wall clock, a Welcome Home sign made from galvanized tin, hanging pumpkins over your breakfast bar. It could even be an old photograph framed or a picture of a cow. You get the idea.

Ask a Friend to Decorate for You

If you are still not feeling motivated or easy about the holidays approaching, ask a friend or family member who enjoys decorating or cleaning to come and help. In fact, you can give them total control over a room. It sounds scary, but you would be surprised what a different view or perspective can do for a room.

I have several friends who would drop everything to decorate or clean a space, crazy I know :). Good friends are always willing to help just be ready to repay the favor when they need advice or a hand.

Great Gift Ideas and Signature Pieces

I’m placing some links below for those of you who would like some more great gift ideas and signature piece ideas.

Gift Ideas

Signature Pieces

All that’s left is for you to start. Start cleaning, shopping, asking a friend for help and prepare your home for the holidays. Remember, any one of these items you can search out locally or in a second-hand store. Above all else, don’t overdo your decorating, keeping stress at a minimum.

Cheers, Friends and Happy Holidays.

–Heather Earles