Holiday Decorating For Dummies E-Book

Kelley Taylor

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Seitenzahl: 495

Beschreibung

Even if your home's decor hasn't changed since 1976, you can refresh, revamp, and revitalize it at the holidays with just a few simple strokes. Unlike regular decorating - where you agonize over paint colors, upholstery choices, and furniture styles - holiday decorating is easy. Holidays provide a set theme; a color palette; and merchandise and motifs that are usually mass-manufactured, so you can purchase and decorate when you're ready. You may be feeling intimidated about decorating for the holidays, or you may be ready to dive right in. No matter what level of decorator you may be, Holiday Decorating For Dummies shows you tricks that you may not already know. This guide is for you if: * You need easy, affordable ideas to fill your house with holiday cheer * You have no idea where to start and just need some ideas to get you going. * You already have a huge collection of your own holiday stash and need to get organized before acquiring more * You love to celebrate very special occasions: an anniversary, a special birthday, a warm welcome home A flair for decorating isn't necessarily inherited. Armed with clear explanations of how you can achieve beautiful yet practical holiday decorating, planning tips and tricks, crafting basics, care and cleaning tips, storage solutions, and more, you can decorate like a pro. Holiday Decorating For Dummies helps you gain that skill with topics such as: * Discovering tabletop decorating basics * Budgeting time, money, and space * Getting organized * Caring for your decorations * Knowing where to go for ideas and inspiration * Celebrating Valentine's Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving * Decorating for Christmas, Kwanzaa, and Jewish holidays * Embellishing the exterior of your home * Getting crafty with paper, florals, fabric, beads, and embossing * Creating luminaries and etched-glass projects Part decorating guide, part stylist guide, and part craft instruction book, Holiday Decorating For Dummies helps you access the knowledge you need to create beautiful homes and great gatherings that will provide a warm welcome for family and friends.

Leseprobe

Holiday Decorating For Dummies

by Kelley Taylor

Holiday Decorating For Dummies®

Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc.111 River St. Hoboken, NJ 07030 www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2003 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Library of Congress Control Number: 2003101927

ISBN: 0-7645-2570-0

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

About the Author

Kelley Taylor is a freelance craft and home decorating designer and founder of CreatingHomeDécor.com, a site for do-it-yourself decorating and craft enthusiasts. Her work has appeared in several books and publications, and she appears regularly on television shows demonstrating her quick-and-easy home décor projects. Her past work as a visual merchandiser, floral designer, craft editor, and holiday decorator gave much inspiration for this book. Now she knows why she wore so many hats. She and her husband Byron live in southern Connecticut with their son Lex.

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my husband, Byron, who continues to decorate my world with his beautiful, supporting, and loving spirit.

To my son, Lex: Your smile lights up my world. I’m so happy and amazed God blessed me with the miracle of you.

And in loving honor and memory of my sweet companions who passed during the process of this book. Gertie, Stogey, and Scout: The time I spent with you was never enough. You’re missed dearly.

Acknowledgments

So many thanks, so little time. I’d like to extend a hearty thank you to the wonderful staff at Wiley, especially my project editor, Jennifer Connolly, whose knowledge, insight, direction, and incredible patience helped guide the book to make it what it is today. To my copy editor, Christina Guthrie, who can take this designer’s broken text and work her grammatical wand to make it sing, and to Pam Warren, my long-time friend who just happens to be technical editor for this book. Thanks for making sure the ideas presented were explained clearly. I’m so glad we went through instruction-writing boot camp together so many years ago!

A special thanks also goes to my acquisitions editor, Tracy Boggier, and to the graphics department for the wonderful illustrations. And I can’t forget to extend gratitude to my agent, Jessica Faust, at BookEnds. You were divinely sent.

To all the visitors, subscribers, and contributors to my Web site, CreatingHomeDécor.com, thank you for your support and loyalty while I’ve taken a few months off to finish this book. I hope you all feel it was worth it.

Thanks to my family, friends, and advisors — through this process you’ve been a source of strength. And to Blake Edwards — my best friend for about 20 years — thank you for leading my personal cheering section.

An appreciation beyond comprehension goes to my husband, Byron. You are my soulmate, friend, confidant, and rock. Without you my life would not be possible — you have my undying gratitude. And to my sweet little boy, Lex, may you always know that you make every single day a holiday for me. I love you both with all of my heart.

Most of all, thanks goes to God. Without His divine design, there would be no cause to celebrate and decorate these splendid occasions we call holidays. This book was a gift from Him — I hope I’ve done it justice. If so, to God be the glory.

Publisher’s Acknowledgments

We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our Dummies online registration form located at www.dummies.com/register/.

Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

Acquisitions, Editorial, and Media Development

Project Editor: Jennifer Connolly

Acquisitions Editor: Tracy Boggier

Senior Copy Editor: Christina Guthrie

Copy Editor: Greg Pearson

Acquisitions Coordinator: Holly Grimes

Technical Editor: Pam Warren

Editorial Manager: Christine Meloy Beck

Editorial Assistants: Melissa Bennett, Elizabeth Rea

Cover Photos: EyeWire/Getty Images, www.gettyimages.com

Cartoons: Rich Tennant, www.the5thwave.com

Production

Project Coordinator: Kristie Rees

Layout and Graphics: Jennifer Click, Kelly Emkow, Joyce Haughey, Jacque Schneider, Mary Gillot Virgin

Proofreaders: TECHBOOKS Production Services, Brian H. Walls

Indexer: TECHBOOKS Production Services

Publishing and Editorial for Consumer Dummies

Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher, Consumer Dummies

Joyce Pepple, Acquisitions Director, Consumer Dummies

Kristin A. Cocks, Product Development Director, Consumer Dummies

Michael Spring, Vice President and Publisher, Travel

Brice Gosnell, Publishing Director, Travel

Suzanne Jannetta, Editorial Director, Travel

Publishing for Technology Dummies

Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher, Dummies Technology/General User

Composition Services

Gerry Fahey, Vice President of Production Services

Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services

Contents

Title

Introduction

About This Book

Conventions Used in This Book

Foolish Assumptions

How This Book Is Organized

Icons Used in This Book

Where to Go from Here

Part I : Becoming a Holiday Decorator Extraordinaire

Chapter 1: Setting the Stage for Holiday Decorating

Defining Decorating for the Holidays

Clearing Decorating Obstacles

Debunking Decorating Myths

Finding the Pleasure Principle

Sharing Cultures and Religion during Holidays

Finding More Holidays

Chapter 2: Decorating Basics

Accessorizing Basics for the Holidays

Creating a Bag of Tricks

Making Tablescapes

Making Vignettes Appear before Your Very Eyes

Quick Fixes for Decorating Dilemmas

Chapter 3: Discovering Tabletop Decorating Basics

Finding Your Center

Table Setting Basics

Napkin Folding Made Easy

Chapter 4: Finding Ideas and Inspiration

Finding Your Inspiration

Using Inspiration Pieces

Assessing What You Already Have

Part II : The Practical Stuff: Money, Space, and More

Chapter 5: Budgeting Your Time, Money, and Space

Taking Advantage of Time

Monitoring Your Money

Sizing Up Your Space: From Mobile Homes to Mansions

Chapter 6: Getting Organized

Creating A Decorating Notebook

Planning for Holidays Year-Round

Measuring and Laying Out a Room

Chapter 7: Keeping and Caring for Your Holiday Stash

Caring for Your Indoor and Outdoor Decorations

Holiday Item Care and Cleaning Guide

Part III : Getting to the Heart of the Holidays

Chapter 8: Designing a Romantic Valentine’s Day

Finding Your Inspiration

Planning and Organizing Your Holiday Decorating

Decorating in a Flash

More Splash for Less Cash

Jazzing Up Smaller Spaces

Involving the Family

Chapter 9: Celebrating Everything Irish: St. Patrick’s Day

Finding Your Inspiration

Planning and Organizing Your Holiday Decorating

Decorating in a Flash

More Splash for Less Cash

Jazzing Up Smaller Spaces

Involving the Whole Family

Chapter 10: Rejoicing Easter

Finding Your Inspiration

Planning and Organizing Your Holiday Decorating

Decorating in a Flash

More Splash for Less Cash

Jazzing Up Smaller Spaces

Involving the Family

Chapter 11: Being True to Red, White, and Blue: Independence Day

Finding Your Inspiration

Planning and Organizing Your Holiday Decorating

Decorating in a Flash

More Splash for Less Cash

Jazzing Up Smaller Spaces

Involving the Whole Family

Chapter 12: Creating a Graveyard Smash: Halloween

Finding Your Inspiration

Planning and Organizing Your Holiday Decorating

Decorating in a Flash

More Splash for Less Cash

Jazzing Up Smaller Spaces

Involving the Family

Chapter 13: Displaying Gratefulness at Thanksgiving

Finding Your Inspiration

Planning and Organizing Your Holiday Decorating

Decorating in a Flash

More Splash for Less Cash

Jazzing Up Smaller Spaces

Involving the Family

Chapter 14: Decking the Halls at Christmas

Finding Your Inspiration

Planning and Organizing Your Holiday Decorating

Decorating in a Flash

More Splash for Less Cash

Jazzing Up Smaller Spaces

Involving the Whole Family

Chapter 15: Decorating for Kwanzaa

Finding Your Inspiration

Planning and Organizing Your Holiday Decorating

Decorating in a Flash

More Splash for Less Cash

Jazzing Up Smaller Spaces

Involving the Whole Family

Chapter 16: Celebrating Jewish Holidays

Finding Your Inspiration

Observing the High Holidays

Having a Khalohm (Dream) of a Happy Hanukkah

Celebrating Purim

Honoring Passover

Chapter 17: Taking the Holidays Outdoors

Coordinating Your Interior and Exterior Themes and Décor

Considering Your Options

Securing Decorations Without Harming Your Exteriors

Embellishing Exteriors

Part IV : Crafting for the Holidays

Chapter 18: Getting Started Crafting

Busting Common Crafting Misconceptions

Getting the Right Tools and Materials

Taking Precautions

Making Room for Making Stuff

Going with the Flow

Chapter 19: Crafting with Fabric (Sewing Optional!)

Choosing Fabrics for Your Holiday Projects

Sewing a Chair Runner

Creating Place Mats

Fashioning Tablecloths

Making Napkins

Crafting Pillow Covers

Designing Throws

Chapter 20: Providing a Finishing Touch with Paper Crafts

Using Store-Bought Decorations

Creative Paper Crafting

Wrapping Gifts Like a Pro

Chapter 21: Taking Advantage of Flower (and Botanical) Power

Creating Arrangements

Making Wreaths

Assembling Grand Old Garland

Helping Flowers and Botanicals Last

Chapter 22: Embracing Embossing

Embossing Velvet

Embossing Metal

Embossing Paper

Embossing Clay

Chapter 23: Painting Decoratively

Prepping to Paint

Stenciling with Style

Leaving Your Mark with Stamping

Embellishing Items with Decorative Painting

Putting on Other Finishing Touches

Chapter 24: Working With Transfers

Tinkering with Transfer Mediums

Transferring Images onto Fabric

Transferring Designs onto Wood

Transferring Images onto Clay

Transferring Designs onto Glass, Ceramic, or Porcelain

Transferring Designs onto Metal

Chapter 25: Creating Luminarias

Creating Paper Bag Luminarias

Making Metal Luminarias

Choosing Other Mediums

Chapter 26: Beading Beautifully

Beading Fabric

Adding Beads to a Variety of Items

Stringing Beads

Attaching Your Beads

Chapter 27: Etching Glass

Getting Started

Itching to Etch

Part V : The Part of Tens

Chapter 28: Ten Quick and Easy Ways to Decorate for the Holidays

Decorate Your Door

Hang Something

Light Something

Rearrange Something

Color Your Home Festive

Deck One Hall (or Room)

Accentuate a Focal Point

Make a Centerpiece

Place a Plant

Hire Me

Chapter 29: Ten Tips to Make Your Holiday Decorating Less Hectic

Planning Wisely

Being Realistic

Using Organizational Tools

Multi-Tasking for Efficiency

Having a Plan B

Getting a Little Help from Your Friends (or the Pros)

Shopping Smarter

Taking Breaks

Not Sweating the Small Stuff

Realizing What the Holidays Are All About

Appendix: Holiday Resources

Helpful Holiday Contacts

Free Online Holiday Craft Projects

Craft Supplies

Holiday Decorating Catalogues and Online Resources

: Color Insert

Introduction

H oliday decorating can be elegant, whimsical, minimal, or over the top; holidays can hold significant meaning and tradition, or exist mainly for a rip-roaring good time. Either way, during each holiday throughout the year, people gather, celebrate, entertain, and, of course, decorate, which can be a challenge to your time, budget, and space.

Many books have been published on the subject of decorating, crafting, or decorating each holiday specifically, but I wanted to write a reference guide that you can easily and quickly use to decorate the major holidays — a guide containing simple decorating, craft and holiday ideas, techniques, and tricks that resist any obstacle of time, money, and space.

And that’s what you’ve got right here.

Although I would’ve loved to, I couldn’t include an expansive, all-inclusive, let-you-know-everything-there-is-to-know about each holiday in this volume (who could move the darn thing it would be so thick?). But what I have given you are the basic fundamentals for designing your holidays, your way.

Holiday decorating is for anyone and everyone who loves to celebrate very special occasions. And a holiday isn’t limited to the ones listed in this book! An anniversary, a special birthday, a warm welcome home — all these are holidays that we cherish and want to celebrate. So this book shows you how to plan, budget, and decorate any of the special occasions in your life, no matter what your budget can afford, what skill set you may have, or what living arrangements may be bestowed upon you now. And the best part is you can just skip to the sections that interest you.

Decorating for the many holidays throughout the year is rewarding. It allows you to stretch your creative muscles often and shake up your décor a bit. Armed with this book, you can find numerous ways of using what you’ve already got and start accurately planning for your next holiday or special occasion confidently.

About This Book

This book is for you if:

You have no idea where to start and just need some ideas to get you going.

You’ve already got a huge collection of your own holiday stash and need to get organized before pilfering and plundering.

You need an all-in-one reference in order to decorate most of the major holidays.

Part decorating guide, part stylist guide, and part craft instruction book, Holiday Decorating For Dummies helps you access the knowledge you need to create beautiful homes and great gatherings that anyone would feel welcome in.

Even if you don’t fall into any of the groups I mentioned, this book gives you clear explanations of how beautiful yet practical holiday decorating is done. You don’t have to worry about suggestions of over-the-top decorating here — that I’ll leave to you. I present only basic ideas that are easy to grasp (and do) and give you the insights and idea starters to help you become your own best decorator.

You find planning tools, decorating ideas, decorating tricks, crafting basics, care and cleaning tips, storage solutions, and more. All you have to do is pick what you’re interested in and go. Dive in!

Conventions Used in This Book

When I refer to holiday decorating, I use it in the broadest terms imaginable. Normally, when people talk about holiday decorating, the Christmas season comes to mind. In this book, when I discuss holiday decorating, I include all holidays in general and how to decorate for any or all of them.

Holiday decorating is an easy topic to explain, although there will be times when I use the terms visual merchandising and styling to complete a look. These are simply conventions I use to describe the attractive arrangement of items in a designated area. Visual merchandisers — people who make displays in department stores make merchandise look more appealing — are pros at making unique arrangements that make you stop and take notice. Stylists — people who are hired by ad agencies, celebrities, magazines, and photographers — make things look beautiful for the lens of a camera. They usually design, protect, sculpt, and carve out a brand image for their clients. They primp and prop homes for beautiful photographic shots.

So when I talk about how you can style and visually merchandise your home by making beautiful holiday vignettes, you can know that it’s just a fancy schmancy way of saying, “Make it look purty.”

A couple other conventions:

When I introduce a new term, the word is italicized.

Keywords in bulleted lists are bolded.

Web sites and e-mail addresses appear in monofont to help them stand out.

Foolish Assumptions

I assume that you know what a holiday is and that you know this book doesn’t contain entertaining ideas or recipes for holiday cooking, or concepts on home decorating. For those subjects, I suggest that you pick up a copy of Christmas Cooking For Dummies, by Dede Wilson, or Home Decorating For Dummies, by Patricia Hart McMillan and Katharine Kaye McMillan (Wiley).

I assume that you have very few crafting skills, so the instructions I give are very basic techniques that you can adapt as you need them. Although the instructions may be basic, each project is suitable for any crafting skill level, so don’t shy away from trying any project I include in this book.

How This Book Is Organized

This book is organized in parts to help you find what you need a little more easily. Each part covers an aspect of holiday decorating, so you can just go to the section that applies to you or your situation. Here’s a rundown of what you’ll find.

Part I: Becoming a Holiday Decorator Extraordinaire

Whether your desire is to have the best decorated house on your block, or you need quick tips on how to set a buffet, you find the decorating basics you need in this first part of the book.

I’ve gone to great lengths to show you from the get-go that even though you may have to overcome various challenges, you can easily get on your way to decorating whatever holiday you choose with style, fun, and panache. Because holidays seem to be a bit overwhelming in general, I spend quite a bit of time getting you focused on the hows and whys of decorating. But I also show you how to find ideas from things around you every day, and how to pull a whole look together by using an inspiration piece. You’ll have fun collecting decorating skills from which you can build a firm foundation.

Part II: The Practical Stuff: Money, Space, and More

In Part II, I show you how to get yourself, your money, and your time organized, so that you have more realistic expectations when it comes to holiday decorating.

This part shows you how to make a decorating notebook complete with project plans and design space-planners for every room in your home, and it gives you a good start at getting it all together — not just for the holidays, but period.

You also find out how to care for and clean the treasures you have, and you find neat little tricks on how to store unique items that are exclusive to holiday decorating (like how to keep those darn lights from tangling!).

Part III: Getting to the Heart of the Holidays

In each holiday chapter, I start with a planning and organizing section, giving you simple reminders of what else you may need to plan around or count on during each given holiday season. Make notes in the margins around this section of anything you have personally planned that time of year, so you can organize everything accordingly.

To begin the decorating process, I give you an inspiration piece list that breaks out common items normally associated with each particular holiday. I also list color palettes, and I give you some ideas for using botanicals and fabrics when shopping for each holiday.

Along with the inspiration piece list, you find sections for just about any decorating challenge you may think you have. For instance, if you’re low on time, go immediately to the “Decorating in a Flash” section where you find ideas for quick-and-easy decorating. It’s a valuable resource for those of you who are on the go.

If you just don’t want to spend a lot of money decorating for a holiday, the “More Splash for Less Cash” section helps you find cost-effective ways of decorating. “Jazzing Up Smaller Spaces” illustrates wonderful ideas for inflecting just a small holiday touch to those small spaces we all have. This section’s also good for those who live in cramped or temporary quarters because most of the ideas are geared for space-saving solutions and temporary installations that go vertical instead of taking up floor space. Heck, I guess that’s good for anyone to know.

Perhaps every holiday I’ve ever celebrated always involved my family or friends. That’s why I loved giving ideas on how you can involve your family (or friends) in decorating for the holidays at the end of each chapter. Most crafts and creative projects are great for kids of all ages, meaning that you can enjoy roping in grandparents and friends in a good, creative mess that then turns into decorations.

Part IV: Crafting for the Holidays

Being the crafty do-it-yourselfer that I am, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to give you a valuable section of general craft techniques that you may find helpful in completing your holiday décor.

Many of the techniques I explain are very, very basic, so even small children can do them with supervision. Some of the crafts I include are paper crafts, crafts involving metal and wire, crafts with flowers and botanicals, embossing, painting, etching, and sewing. (Actually, you don’t have to sew to make a few of the fabric accessories — I give no-sew instructions for most, so if you can glue and iron, you can complete the projects.)

Remember that you don’t have to craft anything in this book to decorate. But isn’t it nice to know that you have everything in one place if you decide you want to? Have fun. Spend a little creative time making something by hand, by heart.

Part V: The Part of Tens

No For Dummies book would be complete without a Part of Tens. In this part, I give you a couple of lists that are easy tips for holiday decorating that can be quickly accessed through a “top ten” format. Keep these tips in mind when decorating for the holidays.

Icons Used in This Book

As you glance through this book, you find a few icons that draw attention to specific types of information you may find helpful to note. Here are the icons I use in this book and what they mean:

The tip icon points you to little tidbits of information that you may find helpful when completing projects, planning, or decorating in general. It may also guide you to a few more creative ideas or variations you can try to adapt from any of the decorating projects or ideas I give you.

This icon points to information I want to remind you of. (Sorry if I preach too much.)

Be sure to pay attention to this icon. I only use it to alert you to something that may be hazardous to you, your family, or your friends.

I use this icon (found mostly in the craft chapters) to give you creative ideas that help take your crafts to the next level — think of it as a way to adapt your crafts to look more like what the pros may do.

Where to Go from Here

This book is laid out so that you can pick it up at any point, in any place, and find the information that you need to know. If you already have a good, basic knowledge of how you like to decorate, or you have a huge amount of holiday décor just waiting to be placed, you probably want to tackle the first part of the book that tells you how to lay out, style, make vignettes, and decorate in general. If you haven’t even begun to think about decorating for a holiday, still try to read the first of the book. It may help you define what kind of holiday decorating you want to do and get you on your way.

If you love to make things, you may try going straight to the holiday chapters and make notes of the items you want to try to make. Then you can flip to the craft instructions to whip up your own holiday creations.

At any point, you can always come right back to the table of contents to find what you need quickly.

So, without further ado, let the holidays — and the decorating — begin!

Part I

Becoming a Holiday Decorator Extraordinaire

In this part . . .

Holiday decorating is a blend of playing the parts of set designer, prop stylist, interior designer, visual merchandiser, and homeowner. You didn’t know that you were so skilled, did you? Don’t ever let decorating intimidate you! In this part, I give you holiday decorating basics along with the tricks and tools to plan, dream, and decorate for holidays with stunning style.