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Feature

Creatively Decorating a Small Space

By Audrey Carli

Decorating for Christmas may be a challenge when you live in a small space, but there are plenty of affordable and creative steps you can take to brighten the holidays in your home. I’m blessed with many creative friends who shared their best decorating ideas with me so I can pass them on to you!

My friend Jenny created a holiday atmosphere in her apartment with simplicity and minimal cost. “I made a collage of Christmas symbols,” she said. “I put pictures of angels, stars, trees, carolers and other holiday scenes on paper, then hung the collage on the wall. On a table, I put an array of votive candles on a tray.” She also trimmed her tall green philodendron with multi-colored miniature lights. “My plant shimmered like a real tree!”

Jenny’s parents faced a similar challenge as they began decorating their new retirement condo. “My parents bought a small artificial pine and trimmed it with tiny lights. My uncle offered them some pine boughs from his stand of evergreens on his farm. They sprayed the pine boughs with canned snow and placed the bouquet in a large vase on the coffee table. Mother circled the arrangement with shiny new ornaments creating an elegant scene in the small living room.”

Another friend, Salina, invited me to her apartment to see how she decorated on a tight budget. She made a background of luminous red paper and pasted bright fabric scraps and letters that read “MERRY CHRISTMAS” on the paper and hung it in her living room. She placed a fat red candle in a glass container and it added cheerful warmth to the room.

My neighbor, Deanne, went to her uncle’s rural home where she collected bare branches that she spray-painted white. “I hung silver icicles on the branches and wound a string of white lights around them. It was beautiful!” She also trimmed her doorframe with her Christmas cards. “Before long, the entire frame displayed the cards—at no extra expense!”

Downsizing to a smaller space is challenging, but creativity and resourcefulness can make the transition easier. Jenny summed it up for me: “Jesus was born in a plain stable with a manger for a crib. Ordinary, simple decorations give us the time to share Jesus’ love with others.”

AUDREY CARLI writes inspirational articles and books. The mother of a son and three daughters, Audrey spends her leisure time reading and hiking.