Using Ornaments in Christmas Decor

I’m still working on my full Christmas home tour (look for that next week!), but in the mean time, I wanted to share one of my favorite accessories for holiday decorating: ornaments! Using ornaments in Christmas decor is an easy way to bring some sparkle and shine to any room. Last year, I managed to pick up a pack of 101 shatter proof ornaments during an after Christmas sale and I put them to good use this year, especially on our mantle.

5 Tips for Using Ornaments in Christmas Decor

A few tips when you’re planning to use ornaments in your decor:

1. Buy shatterproof ornaments: These can get banged around in vases, bowls, etc., and often times roll away. Using shatterproof means you can be a little more rough than if   you used glass ornaments. Plus, if you step on one, no big deal. I know from experience.
2. Choose your colors: Choose a color scheme, be it a monochromatic look, or a mix of colors. In the past, I used red and silver . For this year, I added in some gold to play off of the plaid ribbon I used throughout the house. However, all of one color can look amazing too, especially if you take this next tip into account.
   

   Various finishes on garland

3. Use various finishes: Using a mix of finishes brings visual interest. Personally, I love a glitter ornament but using all glitter ornaments might be a little much (even for me). I mix in matte and other shiny finishes.
4. Mix sizes: from oversize yarn ornaments in baskets with blankets, to mini-ornaments to fill a pitcher, ornaments can range in lots of sizes. In a bowl, it may make sense to layer the smaller on top of larger ornaments so you can pile them high. On our mantle, I  used mostly the same size for a more uniform look, but the shapes varied a bit.
   

   Christmas mantle

5. Get creative with your vessel: Like with flowers, go beyond a vase or bowl. For the mantle, I filled two Pottery Barn lanterns with ornaments. In the kitchen, a cute little wooden sleigh got the ornament treatment as well. Basically, if there was an empty dish, bowl or pitcher in my house, it got ornaments.
   

   Ornaments in the kitchen

Ornaments are also a cost effective way to make garland look more expensive than it is. There are a ton of tutorials out there on how to make ornament garland, but this one from Between Naps on the Front Porch is my favorite. For the mantle, I hung the ornaments on plain garland (picked up a few years ago from Michael’s) and then added some fairy lights. On the stockings, I hung mini-chalkboard tags to personalize each one.

And check back tomorrow for a two-post Friday! I’ll be hosting the Pretty Pintastic Link Party as normal, and also joining some fabulous bloggers for a blog hop in partnership with At Home.

Happy holidays y’all!