Let's Decorate that Staircase for Christmas!

Let's decorate that staircase! After all, you want to be in the Christmas Spirit no matter what room of the house you are in, right? Or you can even use these tips just for parties, or office staircases, or you can even go to a complete stranger's house and decorate their staircase! That's the Spirit of Christmas talking.

Feel free to skip any of these steps; you can pick and choose the best ones that you want to do. Or take these ideas and flip them around, add your own twist to them, and personalize them how you see fit.

OK, first what you want to do is measure your stair banister. This way we know exactly how much railing we will be decorating. With garland, of course. Red or green, Green or red, or how about both? You can even choose decorations that match the ornaments on your tree.
Like for example, my ornaments are blue and silver, with blue and white lights. It's shiny, it's different, and all the decorations surrounding the room that my tree is in, match perfectly.

There are two easy ways to decorate with garland:
1. Wrap it around the top of the banister only. Going in between the bars just to have the strand come back over the top of the railing, then back over, and repeat. Using only the top hand rail.
2. Use the above step and also the posts that connect the railing to the steps. Just simply wrap garland around them going down from the railing to the steps.

NOTES:
-Please use caution when decorating stairs, you don't want to fall off the other side, or down the steps.
-Keep in mind who will be walking up and down the stairs, like kids or pets, and make safety arrangements if necessary.
-Another option is to replace garland for Christmas lights.
-Add your own personal touch, decorate the garland after placing it on the banister. Like holly, bead strands, flame-less candles, anything safe that you can hang from the garland.

Each Christmas you check the mail and notice that the Season's Greetings cards keep coming, but there's no place to put them all. Well instead of putting them in a drawer or throwing them out, let's display them. Or if you are already displaying them, then here's an idea for the overflow cards, or just a new option for you.
What you will need is ribbon and small ornaments, if you want, and we will just attach the cards to the ribbon. You can do this with a hole puncher and some of those hooks that you put ornaments up with. These can be strung up on the banister or on the wall in strands or waves. And you can place the ornaments decoratively around the cards. Another option is to tape them to the banister around the garland. But be sure to use painter's tape to prevent paint from peeling.

And next on the list are the stairs themselves. This is for those stairs that have plenty of walking path even if something is on the stairs also. A good idea is small Christmas figurines. They don't take up much space at all, and there are so many to choose from that you can pick the best ones to match your decorations. Or to accent them. Just be careful around small children that might want to play with them and toss them down the stairs, in case they break and leave glass shards behind. Or another option is small Christmas trees with bows tied around the pots.

Christmas scenery, if you have shelves lining the wall behind your stairs, you can take the current decorations away, temporarily, and place Christmas ones there. If you have any pictures hanging on the wall, these can be taken down for a little while, and Christmas ones can be tacked up in it's place. This Holiday doesn't last forever, so don't feel like you are replacing your current knick-knacks. Or have someone get offended because that precious picture of the both of you has been moved, it's only for a short while!

Yet another option for the railing. Instead of garland, try wreaths. Small ones or big, you decide, but these can be placed every so often along the railing traveling up the stairs. You can add green tree like garland to connect them to one another, or even a decorative ribbon. Also, you could hang the wreaths and like them just the way they are. In which case, nothing else is necessary.

This is just a few ideas to get you started, what is really needed to decorate your staircase is imagination. Creativity and your personal touch will make your stairs shine this Season.