It’s been a while, eh? I have really neglected this whole blogging lark in 2019 but with a little downtime over the holidays, I’m going to attempt to reboot the blog (again).

Between one thing and another, I haven’t been feeling very Christmassy. It’s been a tough year for us personally and for a lot of our friends and family too. It’s also hard to get excited for Christmas when there’s so much political uncertainty and there are so many people out there suffering, or finding this a really difficult time of year. I haven’t felt the same desire to go mad buying Christmas presents, or decking out the house in decorations, so we’re going for a more minimal approach this year, which, in truth, is more our style anyway.

Last weekend my lovely brother Sean and his partner, David visited us and we had the best weekend, going to the Belfast Christmas Market, enjoying a few drinks in town, followed by some impromptu dancing in our dining room and kitchen (poor Alexa got some serious abuse). In advance of their arrival, I forced myself to get our tree and garlands up and I’m so glad I did. Even if you’re feeling a little Bah Humbug, a little bit of festive faffery is good for the soul.

So, I thought I’d jump on and share a little quick 5 step guide to pimping your Christmas garlands; if you’re not in the mood to deck the whole house out in decorations, adding a little greenery and a few baubles is a happy compromise and adds a little festive touch, without being OTT.

Step One: Add your Base with Artificial Garlands

First up, I dug out our artificial garlands from last year - I’d managed to nab a couple of the White Berry and Eucalyptus Garlands from The Range (a bargain at £16.99 each) for our bannister and another one with blue berries for our mantelpiece. Sadly, they’re now sold out but do keep an eye out in case any pop up in the sales as they’re great quality and, in the interests of sustainability, will last for years to come.

I quickly tied these onto our bannister with ribbon, with a little help from himself - it’s a little trickier to do solo but is possible, with a little patience.

Step 2: Get Your Baubles Out
My garlands were inspired by the lovely Susannah Hemmings on Instagram, and this is a repeat of the method I used last year, for our first Christmas in our new home. I already had the baubles, which I had also picked up in The Range and Sostrene Grene, and - in unusual good foresight on my part - had even packed them away with the garlands. I had also packed away the little bits of garden wire used to attach them to the garlands, so was ready to go.

Step 3: Tie on your Baubles

Using garden wire, tie your baubles in random places across your garland. The more random the better but I do think they look nice with little groupings of two or three together. Be careful if you have your festive nails done btw, I broke a few of mine, wrestling with the garden wire.

Step 4: Bulk out with Real Foliage

I could have left the garlands as they were but the artificial ones do tend to be a little on the skinny side and adding some extra greenery just makes them look a bit fuller and more substantial. Last year, I picked up real pine tips (likely offcuts from trees that were pruned) in the garden centre section of either The Range or B&Q for something silly like £3 a stack but for the life of me I couldn’t find them anywhere this year.

However, on a visit to Linen & Latte, my lovely local lifestyle store in Glengormley, I discovered that their in-house florist, Bridget at Hill House Flowers had lovely bunches of really full, bushy pine sprigs that were perfect and had the most incredible pine scent. I picked up a bunch of this for £7.50 and a huge bunch of eucalyptus for £15 (enough for the garlands but also a big bunch for a vase too) and then set about pruning and tying on little sprigs to my garlands with garden wire.

The finished result is a much fuller, more realistic and fragrant garland, which has just brightened up our hallway no end.

One other update that’s made a big difference this year is our recently painted front door. Previously, it was a really tired dreary mahogany. Last month, my wonderful father-in-law came to stay and painted the inside of our front door in my favourite Sulking Room Pink (colour matched from Farrow & Ball by Johnstone Paints), as well as painting all of our internal windows white.

It took a little persuasion to convince Dom on this one; he initially agreed to paint the back door pink back in the summer and, after months of nudging, eventually relented [gave up] and let me have the inside of the front door too. The outside is a more masculine graphite grey to match the windows - marriage is all about compromise, eh?

The addition of the pink door has just lifted the whole entranceway and everything feels so much more fresh and modern. It also routinely makes me smile - it’s such a simple change but one that’s had a big impact.

N.B. I took the pics below before the extra foliage was added to the garlands but they’re better pics of the door (there’s not much natural light at this time of year), so hey ho, you’ve got to make content while the sun shines.

Step 5: Repeat in a more relaxed ‘wing it’ style for the mantelpiece

In the living room, I took a similar approach, bulking out last year’s artificial garland with some faux sparkly eucalyptus and the real pine and eucalyptus stems. This time, I didn’t bother tying them on to the garland - I just loosely arranged the stems, pushing them in through and under the garland. It’s not an exact science but more than a week on, it’s still in tact, smells heavenly and hasn’t collapsed, so I’ll take that as a win. Particularly as I didn’t bother moving anything off the mantelpiece - the candles, vases etc are all just nestled in behind it. I won’t chance lighting the candles though, fear not, at least not without moving them somewhere anyway.

I also didn’t want to move our lovely little string of hearts (from BTS Concept Store in Coleraine) off the mantelpiece as it seems so happy there - the same can’t be said for all my houseplants - so it’s adding an extra bit of greenery, trailing down to the floor on the right hand side.

So, that’s it - 5 simple steps to pimping your Christmas garlands. Hope it’s been helpful.

I initially set up this blog to be a space to share things that I’ve found or experienced that are ‘worthy of an eye heart emoji.’ Truth be told, I’m beginning to realise that having more stuff doesn’t make you happy; it’s time well spent with friends and family and making memories that matters most - you can’t put a price tag on that, so I think I’ll focus, where I can, on experiences with the people I love in 2020.

Just today, I booked a last minute surprise pre-Christmas trip for Dom and I. We’re heading to The Surfer’s House in Portrush - a delightful and super stylish Air B’n’B that belongs to artist, Sara O’Neill and her surfer fiance, Al. I’ve been wanting to stay here for ages, so, in the spirit of rebooting the blog, will definitely come back and write about our stay.

We’re checking in tomorrow and checking out Christmas Eve. Looking forward to some fresh sea air, some good food and drink and then catching up with Dom’s family over the holidays, before heading down to Clare in the New Year to see my family. A low key, relaxed Christmas with family and friends is on the cards and I couldn’t think of anything better. I mean, what else do you actually need?