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Decorating Without Damage

One of the most enjoyable parts of the holiday season is going hog-wild with the decorations. Unfortunately, not all of us own our walls. So, here’s a little Christmas magic for renters.

Harmless Hanging

Trick For Hanging Christmas Decorations Without Damaging Your Walls

If you’re a homeowner, like me, you have the option to put all the nails and screws in the walls that you could possibly want. Family photos, scenic paintings, even tapestries are all according to your personal taste.

Unfortunately, when you’re renting, this is generally frowned upon. Drilling holes or knocking nails into someone else’s walls without permission simply isn’t done.

This leaves us in a conundrum when decorating for Christmas.

Naturally, the Christmas tree is a free-standing ornament that dominates the room. Every branch stands ready to accept every ribbon, strand of lights and bauble that you can hang on it. Even so, a room looks pretty bare and lacking in holiday spirit if all you’ve got is a tree standing around by its lonesome.

If you have any shelves, knee walls, mantelpieces or other miscellaneous horizontal space, the natural thing is to place candles, bowls of Christmas treats, toys and tchotchkes on top for a decorative tableau. These are also great places to hang garlands, ribbon or even your Christmas stockings.

You can use the painter’s tape trick shown in the video above, but there are also a variety of specialized hangers that are strong enough to hold some of the bigger types of Christmas decor. Some pinch onto the mantel like the clips you hold a tablecloth onto a picnic table with while others are weighted to accommodate a heavier load, such as a stocking full of gifts.

If you’re renting a house, you might have handrails at your disposal. Check out the recommendations from ProFlowers on how to beautifully hang a garland of natural (or artificial, if you prefer) greens from the banisters without causing damage.

Decorate Without Drilling

How to Hang Christmas Garland on Brick : Christmas Flare Decorations

If you have exposed brick, you can use brick clips like the ones demonstrated in this video. For some other ideas, eHow recommends ceiling rails as an ideal solution. This may not be available to you if you are renting, but you can suggest it to your landlord as an improvement to the property since it will make it possible for renters to hang pictures and decor without harming their walls.

There are also products for homes with vinyl siding, but I’d recommend asking permission from your landlord before digging into exterior walls whether these cause damage or not.

Command Hooks are a favorite for renters and homeowners alike. My wife goes crazy for these things, but you do need to keep in mind what the weight restrictions are. I’ve had coats drop from my bedroom wall unexpectedly. The good news is that the wall didn’t come down with it. These handy, replaceable hooks are invaluable for decorating without damage.

Along with the Command Hooks, there are a couple of ideas from ForRent on how to hang without harming the walls.

Renters’ Regalia

Some other great ideas for renters to decorate for Christmas without doing harm to the property include window clings, artificial snow, pre-lighted frames and projectors.

Gift Wrap The Doors

Something that we do each and every year is to wrap bedroom and bathroom doors up like Christmas presents! I first did this to the door of my dormitory room back at college to the amusement of my hallway neighbors.

You can use the same wrap for each door to create a coherent theme or wrap the doors individually to make it look like Santa ran out of room under the tree.

You can do a simple wrap or add ribbons and bows to really complete the look

Door Hangers

For exterior or interior doors, there are a variety of door hangers that will accommodate a wreath or other large holiday ornament. These are also a great option for stockings. Waking up on Christmas morning to find your own personal stocking full of gifts from Santa hanging right outside your door is a special treat for the whole family.

You can’t go wrong adding a little jingle to the holidays by hanging bells from your doorknobs. We’ve got a big bell that hangs on our front doorknob on the inside. It’s a fun surprise for visitors and it really adds to the holiday atmosphere

Window Clings

There are so many types of window clings available from your favorite discount stores and high-end retailers. You can even make your own!

Some clings will stick to windows as well as refrigerators and other smooth surfaces. You can also use the painter’s tape trick to mount other seasonal wall displays.

Artificial Snow

Bringing the outdoors inside with a Christmas tree is one thing, but if Mother Nature isn’t cooperating on the White Christmas proposition, there are a lot of options for making Old Man Winter deliver with different kinds of artificial snow.

One of the most classic of the fake snow options is the snow in a can. You can spray an outline of simulated frost around your window panes even if you’re living someplace where snow never falls. Unlike real snow, it doesn’t simply go away. You’ll need to clean it up when you’re ready to pack away the ornaments.

Another option is dusting your holiday displays with artificial snow in a bag or, if you don’t like having all that loose stuff blowing around, with a blanket of simulated snow for your Christmas Village. Some of them come with glitter or even embedded lights to add to the wintry magic.

Pre-lighted Frames and LED Strips

There are a variety of products such as The Window Wonder™ that can help renters put lights in their windows without staples or tape. You simply take your string of incandescent (Sorry, they say it doesn’t work with LED lights) lights and snap it into the customizable frame to create an enchanting light display for your windows.

The variety of LED strip lights, curtain lights and ornaments available today is amazing. You can create a magical world with these versatile, energy-efficient products.

Projectors

There’s nothing new about projectors for internal Christmas decoration, but the options today are really spectacular. The classic silver Christmas tree came with a spotlight that had a rotating color wheel that caused the tree to change colors. It was cutting edge at the time but effects and projectors have advanced in amazing ways.

Newer versions of the projector can paint the walls and ceiling of any room with snowflakes, candy canes or other holiday icons in a variety of colors. Some of them can even be hidden in the star that tops your tree!

Just remember to take your family and friends into consideration. Swirling displays may be fancy, but they can upset some people’s equilibrium. The last thing you want to do is give someone a case of vertigo instead of holiday cheer.

I love Christmas, not just because of the presents but because of all the decorations and lights and the warmth of the season. ~Ashley Tisdale

Small Apartment Christmas Decorating Tour! | 24th Day of Christmas 2015!

Just because you can’t drill holes all over the place doesn’t mean you can’t put on a spectacular holiday display. Even renters with strict landlords have a lot of options to celebrate the holidays in style.