• Your home's color scheme


• A favorite holiday decoration


• A piece of fabric


• Colors based on chosen motifs (such as beaded fruit, pine cones, etc.)


• Colors from your childhood (candy canes, tinsel, etc.)


• Hues appropriate to your theme (silver and white for a snowflake theme, for example)


• Colors from a beautiful wrapping paper


• Store displays


• Magazine photo layouts


• Ribbons


• See more Christmas Colors and Sample Schemes

Harmonize with Existing Interiors - If your home is done in warm tones of gold and red, don't fight it by trying to use icy silvers and whites in holiday decor. Or, if you have a contemporary interior in black and silver, don't put up a rustic tree with twig garlands and blue cloth angels. Enhance your own interiors by choosing decorations that play up your existing colors, themes, and motifs.

Ease Transitions from Room to Room - Whenever possible, coordinate your holiday decorations in related spaces. The easiest way is to repeat colors -- but vary their use -- from room to room. For example, in a scheme using red and gold, use more red (with gold accents) in the family room and more gold (with red accents) in the adjacent dining room. In the living room you might use all gold and in the kitchen all red. This keeps decorations from getting boring while adding continuity throughout.

Tie it up with Ribbon - Ribbon can be a unifying element in holiday decorating. Use the same ribbon everywhere, or buy it in contrasting colors (for example, a gold ribbon with red stripes, and a red ribbon with gold stripes) to use in various rooms. Purchase varying widths of the same ribbon so you can use narrower around candlesticks and wider on wreaths and garlands.

Using ribbons and bows will add color and a holiday mood to garlands, wreaths, mantles, swags, candlesticks, and more. Learn a simple way to make floral bows to use anywhere in your home.

It's a great investment to purchase wire-edged ribbons. These can be saved from year to year, and the wire edge allows precise arranging into perfect bows, swags, or loops. Once you decide on the ribbon to use, be sure to purchase enough to accomplish your decorating. You can always return the extra.

Go to Christmas Decorating Principles Learn more about using design principles to assist your holiday decorating.

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