Stairway Decorations for the Holidays

Do you have an open stairway that needs some decorating this year? I love to decorate for Christmas and the holidays. I enjoy the colors and the lights. Decorating a stairway can be fun and pleasing to the eye. The first thing of course it to make sure that you use only items that are safe for children. Are they going to get burned on hot bulbs or shocked from an exposed area if a bulb is broken or missing? Will they get caught in the decorations and fall down the stairs? Be sure to keep this in mind when you choose to decorate the stairway.

Decorating the banister isn’t always the first thing you think about, especially if it isn’t out in the open. Most people just string lights around them or loop them around them. Doing this is a simple way out. To make it look pleasing to the eye as well as safe, try some of these suggestions.

I would suggest purchasing some material that is festive. There are a lot of fabrics just now coming out with holiday themes. Purchasing several yards of this can be inexpensive, depending on what you purchase. Instead of using solid material, think about using mesh. This is light weight, and comes in many colors, and is easily obtained for about a buck a yard. Although this is pretty and shear, it will not work as well if you want to fasten things to it, as it will tear easily if pulled on. These are nice for layering colors. To avoid tearing you can fasten them with hooks, and hang other decorations from these as well.

To drape material on your banisters, you can either wrap them around the banister, and drape part of it so it hangs loosely. You can simply fasten it in place with thumb tacks hidden in the folds of the material, underneath the banister.

Another way to drape material is by fastening it to the banister by purchasing small plastic hooks that have spongy two sided tape that adheres to the surface of most things. This way, you do not have holes left behind. You can fasten the material to the hooks with wire, string or ribbon. When draping the material, be sure to gather extra up on the top side where you are fastening it with safety pins, to give it a swag look. Fasten it to the hook, or place a thumb tack here to keep in place. Repeat this as necessary.

Where you have gathered the material, or at intervals if you have wrapped the material around the banister, you can place large artificial flowers, such as poinsettias or sprays of holly, bows, ribbons and bells. This will hide the fasteners and add more color to your decorations.

If you choose to use fabric or mesh and you plan on having lights with this, be sure the lights will not get hot. Most lights will say if they are cool. If they don’t say or you are not sure, leave them on for an hour or two to see if they get hot. You don’t want the material or flowers to catch on fire. Hanging lights under the mesh fabric gives a wonderful glow and can be hooked up with the fabric, as long as you are sure not to have a bulb where you fasten them to the banister. A bulb in a lot of fabric, even if they are not supposed to get hot, is still a fire hazard. The cool air around the bulb is what helps keep it cool. Never bury a bulb in fabric or any other substance, such as cotton used for snow in nativity scenes.

Hanging bows or stockings along the banister of your stairway is another neat suggestion. These are simple to do and inexpensive. If you can’t afford to buy nice ones, you can add your own glitter and embellishments.

You can also hang icicle lights. These are great for hanging on banisters and come in white or colored, steady or flashing. Another option in lights are the rope lights. These can be harder to work with in this setting, and they aren’t in my opinion as nice looking.

If you are decorating a stairway that is enclosed, try this. Christmas cards make a great decoration. On the front of each step, tack just the front of the cards along the step. This helps also to brighten up a gloomy stairway. You can also lay lights in this area. You can string lights end to end, and work back and forth across the steps, up one side, across, and up the other to the next step. Be sure that these are not going to be in the area you walk. Also, be sure that they are secured well, so that no one trips on the wires. This also brightens dark stairways and can be used year long to brighten them.

Fronts of Christmas cards, new or last years, also make great decorations. You can buy long bows and fasten the cards to the tails of the bows. These can be hung on the wall of the stairway. They add to the homey look and they are great conversation pieces if they are from last year or the year before. You can also leave the inside of the card there if you choose too.

No matter what combination you decide to do for your stairway, always remember to measure first. You want to be sure to get enough the first time out. It can be frustrating when halfway through the decorating process if you have to stop and get more decorations and hope you can still find the same item. Also be sure to be safe, and make sure that there is no fire hazards when it comes to the lights. Have a safe and joyous holiday!