Large Christmas garland around the main room archway

Since we updated our kitchen layout few years ago, I wanted to hang the garland framing the large open archway.

During renovation we had the contractor open up a doorway into the kitchen to create an open concept and create a half wall that became a bar.

The open area was finished with drywall and sat like that until I installed plywood ship lap and framed the archway last year.

It does look much better and makes our main living area more open and brightens up the kitchen area as well.

So since I refinished the archway I had a picture in my mind of a large holiday garland gracing that wide opening. This year I worked on it and bought two 10 foot unlit Fraser Fir garlands from Balsam Hill. I already had lights on hand and didn’t want to splurge on the lighted one.

I added small mug hooks to the top of the framed archway and used lots of green zip ties to secure two grams together at the center of the archway with some overlap that allowed me to create fuller focal point.

Also tied bundles of real cinnamon sticks and gold gilded jingle bells. Single bells were a jingle bell garland in the previous life!

I tied greenery bundles with small green zip ties, they’re so versatile and blend in well with the grand.

After I decorated the garland I weaved in a string of lights. The trick is to tuck in lights and wires behind the garland branches, it gives an illusion that the garland is lit from the inside!

I hope this helped and have fun decorating for the holidays!

Warm wishes,

Nadia

This is the kitchen archway opening and diy bar counter. I love how my Christmas garland turned out!

 

I added bundles of faux cedar garland stems and magnolia leaves.
This is where I started after fluffing the garland. I wanted more natural look and not bushy so I had to work on straightening and adjusting the fir branches for good couple of hours! I overlapped the ends of the garlands to create a focal point. Then added faux soft and droopy cedar stems from an old garland from hobby lobby.

 

 

Here is the close up to show you the texture of a garland and light makes it look bit lighter than it really is.

 

Those are the greenery bundles I put together to add to the garland. Soft cedar stems and magnolia leaves, attached with a zip tie to the garland.
This is the before of jingle bells. I used this gold paint to add some shine to them.
Here you can see some of them are painted others aren’t. I prefer the gold embellished antiqued version.

 

This is my garland up close. Also you can see how I used ceramic vase and a holiday mixing bowl to display mini trees. It instantly elevated the look!

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