Not long now folks… just a few more days and the Christmas countdown will be well and truly on!
A month today, we’ll probably just have finished our Christmas dinner and will be lying comatose in front of the TV.

We’re already making plans for getting our Christmas tree this weekend. Regular readers will know that this is my favourite event of the entire year. And given my love of festivals — that’s a big claim indeed!

Wherever we’ve lived, we’ve always scoped out a great place to get a real tree. When we lived in Marlow we used to go to a place called Christmas Common (yes, really!) and when we moved, I was bereft at the thought that we might not find anywhere, here in Northants, that was quite as good.

I needn’t have worried though.

We have the Welford Christmas Tree farm just down the road, which I’ve written about before.

It’s SO Christmassy there; the aroma of mulled wine and mince pies, mingling with the fresh pine scent from the trees. It’s the perfect way to kick off the festive season.

But trees aside, I wanted to share an idea for some alternative Christmas decor, that I created last year. It was all a little bit last minute, so I didn’t get the chance to show it last December.

But I made a pact with myself (and Lou from the fab website, Hello Party, who kindly sent me some of the bits and pieces I used to create this look — thanks Lou!) that I’d eventually write a blog post; showing how decorating a staircase with honeycomb balls can give the most spectacular, festive look.

Decorating a Staircase with Honeycomb Balls

Paper pom poms, honeycomb balls, hanging fans — you can get so many fantastic shapes and colours these days.

I used a combination of teal, gold, grey and white, which sat really well with our dark grey walls and wooden bannister.

The possibilities are endless though, you could have have any number of combinations.

You could even choose balls of the same colour — in varying sizes — for a fabulously cohesive look.

Hello Party have got a great selection; the teal, white and grey ones came from there, whilst I sourced the gold ones from Amazon.

If you didn’t manage to find exactly the colours that you were looking for, you could always try your hand at making some of your own. I made paper fans a couple of years ago, which would work just as well. Have a look at the tutorial if you missed it.

This year I’m thinking of mixing it up a little.

Whilst I love the rich tones of last year’s selection, we’ve just painted the bannister and spindles of our staircase, which has given the stairs a totally new look.

I’m thinking that a mix of hot pink, orange and peach could be a winning combo for 2018! Not particularly traditional, I grant you, but after creating my Mexican inspired tree for Style at Home magazine, I think that hot and zesty colours work so well for Christmas decor.

 

To Assemble

I put up the garland first.

It’s a fake one — faux if you’re posh — that we’ve had for donkey’s years. You could most definitely use fresh foliage if you wanted but our old garland is synonymous with Christmas, so I’ll probably only stop using it when it’s bald and/or has lost all of it’s pine-cones!

Next I assembled the honeycomb balls.

They actually all had double sided tape to stick them together but a good tip is to secure each one with paper clips along the edge instead. This means that they can be reused, year after year.

Once they’d all been formed, I attached them to the spindles with cable ties.

Positioning the pom poms was probably the trickiest bit, if I’m honest.

I wanted them to look haphazard — and have a good mix of colours and sizes along the staircase — but it was definitely easier said than done!! I suspect if you use string — or ribbon — to attach them to the spindles, they might be easier to reposition. Cable ties are fairly unforgiving.

That said, once I was done, they felt nice and secure.

Tripping The Light Fantastic

I finished off by weaving some little copper wire LED lights, that I picked up in Wilko, through the spindles and garland.

It probably took a couple of hours, or so, to assemble the honeycomb balls and put everything in place.

But time well spent, as it definitely looked more impressive than a plain garland. And, with the little lights twinkling, the whole thing looked amazing. Particularly at night.

Et voila. If you’re looking for some alternative Christmas decor this year, decorating a staircase with honeycomb balls might be just the ticket.

Cheap, simple and infinitely more appealing than a bare staircase!

Funnily enough, I wrote a couple of year’s ago about creating an alternative Christmas tree, so there are so many ways to decorate that don’t involve fir trees and tinsel.

And after writing this, I’m now properly feeling festive!

A month today folks!!!! Pom poms at the ready!

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