Decking My Halls - Part 1

I am busy decorating for Christmas (still not done).  It is taking a lot of time since I am only able to do a little each day.  Rather than waiting until it's done to blog about it all - I'll post little by little just as it is going up!

So come on in!

Ballard designs has this beautiful picture of a home at christmas time with garlands lining the arches and I was inspired!

I have been on the lookout for a nice fake garland that is simple but real looking.  When I saw that Costco sells 25' of live garland for just $14.99 I flipped.  It smells and looks wonderful!!!  There is nothing that gets me more excited than beautiful cheap decor!

 Each arch took about 20 feet of garland and I cut off the remaining 5 ft to use on my stair banister.  So for $30 I got two large arches and my stair banister covered in beautiful live garland - what a deal!

This is how I hung the garland - those are command hooks lining the arch (six hooks for each arch).

Here is the entryway bench looking festive with a couple Christmas pillows added to the mix.

Here is the banister.  Ignore the droppings on the carpet - I should have vacummed BEFORE the picture!

You may be able to tell that the garland on the left is fuller than the garland on the right.  I only bought one garland from costco last week to try it out then went to the store again yesterday to buy the second one.  So obviously there has been some significant shrinkage and drying out in just one week.   :(    I am now misting the garland with water every couple days in hopes that it will last until Christmas.  I'll let you know my verdict at the end of the season - I may be searching for fake once again!