Birmingham interior designer Mandi Smith T transforms homes into holiday showplaces—see her work on the Eckert home. She makes use of ordinary items that yield extraordinary results for placing and maintaining holiday décor. Here, Mandi shares her must-have tools and helpful tips for installing your holiday decor.
1. Fasteners
Wire can be very hard on handrails. Zip ties come in all strengths and sizes to secure garlands and swags to newel posts and handrails scratch-free. Choose green or black ties over white or clear to better blend into the greenery.
2. Fillers
Hardy but not heavy, burlap makes a great filler when a potted plant or arrangement needs a little lift or your favorite vessel needs some extra girth.
3. Liners
Cut a heavy-duty garbage bag to size to create a custom liner that could save your mantel and tabletop (and your sanity) from damage due to a wet garland or leaky vessel.
4. Watering
Tight, mounded arrangements are lovely to look at but can be a mess to maintain. A turkey baster makes easy work of the task. This “Turkey Day” tool works double-duty to add clean water to your vase or to siphon dirty water out without disturbing poignantly-placed stems.
5. Spritzing
By nature, evergreens are hardy, so they are often overlooked in your regular watering routine. Keep them happy, hydrated, and perfectly in place by spritzing them with fresh water every three days or so.