I live in an apartment in suburbs, in a high-rise. Our apartment is a 60 sq.m. apartment (About 650 sq.ft). There is a big living room, a hallway, a bathroom, a kitchen, a bedroom and a balcony.
I am holiday crazy, so I want everything decorated from floor to ceiling.
It helps to divide the area one needs to decorate into sections, go through everything on paper, and then decorate it in one go, as it's best to store all the decorations in types, rather than "kitchen decorations" - that makes it easier to store them, see new possibilities in decorations, switch up things a little, and mend and replace certain items. If all your lights are in one box (or set of box, if you have a lot), you can just take that box out of the storage and put it back when the fix is done.
I start in the order people enter my home, that is, at the front door.
As I live in a high rise, multiple home house, the fire safety is important, and all the decorations outside the apartment should be kept flat and fire resistant. There shouldn't be any loose parts that can fall to the floor as people pass the door, as that causes more work to the cleaning personnel. I nevertheless choose to put a small wreath on my front door. Ideally it would be painted metal.
The fun really starts when one opens the door. I usually try to put the punch in at the entryway, to create the sensation of entering magical fairyland, almost like stepping through a portal to Narnia or Santa's workshop or something seasonally appropriate like that. To create that, one is to be greeted by all the five senses - now - in practice it's only three, as taste and touch are basically impossible to stimulate without the participation of the subject :-D But, it should look magical, smell magical and sound magical. It is, of course, appropriate to give the people entering an opportunity to taste and touch as well, so there is a welcoming treat table at the door, and things that invite people to touch them.
Now, this magical fairyland shouldn't hinder the use of the entryway.
The entryway has two uses - one for the people who live in the home and another for guests. Both should be accommodated. My idea of how to "season" this is to make it feel as if you entered the seasonal fairy's home. :-D
(The seasonal fairy - at Yule that's Santa, of course. At Ostara the Bunny. You see, "fairy" is a name for a magical being of any description, and each Sabbath has a "personification".)
Of course, I imagine all these fairies' homes to be different, but mine is the same all the time - and I am not a personification of a Sabbath :-D So I have to disguise my personal items, to fit the theme. It's like giving your home a masquerade costume.
In my hallway this means:
- the rug
- chair covers
- garland framing the doorways made of seasonal floristry (for example, at Yule it's evergreens, at Mabon Autumn leaves)
- I hang the holiday cards on the mirror frame
- the pictures are either changed to seasonally appropriate images or "holidaised" :-D (bunny ears on people in pictures, or santa hats etc.)
-
The second part of the apartment is the bathroom, which is going to be used by everyone, household and guests alike.
It is important to me that the bathroom is clean, and feels clean, too, so there shouldn't be that much things. Basically just the season appropriate textiles, towels, and so on.
The living room is on the one end of the apartment, so I'll tackle that next.
There are a couple of special spots in the living room.
1) the big window. It is important to me to decorate the windows in every room, and this, the biggest of them all, is extra special.
2) the tableau scene
3) the sweet table - here will be all the candy, cakes and other such things set on the Big Day, and the candy will be here during the whole holiday season.
4) the "tree"
Also, the sofa needs to be decorated with seasonal textiles, cushions and blankets, the mantelpiece needs to be decorated, and the coffee table.
The kitchen is on the other end of the apartment
Now, I do have a "back door" to my apartment, as I have a balcony, and that door can be decorated as lavishly as I wish :-D I usually decorate my balcony as if it was my porch.
I also try to remember that that area is what the neighborhood sees, so it's a bit of my "Christmas light" area - a gift to my neighbors and a reminded of what the season is all about.
We also see the balcony from our kitchen table, so that needs to be minded as well when decorating the balcony. What goes on should be enjoyable from inside as well, and I don't want to hide the God's decorations either - after all, what goes on in the nature surrounding the house and the neighborhood is more important than what I decorate :-D I want to see the changing of seasons in the nature as time goes by.
The last is the bed room, where the guests aren't welcome :-D (of course they may enter if I want to show them something, but bedrooms are private.)
I have created myself a handy little table about the correspondences of the different Sabbaths. It is easy to just "convert" an idea to fit any Sabbath.
I love the creativity of people celebrating different holidays, especially Christmas and Halloween, and this makes it possible for me to extend my own imagination to decorate for the lesser known Sabbaths, like Lughnasadh. The poor darling...
So, how to use this?
You find a nice photo, but let's say it's a photo of a Christmas decorated kitchen, and you want to change it to fit your Lammas. It has cute little café curtains made of a jolly Christmas print. So, get cute little café curtains made of a jolly Lammas print. There's plenty of prints with wheat, but if you can't find any, take something with soft sage green or gold.
There is a large wreath in the window. That's easy to replace, with a wheat wreath or similar.
The kitchen textiles should, obviously, be Lammas themed, green, golden brown, wheat colored, yellow, maybe with roosters. Gingerbread houses are perfect for Lughnasadh, but not decorated with white icing, because it's not winter - duh :-D Change the garland into one with lammas motives and colors. You can't find a lot of these special holiday items for Pagan Sabbaths in stores, but you can make a lot of them yourself.
Now, there's a lot of witches, ghosts, bats and cats around for Halloween, but not much for the Autumn feasts - at least not the same style. I can find something similar, easily, for Ostara, Yule and Samhain, but the rest of the feasts are a lot more difficult. Now, for Mabon, I replace things with forest animals, especially foxes and squirrels.
I am holiday crazy, so I want everything decorated from floor to ceiling.
It helps to divide the area one needs to decorate into sections, go through everything on paper, and then decorate it in one go, as it's best to store all the decorations in types, rather than "kitchen decorations" - that makes it easier to store them, see new possibilities in decorations, switch up things a little, and mend and replace certain items. If all your lights are in one box (or set of box, if you have a lot), you can just take that box out of the storage and put it back when the fix is done.
I start in the order people enter my home, that is, at the front door.
As I live in a high rise, multiple home house, the fire safety is important, and all the decorations outside the apartment should be kept flat and fire resistant. There shouldn't be any loose parts that can fall to the floor as people pass the door, as that causes more work to the cleaning personnel. I nevertheless choose to put a small wreath on my front door. Ideally it would be painted metal.
Scott Gustafson - St. Nicholas in His Study
The fun really starts when one opens the door. I usually try to put the punch in at the entryway, to create the sensation of entering magical fairyland, almost like stepping through a portal to Narnia or Santa's workshop or something seasonally appropriate like that. To create that, one is to be greeted by all the five senses - now - in practice it's only three, as taste and touch are basically impossible to stimulate without the participation of the subject :-D But, it should look magical, smell magical and sound magical. It is, of course, appropriate to give the people entering an opportunity to taste and touch as well, so there is a welcoming treat table at the door, and things that invite people to touch them.
Now, this magical fairyland shouldn't hinder the use of the entryway.
The entryway has two uses - one for the people who live in the home and another for guests. Both should be accommodated. My idea of how to "season" this is to make it feel as if you entered the seasonal fairy's home. :-D
(The seasonal fairy - at Yule that's Santa, of course. At Ostara the Bunny. You see, "fairy" is a name for a magical being of any description, and each Sabbath has a "personification".)
Of course, I imagine all these fairies' homes to be different, but mine is the same all the time - and I am not a personification of a Sabbath :-D So I have to disguise my personal items, to fit the theme. It's like giving your home a masquerade costume.
In my hallway this means:
- the rug
- chair covers
- garland framing the doorways made of seasonal floristry (for example, at Yule it's evergreens, at Mabon Autumn leaves)
- I hang the holiday cards on the mirror frame
- the pictures are either changed to seasonally appropriate images or "holidaised" :-D (bunny ears on people in pictures, or santa hats etc.)
-
The second part of the apartment is the bathroom, which is going to be used by everyone, household and guests alike.
It is important to me that the bathroom is clean, and feels clean, too, so there shouldn't be that much things. Basically just the season appropriate textiles, towels, and so on.
The living room is on the one end of the apartment, so I'll tackle that next.
There are a couple of special spots in the living room.
1) the big window. It is important to me to decorate the windows in every room, and this, the biggest of them all, is extra special.
2) the tableau scene
3) the sweet table - here will be all the candy, cakes and other such things set on the Big Day, and the candy will be here during the whole holiday season.
4) the "tree"
Also, the sofa needs to be decorated with seasonal textiles, cushions and blankets, the mantelpiece needs to be decorated, and the coffee table.
The kitchen is on the other end of the apartment
Now, I do have a "back door" to my apartment, as I have a balcony, and that door can be decorated as lavishly as I wish :-D I usually decorate my balcony as if it was my porch.
I also try to remember that that area is what the neighborhood sees, so it's a bit of my "Christmas light" area - a gift to my neighbors and a reminded of what the season is all about.
We also see the balcony from our kitchen table, so that needs to be minded as well when decorating the balcony. What goes on should be enjoyable from inside as well, and I don't want to hide the God's decorations either - after all, what goes on in the nature surrounding the house and the neighborhood is more important than what I decorate :-D I want to see the changing of seasons in the nature as time goes by.
The last is the bed room, where the guests aren't welcome :-D (of course they may enter if I want to show them something, but bedrooms are private.)
I have created myself a handy little table about the correspondences of the different Sabbaths. It is easy to just "convert" an idea to fit any Sabbath.
I love the creativity of people celebrating different holidays, especially Christmas and Halloween, and this makes it possible for me to extend my own imagination to decorate for the lesser known Sabbaths, like Lughnasadh. The poor darling...
Samhain
|
Yule
|
Imbolc
|
Ostara
|
Beltane
|
Litha
|
Lammas
|
Mabon
|
|
color
|
orange
black
colors of soil and root
vegetables
|
red
green
gold
silver
|
white
red
indigo
pink
purple
ice blue
silver
black, grey
colors of soil and stones
snow and ice
|
yellow
green
pastel colors
|
green
white
red
pink
|
blue
orange
colors of water and sun/fire
|
green
brown
gold
colors of grain and cereals
straw, dry grasses
|
burgundy
orange
colors of wine, grapes, and
autumn leaves
|
symbol
|
pumpkin
|
firtree
|
candle
|
egg
|
flower
|
sun
|
ear of wheat
|
leaf
|
tableau
|
Ceridwen
Hekate |
Birth of the Sun
|
Brighid
Idunn |
Cybele
|
Freya
Chloris/ Flora |
Death of the Sun
|
Ceres and Persephone
|
Mabon
Dionysos |
ghosts
witches
monsters
|
gnomes
santa
elves snow people cailleach |
angels
Brigid
fire creatures
snow people gruvrå |
Easter bunny
|
fairies
sprites, elves
sinipiika |
merfolk
water creatures
näkki bäckahästen kelpies selkies |
maahinen
vättar
vittror jordrå
the fairy people who live in
mounds
|
fauns and nymphs
baccants
skogsrå huldra |
|
Animals
|
black cats
bats
crows
|
pig
reindeer
robin and other winter birds
|
wolves
burrowing animals
sheep red and white winterbirds, like bullfinch, redpoll and snow bunting |
bunnies
chicks
lambs
|
white deer
goat
cow
butterflies
spring birds, especially lark and finch
|
fish
horse
wren swallow swan |
mice
rooster
sparrow
bull |
leopard and other spotted
cats
hunting dogs
blackbird
|
Flowers
|
black :-D
marigold
bare branches
|
evergreen
Christmas flowers, like
poinsettia, Christmas rose, hyacinth etc.
|
snowdrop
white flowers
pussywillows
|
daffodils
spring flowers, especially
crocus, tulips
|
starflower
birdcherry
hawthorn
elder
rowan
bluebells
liverwort
buttercup
wood anemone
lily of the valley
|
daisy
summer flowers, especially
the ones that bloom on meadows,
rose
peony
- birch
|
poppy, cornflower, daisy –
flowers that bloom on corn fields
sunflower
grain
lavender |
chrysanthemums and dahlias
wine
ivy
maple
|
So, how to use this?
You find a nice photo, but let's say it's a photo of a Christmas decorated kitchen, and you want to change it to fit your Lammas. It has cute little café curtains made of a jolly Christmas print. So, get cute little café curtains made of a jolly Lammas print. There's plenty of prints with wheat, but if you can't find any, take something with soft sage green or gold.
There is a large wreath in the window. That's easy to replace, with a wheat wreath or similar.
The kitchen textiles should, obviously, be Lammas themed, green, golden brown, wheat colored, yellow, maybe with roosters. Gingerbread houses are perfect for Lughnasadh, but not decorated with white icing, because it's not winter - duh :-D Change the garland into one with lammas motives and colors. You can't find a lot of these special holiday items for Pagan Sabbaths in stores, but you can make a lot of them yourself.
Now, there's a lot of witches, ghosts, bats and cats around for Halloween, but not much for the Autumn feasts - at least not the same style. I can find something similar, easily, for Ostara, Yule and Samhain, but the rest of the feasts are a lot more difficult. Now, for Mabon, I replace things with forest animals, especially foxes and squirrels.
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