Christmas Banister Garland with Ornaments
How to create a lush and full Christmas garland for your banister with ornaments and ribbon.
This post may contain Amazon or other affiliate
links. As an Amazon affiliate I earn from qualifying purchases.
My full disclosure policy can be found here.
Hi friends and welcome to another Pinterest Challenge, hosted by my friend
Cindy at
County Road 407. Each month, a group of blogging buddies takes on a
new challenge, inspired by a Pinterest image. This month, there is no image,
but there is a theme...
Christmas Banister/Railing/Porch Garlands.
If you're coming from Decor to Adore, welcome! I'm sure you loved Laura's fun swinging 60's themed garland!
How many of you are stumped when it comes to adding a garland to your stair
banister or your porch railing? We are here to give you lots of ideas and
inspiration as well as tips! You'll find all the links below.
How to Hang Christmas Banister Garland with Ornaments
I'll be honest that I'm someone who has struggled with hanging banister garland in the past! It can be tricky, and unless you have oodles of money to drop on a gorgeous garland that needs no embellishment, most of the thrifty garlands are going to need a little help to look their best!
And that is exactly what I'm going to show you today...how to create a lush
and full Christmas garland with ornaments and ribbon.
Let's get started!
Supplies
- 9 foot lighted garland ( similar here)
- 2 6-ft eucalyptus garlands
- green pipe cleaners
- about 40 shatterproof ornament balls
- scissors
- ribbon (I used this striped ribbon)
- red berry picks
I'm not sure where I bought my 9-ft garland, I know I got it on clearance
several years ago. The lights are still working on it, which is awesome! You
could always purchase an unlit garland and add your own lights.
I started layering my garlands a couple years ago, because I really wanted
that full and lush look but didn't want to spend $100+ on a Christmas garland.
You can see how I beefed up the
garland on my Christmas mantel
last year.
Designer tip: the trick here is to use inexpensive garland that acts as a
base or filler, mixed with a nicer garland
I did the same thing this year with the garland for my banister. I hung the
lighted, 9-ft garland first, draping it prettily, and then added the
inexpensive eucalyptus garland to the top.
How to hang garland from a banister
I'm sure there are many ways, but I like to use pipe cleaners. They are
already precut, and can be cut further if needed. By using a green pipe
cleaner to hang the garland to your banister, it virtually disappears! I only
had black and decided to use that up, and the only place where you really see
the pipe cleaner is if you're walking down the stairs.
I left a little garland draping down the newel post, then secured the garland
to the banister right above the newel post, then again wherever the garland
draped. For me, that worked out to be 3 places where the garland itself is
secured to the banister with a pipe cleaner (the newel post, the middle of the
banister and the top).
If you're using a lighted garland, don't forget to allow room to access an outlet.
Luckily, I have an outlet behind the bench by my stairs, but I did need to use
an extension cord. I'll show you how I hid that in a little bit.
Layer garland
Notice how skimpy and bland my garland looks? I fluffed it but it still looked
pretty bad. My secret trick is to layer another garland over the top. I used 2
6-ft inexpensive eucalyptus garlands, using shorter pieces of the pipe cleaner
to attach it to the main garland.
See how much better it looks already! The layering hides holes and
imperfections, and adds so much fullness! Even though these eucalyptus
garlands aren't Christmas decor, they work so well here! Don't be afraid to
mix your greenery for a lusher looking garland!
I could totally have stopped here and been done. The garland is up and it
looks beautiful. However, I wanted to add some of my happy Christmas color,
red, to the garland to dress it up. What's your happy Christmas color?
DIY ornament garland
It may sound complicated and expensive to make a garland using ornaments, but
I promise it's not! I purchased 4 tubes of red ornaments from the Dollar
Store, and one red ribbon roll for a whopping total of only $5! You do want to
be sure to purchase a slimmer ribbon because it has to fit through the holes
at the tops of the ornaments.
To make the ornament garland:
- unroll the entire ribbon; tie a single knot about 5 inches from one end of the ribbon and insert a 4" piece of pipe cleaner through the back of the knot*
- string 3 ornaments on to create a cluster
- tie another knot about 5 inches from the ornaments
- string another set of ornaments
- continue until you run out of ornaments or your garland is long enough
*The small pieces of pipe cleaner is how I secured the ornament garland to the other one.
I think ornament clusters make more of an impact than single ornaments. I used
about 40 ornaments for this DIY garland. Once I was finished stringing on the
ornaments, I knotted the end of the ribbon, left a short 5" tail, and cut the ribbon.
Designer tip: If you're struggling to thread the ribbon through the holes on the ornament, wrap the end of the ribbon tightly with a little tape. It'll go much quicker and no more frayed ribbon ends!
Now my ornament garland is ready to add to the banister garland.
Hang the ornament garland
The ornaments add another layer to the banister garland, and by tying them
together, it creates an easier way to bring all these garlands together.
I hung the ornament garland using 4" pieces of pipe cleaner, and simply secured it by twisting
the pipe cleaner around a section of the garland that was already there.
There's very little weight to these shatterproof ornaments, you could probably
use ornament hooks if you wanted.
I think the cluster of ornaments looks more interesting than hanging the
ornaments individually. Not bad for $5 right?
Add ribbon
The next two steps are totally optional, but I love how they really give a
polished look to this inexpensive banister garland.
I simply tied long pieces of ribbon to the 3 areas where my garland was
secured to the railing. Leaving extra long tails makes it look so pretty!
Tuck in berry stems
The final step to this beautiful and colorful Christmas garland was to tuck in
a few inexpensive red berry picks. I bent the stems a little so they weren't
so stick straight, and then just tucked them underneath a few of the ornament
clusters. They stay put without anything to tie them on.
Hide the cord
Remember I said that I hid the cord? I couldn't hide it completely, but the
plug is behind that small tree in the basket, and the rest runs behind the
bench (looks like I need to hide it a little better, ha!).
When the lights are glowing, no one notices a little bit of cord that shows!
Just use a prop to hide the major parts and you're good.
I am loving how the Christmas reds and greens pop against our dark banister. When Mr DIY and our son installed laminate wood floors a couple years ago, I redid the stairs. The orangey oak was replaced with this deeper, richer color on the banister and newel post and I added peel and stick wallpaper to the stair treads. It added an updated modern look (with a pop of fun) to the previously dated stairs! You can click here to watch me install the wallpaper and give tips for the best results.
I hope these tips were helpful and you're no longer intimidated by the idea of hanging a beautiful Christmas garland from your banister!
If you loved this idea, please share it with a friend who could use these
tips!
Pin to remember
Cindy,
ReplyDeleteYour garland is so beautiful. I love the combination of greenery and ornaments. Great Post. I love doing these challenges with you.
Thanks Rachel, I enjoy these challenges so much!
DeleteYour garland is gorgeous! So many great tips. It is a joy to be on tour with you.
ReplyDeleteThank you friend!
DeleteHI CINDY, I LOVE THIS GARLAND. THE EUCALYPTUS LOOKS SO FRESH AND LIGHT AND THE RED JUST POPS DOWN THE STAIRS! PINNED TWICE! LAURA
ReplyDeleteThank you Laura! Red is my Christmas happy color 😉
DeleteHow in the world have I never thought to use ribbon with ornaments?! That's genius and so beautiful. Looking at your photo of the garland without anything on it reminded me of ours that first year and why I never did it again. It was just plain ugly. I'll be doing that ribbon and ornament trick next year though! Thanks for joining us and being so dang creative. I bet it looks amazing at night. pinned
ReplyDeleteThanks Cindy, so glad you like it! It's fun to inspire each other with these challenges!
DeleteWow Cindy, the eucalyptus makes all the difference in your garland and gives it such a fresh feeling. Layering is the key and am totally inspired to decorate our banister this year! Pinning!
ReplyDeleteThank you friend so happy to have inspired you!
DeleteThis turned out so beautiful, Cindy! And you gave great styling tips, too. The decorated bannister makes such a statement right in the middle of your home; love it!
ReplyDeleteThank you Lora, I do love that it's the first thing you see when you open the front door!
DeleteI love your garland that you put together! I like the ornament clusters, I wouldn’t have thought to do that.
ReplyDeleteI also love these monthly photo challenges!
Thanks Mel, I'm glad you are enjoying these monthly challenges! It's always fun, and interesting, to see how others decorate!
DeleteHi Cindy, I'm sorry! I thought I got on last night but I think it was as I was falling asleep so I didn't leave you a comment then. I did however want to say how much I love the candy cane striped bows and your banister garland!!! It is absolutely stunning...
ReplyDeleteWe have a couple of long garlands which are two or three put together, plus double wrapped with two garlands. I used to use them along the banisters at our past homes but here in Texas, I used them surrounding my front door, which is really tall.
Thanks for tip about the three Christmas balls tied together!!!
Happy Thanksgiving,
Barb :)
Thanks so much Barb, so glad you like it!
DeleteCindy, your garland is gorgeous. All the layering makes it so pretty and festive. I like to cluster ornaments too. I love your ribbon and pipe cleaner method. I’ve never seen an euclyptus garland but I love that idea.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Carol!
DeleteCindy, this looks so good! I love how you did the ornament clusters…genius idea!!
ReplyDeleteAww, thanks so much! Hope you're enjoying this season xx
DeleteLooks awesome and instead of hanging from the top of my bannister where we still need to hold on going up and down - i put it near the steps and the lights reflecting off the wood stairs is amazing!
ReplyDelete