It’s okay to over-do outdoor holiday decorations
Gary Carnivele
Special to FineLife Home
Photos Submitted
This is the time of year when less isn’t more. More is more. And the more the merrier. The holidays bring out the extravagant decorator in everyone. NASCAR dads find the time to outline and adorn their homes with a solar system worth of twinkling string lights. Soccer moms bedeck outdoor spaces with generations of decorations and new acquisitions alike. A simple, tasteful wreath on the front door doesn’t attract a whole lot of attention. The goal is to create a bottleneck in front of your home because your adornment best captures the spirit of the holiday season.
Think of your front lawn as a blank canvas. Corral a herd of deer onto that expanse of green – without the risk hoof marks or nibbled-away flora – by incorporating into your decorating scheme a gentler species. The wire mesh and illuminated bucks and does available at Friedman’s Home Improvement in Sonoma are available in a wintry white and a rich brown. The Standing Buck ($46.62), with his impressive rack, Jumping Buck ($48.93) and Twisting Buck, which moves as if he’s rearing his head ($60.35) and Feeding Doe ($30.49) are all life-size.
Go for a more whimsical design by illuminating your yard with Holographic Santa, a colorful version of St. Nick that stands at 38 inches ($35.98); Animated Holographic Snowman, that rocks at the waist and holds a candy cane wreath above his head ($44.85); or Deco Polar Bear, a mesh light sculpture that wears a red muffler around its sturdy neck ($72.35). The 42-inch-tall Deco Rocking Horse is a colorful tin creation likely to bring the indoors out with the inclusion of this playroom favorite. These are available at Friedman’s.
Select the most prominent and impressive tress in your yard and turn it into a Christmas tree by festooning it with as many strands of outdoor lights as you can fit on its branches and all those beyond-their-prime, weatherproof ornaments. No tree is complete without a grouping of presents or a train circling its base. Friedman’s offers a set of three colorful Gel Gift Boxes each tied up with bows and lit from within ($34.98) and a delightful three-car Holographic Train ($54.98).
For those with treeless yards or no yard at all, Swedes Pet and Garden in Kenwood is selling five-foot-high, three-dimensional tin trees punched with holes from which ornaments may be hung, or through which light strands or garland may be strung ($80). Swedes, which has an incredible display of rusted metal garden creatures, offers for the holidays a similar reindeer on which is written “Merry Christmas” that would enrich even the most rural of yards. Garnish a flagpole with Art Flags 28 inches by 40 inches by Colormax in styles that include “Kiss Me Penguins,” “Peace Snowman” and “Reindeer Games” ($22.99).
Welcome guests from your garden of holiday delights by sprucing up your front door with a wreath, a swag or jingle bells from Kaboodle in Sonoma. A snow- and glitter-covered 20-inch wreath of twisted branches and clusters pinecones offers a little slice of a winter wonderland ($49.95). A tight circle or currants with a brushing of green leaves will add a seasonal splash of color to even the most understated of doors ($49.95). Greenery, burgundy hydrangeas, springs of holly, tiny berries and a traditional green and gold ribbon make for a charming expression of holiday cheer.
One of the many swags available at Kaboodle is a blend of evergreen, berries, pinecones and a large square jingle bell ($49.95). Jazz up doorknobs with a single bejeweled jingle bell in shiny silver or metallic red ($17.95) or a traditional red bell in three sizes ($9.95 – $19.95).
Friedman’s Home Improvement
1360 Broadway; 707.939.8811
Open Mon. – Fri. 7 a.m. – 7 p.m.; Sat. – Sun. 8 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Kaboodle
453 First St. W.; 707.996.9500
Open daily 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Swedes Pet and Garden
9140 Hwy.12, Kenwood; 707.833.5050
Open Mon. Wed. Thur. Fri. 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.;
Sat. 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.; Sun. 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.
