10 Festive Living Room Christmas Decor Ideas That Won’t Break the Bank

The cost of Christmas can be extremely overwhelming without throwing lots of living room Christmas decor ideas into the mix. Our living rooms tend to be the center of our Christmas décor, with Christmas trees, garlands, and lights taking center stage.

However, it doesn’t need to get expensive. Reusing and recycling what we already have and making our own decorations can create beautiful Christmas decor on a budget. 

Living Room Christmas Decor Ideas

7ft Christmas tree in the living room with green, red and gold decorations
Our cosy Christmas living room this year

Don’t fancy putting up a tree and want to keep costs down this year? Already have a tree but your decorations are looking a bit tired and dated?

I am always looking for living room Christmas décor ideas as I love our living room to be as festive as possible.

This is where we spend a lot of our time on Christmas day, so it is nice to be surrounded by twinkling lights, candles, and Christmas colors whilst we watch the kids unwrap their presents and drink champagne for breakfast!

How Can I Decorate My Living Room for Christmas on a Budget? 

The tree always takes center stage in the living room at Christmas, but there are plenty of other festive ways to decorate your living room without breaking the bank.

Here are some small living room Christmas ideas to add a bit of festive cheer to your front room.

1. Decorate Your Mantelpiece or Around your Fireplace

dark green walls and christmas tree decorated in green, gold and red in the living room next to a fireplace
I love decorating our mantelpiece at Christmas. This garland is from Balsam Hill

Fireplaces and mantelpieces always take center stage in a living room and a lot of our Christmas decor ideas are based around them. Mantelpiece decorating seems to get bigger and better every year and I have seen some amazing displays on social media.

They are perfect for decorating with garlands, hanging ornaments, or fairy lights.

Buying garlands can be a little expensive, so have a go at creating your own. You could go foraging for Ivy and tie them together with green pipe cleaners or find a large evergreen branch and wrap it with fairy lights.

Natural and homemade always looks better in my opinion and is great if you’re looking for Christmas decor on a budget!

2. Make a Christmas Tree Twig

dark green wall with christmas twig tree decoration
My Christmas Tree Twig decoration. So easy to create and extremely festive

If you’re looking for small living room Christmas décor ideas, a Christmas tree twig decoration is ideal for a small space! They are really simple to do and you can use decorations you already have.

Depending on the size of the wall you want to hang it from, go for a lovely winter walk and find some twigs and branches in varying lengths to create your Christmas tree shape. Tie the branches together and wrap copper wire fairy lights around them.

Finally, hang some small decorations from the branches and you have your very own compact Christmas tree for your living room!

3.  Decorate Your Artwork or Create Your Own Christmas Art

cream walls with vintage chest of drawers and a christmas tree shape made out of pages from books with fairy lights
Create a Christmas-shaped piece of art with old Christmas cards or pages from old books. Image credit: lights4fun

If you haven’t got a fireplace or mantelpiece and are looking for small living room Christmas ideas, don’t worry! You can still make the most of what you do have. You can hang holly and ivy with berries from your artwork and mirrors and decorate your furniture with tinsel and garlands.

We save our Christmas cards every year and hang them on our shelves in the living room. My kids enjoy cutting out their favorite images and hanging them from fairy lights with pegs on them.

4. Decorate with Foraged Items

Christmas decor on a budget, but a lot of effort :)
A very elaborate Christmas hanging decoration with fir tree branches and eucalyptus I did back in 2019. I haven’t got time for that anymore! :)

Foraging for your own Christmas décor couldn’t be easier or cheaper. I love the simplicity of your own freshly cut evergreen leaves like fir trees or eucalyptus and they fit in with all styles of décor.

They are extremely easy to display. You can hang them from your chimney breast with command hooks or display them in vases with baubles hanging from them.

5. Hang Paper Decorations From Your Windows and Walls

christmas garland on the mantelpiced with paper made decorations
If you are looking for simple Christmas decor ideas, creating your own paper stars and hanging them in your living room is quick and effortless

Another extremely easy and cheap way to make Christmas décor on a budget is to make decorations out of paper.

Brown paper bag stars look stunning alongside foraged items from your garden or the countryside. You can vary them in size and hang them from your mantelpiece or from foraged branches.

I also love creating paper snowflakes every year and hanging them from our windows.

6. Add Fairy Lights, Everywhere!

large christmas tree in the living room with fairy light paper
The simplest of Christmas decor ideas is to add Fairy lights everywhere! They could be twisted around stars or find fairy light ornaments to decorate your coffee table or shelves. Indoor Christmas Lighting – Sparkle Lighting

Fairy lights really shout Christmas to me. Although I do like using them all year round. They don’t have to be confined to the Christmas tree only.

You can drape them around your artwork, shelves, or mantelpiece or even wrap them around your ornaments. You can never have too many fairy lights at Christmas!

7. Make Your Own Christmas Decorations

home made paper decorations for your christmas tree
Beautiful and simple, make your own paper baubles! For a How-To, go to melanielissackinteriors.com

Social media is full to the brim with DIY decorations at the moment. From paper bag stars to leftover wallpaper baubles, there are crafts and DIY tutorials for the most reluctant (me), to expert level!

christmas tree with red baubles and home made brown paper house decorations
Keeping your decor simple with little decorations made out of brown cardboard. Photo by Mariana Rascão on Unsplash 

Another way to create Christmas décor on a budget is to make your own Christmas wreath and hang it on your chimney. You can buy an artificial fir Christmas wreath from places like Hobbycraft for as little as £6 and add your own items.

Again, they don’t have to be bought from a shop. You can go foraging for branches with berries on them, holly, ivy, and anything that catches your eye.

A favorite of mine is to add dried fruit to your décor. You could easily slice up some oranges, place them on a baking tray, and put them in the oven for around 40 minutes until they are hard and dried out. Perfect for adding to your Christmas wreath.

8. Fill Jars with Foliage and Fairy Lights

Creating your own Christmas scene in old jam jars or containers can be lots of fun. Collect moss from your garden and use little pine cones covered in glitter to create a miniature winter wonderland.

Use different-sized jars, fill them with fairy lights, and place them on your coffee table, shelves, and by the fireplace.

9.  Create a Coffee Table Centerpiece with Candles and Christmas Ornaments

christmas living room with industrial style coffee shop christmas cushions and chunky knit throw
Small living room Christmas decor ideas

Don’t have any jam jars or containers? Use a shallow bowl or fruit bowl and fill it with foliage, fairy lights, and baubles. This is a great way to create a centerpiece for your coffee table or dining room table without too much fuss.

Or, use a tray from your kitchen and fill it with candles, Christmas ornaments, and foliage.

10. Keep Your Décor Simple

christmas decorations in the kitchen with plain christmas tree and fairy lights, gallery wall and chunky knit throw

Finally, one of the best ways to add Christmas décor on a budget is to keep it simple. I think we can all get a bit carried away at this time of year and social media certainly doesn’t help.

We’re all led to believe that everyone has a Christmas bauble bomb that is thrown into our living rooms and automatically creates a huge and over-the-top Christmas winter wonderland in our living rooms.

But sometimes, less is more!

Keeping your décor simple with a few foraged items, hanging your Christmas cards up, and adding some fairy lights is all you need. So, get those secateurs out and grab a few evergreen branches on your next country walk.

Keeping the décor homemade, simple, and eco-friendly is not only good for the environment, but it’s also good for your wallet too!

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10 festive living room christmas decor ideas

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2 Comments

  1. Please can you advise what brick slips you used for your faux brick wall that surrounds your grey sliding doors? Many thanks in advance. P.s I’m currently in the process of redecorating a conservatory, kitchen and front room that all flow in one long line.. I’m so glad I came across your social media sites. So much inspiration and help. Thank you,

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