Here are tips and resources that I used to decorate the staircase at Christmas in the center of our historic home.

Someone stopped by our house the other day for a tour and asked me if I had a favorite room.

I didn’t even have to think.

Don’t tell the other rooms, but this is my number one.

My go-to.

My ride or die.

It’s at the very center of our house and you can stand in the middle of it and see the front door at one end and the back door at the other end. I think someone told me the house was designed like that for airflow way before air conditioning was invented. There’s a wrap-around staircase with beautiful moldings and the prettiest banister. I used to wait for Santa on the very first step and we take family pictures on the staircase every year.

It’s a beautiful room that looks beautiful all year round.

But at Christmas?

It’s a supermodel.

Here’s how I decorated it (and an easy way to attach garland) this year.

How To Decorate a Staircase For Christmas

Here’s the view from the back door.

This small dresser is a piece that we inherited from my husband’s grandmother.

It was damaged so I distressed it (you can see how I distress wood in minutes here).

On top is a stack of stamped books that I linked here (you can add anything to the books you want).

I added a trio of snow-flocked trees and this advent calendar.

The staircase is wrapped with garland.

And guess how I attached it?

I just used jute twine to tie it onto the staircase. That’s IT. I had tried everything (command hooks, wire, ribbon) and nothing holds it in place like a simple strand of jute twine. I just wrapped it around the hooks on the garland and tied it in a knot (I’ll cut it off after the holidays).

The garland came from a local store, but I added in different types of greenery to it that I linked here. I think that’s the secret to a really pretty garland—mixing your greens. You can add magnolia or eucalyptus or cedar and take it to the next level.

I’ve tried to load almost everything from the post over on my Amazon page so you can shop everything in one place.

You can see all the faux greenery here.

(quick tip—there’s an arrow to the right on the page that you can click on to see more items)

I found the prettiest white velvet ribbon here.

And you can layer it with this wide weave burlap ribbon here to make similar bows to these on my staircase.

Here’s a photograph of the entire staircase so you can see how I draped the garland.

Make sure when you hang it you have someone else to help eyeball it so you make sure your garland swags are even and not too glumpy on one side.

(total aside: I’m not even sure if glumpy is a word, but the twins and I use it on the regular).

Here’s the tree in my office that’s just off the main entryway.

This nativity set was made by my grandmother and she hand-stitched every line.

I tucked it under the tree on these metal boxes this year.

Joseph is falling over and one of the wisemen needs a hair implant, but that makes it even more precious to me.

On the other side of the room, I added a swag of greenery to my favorite yard sale hutch.

And then I added these little Christmas tree ornaments that I bought downtown on our square.

On top is a vintage toolbox with an entire village of paper trees.

Right at the entrance to the office, I have this entire set of reindeer.

I’ve decided it’s my new thing and I’m starting to collect them. I actually got the prettiest gold reindeer today for the mantel in the front living room.

The straw ones I bought at Target last year and I found the tiny wooden reindeer at Wayfair years ago.

I know you aren’t supposed to have room favorites.

You are supposed to love them all equally.

And try to. I really do.

Truly.

It’s just when I’m handing out the Christmas joy and decorations.

I save a little something special for this space.

Merry Christmas from my favorite room to yours. 🙂

disclosure: affiliate links are used in this post.

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