Getting our holiday decorations up has been a slow process this year. It seems like each day I get one more small decorating project finished – so at this rate I should have it all done in time to put it all away after Christmas! But sometimes things work out for the best because earlier this week, before I got around to wrapping our railings in garland, I came across a great tip (in a discussion board on Houzz) that I was able to try out right away.
I don’t know about you, but it’s always a challenge for me to figure out how to attach garland to my railings in a way that will stay securely in place all season without causing any damage. It seems like I try something different every year, and nothing ever works all that well. That’s why I was so excited to come across a super simple and effective tip that I just had to share with all of you – pipe cleaners! {Or as I’ve heard them referred to by someone much fancier than me – “chenille stems.”}
Pipe cleaners work perfectly for hanging garland because they are flexible, soft, and come in many colors. I have a thin icicle garland that I like to wrap around my black metal railings for the holidays, but I am always struggling with how to keep the garland in place. After reading the pipe cleaner tip, I picked up a package of white pipe cleaners (to match the white icicles) for about $1 and got all of my railings wrapped in garland in less than five minutes.
I started at one side of our second floor railing by wrapping a pipe cleaner around the railing and the end of a string of garland, and then twisted the pipe cleaner until it was securely holding the garland in place. I then used a pair of scissors to cut of the excess pipe cleaner, leaving just enough to easily get a hold of to untwist the pipe cleaners when the holidays are over.
My metal railings are fairly thin, so one pipe cleaner was plenty long to wrap all the way around – but if you have a thick wood banister, you could easily twist two or more pipe cleaners together to create a long enough piece.
I also used a pipe cleaner to attach each stand of garland to the next by holding the two ends of the garland together and twisting a pipe cleaner around them.
I shifted the garland just a bit to ensure that the each pipe cleaner attachment was placed on the bottom side of the railing. The result is perfect – you can barely see the pipe cleaner because it blends in so nicely with the garland.
Looking for more Christmas inspiration? You might be interested in these projects:
