A Small Space in Chelsea Decked Out for Christmas

Dan and Yves share approximately 750 square feet in Chelsea, and though they don’t live in a mansion, their home is big on style. Having lived in their rental for six years, their home is “contemporary mixed with touches of farmhouse chic.” It’s no surprise that their home decorated for the holidays is just as warm and eclectic as their space any other day of the year. They shared some photos of their home decked out, as well as some of their small space holiday decor storage secrets.

Ribbons give a great bang for your buck in terms of holiday cheer in a small space! They do not take a lot of space, are relatively inexpensive, and they can fill up a vignette while giving it a festive look. We usually shop for them after the holiday when they are 70% off and stock up for the upcoming season.

Look for the wired ones, that way you can roll them up like a cylinder (you can use the cardboard inside of a paper towel roll to help guide you) and then carefully slide them off and stretch them out a little. They’ll stay twirly and bouncy that way, and it’s a great festive look that you can place on a tray with your favorite holiday decoration.

Our other favorite are fresh evergreen branches that you can get at your local florist or supermarket. They are super cheap, usually under $10, and pretty much last all season. We like to break down a big branch into multiple little ones, and let our imagination go wild! We’ll stick them in vases and candle votives of different sizes. We’ll also scatter them all around the house arranging them in combination with other holiday decorations. You can even do fun things like layering it on a tree slab with candles or have them stick out of an old typewriter with a written note to Santa!

Our little secret is to take out your holiday decor from the boxes and swap it with your current/year-round decor…It’s the old Holiday Switcharoo secret! That way your box doesn’t sit empty and you don’t over decorate by adding to your existing decor.

One of our top tips for storing holiday decor in a small space is to use stackable bins, like the ones you can get from the Container Store. Look for the ones with the special cardboard inserts which are great to keep all the ornaments separated; we’ve found that they’re the best way to minimize breakage year after year and it doesn’t require you tissue paper wrap or bubble wrap each individual ornament (but you should still do that with the delicate or fragile ones).

In all honesty though, we outgrew storing our holiday stuff in the apartment a few years back when we decided to get a bigger (6’5″ tree; we have the Austrian Spruce from treeclassics.com) so now we have a lot of them in a storage space down the street.

See more of Yves and Dan’s home in their house tour → Contemporary Farmhouse Chic in Chelsea

Learn how they master layering a Christmas tree → The Anatomy of a Perfect Christmas Tree for a Couple in a Small Chic Space