Holiday decorating can be invasive — rearranging furniture to make room for a tree, gifts, candles and the like — but there's no reason to put new holes in your walls. Especially for renters, the fewer nail holes in the walls the better. The new issue of This Old House has a great shopping guide to nail-free holiday decorating and we're sharing a few of our favorite no-nail solutions after the jump...
This was our favorite nail-free solution in the bunch. Its called the Brick Clip and it comes in 3 sizes for different brick types, each holding up to 25 lbs. Just make sure your grout is set back a minimum of 1/8" from the brick face. These would also come in handy for those with exposed brick walls to hang art, year round. $12 for 6
For hanging garland on a banister, mantle or outside on a porch, the Garland Grabber comes in various sizes at $9 for 10.
Command Decorating Clips are the perfect remedy for stringing up lights without damaging your walls. They only come in white so they would look best hidden along white trim or on a light colored wall. $5 for 20
Command Classic Metal Hooks are great for hanging holiday pieces that will leave the hook visable. $11 each
More tips on safe, holiday decor from This Old House here.
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this post reminded me of my first roommates. at christmas time they decided to decorate one evening (when i wasn't there) by securing christmas lights around the top of the living room walls with BIG NAILS! they also decided to make a "fake fireplace" from cardboard and red and yellow streamers which was also NAILED to the wall. needless to say i was pretty horrified.
but i guess they thought it went well with their college alcoholic themed decor (margaritaville signs and "photo-art" of martini glasses).
view abbatron's profile
never heard of "brick clip", thanks for the suggestion.
view nkr707's profile
"Command Decorating Clips are the perfect remedy for stringing up lights without damaging your walls. They only come in white so they would look best hidden along white trim or on a light colored wall."
Um - They do also come in Clear...
view bepsf's profile
Love the Command Clips and strips. Super easy to apply and remove.
view Seaside's profile
@ bepsf:
They do come in clear, but the sticky tape does not. Defeats the purpose of manufacturing clear clips, imo.
view tarynevelyn's profile
I have to say I bought the Command Decorating Clips and they did not work at all. I followed the directions carefully, waited plenty of time for them to set, but every time I clipped my lights in, they just popped off. No wonder they were on clearance...
view valleyval's profile
What about Hot Glue?
I've never tried it in holiday decor, but we glued down all our unruly cables and cords at the top of our baseboard and then painted over them so they would blend. We put glue on the wall and pressed the cord into it. If you make a mistake let dry and pull up. We never had problems with this on our satin paint or plaster. Don't know how drywall would react. I think you could test it out in a closet and just use small blobs of glue occasionally
view Expat Decorator's profile
@Valleyval, they don't stick to some surfaces because of texture. They have fine print about that. :/
view Mrs.Mack's profile