Such a brilliantly simple solution, and I can't even claim it as my own: my friend was helping me decorate my apartment for my birthday party, and as I debated where to drill holes for hooks to hang the garland from, he said, "Why don't we attach it to the studs with magnets?". Why not, indeed!
This works best, of course, with nice lightweight garlands or ribbons, and for me it worked like a dream. We attached the garland to the ceiling at intervals (studs are generally 18-inches apart), draping it nicely. The only hiccup was that I kept forgetting the garland wasn't actually attached to the ceiling, and would tug at it and rearrange it, causing the magnets to fall! That's when it's very helpful to have someone down on the floor who will repeatedly (and non-judgementally) pass the magnets up to the top of the ladder for you. Teamwork!
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This would assume that you have steel-studs supporting your ceilings - Most people don't.
haha I was just going to say "aren't studs made of wood?"
And studs are typically 16" on center. Not 18.
Maybe metal studs in apartment buildings are 18 inches on center -- I think code where I live is 16-18, and cheap builders of stick-built homes sometimes use 18, even though it's not as good. (Or maybe the code changed, because I absolutely know from experience that 18 inch stud placement exists form homes built in the '70's.)
But I agree, wooden studs are more common.
i've got magnets holding stuff on my wall! i only thought of it because my magnet loving friend was fooling around with magnets one day and left some for me!
Thanks for the idea. I tried out the ceiling at work and they were metal! It made decorating for a coworkers birthday a snap.