Christmas Decorating in Super Small Spaces

As I mentioned in my previous post, my little sister lives in NYC. She’s a student in NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and shares a tiny apartment with two fellow NYU students on the Lower East Side. Being from such a Christmassy family, she wanted to decorate her digs. If you’ve ever seen a New York apartment, adding ANYTHING else for the holidays is difficult. Solution? Tiny tree and wall décor.

My sis bought this 3’ pre-lit Alberta Tree for about $20 ($26 w/tax and shipping) from Target and placed it on an end table (actually a nightstand) next to her TV. The lighting on the tree was a little sparse, so she added a strand of 100 lights to it. She bought an assortment of ornaments of different sizes, colors, and textures from Kmart and hung them on the tree. Finally, she used a star that she had from home.

This tree worked well in a small space because it's tall enough to make a statement but still skinny so as not to take up too much table space.

An extra strand of lights and the assortment of colors, sizes, and textures on the tree make it a bright and colorful addition to the small urban apartment.

I know that I encouraged personal elements on trees in my post all about them last week, but I’m willing to make an exception for a small tree. Small trees are more accents than they are focal pieces, so the personal décor that you already have in the apartment will stand out more than the tree.

My sister also recreated the garland that I made and hung it on the soffit that “separates” her living room from her “kitchen”. She bought unlit garland at Kmart because it was significantly cheaper than pre-lit garland, put two strands of 100 multi-color lights on it, and then attached red, green, silver, and white ornaments to the garland with wire. She had a tough time finding wire in the city, but was able to locate it at a small hardware store near her place.



Pretty garland? Check. Total lack of kitchen storage? Check.

Sis and her roomies also hung multi-color Christmas lights around their apartment for their party, but didn’t do much more in the way of decorating. But in their small space, a few things went a long way in adding a little holiday cheer without taking up space. I know what you're thinking -- where are these things going to go after Christmas? Since both items are pretty small, they'll be tucked neatly under someone's bed until Christmas time rolls around again next year.

Cheers to bringing some brightness to a tiny apartment in the big city!