It’s time to bring out the festive lights, eat fat laddoos, and create rangolis from a plethora of colours in the home. But before you skip ahead to the festive day of Diwali, let’s rewind a few days before to the home decoration stage. These are the days when we run about doing last-minute shopping errands, clean every surface until it gleams, and make tonnes of sweets until we start sending off signals of being one!
While Diwali home decorations often take around a week for some, we are here to help you accomplish this task in just a matter of two days! So, read ahead for a straightforward guide that turns your festive preparation journey into a hassle-free and pleasant experience with your family!
DAY 1
This is a great day to get all the cleaning done so that you can utilise the next one for decorating your home. So here are some things to keep in mind while sprucing up your home for Diwali:
Declutter First, Deep Clean After
Before you start with a full-fledged deep clean, it is always a good idea to declutter stuff first. Remove ill-fitting clothes, old newspapers, and other knicks and knacks that you will likely not be of use to you in the future.
Decluttering not only helps you discard unwanted or broken stuff but is also helpful to keep stock of everyday things that can be used for your Diwali home decor. Think how many times you’ve excitedly helped your mother as she opened up old cupboards while cleaning! Out came the forgotten silken dupattas, gold lamps, or beautiful crockery that was stored meticulously for years.
Once you’re done with decluttering, you’ll notice how your cleaning and organising tasks do not look so humongous anymore! Whether it’s washing the windows, cleaning under furniture, or removing the grime from old fans it all becomes easier and less time consuming when you’re all working together as a family.
Always do a Maintenance Check
Never forget to do a maintenance check in all areas of your home. Get all the broken hinges, scratchy surfaces, faulty plumbing pipes, and leakage walls fixed before the start of the festive season. This is done to ensure that everything is in order and functioning smoothly when the guests, friends, and extended family start arriving at our homes.
Go Shopping, But with a List!
Now that you have utilised most of your day for cleaning, you can spend a fun evening going shopping with your family However, ensure you create a shopping list earlier to cut half the shopping time! Keep one list with detailed quantities of all the things you may need for decorating the home, makingfarad, gifts for guests,pujasupplies, and more. It helps you find things easily in the market and ensures that you don’t forget anything.
P.S. If you need to shop for fresh flowers, make sure you previously arrange this responsibility with someone in your family or get them delivered to your door on the day of Diwali.
DAY 2
Rejoice as all the difficult parts of getting your home Diwali ready, are finally over! It’s time for giving your home, a grand festive makeover to wow your guests and the goddess Laxmi herself! So, read ahead as we’ve got some fantastic Diwali home decoration ideas that will have you waking up super excited on this day, ready to bring them to fruition.
Go Bold with The Decor at The Entrance
Brighten up your entrance by hangingtoransat the main door or placing flower pots near the shoe rack. Light some earthen diyas by the door and make a colourful rangoli for people to feel welcome in your home. You can also go for a traditional look by using some powdered rice to draw artfulPadukas(feet of Goddess Laxmi) at your entrance. This is a symbolic way of showing that the goddess is entering your home.
If you’re looking to go all out, hang a set of sheer curtains near the entrance, but make sure these are hung well away from the litdiyas. This creates a lavish and inviting feel and people entering your home are often left wondering what’s next behind the curtains! If you have a passage near the main door, you get its walls painted withWarli artor hang an elaborateRajasthanipainting for display.
Use Fine Crockery as Home Decor
Diwali is the time to display those gold-rimmed plates and glass dinnerware out in the open! Feel free to use these as decor and watch your place transform in a matter of seconds. Another trick is to pour some hot wax in some fancy teacups (we all have some of those!) Voila! You have your very own tealight candles.
In the kitchen, use what you already have if you didn’t have time to shop. You don’t necessarily need to display expensive dinner sets! Merely, organise by mismatching all the pretty patterned plates you have on the rack! This gives a vibrant and colourful look to your space.
P.S. If you have accumulated too many beautiful cups over the years, add tempting chocolate lollipops in them. You can keep these on the dining table for the guests to snack on at their leisure.
Revamp the Furniture and Upholstery
Do you think the wooden furniture at home needs a spruce up? Get it polished for a new shine and finish. When the guests first enter your home, the eye often goes to the printed upholstery. So, ensure that you use strikingly colourful prints for the sofa covers and cushions. Pretty flower prints, gold polka dots, or silk saree covers work well. If you pick well keeping in mind the rest of the colours of your living room, the upholstery creates a relaxing and beautiful ambience for your guests.
Have an Accent Wall
Accent walls are great to have if you don’t want to repaint your entire home for the festive occasion. All you have to do is paint one wall of your living space with a different colour and watch it transform the look of your home! You can go for different patterns or plain bright colours to give a festive feel to your home. If you’re looking for a less permanent solution, opt for ethnic or flower print wallpapers instead.
Spruce Up the Coffee or Dining Table
Combine a lot of decor elements creatively to make one elaborate centrepiece for your desks and tables at home! For the dining table, you can place a ceramic bowl filled with apples, glass trays with dry fruits, vases with fresh flowers, scented candles, and more! If you have an old silk saree that you don’t wear anymore, use it as a tablecloth for your dining table. This is bound to add a rich look to your living room indeed!
Create a Party Corner
Create a special corner filled with grand decorations for a Diwali party! Here you can keep the return gifts, sweets, farad, and games too. Add a pack ofTaashto the display to indulge in card games later in the evening. Place some trending conversation bubble props so that your friends and family can instantly take selfies with them.
Use Lots of Flowers and Lights in the Decor
Any Diwali home decor is incomplete without using flowers and lights! You can go for a traditional look with marigold or opt for other equally beautiful varieties. Wrap them around your balcony railings, use them in puja thalis, as decor in vases, or place some in the gift boxes for guests. Flowers like Jasmine not only look beautiful but fill up your entire home with a fascinating scent!
Lighting key areas in the house is one of the first things we do on all days of the festive season! But why not light dark corners too? Place candles or brassSamaylamps at specific corners and embellish the space with a small rangoli or two
You can also fairy lights inside glass jars or even dark wine bottles to give an ethereal touch to your spaces. Place these on desks, inside bookshelves, on kitchen countertops to add a twinkling effect to your entire home. Don’t forget to wrap some lights around your green plants!
At Ashwin Sheth Group, we hope you enjoy a happy and prosperous festive season with your family. Now that you have a two-day guide to get your home ready for Diwali, you can use these ideas to bring a host of good festive vibes in your home to the year of 2020. Celebrate with your near and dear ones, creating beautiful memories that will always be treasured by you and your family.
