Christmas Decorating Mistakes to Avoid If You Don’t Want to Have to Re-Paint Your Walls in January

I love decorating for Christmas, but sometimes my ideas can go a little too far and get a little too complicated. Whether I'm having to over-engineer complicated frames for festive foliage around doorways or install surprisingly heavy mantelpiece displays, there's always a common result when I come to take down my decor after twelfth night: my living room walls need a repaint.

Whether it's chipped and pulled paint or marks left by DIY decor, what can seem to be a good idea in December can feel like a major headache in January when you realize you need to paint all your walls again.

So, learn a lesson from some of my Christmas decorating idea disasters, and avoid these ideas — unless you also take my advice on how to protect your walls, too.

1. The Tension Rod Christmas Hack

The viral 'tension rod' decorating hack has been all over social media these last few years, but having tried it myself, I can tell you there's the potential for it to cause damage to your walls.

The decorating trick sees you use a classic window tension rod, like this one from At Home, across a hallway or doorway so that you can drape festive foliage across it and make transitional spaces like an entryway feel Christmassy.

However, what you'll likely find is that this tension rod needs to be installed pretty tightly to hold up the weight of your decor, so this can not only cause superficial damage to paintwork, but cause indentations into your wall that you'll likely need to fill over lightly and re-paint.

How to avoid damage: By putting a piece of cardboard between your tension rod and your wall, you'll likely prevent damage, and your rod will still hold in place. It'll be covered by your garlands anyway, so no one will be any the wiser.

2. Fireplace Installations

Don't you just love dramatic Christmas fireplace decor? However, curating your display means balancing a lot of decor on what is essentially a small ledge, so securing it in place is important, especially if you want to try a look like the above, which extends up vertically.

I usually construct my garlands from chicken wire to create structure, but securing them to the wall isn't easy without the right tools. I've used nails screwed it with wire attached to the frame, and even heavy-duty tape, but both have left my walls looking worse for wear, with a re-paint required afterward.

How to avoid damage: Having learned my lesson, my new approach is to use a variety of Command Strips with Hooks, such as these from Amazon to secure to either the fireplace or the painted wall. If applied properly, they should be easy to remove from these surfaces without leaving marks.

3. Candle Displays

If you burn candles all year around, then you might be aware of some of the perils that come along with them, but even then Christmas displays often use a lot of extra candles than the every day, which can make these issues even more pronounced.

Yes, your walls might come to suffer from something called 'ghosting', which is where soot from the candle wick can streak walls, causing dark marks which are hard to wipe away on less durable paint finishes, meaning another redecorating session is on the horizon. It can be even worse when using cheaper 'decor' candles, compared to the best scented candles, for instance, and will be more pronounced when you have candles pushed up against walls, or in rooms with low ceilings.

How to avoid damage: To avoid ghosting, your best bet is to always trim your candle wicks to a 1/4 inch using a candle trimmer. Always burn them for an appropriate amount of time each time, too — a few hours, at least. Lastly, use a candle snuffer to put them out, rather than blowing, which can cause more soot to be released.

4. Spray Snow

Is spray snow magical? You can take a plain tree or garland, real or artificial, and make it feel even more festive with a coat of this spray. However, what I've learned to my chagrin is that it doesn't always interact well with painted walls, especially after it's been left for a month, as this snowy garland, above, was.

Yes, artificial flock spray should wipe off your painted walls with just a damp cloth, it can sometimes leave a mark that's impossible to get rid of without repainting, so use it with caution.

How to avoid damage: Spray decor outside where you can. I used it on this garland which had to be in place to use it, but wiping any spray that makes it onto your paintwork then and there is preferable to allowing it to settle.