How to Hang Heavy Garland on your Mantle or Stairs
Have you ever seen pictures in magazines or on Instagram and wondered how they hung it without damaging their walls or woodwork? Today, I’m going to share some tips for hanging your heavy garland on your mantle or stairs with a few simple supplies.
Garlands are one of the most festive things you can add to your home during the Christmas season to make it instantly feel cheery.
Whether you are using faux greenery for your home or the real deal, these tips have changed the way I hang my garland.
I would always struggle with my greenery falling off of my mantle or stair railing.
Not to mention, I worried about damaging my woodwork.
There would be these beautiful photos online of huge garlands draping off of mantles and swooping on staircases in a grand fashion.
How did they manage to keep those strands up without damaging their woodwork?
I did some digging and experimenting on my own and found several ways to do this without doing damage control once Christmas was over.
These tips work for greenery or for wreaths that you might hang to make your Christmas bedroom cozy.
What will you need to hang your garland without damage?
There are only a few supplies you will need to hang your garlands.
I am telling you, these are such simple tips, but it will give you such peace of mind that you aren’t ruining anything.
And, you won’t have to worry about things falling down half way through December.
- Pipe Cleaners– You may choose whatever color you’d like, but I chose to match mine to the color of my stair railing. If you’d rather they match the greenery, go for it. What I’ve found is the greenery covers the pipe cleaner, so I wanted to make it less noticeable on my stair railing.
- Command Hooks– I get the command hooks that hold a good deal of weight. This ensures that they have the most “sticking” power and are less likely to pull off of the wall or woodwork.
- Large Paper clips- This may seem like a head scratcher, but I promise they come in handy if you want the garland to look like it is swooping off of your mantle or threshold in a charming way.
How to hang garland on stairs
How you hang garland on your stairs will depend on your railing, your spindles, and how you want your garland to look.
I like to swoop my garland, so I need something that will completely bear the weight of the garland I own, which is heavy.
Pipe cleaners are the best way to hang garland on your stair railing.
They have a fuzzy texture that prevents them from rubbing your finish on your banister and they are simple to use.
If you prefer to have your garland sit on top of the railing, pipe cleaners also provide great support for your garland without being visible to the eye.
Steps for hanging heavy garland on stairs
- Choose your pipe cleaner color. Match it to your railing, spindles, or garland. I chose to match mine to the railing since my spindles are straight and have nothing to support the weight of the garland.
- Decide what style you want– swooping garland or garland laying on top of the railing.
- Tie your pipe cleaners onto your garland. Space your pipe cleaners out evenly the length of the garland. Tie the pipe cleaners on the back side of the garland and give the pipe cleaner one simple twist to ensure it won’t allow the garland to move.
- Hang your garland. I swoop my garland and tie the pipe cleaners on with a spacing of 8 spindles in between each pipe cleaner. So, that means I count 8 spindles and then tie on the garland.
Fluff your garland once you are finished hanging it and sit back and enjoy all of your hard work.
The best part of using pipe cleaners is that once you get them situated on your garland you don’t have to fuss with them again.
I leave them tied onto the garland when I pack our Christmas stuff away and it takes me 5 minutes to hang it up the next year. So simple!
How to hang garland on Mantle
I have been using the same faux garland on my mantle for over a decade and, although, I am sure there are fancier garlands out there, I love this one so much.
This garland has a light strand and is fairly heavy.
If you can see, I like to have the garland look like it is naturally drooping off of the mantle.
I think this is charming and pretty. If you would like your garland to sit on the mantle, your job is even easier!
I’m going to show you how to get the “drooped” look with two simple supplies.
Drooping is great because it frees up space to add things to the mantle behind the garland.
How to attach garland to mantle
Once you figure out the look you want, attaching garland to the mantle is easy.
- Decide your garland style. Do you want it to sit on top of the mantle or droop off of the mantle?
- Adhere Command Hooks. Place Command hooks on the mantle where you need them. Be sure to follow the instructions because it makes a difference with the hold of the hooks.
- Hang your Garland. If you want the drooping look, loop a large paperclip through the back of the garland. This will allow the garland to droop, while still being attached to the command hook on the other end of the paper clip. The best way to hang the garland is starting in the center of the garland, attaching it to the mantle hooks, and then attaching each end of the garland.
Much like I do with the pipe cleaners, I leave the paper clips on the mantle garland when I pack it away so that I can hang it up quickly the next year.
How to store garland
I store my garland much like I store my faux flowers for my faux flower arrangements.
Grab some large, clear storage bins and put all of your garland for each area in a bin of its own.
This makes decorating super fast and simple the next year.
I label the storage bins and make sure all of my hanging supplies are in the bin with the garland. Things such as, command hooks, extra pipe cleaners, and new command strips for next year.
A little extra effort when I pack things away makes it much more enjoyable the next year when I pull things out to decorate.
Other Christmas decor posts you’ll love
- Decorating a Simple Christmas Tree
- How to Decorate for a Classic Christmas
- Simple Christmas Home Tour | Classic Decor
1. Get your garland and supplies, such as command hooks
2. Clean your mantle so the command hooks have a good hold
3. Decide the style you want- laying on top of the mantle or swooping
4. Adhere your hooks where you need them
5. Hang your garland according to the look you want
6. Fluff your garland and decorate the rest of the mantle
Your garland can be on your mantle as long as you’d like to enjoy your garland.
With command hooks, your risk of damaging your mantle is very low.