It’s the time of year to start decorating your home for the season. Starting the day after Thanksgiving, many of us have decorating down to a science. We hang our favorite lights—multi-colored, classic white, icicle lights and others—from trees and around the front of our houses, and a wreath on the front door to greet guests with holiday cheer.

Inside the house, you’ve hit all the big spots to spread holiday cheer throughout your home. Your tree is up, stockings hung on the mantel with care, and the elf is perched up on your shelf. You may even switch out some home décor with seasonal favorites, such as red, white and green throw pillows, blankets, and wall art featuring picturesque holiday scenes. For many, this is where it ends. However, there’s still plenty of opportunity to add special festive touches that will delight your friends and family, and help keep you smiling all season long. Take your holiday home décor up a notch with new ideas for placing Christmas house decorations inside your home.

An added bonus: new spaces to decorate gives you the room to spread out your favorite Christmas décor items, including traditional Christmas ornaments such as garland and shatterproof red and green ball ornaments. You could even add something new to your holiday collection, such as glamorous metallic decorations and sparkly ribbon. For a more rustic aesthetic, consider a few birch branches, sprigs of holly and plaid prints. You can also add some whimsy to your home with fun characters, such as little a little Santa, reindeer, snowmen or even a gnome.

Read our ideas for decking more than just your halls, and adding an unanticipated glimmer of cheer in the nooks (and cabinet and dresser tops) of your home, as well as unexpected places outside.

1. Garage: Do you spend time in the garage, working on projects or even relaxing in a heated garage? If so, it makes sense to decorate it for the season! A small tabletop tree is the perfect size for on top of a workbench, or you can just string some Christmas lights inside the garage to help brighten up the space.
2. Back Porch: If you’ve decorated your front porch and still have more lights and outdoor Christmas decorations, it’s time to decorate the back porch and steps. Some holiday planters, lights and an extra wreath can be put to good use for people who use their back porch throughout the season.
3. Lamp Post in the Yard: A lamp post in the yard can become a beautiful statement when you wrap it with garland and lights, and adorn it with a big bow.
4. Stairway: You can spread a festive scene to multiple levels of your home by hanging garland from the banister on your staircase. You can hang traditional evergreen garland and jazz it up with some beautiful bows and sparkling lights. Want to try something different? Try tying bunches of artificial greens and berries with a favorite ribbon along the banister. You can also personalize the look by adding some favorite ornaments and a whimsical holiday elf fabric sculpture to the garland or bunches of greens.
5. Bathroom: When you think of where to place your favorite new holiday home decorations, the powder room might not be at the top of your list. However, it’s a room frequented by your family and guests alike, and it’s easy to add a few festive candles, a vase, and a sprig of holly to the countertops or on top of the medicine cabinet. How about a mini potted tree, with or without lights? A 4-foot mini tree works well on the floor while a 24-inch potted tree can be placed on a counter or vanity top. Think of the fun guest comments, “they even decorated the powder room!”.
6. Kitchen Cabinet Tops: During the holidays the kitchen can be the center of activities. Decorate your kitchen on a high level by adding some garland and mini Christmas lights to the top of your kitchen cabinets. Since it’s out of reach (and not easily bumped), it’s a great place to put breakables, like glass figurines, ceramic house, holiday cookie jars and more.
7. Bedrooms: We spend a lot of time in our bedrooms, so a dresser top is a perfect space to set a little holiday scene. Place a favorite framed Christmas photo with a group of scented candles and tabletop decorations on top of your dresser, and your whole room will feel festive—yet personalized for your enjoyment. Add a holiday wreath to the back of the door, a Christmas table runner to a dresser top and friendly gnome to the bedside table in an overnight guest room for added holiday cheer
8. Lamps: They may already by bright, but you can make lamps extra merry with a wrapping of a little garland, some holiday berries and festive bow around the base of your favorite lamp.

With these ideas on how to decorate for Christmas and the holidays, your holiday guest will be surprised and delighted at all the extra touches throughout your home.

For more decorating ideas that can last all season long, read our warm winter décor blog post.

If you are planning on hosting a large holiday dinner, you can also learn about the best dining sets for guests.