The Ultimate Guide to Holiday Décor: Transforming Montana Homes into Winter Wonderlands

The holidays are a magical time here in Bozeman, Big Sky, and Southwest Montana.

In fact, many flock to this region to experience our snow-covered winter wonderland. Whether you have a vacation home here in Montana or you live here year-round, we know that you probably love the idea of incorporating outdoor holiday lighting and even indoor holiday decor. It just adds to the festiveness in the atmosphere.

Of course, there can be a lot of hassles and headaches associated with holiday lighting and decor. You might love the idea of lights but feel like the work involved takes away from the magic.

For that reason, you might be in search of holiday decorating services. 

Having these services handled for you by a professional helps keep the magic in the holidays. All you have to do is show up and enjoy your season. It adds so much more relaxation to your holiday!

In this guide, we’re talking about everything that goes into transforming your Montana home into a winter wonderland. That includes what decorating ideas you might want to incorporate as well as what’s involved in hiring a holiday decorating service.

Table of Contents

Outdoor Holiday Lighting
Interior Holiday Decor 
Holiday Decorating with Plants
Holiday Planter Ideas
Hiring a Holiday Decorating Service
Your Wise Choice in Holiday Decorating Services

Outdoor Holiday Lighting

There’s nothing like the sight of a beautifully decorated home with dazzling lights to get you in the holiday spirit. And the truth is, a professional installation of outdoor lights can really make your home shine in an impressive way.

At Blanchford Landscape Group, we are a franchisee of Christmas Decor, the nationally known holiday lighting experts. We utilize commercial-grade, LED lights that are designed to be a reflection of your personality and individual love of the holidays.

Here are a few ideas for using outdoor holiday lighting to add dazzling appeal to your home. Since each of our designs is completely customized, keep in mind that these are just some ideas. We’ll find the design that is right for you.

Light Your Windowsills, Roofline, and More

We can light your home by following the lines of the roof, the windowsills, or other details that you want to accentuate. Since your home is unique, the right way to light it up will come down to a custom plan. 

The result will be a professional-looking display that was achieved with zero hassles on your end. We know that lights can be a major source of frustration, particularly if they aren’t working properly. Plus, to light your windowsills and roofline, you’ll need to climb a ladder. 

But you can leave all of that to us with professional holiday lighting installation.

Add Light to Outdoor Trees

In addition to roof lights (and lighting up windows and other elements of the home), we also create a lot of light displays that include lights on outdoor trees. 

Most of the time we are lighting up evergreens but we also sometimes add lights to tree canopies on Aspens or other trees on our clients’ properties.

Lighting up trees really goes a long way in making your Montana property look like a winter wonderland.

Incorporate Live Garland Around Your Entrance

Another feature that we love to use as part of our holiday decorating services is live garland. We know that lights often make the biggest statement, particularly at nighttime, but there are other ways to add festive cheer to your home.

On a home’s exterior, we might do a spiral wrap around a railing. We can also add lights to this. 

We also use live garland to frame a doorway or to create a custom wreath for the door or garage entryway. Each wreath that we design is custom-made and can be created with the homeowner’s preferences in mind.

One of the best things about greenery is that it makes your home just as festive during the daytime hours as it is at night when it is all lit up.

Interior Holiday Decor

While a lot of companies that offer outdoor holiday lighting in Bozeman, Big Sky, and Southwest Montana do not get into doing the interior, we find that many Montana homeowners want their entire home ready for the holidays. 

That includes indoor holiday decorating.

At Blanchfod Landscape Group, we can handle both exterior and interior holiday decorating as know that both are important to our clients. As we’ve mentioned, many of our residential clients are coming to spend time in their vacation homes for the holidays. Naturally, they want them ready to enjoy.

With that in mind, here are a few ideas for interior holiday decor.

Incorporate Live Greenery

We love bringing live greenery inside, where it can make the home look festive and smell great, too. It really evokes a sense of holiday magic when you step inside and see the house decked out with live garland and wreaths.

Whether we are lining a mantel, wrapping the stairway, or creating a giant custom wreath for the overtop of your fireplace, we want live greenery to help your home feel magical.

A Professionally Lit Tree

If you’re going to be rolling into your vacation home just in time for the holidays, you might want the tree already up and ready to go. We can bring in and light your live Christmas tree so that it’s ready for you upon your arrival.

This is another custom decision, based on what you’re looking for. We have brought in all different varieties of heights, though most average around 10- to 12-feet tall. The largest tree we brought into a home was 24-feet tall.

Decorating with Houseplants for Christmas

Houseplants can also be a festive addition to your holiday decor. We’ll talk more about this in the next section, but it’s important to mention that plants can go a long way in making your home feel cheery all winter long.

In addition to adding plants, we might also incorporate table runnings and decorate mantles. It is all part of creating a special experience that will make your home as festive as possible.

Holiday Decorating with Plants

There are creative and festive ways that you can use houseplants in holiday decorating in order to help usher in the season. One of the benefits of adding houseplants for the holidays is that you’ll get to enjoy them beyond that time. 

Houseplants can go a long way in soothing the winter blues.

The key to any successful plantscape design is choosing the right plants.

There are some key choices that we prefer for holiday decorating with plants.

• Poinsettias: This classic holiday option is native to Central America where they flower in the winter. This has become the quintessential holiday choice and is available in a variety of colors (though red remains the most popular).
  
  
• Paper Whites: The Paper White Narcissus is a bulb commonly used as a potted plant around the winter holidays. They are very fragrant flowers and can brighten up an interior.
  
  
• Amaryllis: The Amaryllis is a flowering tropical plant that grows from a bulb. It has been called the “Christmas flower” and has become synonymous with Christmastime because it can be grown indoors and bloom during November and December. The large blooms make them a lovely addition to holiday décor.
  
  
• Norfolk Island Pine: The Norfolk Island Pine is commonly used as an indoor houseplant during the holidays as it can actually be decorated with some lights or even small ornaments. But even after the holidays have come and gone, this can be a lovely houseplant to keep around.
  
  
• Christmas Cactus: This houseplant grows blooms in shades of pink and purple. It has a long bloom time and can really brighten a home for the holidays.
  
  
• Rosemary: Due to its resemblance to a mini Christmas tree, Rosemary is sometimes a popular holiday choice. It also has a lovely scent that will fill the home.

In addition to holiday decorating with plants, you can also decorate around the plants to help make a home more festive. We might add lights or simple decorations to a Norfolk Island Pine, or possibly incorporate some live greenery around some houseplants. 

There are many ways to dress up a home and make it even more warm and welcoming for the holidays.

Holiday Planter Ideas

In addition to using houseplants in holiday decorating, we can also create festive arrangements that will evoke some holiday spirit.

Interior Arrangements

We will use greenery and other live plant material in vases and strategically place these around the home. It can fill the home with fragrance and aesthetic appeal.

Curly Willow, Red Dogwood, and fresh-cut greens can all make good arrangement choices and will add color to the home.

We can create arrangements either with or without flowers. Sometimes homeowners specifically want holiday planters that do not have flowers as they will last longer and be easier to maintain.

Some homeowners like using succulents as they don’t require much care. Though not always thought of for the holidays, succulents do add greenery to a space. We have created some stunning large succulent bowls for homeowners looking for a piece they can enjoy for the long haul. Succulents can thrive for decades.

Exterior Arrangements

Container gardens are usually thought of as a spring or summer addition, but there are ways to change them out seasonally so that they can be enjoyed longer.

Any planters that are being incorporated outside in the cold weather will need winter interest options like evergreen branches or pine cones that can withstand freezing temperatures. It’s often amazing how festive holiday planters can be simply with some strategically designed evergreen branches, pine cones, and maybe some berry branches.

Of course, sometimes homeowners ask us to put away their outdoor container garden pots for the winter and we can do that, too. Since we handle complete container garden services (including storage), it’s up to the homeowner what works best for them. 

If you need room on your porch for other holiday decorations, the planters might be stored in the shed.

Hiring a Holiday Decorating Service in Bozeman, Big Sky, and Southwest Montana

Nothing is better than simply showing up and having your home decorated for the holidays. But how do you go about hiring a holiday decorating service?

There are a few key factors that are important to consider.

• Find a holiday decorating service with an eye for design. When you’re investing in professional holiday decor, you want a finished product that looks spectacular and not like something that you could have done yourself. Take a look at some examples of a company’s work before hiring them. You want to feel confident that they have an eye for design.
  
  
• Find a company that offers interior holiday decorating services, too. If you’ve begun your search, you’ve probably found that there are more companies offering holiday lighting installation than there are offering indoor holiday decor. But if you want your home fully holiday-ready, you probably want a company that can do it all.
  
  
• Find a company that you fully trust. Oftentimes, these services are taking place before you arrive at your home for the holidays. This is why it’s important to find a company that you really trust. If you’re allowing someone to come inside and perform interior holiday decorating, you want to have confidence that they are trustworthy. At Blanchford, many homeowners do see us as property managers and they trust us to look after their homes when they are not there. Our holiday decor clients are usually also our landscape clients. They have already trusted us to maintain the exterior of their home with all of their landscaping needs. We’ve built long-lasting relationships that have translated into other services, including holiday decor.

Your Wise Choice in Holiday Decorating Services in Bozeman, Big Sky, and Southwest Montana

Whether it’s lighting, live greenery, or other holiday decorations, there can be a lot of hassle associated with getting displays done in time to fully enjoy them. This is why it makes a lot of sense to invest in professional services.

Hiring a holiday decorating service does not have to be a daunting experience. Just as you would before hiring any other service, take your time to do some research and get a good idea of what the company is all about.

At Blanchford Landscape Group, we are proud to have a long list of happy clients who have hired us for holiday decorating services in Bozeman, Big Sky, and Southwest Montana. Instead of ending up with a mediocre holiday lighting job, by choosing Blanchford Landscape Group, you’ll get a home that shines brilliantly and truly makes your experience special. 

Are you ready to begin the process of creating a magical holiday display at your Montana home? Let’s connect and talk about your project. Then, we can meet and begin talking about your ideas.