My big arch between great rm. and media rm.
from each direction:

Susieq's arches look great. I've seen strings of those lights with the stars, maybe you could use them with some garland. I think something hanging down would look good, even if it's only ornaments.

There are snowflakes hanging between lights, no garland want all white there, beside can't make it heavy, only staples holding lights up over arch...going to do more arches at entry in bright pink lights, will show later...

I only have one arch that I decorate and I will share a picture. Punk

{{gwi:1457766}}

Party, there are quite a few decorated arches in our Forum's inspiration mantle of garlands and wreaths. Hope you find some you like.

Karen

Here is a link that might be useful: Garlands and Wreaths Inspiration album

Thank you susieq and phonegirl for posting your archway photos! and thanks to purplemoon for the link! That does give me some ideas... now I can shop some local stores to see what's available for me to work with here.

A neighbor just gave me these pretty pink lights, and since I have pink in my Christmas them on my tree in my garland, I put these up on entry arches yesterday.

susieq, your archways are lovely, but I don't think lights will work with mine.

I'm not sure I should show you because I might be yelled at for my pitiful decorations. lol! This is just a casual pic (no flash) that I found from last year... notice beer on table. lol! I remember also hanging two stained glass snowmen ornaments (that my cousin made for me) in the archway "openings", with some small red ribbons at the top. Yeah... I'm a pitiful decorator. I know. :O)

So how would you decorate THIS archway?! :)

Beautiful room and the arch has endless possibilities. I would put a heavier/ thicker garland around ,it's a bigger arch and needs the bulk. Then decorate it according to the rest of your theme/ colors. No lights, to go with the feel of the room. In the spaces on either side, what about 2 tall Nutcrackers, Father Claus or something else you like. I would just let the ends dangle, no bows. And after your done with all the work, sit down, relax and finish that cocktail and smoke! LOL

Thanks, gardener. I knew it needed more substantial garland or something, but didn't know how to hang it without messing up the wood or plaster/lathe walls. That's why I posted the question about how to hang decor on another thread. :)

In the spaces: yes, I do have a tall earthtones pottery santa that works perfectly there... you can barely see him on the far right. I did add more things like that in those spaces last year after this pic was taken, but forgot to mention them.

That's a mistletoe 'kissing ball' hanging in the middle that I made. :) It has fairly large gold bells in it, but they don't show in the photo.

Partymusic, please don't put holes in that gorgeous woodwork! You can put hooks in the walls--those are easily filled. How about twisting two of those garlands together to make one nice full one--then you can add "extras" to really make it gorgeous. I'm also wondering how it would look without the garland, and just hanging an oversized ornament in each opening. I'd better let these gals who are much better at this give you some ideas! I struggle to do this kind of thing myself. Luvs

I live in a 107 yr. old Greek Revival that has beautiful old woodwork with several arches that I decorate every year. A few things I do to avoid putting holes in the wood are: Command Hook, can be expensive, but now they have refill tapes and you can save the "hook", just pull slowly on the tape and the whole thing comes off. No marks, good for all kinds of surfaces. The older style of plastic clamps w/ tapes work good for lighter garlands or keeping it in place down the sides. To remove, use a small knife to cut under the tape, then a little goo gone to remove any residual tape. Placing a small nail on top of the woodwork, then using craft wire the attach the garland. Good luck and show us what you decide to do.

Party, that is a beautiful archway you have. The wood is just stunning. As the others said, just bulk up the garland a bit. And as Jim says, one can never have too many picks. LOL. I learned that from him a year or two ago. They sure add a lot to garlands, trees, wreaths, etc.
They are the best "fillers" out there in my opinion.

hugs, Karen

"And as Jim says, one can never have too many picks. LOL. I learned that from him a year or two ago. They sure add a lot to garlands, trees, wreaths, etc.
They are the best "fillers" out there in my opinion."

I have bins of the darn things! LOL
But, they do give you endless looks and options.

I would be tempted to just run garland up each column in a corkscrew fashion and bring them together over the center arch...but use a piece of garland in both room i.e. each side.
Lights would be optional.

Jim

Thanks for the nice comments on the archway -- I love it too! It's one of the primary reasons I bought the house. :)

I would love to hang "picks" there, but how the heck do you hang/attach something like that without damaging the wood and walls? so far I've avoided putting in a single nail (I used tape. lol! and had enough trouble getting the garland and bows to hold and have the tape hidden). It seems to me that each pick would need to be held firmly in several places along its length because of the size/weight/balance problem.

Try 3M's Command hooks to use on your wood, the commercials show them being used on wood paneling and then being safely removed w/o residue.

The picks fit in the garland w/a compression fit.
Just insert, and the garland branches will catch and hold them in place--even upside done.
If you're worried about scratching from the pick's wire-end, soften them w/tape wrapped around them.

Jim