Minimalist Christmas Decor for Apartment Living

Warning: This post will involve taping things to walls. Time may pass and the world may change but Rachel remains the same.

Since moving abroad, our home size has shrunk tremendously, but we've adjusted to living in small-but-efficient apartments and have become comfortable with the limited amounts of storage space they offer. Seasonal decor is just one of those things that isn't very practical to invest in and store all year long when your storage space is limited.

Every year, I make some sort of advent calendar involving surprise activities or little treats--this time I made a different calendar than ever before (usually I just tape it to the wall). I raided my Mom's stash of paper bags and came up with this:

I also spent a total of 16 RM (less than $4), investing in a garland and sparkly blue ornaments to spruce up the top of the bookshelf and to me, it looks like festive perfection.

I made a banner and, yep, taped it to the wall. It's too long, so really hard to take a photo of.

More of the countdown! All the bags are sealed with tape and tamper-proof so that Angel won't get any ideas...

Now this is really cool. My sisters complain every year about how their neglectful parents don't even own a Christmas tree for them to set up. This year, the teenagers took matters into their own hands, expanding on the wall-tree I made for them last year, went out to buy ribbon and lights, and created this 8 ft. beauty on the wall. More ornaments will be added, they wanted to give each family member the opportunity to design their own balls decorated with gold glitter.

I'm pretty excited about how we have made our apartments a little more festive without spending much money or acquiring too many things that have to sit in storage most of the year. Sure, we'd love actual 3D Christmas trees, I mean, nothing beats the real thing--but some seasons of life require fewer luxuries like those than others. How do you decorate when you don't have a lot of space to work with?