Christmas Window Decor for an Apartment: 5 Ideas That Go Up From the Inside

Use a suction hook on the glass itself. Glass is the one surface in a rental you're allowed to stick things to, and a good suction cup holds a full-size wreath with nothing left behind when it comes off.

• The hangers come as a set of two and the listing rates each for up to 20 pounds, far more than a wreath weighs
• Wipe the glass clean first, press the cup flat, then thread the hook into the loop
• They only grip smooth surfaces, so skip textured or frosted panes
• The wreath is 24 inches across, so measure your pane before you order. You want a few inches of glass showing all the way around

Pick the lit wreath if your window has no outlet nearby. It runs on 3 AA batteries and has a timer, so it comes on at dusk without a cord trailing down the wall. It's hinged, so it folds back into its box in January.

Which way should it face? Into the room. You're the one who looks at it every night. The street sees it for a few seconds, and the lights still show through the branches.

A candle bridge. It's the Scandinavian arch of seven electric candles, and it was made for exactly this spot. From the street it reads as Christmas in one glance, and inside it puts warm light at eye level when you're on the sofa.

• It's about 16 inches wide and 11 inches tall, and the base is only about 2 inches deep, so it fits sills most decor won't
• It runs on a 3-meter USB cord with a switch on it. Plug it into a phone charger (the spare one in the drawer works) and you never buy batteries
• The candles are flameless, which matters on a sill where a curtain can swing into them
• The wood is plain pine with small green trim, so it doesn't fight whatever else is in the room

Pick it if you have an outlet within about ten feet of the window. If you don't, skip it. A cord across the floor is worse than an empty sill.

Where on the sill? In the middle, with small things around it: a pair of gnome figures, a few pine sprigs, a tiny lantern. That's how Swedish windows dress it for Advent. Alone in a bare window, it can look more like an altar than Christmas.

Hang it. Plenty of apartment windows have a flat frame and no ledge at all, so anything that sits has nowhere to go. Hanging decor uses the height of the glass instead.

Paper star lanterns are the strongest single choice. A lit nine-point star in a dark window is about the most Christmas thing a passer-by can see, and it reads from across the road.

• The pack has four stars. One per window, or two staggered in a wide one
• Each runs on 3 AA batteries, switched by a button on the battery box, so hang it where you can reach the box
• Use the steady-on mode. The flashing modes look like a shop window
• The second suction hook from the wreath set holds a star nicely

Pick the clear glass balls if you want something for the daytime too. Five or six hung on ribbon at different heights catch the low winter sun. The opening is three-quarters of an inch, so you can drop in fake snow or a few tiny pine cones.

Cover the bottom half and decorate the top. A ground-floor or street-facing window gives you a choice between privacy and decorating. Café curtains on a tension rod at mid-height let you have both.

• The set is two tiers, each 30 inches wide and 24 inches long, in red and black cotton
• They hang from a 2-inch rod pocket, so a tension rod inside the frame is all you need
• Check the size chart on the listing against your window width. A wide window needs two sets
• They go in the washing machine, so they come down in January and go back in the box clean

Is buffalo check too loud for a small room? In a white kitchen or a plain bedroom, no. It's the one bold pattern, and the wreath and star above it stay quiet. If your room is already full of pattern, skip it and use plain linen.

What goes in the top half? One lit thing, centered above the rod: the wreath or a single star. The pattern below is busy enough, so the glass above it should look almost empty.

If the window is also cold, our winter decor ideas guide has the thermal liner that goes behind it.

Give each window one light and one color. The cluttered look comes from mixing things: a wreath, plus clings, plus a flashing string, plus a sign. From the street that turns into noise.

1. Pick the one lit thing for the window: the wreath, the candle bridge or a star
2. Pick one accent color and repeat it three times
3. Leave at least a third of the glass empty so the light has room
4. Set every timer to the same hour, so the windows come on together

Red velvet bows are the cheapest way to tie it together. There are ten in the pack, each about 9 by 13 inches. The gold edge is wired, so you can reshape a bow after it's been squashed in a box.

Put one on top of the wreath and one on each end of the curtain rod. With the berries on the wreath, red now shows up in three places; stop there.

Taking it down? Pull the suction hooks by the tab, never by the hook. Fold the wreath into its box and store the bows flat on top so they keep their shape for next year.