Maha Shivratri is celebrated in honour of Lord Shiva and also marks his marriage to Goddess Parvati. As you prepare your home for the pujas and your body for the day-long fast, you may want your home to look festive.
Here are some of the best Shivratri decor ideas that you can try out right away to transform your home quickly – without burning a hole in your pocket.
Pooja Room Decoration
On a day like Maha Shivratri, your pooja room may take centre-stage. If you follow all the related rituals, you may have to bathe the idol, make offerings and prayers in the pooja room. Why not deck up the sacred space beautifully?
Arrange all the required elements in your best glittering vessels. Set water, milk or yoghurt, and rose water in brass lotas (round water pots). Arrange sandalwood paste, sugar, ghee or honey in small silver bowls on a tray.
Hang torans and flower garlands on the wall, arrange garlands around the idols and put a flower carpet on the floor with a design of your choice. Set a few clay, copper or bronze urulis (traditional cooking vessel) on the floor, pour water, and float some flowers or flower petals on the top.
Don’t hesitate to bring out all the lamps that you had packed away. Let there be more light on an auspicious day. And bring out your diyas and light them up in beautiful arrangements around the idols. Add more glitter with string lights around the idols or string them on the wall.
Flower Decoration On Maha Shivratri
There can never be too many flowers. Besides making floral offerings in the pooja room, you can deck up the rest of your home with them – marigolds, jasmine, orchids, rose petals, and so on.
Turn just about any vessel into a flower vase – steel jugs, wooden caddies, lotas, glass bottles, coffee mugs, baskets, or silverware and crystalware.
Get fresh flowers and foliage from your garden or from the local market. Go for a walk around the neighbourhood and pick some wildflowers too. Arrange them tastefully on your centre table, side tables, or on shelves in any room including the kitchen.
Design and arrange a beautiful layered flower carpet at the entrance of your home. Or dress up your centre table with a flower carpet.
Get creative, and adorn unexpected nooks with flowers as you see in the picture below.
What can be better than flowers to add that lovely aroma and colour to welcome guests, right?
Ethnic Accents
- Bring out all the Indian fabric pieces that you have – carefully pick a few for each room and get decorating.
- Arrange ethnic cushions and throws on your sofas and armchairs. Use bedspreads and table cloths in ethnic patterns with silver or gold touches. Deck up your windows with ethnic-patterned drapes or curtains.
- Let your home shine with all the glitter, embroidery and colour aesthetically possible without ever overdoing it. You can add simple ethnic touches even to a contemporary or modern room. Just pick a solid colour bedspread, cushions or table linen with thin, shimmering lines or patterns running though.
- Celebrate the day with colour – think warmer celebratory shades of orange, pink, red and yellow. Use these as accents wherever appropriate.
Maha Shivratri Lighting Ideas
Apart from diyas and lamps, your lampshades and floor lamps can come under the spotlight as well. Create a soft and glowing ambience with floor lamps, t-lights, crystal chandeliers and candle stands, and even string lights.
Curvy floor lamps with an ethnic lampshade can make a reading nook stand out. Table lamps with ethnic motifs can add a festive touch to your bedroom. Create clusters of lamps on your centre table or dining table to double the glow. 
Spruce Up Your Vignettes
Just a few little flourishes can make quite a big difference to your room. If you have any beautiful Shiva and Parvati idols or paintings, make them the centre of attention on Shivratri day. Arrange a vignette or a gallery wall around them.
Adding metallic accessories to your vignettes can spike up your Shivratri décor considerably. Think elegant souvenirs, travel finds, flea market finds, and heirlooms in brass, metal, copper, wrought iron, and gold. Group them up along with plants, books, and framed ethnic artwork for an eclectic look.
Plush Linen
Apart from the ethnic accent fabrics that you may have already set up, change all the duvets, bedsheets, towels today to fresh, plush ones. This will instantly freshen up your home, and make it look more luxurious and welcoming. Also pick out the ones with tassels, ruffles, or pom-poms to add to the cosy, festive vibe. You don’t need to buy new linen – simply dig out clean, unused ones that you stacked away a long time ago.
Fragrance
Last but not least, add soothing fragrances in your rooms to make it super welcoming.
Light up scented and aromatherapy candles on your consoles or tables. Set up potpourri in delightful bowls in your bathroom and kitchen. Fresh flowers like jasmine, roses, and lilies can also turn on the aroma in no time. And light up mildly fragrant incense sticks in your pooja room.
Festive Mode On!
Shivratri is right around the corner. To make it easier, here’s an example of a checklist to start with:
| Décor Element | I already have this! | Need to go shopping! |
| Fresh flowers | ||
| Lamps | ||
| String lights | ||
| Cushions | ||
| Curtains | ||
| Metallic vessels/vases | ||
| Fragrances | ||
| Fresh/ethnic table linen | ||
| Ethnic furniture pieces | ||
| Fresh/ethnic bed linen | ||
| Accents pieces (souvenirs, idols, artwork, etc.) | ||
| Others |
Jot down whether you already have these elements stored somewhere, and which ones you need to buy. Having a mental inventory of things makes it much simpler to decorate your home around any theme. Create a quick plan, and spruce up your home in time for the special day.
