Diwali Home Decoration: A Whole-Home Guide

A Diwali home is more than rangoli and diyas. The doorway, the puja space, the living room, the balcony and even the staircase each get a small treatment. None of it has to be elaborate — the festival rewards restraint — but a few well-placed elements can change the feel of an entire flat. This guide walks through what goes where, what to spend on, and what's safe to skip.

Last reviewed on 30 April 2026.

The doorway: the most important square metre

If you only do one thing, do the doorway. It's the part of your home that the festival is named for, the place a visitor sees first, and the spot where most of Diwali's symbolic gestures land. A complete doorway treatment usually has four elements:

• A toran — a hanging garland strung across the lintel.
• A rangoli on the floor at the threshold — see our rangoli design gallery for ideas.
• Two clay diyas placed on either side of the threshold, lit at dusk.
• Footprints (charan) drawn from the doorway leading inward, symbolising Lakshmi being welcomed in.

The combination has been read the same way for centuries: the home has been cleaned, decorated, lit and made ready, and the goddess of well-being is invited to enter.

Choosing a toran

Three kinds of toran are common at Diwali:

• Fresh marigold and mango leaves. The traditional version — orange marigold heads strung with green mango leaves on a cotton thread. Lasts two to three days, smells faintly green, and is fully biodegradable. Most flower markets sell ready-strung garlands in the days before the festival.
• Beaded and bell torans. Reusable cloth and bead garlands with small brass bells. They hold up year after year and don't need replacing.
• Embroidered or mirror-work torans. Heirloom-quality fabric torans, often in silk or cotton, with mirrors and zari embroidery. The most formal option; one will outlast a decade of festivals.

If you have the patience for it, a fresh marigold toran on the day of Lakshmi Puja and a reusable beaded toran for the rest of the five days is a satisfying mix — the day itself feels distinct.

Lanterns: the akash kandil and beyond

Hanging paper lanterns are a Diwali staple, especially in Maharashtra, Goa and the western states. The classic Maharashtrian akash kandil — literally "sky lamp" — is a star-shaped paper lantern, usually with five or six points, lit from within by a small electric bulb. They hang from balconies, courtyard ceilings and front porches from the start of the festival until Tulsi Vivah a couple of weeks later.

Other popular lanterns include:

• Round paper lanterns in red, orange or gold, often embossed with floral patterns. They give a warm, diffused glow and pack flat for storage.
• Jali (lattice) metal lanterns with cut-out patterns — lit from inside, they cast intricate shadows on walls and floor. Reusable indefinitely.
• Glass votives and hurricane lamps, which work for both indoor displays and balcony rims.

If you live in an apartment with a balcony, a single large akash kandil or jali lantern is usually more striking than several smaller ones. Hang it where it can be seen from the street.

Floral arrangements

Flowers are inseparable from Diwali decoration. Three of the most-used arrangements:

Marigold garlands

The festival's signature flower. Marigolds (genda or zendu) are bright, durable and inexpensive. Use them as:

• Toran across the front door.
• Long garlands draped over photo frames or door frames inside the home.
• Loose petals scattered around rangolis or in shallow water bowls.
• Knotted strands hung on balcony railings.

Urli with floating diyas

An urli is a wide, shallow brass or copper bowl, traditionally used in Kerala for cooking. As Diwali decoration, fill an urli with water, scatter marigold and rose petals on the surface, and float two or three small diyas on top. Place it at the entrance of the home, on the dining table, or at the centre of the puja space. It's one of the few decorative elements that's beautiful at any scale — the same idea works in a 10cm bowl or a 60cm one.

Flower-and-leaf wall hangings

For the puja space, a fresh garland draped along the top of the puja shelf or platform creates a frame for the deities. Mango leaves alone (without flowers) are also traditional and last longer than full floral garlands.

The puja space

Whether your home has a dedicated puja room, a shelf in the kitchen or a small corner of the living room, the same principles apply during Diwali:

• Clean and re-cover. Wipe down the platform, replace any cloth covers with fresh ones in red, yellow or saffron.
• Frame with flowers. A garland of marigolds or roses along the top edge of the puja shelf, or strung between two small posts on a flat platform.
• Light a steady main lamp. A brass standing lamp (samai) with ghee burns more steadily and longer than clay diyas. Use clay diyas for the perimeter; reserve the brass lamp for the centre.
• Add a kalash. A small water-filled vessel topped with mango leaves and a coconut, set to the left of the deities, is the most traditional decorative element of a Lakshmi Puja setup.
• Don't crowd it. A clean, simple puja space photographs and feels better than an overloaded one.

For the actual sequence of the ritual on Lakshmi Puja night, see our Lakshmi Puja step-by-step guide. For the lamps themselves — oil, wick, placement and safety — the diyas guide goes into detail.

Living room and dining room

The living room is where most visitors will sit during the festival evenings. A few small touches go a long way:

• Floor cushions and bolsters in jewel tones — deep red, mustard, emerald, indigo. Even one or two pulled out for the festival changes the room's mood.
• A central urli on the coffee table with water, petals and a single floating diya.
• Brass or terracotta candle holders grouped on a side table or mantel. Three or five in different heights, never an even number.
• Light strings indoors, especially across windows or along bookshelves. Warm-white lights read more festive than multicoloured ones; reserve coloured strings for outdoor balconies.
• A small rangoli on a tray if you don't want to draw on the floor — powdered colour or flower petals on a black or dark green tray, set on the coffee table.

For the dining table, a runner of marigolds (knotted strands laid down the centre), small diyas at the corners and brass tableware turn an ordinary meal into a festival one without much effort.

Balcony and outdoor spaces

From the street, your balcony is the most visible part of your home during Diwali. Three layered elements work well:

• A row of clay diyas along the balcony rim. Replace nightly — soaked clay diyas with mustard oil last about three hours.
• A hanging lantern — akash kandil or large round paper lantern — visible from below.
• Light strings wrapped along the balcony railing or across the top of the balcony.

For safety, use battery-operated diyas in places where wind regularly blows out flames or where a falling lamp could land on flammable material. Keep all flame sources well clear of curtains and dry décor.

Staircases, corridors and shared spaces

If you live in an apartment building, the corridor outside your flat and the shared staircase are good places for restrained decoration:

• Battery-operated diyas along the edge of each step or at the corners of the corridor — safer than oil in shared paths where people brush past.
• A small floor rangoli just outside your front door, drawn with flower petals or a removable powder rangoli (which can be swept up after the festival).
• A simple toran across your flat's door — this signals the festival to neighbours without imposing on the shared space.

Coordinating with neighbours on a building-wide diya lighting on Lakshmi Puja night is unexpectedly satisfying — if every flat puts diyas at its threshold at the same hour, the whole building reads as the festival.

A simple Diwali decoration plan, by budget

Common mistakes

• Buying everything new every year. Reusable lanterns, brass urlis and embroidered torans pay off across many Diwalis. Keep a Diwali box and pull it out each October.
• Mixing too many colours. A coherent palette of saffron, gold, deep red and one accent reads as festival; six unrelated colours read as clutter.
• Using cool-white LED strings indoors. They look clinical. Warm-white or amber light strings sit better with the gold-and-red palette of the festival.
• Forgetting the puja space. The most photographed corner of the home during the festival is the one many people decorate last.
• Over-fragrancing. Fresh flowers, ghee diyas and incense already create a strong scent. Adding scented candles on top of all of that becomes overwhelming in a small flat.
• Leaving up dead flowers. A wilted toran on day three undercuts everything else. Replace fresh garlands or take them down once they've turned.

After the festival

Take down decorations gradually rather than all at once. The akash kandil traditionally stays up until Tulsi Vivah, about two weeks after Diwali. Clay diyas can be kept for next year if undamaged; broken ones can be returned to the soil — the original point of using fired earth was that it eventually goes back. Fresh garlands should be composted rather than thrown out with general waste. Beaded torans, brass lamps and lanterns go back into storage labelled by category, which makes setup easier the following year.

For the symbolic side of all this — why the doorway matters, what the lamps mean, where the rituals come from — see our page on Diwali traditions and significance. For lower-impact options, including reusable décor and natural rangoli colours, see eco-friendly Diwali.